INTRODUCTION. 



91 



price. But all this only contributed to hasten the 

 establishment of the contraband^ which so many 

 writers have explained; first carried on by the 

 Dutch from Curacoa, by the Portuguese from the San 

 Sacramento, by the French from St. Domingo and 

 Gaudaloupe, and finally, by the English from Trini- 

 dad and Jamaica. 



Spain was at last compelled on several occasions^ 

 to make important deviations from her general policy; 

 the first Was the opening of the trade of Peru to the 

 French, during the war of the succession, when it was 

 utterly out of the power of Spain to furnish the ne- 

 cessary supplies. The French pursued a course the 

 very reverse of that of Spain; they furnished the 

 American market abundantly, and at moderate prices. 

 Their merchandise were conveyed to every port of 

 America, in greater abundance than had ever been 

 known before; thus creating a taste for European 

 goods, enlarging the amount of their artificial wants, 

 and increasing the difllculties of subsequently enforc- 

 ing the Spanish system. It was not long before 

 Spain discovered her error; she immediately withdrew 

 the privilege thus conceded, and attempted to restore 

 her former system with tenfold rigor. 



The other exception alluded to, was the transfer of 

 the Assiento to the British by the treaty of Utrecht, as 

 an inducement to queen Ann to conclude a peace with 

 Philip V. By this contract, the South Sea company 

 undertook to supply a certain number of negroes an- 

 nually to Spanish America, from the year 1713 to 

 174^3. The most important part of the contract, was 

 the part of it by which they were privileged to send a 

 vessel of five hundred tons, once a year for the first 



