HISTORICAL SKETCH. 347 



The great majority of the natural products 

 of Spanish America are essential to the 

 wants of Europe, and most of the manu- 

 factured articles of Europe find a ready 

 market in Spanish America : thus the acts 

 of g*overnments and of legislatures in both 

 continents become reciprocally of great im- 

 portance. 



Not only this, but the direction taken 

 by the progress of civilization in South 

 America becomes of the highest interest 

 in Europe, in consequence of the vast dif- 

 ference in many respects, internally, be- 

 tween the former and the latter. In Europe, 

 the portion of land necessary for the sub- 

 sistence of a given number of individuals 

 can be made the subject of a tolerably 

 accurate calculation. It is the same also 

 in the United States of America : agricul- 

 ture can be carried to a certain extent, 

 but no further. 



