94 



introduction; 



gling was therefore by no means lessened.* The 

 trade of South America being in fact, virtually in other 

 hands;, and the Spanish commerce merely an agent to 

 carry it on, the only indemnification was the establish^ 

 ment of considerable duties on merchandise, which 

 were multiplied with every new destination. During 

 the last war between Spain and Great Britain, licenses 

 were frequently granted to neutral merchants to sup- 

 ply the wants of South America; but these were not 

 always treated with good faith. Much of the trade 

 was even carried on by her enemy through the means 

 of a curious kind of special connivance, the suiiject of 

 considerable complaint on the part of France. The 

 Uuited States during that war, shared the contraband 

 with the English, and from our situation great ad- 

 vantages will always exist in our favor under similar 

 circumstances. 



With respect to the internal trade between the dif- 

 ferent viceroyalties and provinces it was never very 

 considerable; but in course of time it must be im- 

 mense, considering the vast variety of climates and 

 productions of the world. The tobacco and cocoa of 

 Yenezuela, is transported to Vera Cruz; Paraguay 

 supplies Chili and Peru with its celebrated herb; 

 Chili furnishes wheat for Peru, while the trade of La 

 Plata consists in animals, and some kinds of coarse 

 cotton manufactures much in use with the Indians, 

 savage, and half civilized. The monopolies of the 

 king in salt, tobacco, and other articles of colonial pro- 

 duction, cause them to be neglected for the present. 



* "To load commerce with such enormous duties, is the same 

 thing as to deprive Spaiii of it, and to open it to all other nations." 

 Campillo, 172. 



