POLITICAL AND COMMERCIAL 5 



should the mother country see fit. Prac- 

 tically, however, after trade had been car- 

 ried on in this way for a term of years, the 

 participants claimed a prescriptive right to 

 the trade, and, while conceding the right to 

 regulate, denied the right to abolish. 



The countries of the world possessing sea 

 colonies at this time were naturally the past 

 and present sea powers of Europe, and, as 

 what was gained by the sea could be held 

 only by the sea, the colonial possessions of 

 these powers were all gravitating toward 

 England. Spain, once the colossus of Eu- 

 rope, still held some of the choicest tropical 

 portions of the world, but her empire was 

 beginning to disintegrate, and that it did 

 not all leave her was due to her parasitical 

 dependence on France and later to her alli- 

 ance with England. At this time she still 

 held the vast territories of Florida, Louisi- 

 ana 1 and Mexico in North America, Cuba, 



1 By the treaty of San Udefonso Louisiana was 

 ceded to France Oct. 1, 1800, and April 30, 1803, it 

 was sold to America. 



