434 TRINIDAD. 



Juan was relieved from his functions, in 1766, by Captain Don 

 Jose de Flores. He also, during the whole time he was Governor, 

 had to resist the pretensions of the Cabildo, apparently intent 

 to throw difficulties in the way rather than assist in conducting 

 the affairs of the colony. Thoroughly disgusted with the people, 

 Governor Flores asked repeatedly to be relieved from his office ; 

 but it was only in 1773 that Don Juan Yaldez y Varza assumed 

 the government of the island. He was energetic, and succeeded 

 in defeating the ill dispositions of the Cabildo. 



It may be said that, during a period of fifty years, and from 

 the failure of the cacao crop, the colony had dragged on a 

 miserable existence, and suffered from the persisting antagonism 

 of the Cabildo, which evidently could not have been actuated by 

 a sense of patriotic opposition, but by vanity and interestec 

 motives. 



Thus had Trinidad been gradually reduced to the state oi 

 marasmus, from which it could not be expected to recover except 

 by an infusion of healthy blood. The population was scanty, 

 amounting to about 1,000 souls, exclusive of the Indians 

 Immigration, therefore, seemed to be the only remedy. But 

 where to seek immigrants, and by what allurements induct 

 them to come and settle in the colony ? 



In November, 1765, Charles III., the successor of Ferdi- 

 nand VI., had issued a decree allowing commercial intercourse 

 between the islands of Cuba, Santo Domingo, Porto Rico, 

 Margarita, and Trinidad. The trade of these colonies, hitherto 

 restricted to Cadiz and Sevilla, and to the importation of national 

 manufactures, was permitted with all the principal ports of 

 the mother country and the Balearic and Canary islands, 

 without any distinction of products, except wines and other 

 spirituous liquors. It abolished all vexatious restrictions on 

 navigation, imposing a duty of three per cent, and seven per cent, 

 respectively, on all national and foreign articles, either as exports 

 from or imports to the Spanish ports. 



Several of the French colonies — viz., Tobago, Grenada, St. 

 Vincent, and Dominica — had been ceded to England by the 

 Treaty of Paris in 1763. National prejudices, stronger then than 

 at present, had inspired harsh measures, and made the domination 

 of the conquerors felt to the utmost. The conquered communi- 

 ties became downcast and sulky. Several of those islands — 



