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INTRODUCTION. 



lized aborigines, in the interior of the continent, and 

 along the sides of the Andes. They were thus placed 

 partly for the same reasons; there was little or nothing 

 to attract them to the sea board, as would have been 

 the case, if a free and constant intercourse had been 

 kept up with the other parts of the globe. Those 

 portions of America, where the precious metals were 

 not abundant, as in Venezuela and La Plata, were 

 extremely late in obtaining any importance, because 

 the numerous restrictions imposed on commerce, ren- 

 dered their agricultural products of little or no value.*^ 

 It was not until the example presented by the colonies 

 of other nations, forced itself upon the attention of 

 Spain, together with other circumstances if possible 

 still more potent, that she reluctantly relaxed some- 

 what of her policy, although the state of things which 

 existed when it was first adopted, had entirely chang- 

 ed. The expulsion of the Moors, the loss of the 

 Netherlands and of the Italian possessions, rendered 

 it no longer possible to supply America with articles 

 of European manufacture, or to carry her products to 

 profitable markets. An incapacity which increased 

 with her growth, for she grew in spite of a polcy, the 

 most vexatious and oppressive that can be imagined. 



* Dr. Moreno states that wheat had been used for the purpose of 

 filling the mud holes in the streets of Buenos Ayres! Humboldt 

 tells us that but a small portion of the products of New Spain can 

 be carried to market — the remainder perishes. In Caraccas and 

 Buenos Ayres, immense quantities ot hides and other produce, 

 previous to the temporary opening of trade to neutrals in 1798, 

 were stored in the magazines for want of vent. In this state of 

 things, what encouragement to the cultivation of the earth? See 

 Dr. Moreno's pamphlet on the subject of free trade. 



