CARACCAS. 



Cwcui. money to Madrid as a preliminary essential to the 

 "^ success of his solicitation. Many plantations :ic 



Agnctil- rnorttrapcd, in order to raise tlirse necessary remit- 

 tai)( .HU-LT of l.ind. il wealth is thus dried 



and, at any rate, men aspiring to public distinc- 

 tions, cannot stoop to the concerns of an estate, 

 which, whatever riches it might yield, can confer no 

 splendid honour. 



The character of the overseers is, in general, such 

 as might be expected amidst this universal rnisma- 

 ment. Without honour, emulation, or intelli- 

 gence, they are indebted, even tor the indifferent 

 crops which they raise, to a fertility which seems to 

 defy their ignorance and carelessness. The few plan- 

 tations which prosper, are conducted by proprietors 

 themselves, ambitious to increase their revenues, and 

 proud of the name of cultivators. Those which de- 

 cline, belong invariably to persons who only visit 

 them as strangers, and who, in the indulgence of 

 extravagance and dissipation, or in the pursuit of fa- 

 vours and employs, disdain the low cares of a plan- 

 ter, and would think themselves insulted by being 

 supposed to know any thing of the condition of their 

 own estates. 



The last cause assigned by Depons for the decline 

 of culture, is the want of a sufficient number of 

 negroes. Though the Spaniards were never allow- 

 ed the direct importation of negroes from Africa, 

 they were permitted to purchase them in the Antilles, 

 to pay for them in the produce of the country, ex- 

 cepting cacao, and to resell them in Terra Firma. 

 But the revolt of the negroes in St Domingo, in 

 1791, spread such an universal alarm, that for twelve 

 years, not a single negro arrived in Caraccas. The 

 labours of the country of necessity languished, its 

 productions were diminished, and a new supply of 

 labourers became indispensably requisite. Caution, 

 however, was necessary, lest negroes should be im- 

 ported from the French colonies, who would bring 

 along with them the seeds of revolt. With a view 

 of supplying the provinces, permission was given by 

 the king to Edward Barry & Co. for the introduc- 

 tion of 4-000 negroes ; but the grantee's death ar- 

 rested the operation, and only particular permissions 

 were given. Two merchants obtained, in May 1804, 

 two of these permissions, each amounting to fifteen 

 hundred negroes. By this regulation, those who in- 

 troduce black slaves are known, and can be made 

 answerable for any irregularity in their behaviour. 

 Still, however, these supplies are very inadequate to 

 a country which does not contain the 20th part of 

 the population necessary to cultivate it ; where the 

 births of slaves are far less numerous than the va- 

 cancies made by their deaths, and where the benevo- 

 lence and piety of the masters annually transfer a 

 considerable number of individuals from the class of 

 slaves to that of freedmen. We can hardly agree 

 with Depons with regard to the strong necessity of 

 facilitating the introduction of negroes ; but we cor- 

 dially agree with him in considering the employment 

 of the idle hands of free men of colour, and of the 

 Indians of docttinarics and missions as a measure of 

 the last importance to the agricultural prosperity of 

 Caraccas. The Canary Islands, whose youth have 

 a decided predilection for America, might also fur- 



nish a considerable i..:Miber of active and ux-ful la- Caraec**. 

 bourcrs ; J.nd were the salaries of workmen jmi.ctu- ^ T~ 

 ally paid, and their emulation excited, idlcue&t would 

 give place to activity, and agricultural op-.-rationi 

 woula go on with spirit and effect. Mr SempU-, 

 who visited Camcas little more than a year ago, in- 

 forms us, that charming plantations extend in all di- 

 rections from the town of Maracai, and have an air 

 of prosperity and activity which he was at a loss to 

 account for, till he learned, that on these plantations 

 work was chiefly performed by free labourers, and 

 that the use of slaves for the great purposes of so- 

 ciety was, comparatively speaking, little known. 



From this view of the state of agriculture in Ca- Commerce 

 raccas, it follows almost as a corollary, that it com- 

 merce must be in a very languishing condition. A 

 nation, which, even at this day, estimates the value 

 of its colonies by the quantities of gold and silver 

 which they furnish, cannot be supposed to derive 

 much advantage from the more substantial riches of 

 their soil, or to be aware of the resources, almost in- 

 exhaustible, that a well-regulated commerce would 

 open in a country, which, in fertility, in climate, in 

 the abundance and value of its vegetable productions, 

 has no parallel in any quarter of the globe. So lit- 

 tle were the Spaniards capable of appreciating the 

 value of their possessions in Terra Firma, that, for 

 upwards of a century after the discovery of Carac- 

 cas, it furnished to the parent country no article of 

 commercial produce : one vessel alone arrived an- 

 nually from Spain, not to receive any valuable cargo, 

 but to convey the necessaries of life to a country ca- 

 pable of maintaining the whole of Europe. It was 

 not till the Dutch settlers in Curagoa had commen- 

 ced a traffic with the neighbouring continent, about 

 the middle of the 17th century, that the inhabitants 

 of Caraccas began to perceive the advantages of their 

 situation ; and the merchants of Spain thought it an 

 important favour, to have permission to send two tra- 

 ding vessels to Venezuela. The absurd policy of the 

 court, whose permission to trade with its colonies, 

 after being obtained with much difficulty and ex- 

 pence, was rendered of little value by the enormous 

 duties imposed on every article of merchandise, de- 

 prived the Spaniards of all chance of successful com- 

 petition with the traders from Holland, who could 

 supply the same articles free of duties, and directly 

 from the manufactories of Europe. The two Spa- 

 nish vessels were compelled to sell their cargoes at a 

 loss of sixty per cent. ; and the other merchants of 

 Spain, warned by their failure, left the Hollanders 

 in the undisputed enjoyment of the trade to Carac- 

 ca?. The remainder of the 17th century elapsed 

 without the arrival of one vessel from Spain ; and, 

 during that interval, the inhabitants, animated by 

 the advantages of their commerce with the Dutch, 

 had so far enriched their country by cultivation, that 

 the annual amount of cacao, in the province of Ve- 

 nezuela alone, exceeded sixty-five thousand quintals. 

 The Spanish government, anxious to exclude fo- 

 reigners from any participation of the riches of this 

 flourishing province, established a severe inspection, 

 for the purpose of preventing all communication 

 with the Dutch ; but, in spite of this expedient, 

 not above one third of its produce found its way to. 



