VIII.

British colonies were accuftomed to confider it BOOK almost as an allowed branch of commerce, excited murmurs and complaints. These authorifed, in fome measure, and rendered more interefting, by feveral unjustifiable acts of violence committed by the captains of the Spanish Guarda Coftas, precipitated Great Britain into a war with Spain; in confequence of which the latter obtained a final release from the Affiento, and was left at liberty to regulate the commerce of her colonies, without being reftrained by any engagement with a foreign power.

As the formidable encroachments of the Englifh on their American trade, had difcovered to the Spaniards the vast consumption of European goods in their colonies, and taught them the advantage of accommodating their importations' to the occafional demand of the various provinces, they perceived the neceffity of devifing fome method of fupplying their colonies, different from their ancient one of fending thither periodical fleets. That mode of communication had been found not only to be uncertain, as the departure of the Galeons and Flota was fometimes retarded by various accidents, and often prevented by the wars which raged in Europe; but long experience had fhewn it to be ill adapted to afford America a regular and timely

fupply

1739

The ufe of register

ships intro

duced.

VIII.

BOOK fupply of what it wanted. The scarcity of European goods in the Spanish fettlements frequently became exceffive; their price rofe to an enormous height; the vigilant eye of mercantile attention did not fail to obferve this favourable opportunity; an ample supply was poured in by interlopers from the English, the French, and Dutch islands; and when the Galeons at length arrived, they found the markets fo glutted by this illicit commerce, that there was no demand for the commodities with which they were loaded. In order to remedy this, Spain has permitted a confiderable part of her commerce with America to be carried on by regifter fhips. Thefe are fitted out, during the intervals between the ftated feafons when the Galeons and Flota fail, by merchants in Seville or Cadiz, upon obtaining a licence from the council of the Indies, for which they pay a very high premium, and are deftined for those ports in America where any extraordinary demand is foreseen or expected. By this expedient, fuch a regular fupply of the commodities, for which there is the greatest demand, is conveyed to the American market, that the interloper is no longer allured by the fame profpect of exceffive gain, or the people in the colonies urged by the fame neceffity to engage in the hazardous adventures of contraband trade.

IN

VIII.

lifhed.

IN proportion as experience manifefted the BOOK advantages of carrying on trade in this mode, The Galethe number of regifter fhips increafed; and at ons abolength, in the year 1748, the Galeons, after having been employed upwards of two centuries, were finally laid afide. From that period there has been no intercourfe with Chili and Peru but by fingle fhips, difpatched from time to time as occafion requires, and when the merchants expect a profitable market will open.

1

Thefe

fhips fail round Cape Horn, and convey directly to the ports in the South Sea the productions and manufactures of Europe, for which the people fettled in those countries were formerly obliged to repair to Porto-bello or Panama. These towns, as has been formerly obferved, muft gradually decline, when deprived of that commerce to which they owed their profperity. This difadvantage, however, is more than compensated by the beneficial effects of this new arrangement, as the whole continent of South America receives new fupplies of European commodities, with fo much regularity, and in fuch abundance, as muft not only contribute greatly to the happiness, but increase the popu lation of all the colonies fettled there. But as all the register ships deftined for the South Seas must still take their departure from Cadiz, and

are

VIII.

BOOK. are obliged to return thither", this branch of the American commerce, even in its new and improved form, continues fubject to the restraints of a fpecies of monopoly, and feels thofe pernicious effects of it, which I have already defcribed.

Schemes for

reviving

NOR has the attention of Spain been confined commerce. to regulating the trade with its more flourishing colonies, it has extended likewise to the reviving commerce in thofe fettlements where it was neglected, or had decayed. Among the new tastes which the people of Europe have acquired, in confequence of importing the productions of those countries which they conquered in America, that for chocolate is one of the most universal. The use of this liquor made with a paste, formed of the nut or almond of the cacao-tree, compounded with various ingredients, the Spaniards first learned from the Mexicans; and it has appeared to them, and to the other European nations, fo palatable, fo nourishing, and fo wholesome, that it has become a commercial article of confiderable importance. The cacaotree grows fpontaneously in feveral parts of the torrid zone; but the nuts of the beft quality,

VIII.

next to those of Guatimala, on the South BOOK Sea, are produced in the rich plains of Caraccas, a province of Tierra Firmè. In confequence of this acknowledged fuperiority in the quality of cacao in that province, and its communication with the Atlantic, which facilitates the conveyance to Europe, the culture of the cacao there is more extensive than in any diftrict of America. But the Dutch, by the vicinity of their fettlements in the fmall islands of Curazoa and Buen-Ayre, to the coaft of Caraccas, gradually engroffed the greatest part of the cacao trade. The traffic with the mother country for this valuable commodity ceafed almost entirely; and fuch was the supine negli gence of the Spaniards, or the defects of their commercial arrangements, that they were obliged to receive from the hands of foreigners this production of their own colonies, at an exorbitant price. In order to remedy an evil no lefs by establishdifgraceful than pernicious to his fubjects, company of Philip V. in the year 1728, granted to a body of merchants an exclufive right to the commerce with Caraccas and Cumana, on condition of their employing, at their own expence, a fufficient number of armed veffels to clear the coast of interlopers. This fociety, distinguished sometimes by the name of the company of Guipufcoa, from the province of Spain in which it is efta blished, and fometimes by that of the Company

VOL. IV.

H

of

ing the

Caraccas.