Since the accession of Charles III. in 1759, various relaxations had been made in that old system, so long complained of, which had made the entire trade of Spain with America little better than a monopoly in the hands of the merchants of Seville and Cadiz.

In 1764 periodical packets were established, vessels of considerable burthen, which took their departure from Corunna for all the principal ports in the Colonies, with leave, besides their correspondence, to carry out cargoes of Spanish manufactures, and to import in return Colonial produce: a direct intercourse was also allowed for the first time with Cuba and other islands in the West Indies, and in 1774 all the Colonies were permitted to open a trade with each other, which up to that time had been rigorously prohibited.

These measures originated with Don Joseph de Galvez, the minister for the department of the Indies, who had himself passed many years in America, and had personally witnessed how greatly Spain was a loser by the system she had hitherto pursued, and how very materially her interests might be advanced by a thorough change in her colonial policy.

They were followed in 1778 by the promulgation of an entirely new commercial code for the Indies, which at that time was thought deserving the title of "The Free Trade Regulations;" and free they certainly were, compared with the old restrictions and tariff of 1720, but only for Spaniards. The trade was still to be exclusively confined to Spaniards and Spanish shipping, and the tariff was based entirely upon the principle of protection to native industry, and of furthering the sale of the productions of Spain in preference to all others of whatever origin. Nine ports in Spain and twenty-four in the Colonies were declared "puertos habilitados," or ports of entry.

For ten years Spanish manufactures of wool, cotton, linen, steel, glass, &c., were allowed to be shipped duty free for the Colonies, as were the principal articles of raw produce from America imported in return, such as cotton, coffee, sugar, cochineal, indigo, bark, and copper. The duty on the import of gold was reduced from 5 to 2 per cent., and that of silver from 10 to 5 per cent.; whilst,

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CHAP. V.

FOUNDED ON PROTECTION.

67

for the encouragement of Spanish shipping, vessels loaded solely with national produce were exempted from one-third of the duties otherwise payable. Generally, on goods not specifically exempted, the duties on shipments for the Colonies were estimated to average about 3 per cent. upon Spanish goods, and 7 per cent. on those of foreign manufacture, over and above the charges levied upon them on their import into Spain previously to re-exportation, which in reality raised them to an ad valorem duty of from 40 to 50 per cent.

The shipment of some articles of foreign production, such as cottons, stuffs, hats, and silk stockings, oil, wines, and brandies, which might interfere with those of Spain, was totally prohibited.

Unfortunately, with the same main object in view of protecting Spanish interests, some obsolete edicts were renewed, which restricted the cultivation and improvement of several productions of the colonies, such as the vine and the olive in some parts, and hemp and flax in others, lest they should compete with the same articles grown by the mother country. Their domestic manufactures also were discouraged wherever they were the same as those of Spain, and in some cases altogether put down. The South Americans were not allowed to make their own cloth, and were arbitrarily deprived of the use of one of their own most valuable materials, the wool of the vicuña, which by a special edict the Viceroys were ordered to collect for the King's account, that it might be sent to Spain to be worked in the Royal manufactory at Guadalaxara.

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A greater grievance which marked the administration of Galvez was the partiality with which public employments of every kind were filled up by European Spaniards in preference to natives. "Never," says Funes, "were the civil and military offices in South America so exclusively bestowed upon old Spaniards; it was enough to be an American born to be shut out from all chance even of a doorkeeper's appointment."

These measures were bitterly complained of by the Americans, and cited in corroboration of their own persuasion that in his new commercial regulations Galvez,

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like every other minister of Spain, had only had in view the furtherance of the interests of the Mother Country, regardless of those of the Colonies.

It was certainly a great mistake on the part of the Spanish ministry to perpetuate such causes of grievance against the parent state, especially at a time when questions connected with the relative rights and obligations of European governments and their colonial subjects were brought so forcibly into notice by the struggle then pending between Great Britain and her North American possessions-when too, which made it still more extraordinary, Spain herself had determined to join with France and the enemies of England in espousing the cause of the North Americans against the mother country, and in thus countenancing those notions of independence and free government in the British colonies which she was at the same time more than ever determined to smother in her

own.

