The motives which led to the establishment of the Spanish and Portuguese colonies, were thus considerably different from those which actuated the Greeks and Ro mans. There was here no complaint of deficient subsist ence at home ; no necessity to separate one portion of the population to serve as an outpost to the rest. In the case of India, the hope of a lucrative traffic ; in that of America, the expectation of valuable mines, supplied the decisive impulse to emigration. Nearly a century elapsed before either Spain or Portugal encountered se rious opposition in their new territories. Portugal, in consequence of the encouragement of navigation by the government, and Spain by the absorption of so many maritime provinces under the sovereignty of Charles V. and Philip II. had taken decidedly a lead in the naval affairs in Europe. France, torn by internal dissension, and better fitted by situation for inland than foreign com merce, was no formidable competitor ; and England was only beginning to feel her own strength. At last, the long continuance of good government under queen Eli zabeth, and the discomfiture of the Spanish armada, open ed to our countrymen the prospect, not merely of annoy ing the Spaniards in the western hemisphere, but of ap propriating a portion of these regions in permanent oc cupancy. Still the schemes of the intended colonists were directed much more to the search of gold and sil ver than to the cultivation of the soil. It was very ge nerally believed, that there existed, in unknown parts of America, veins of gold and silver, as abundant as those of copper or iron in Europe. Hence credit was given to the tales which led Gonzalo, Pizarro, Orellano, and others from Peru, to the inhospitable tracts along the ri ver Amazons ; hence, likewise, the avidity in this coun try to believe Sir Walter Raleigh's fiction of the king dom of El Dorado, and of a chief, whose throne was male of solid gold. These deceptions were propagated and continued, years after years, from a solicitude, on the part of the oppressed Americans, to send forward their troublesome visitors to a distant region. (Southey's Brazil, vol. i.) Accordingly, it was not until the se venteenth century, that our countrymen began to settle as cultivators, either in the West Indies or North Ame rica. To the Dutch, an opportunity of aggression on the Portuguese settlements in the East and West was open ed by the assumption of the crown of Portugal by their mortal enemy, Philip H. That step gave rise to long warfare in Brazil, and to a series of exploits in the Indian seas, which laid the foundation of very exte., sivc conquests.
We shall now proceed to treat, in succession, of the several colonial settlements of European powers, obser ing, in the outset, that the working of mines has not been prosecuted in any other settlements than those of Spain and Portugal. That the want of those dazzling attractions is very far from being a disadvantage, will be sufficiently apparent, when we come to treat, in the se quel of our work, of the nature of mines. Human in dustry cannot be applied to a more precarious pursuit ; and it is a well known fact, that, poorly cultivated as are Brazil, Mexico, end Peru, there is infinitely more comfort among the inhabitants of the agricultural than of the mining districts of these countries.
Spanish Colonies.—The history of the transatlantic. possessions of Spain, affords a most striking example of the evils of monopoly. All European nations have er red in this respect, and have injured themselves accord ingly; but the sum total of their trespasses is trifling when put in comparison with those of the Spanish go vernment. To put colonial trade into the hands of an
exclusive company, is to create a body of which the in terest is in direct opposition to that of the colony. In stead of favouring the progressive advance of consump tion and production, the object of the company is to make sure, by a very plain process, of their personal profit at the expence of both. Abroad, the company's profit is obtained by limiting the supplies exported from the mother country ; at home, by limiting the imports from the colony. The Spanish government was wholly ignorant of the principles of trade, and wonderfully jea lous of the entrance of foreigners into their transatlantic possessions. It continued, until very lately, under the delusion, that the grand advantage of Mexico and Pe ru consited in their mines, and that no pains should be spared to prohibit the access of such individuals as were not employed by government, to these mysterious de posits. It was determined, therefore, to confine the American trade to a single harbour, and, during several ages, Seville was the favoured port. It was not till 1720, two centuries after the occupation of America, that the privilege of colonial trade was extended to Ca diz. Even then, no person was allowed to ship an ar ticle of goods for Spanish America without a licence from the exclusive managers of the trade. These mana gers conducted their affairs with all the confidence and supineness of men assured of an uninterrupted possession of the colonial commerce. The vessels for Peru, Chili, and Terra Firma, wcrc called galleons, and sailed only once a year. Mexico and the northern provinces were supplied by what was called the flota, which sailed in a collective shape only once in three years. No foreigner, and even no Spaniard, embarked on board these vessels without the permission of government ; and, in the pas sage, the fleets were prohibited from touching at any in termediary port. But this was not all ; the American colonies were strictly interdicted from holding a commer cial communication with each other. Caraccas, for ex ample, could receive no supplies from the neighbouring island of 'Frinadad, nor could Mexico relieve its wants by an application to the southern colonies. In short, the merchants were prevented from transacting business ex cept at prescribed seasons, and at a few specified sea ports. These were for the continent, Carthagena, with the unhealthy towns of Porto Bello and Vera Cruz ; in Cuba, the less exceptionable station of the Havanna, which, from the excellence of its harbour, and its central position, was the appointed rendezvous of all homeward bound fleets. Under such a system, we need not wonder that Robertson's History of 4merica, cautiously and temperately- as it is written, was not permitted to obtain circulation in Spain. The Royal Academy of History, at Madrid, unanimously elected him one of their mem bers in 1777, in testimony of their approbation of his work, and appointed a gentleman to translate it into Spanish ; but after considerable progress had been made in the translation, the Spanish government, dreading the publication of a work which so fully explained the na ture of the trade with America, and the system of co lonial administration, interposed its authority to stop the undertaking. Sec Mr Stewart's Life of Dr Robertson.