252 HISTORICAL SKETCH. 



Considerations of this description are of 

 great importance to Europe, not only with 

 a view to the future welfare of so large a 

 portion of mankind, but also with reference 

 to that commercial intercourse, from which 

 such immense advantages may be derived. 

 By means of the cultivation applied to the 

 soil of Spanish America, sustenance may 

 be obtained for a vast population ; whilst, 

 by the application of capital, skill, and in- 

 dustry, the amount of those products, which 

 are wanted in Europe, may be immensely in- 

 creased. Thus the demand for the manufac- 

 tured articles of Europe will be augmented, 

 in proportion to the increase of the popu- 

 lation of Spanish America ; and the means 

 possessed by the latter of paying for them, 

 will be in a proportionate ratio. 



It is impossible to calculate the vast 

 increase which must thus, in a course of 

 years, take place in the commerce between 