The King of Spain is said to have taken some credit to himself that he did not make at that time, as France did, a treaty with the people of the United States: be that as it may, he contributed, there is no doubt, to establish the principle of the subject's right to resistance against his sovereign on the plea of wrongs unredressed, of which the South Americans did not fail to remind his successor when they too some years afterwards rose in arms against oppression and misgovernment.

But whatever were the complaints of the Americans with regard to the matters referred to, there can be no doubt that in general the new commercial regulations proved extremely advantageous to the colonies, as well as to the mother country, especially where they were so situated as directly to profit by them, as at Buenos Ayres, which, from being a nest of smugglers, soon rose to be one of the most important of the commercial cities of the New World.

This is abundantly shown by the returns of trade which from time to time have been published. To take the staple commodity of the country, hides for example. Before the new regulations of 1778 the exports to Spain

CHAP. V. INCREASE OF TRADE AND POPULATION.

69

were calculated to average not more than 150,000 yearly. Afterwards they rose to from 700,000 to 800,000; in one year, 1783, upon the conclusion of the peace with England, the extraordinary number of 1,400,000 were shipped for Europe. Prices rose in proportion to the increased demand, and instead of two or three ships, there sailed from seventy to eighty annually from the Rio de la Plata for the ports of Spain.

The population of the province of Buenos Ayres alone, under these new circumstances, in the first twenty years was nearly doubled. It rose from 37,679 in 1778, to 72,000 in 1800.

It would seem, indeed, as if the new prospects of commercial enterprise and wealth, for the first time fairly laid before a colony so manifestly destined by nature to be the emporium of the trade with the interior of the South American continent, had absorbed all other ideas. Whilst every nation in Europe was in a state of unparalleled commotion from the direful consequences of the French Revolution, the Spanish Americans remained passive, apparently in a state of apathetic indifference to all that was passing. The authorities no doubt did their best in execution of their orders from Spain to keep them in the dark, and to prevent the spread of those revolutionary doctrines which menaced the peace of every part of the world; but it is a remarkable proof of the overpowering influence of the Spanish Colonial system, that under such extraordinary and exciting circumstances it was able so effectually to keep down all popular feeling, and notwithstanding her own weakness to preserve them so entirely in a state of servile fidelity.

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CHAPTER VI.

1806-1816.

Effect of the British Invasions of Buenos Ayres in 1806 and 1807, and of the subsequent Occupation of Spain by the French Armies Establishment of a Provisional Junta in 1810-Considered as an act of Rebellion by the Spanish Cortes-Civil War in consequence - Ferdinand on his Restoration obstinate instead of conciliatory-Drives the South Americans to separate from his Rule - Declaration of Independence by the Provinces of the Rio de la Plata at Tucuman in 1816.

THEIR Successful resistance of the British invasions of Buenos Ayres in 1806 and 1807, the issue of which could have surprised no one more than themselves, roused the people from these slumbers, and taught them for the first time their own power, and all the weakness of the mother country, then in fact reduced to little better than a dependency of France.

In reply to their request for military aid after General Beresford's first attack, and under the certainty of its being repeated by a more imposing force, they were told they must defend themselves as they could, for Spain could send them no help.

In the year following (1808) they were threatened with a fresh invasion by the Prince Regent of Portugal, who, from the moment of his reaching the Brazils, seems to have contemplated the possibility of increasing his dominions in America by the annexation of the provinces of the Rio de la Plata in right of his wife, the Princess Carlota, a daughter of Charles IV. and sister of King Ferdinand. No sooner had he arrived at Rio de Janeiro than he caused a note to be addressed to the Viceroy and Cabildo of Buenos Ayres, requiring them, on the grounds of the alleged dissolution of the Spanish monarchy, and