the installation of the Cortes, but it was bluntly refused. The Regency, however, again pressed the national legislature, and the point was agitated in secret sessions, about the middle of April, 1811. The manner in which this demand was made, and the grounds on which it was substantiated, not having been laid before the Spanish public, it is not here possible to present them to my reader. By those who took a favourable part in the discussion, they were viewed in the light of a favour, which England asked of Spain, and to which the latter seemed to have fully corresponded, by putting it to the vote in her house of delegates. No sooner was this attempt known in Cadiz, than the public prints were set to work, mercenaries were employed to write sarcasms, and on the corners of the walls was announced, in large letters, Cancelada's work, called "Ruin to New Spain, if trade is declared free, founded on twelve propositions." Such means had their full weight with the public, and even within the House, so that the wishes of England were completely frustrated.

Spain, owing to her want of manufactures, vessels, and capitals, was, at this time, unable to carry on her trade with the ultramarine provinces, in such manner as to supply their wants, and to receive their productions in return. Indeed, at the best of times, this commerce had been carried on by foreign capitals in Cadiz, principally French; the Spanish merchant doing little more, than cover the property with his name. To refuse, therefore, this privilege to her ally, was acting as the dog in the manger, and was particularly impolitic, it being the foremost demand of the Americans, to have their ports opened to England, after the long blockade

which had just preceded. This was the more necessary, because enlightened Spaniards themselves confess, and amongst them Estrada, that the Custom House systems, and the want of free trade, had, in great measure, ruined the finances of Spain. In fact, these improvident regulations made what little trade there was, contraband; so that the crown lost its dues; and the prohibitory laws reduced the productions to no value, whereby agriculture was destroyed, and the country was, besides, drained of its specie. Humboldt, as well as other intelligent foreigners, has remarked, that the trade restrictions, were destructive to both the prosperity of the mother country and the American provinces, and that their removal would greatly add to the revenue of the crown.

How a stipulation to open a trade to Spanish America, was omitted in our treaty with Spain, seems a circumstance the most unaccountable, for the latter does not appear to have thrown into the scale of equivalents, any advantages to compensate our succours. The English nation was, at that time, in great want of an extension of trade; and one would naturally suppose, that it was the object of all governmental transactions, to be either of present or remote benefit to their respective subjects: and when England resolved, thus lavishly to open her treasures, and sacrifice the lives of her soldiers in the cause of Spain, it certainly must have been with a hope, that some advantages were to be derived to her people, on whom the burden rested; and in those sanguine moments, the idea must have been very distant, that Spain could ever be so illiberal as to deny a trade, she herself could not carry on, and which would, besides, double her own resources, and tend to strengthen the allegiance of her distant provinces.

The British government, apparently sensible of this oversight, long after the treaty had been carried into effect, and when the succours had been given and expended, solicited the Regency to open the Spanish American trade; and it was formally refused by the Cortes on the 13th August, 1811; after a discussion filled with illiberality on the part of the Spanish members, but defended by the American ones, as a measure of policy and necessity. But times had now very much altered, Spain was no longer an humble supplicant for aid; and, from auxiliaries, we had become principals in the war. The former had, moreover, perceived, that we were as much interested in its issue, as herself; and, in the mean time, that unfortunate spirit of jealousy and distrust had originated, and had been allowed to spread. Animosity between the mother country and the American provinces, had also taken deep root, and plans of conciliation and of sober trade, had been superceded by threats, war, and revenge.

If, however, we reflect on the consequences of a want of trade, in a country that had been so long secluded, the illiberality of the Spanish government will appear the more glaring, as will, also, our want of energy and fore sight. How a people must suffer for the want of active trade, whose great resources are in territorial productions, and whose dependence for supplies, is on European imports, particularly after the long stagnation occasioned by the past war with England, can easily be conceived in a country like this. The result has been, that in Guayaquil, cocoa, at present, is worth no more than three dollars per quintal, or in other words, is left to rot on the trees; and that, in all the upper provinces of New Spain, the common people are now clothed in skins. On a free

trade, at this particular time, the Spanish Americans besides conceived, that their present comforts, as well as their future prosperity, depended. They viewed it as a means to convey to the markets of the world, the surplus produce of their luxuriant soil, and they beheld their sanguine hopes, disappointed, with disgust and chagrin. In the mean time, also, the resources of that great continent, instead of being called forth and increased, were declining every thing was stagnant, and the British merchant was losing an intercourse, that, besides the sale of goods, might have been attended with great political consequences.

From the time the seat of government was removed to Cadiz, the influence of the monopolists of trade, as already shewn, began to be exerted against any measure, which might deprive them of their accustomed profits; and every engine was set to work, to retain the sole possession of the right of shipping to the ultramarine provinces, and receiving their returns. The public opinion was gained by sophisms and misrepresentations; and in order to add strength to the opposition, and to influence the approaching discussion in the Cortes, the Consulado or Board of Trade of Cadiz, under the authority of its president, prior, consuls, deputies, and other members, for that purpose convened, on the 24th July, 1811, published its manifest, addressed to the delegates of the general and extraordinary Cortes, as well as to the public at large, in which they attempt to prove," that the granting of a free trade to England with Spanish America, is a monstrous and unwarrantable measure, and destructive to the interests of Spain." In this long and elaborate tissue of sophisms and invectives, the following arguments are the most conspicuous.

-

This manifest attempts to prove, that a free trade with their American provinces, would bring about a desolation, greater than the one, Spain at present experiences. -That the report of a free trade, would be a desolating voice, more terrible than the one heard on the 2d of May,* and be destructive of the very existence of Spain.—That those who are desirous of establishing it, are impostors, and deserving of exemplary punishment, and of eternal banishment. That it is a measure, intended to bring desperation on the minds of the merchants.-That the destinies of Spain and her political existence, depend on the solution of this question.-That the names of the authors of such a disaster, will be preserved, in order to receive the indignation of future ages.-That it would produce a scene of most certain horror.-That the Americans do not require such a measure, but detest it, as destructive of their interests.-That nothing but open enemies, could have proposed similar ideas.-That it was an horrible monstruosity, similar to that, committed by one, who should pierce the heart of his brother, at the moment he was embracing him.-That Spain would be ruined, made the tool of foreigners, and that her merchants and manufacturers, being destroyed, would fall into slavery. -And, in short, that it would be subversive of religion, order, society, and morality, &c.

Such are the sentiments and arguments, and such the official form of the Manifest, published by the board of Cadiz merchants, to influence and decide the Cortes, to refuse to England, a free trade with the American provinces; and this to the subjects of a nation, who were aiding and cooperating in the Peninsular struggle, at the

* The revolution in Madrid, against the French.