_PERU; PROGRESS OF THE VICEROYALTY._
1551-1774.
Notwithstanding Gasca’s wise regulations, the tranquillity of _Peru_ was
not of long continuance. It was impossible that a country where anarchy
had so long prevailed, and which contained so many discontented
adventurers, should quietly settle down at once in the ways of peace.
Several successive insurrections desolated the land for some years.
These fierce but transient storms, however, excited by individual
ambition, need not occupy attention. It is sufficient to say that in
these contests a number of the early invaders perished. Indeed, as has
been already said, of the men whose names are most conspicuous in this
nefarious conquest, scarcely one seems to have ended his days in peace.
The Spanish authority being at length consolidated in _Peru_, it is
desirable to show, in so far as may be possible, the nature of the
government which succeeded to that of the _Incas_. The first visible
consequence of the Spanish domination was the diminution in number of
the _Peruvians_, to a degree more deplorable than astonishing. However
great may have been the mortality caused among them by war, it was
slight in comparison to that which resulted when tranquillity had been
restored. All were now compelled to labour, their tasks bearing no
proportion to their strength, but being exacted, nevertheless, with
undeviating severity. Many of them were driven by despair to put an end
to their own lives; whilst fatigue and famine destroyed many more. When
_Peru_ was divided amongst the conquerors, each of the latter was eager
to obtain an instantaneous recompense for his services. Men accustomed
to the carelessness of a military life had neither industry to carry on
any plan of regular cultivation nor patience to wait for its slow
returns. Disdaining to profit by the certain results of agriculture in
the fertile valleys, they selected for their habitations the mountainous
regions, which abounded in the precious mines. In order to develop
these, many hands were wanted; and the natives were accordingly driven
in crowds to the mountains. The sudden transition from the sultry
valleys to the penetrating air of the higher altitudes combined with
inordinate labour and scanty nourishment to produce an unwonted
despondency, under which they rapidly melted away. In addition to this,
large numbers were carried off by that scourge of the New World, the
small-pox. These united causes were more than sufficient to thwart such
well-meant regulations for the protection of the Indians as were
promulgated by the Spanish Government, and as were invariably seconded,
if not initiated, by the Church.
Nevertheless, a considerable number of the native race remained in
_Peru_, more especially in the more remote regions. The fundamental
maxim of Spanish jurisprudence with respect to her colonies was to
consider these acquisitions as being vested in the Crown rather than in
the State. By the celebrated Bull of Alexander VI., on which Spain
founded its rights in the New World, the regions that had been or should
be discovered were bestowed as a free gift upon Ferdinand and Isabella.
Hence their successors were held to be the proprietors of the
territories conquered by the arms of their subjects. All grants
proceeded from them, and from them only all power issued,--with the
exception, that is to say, of local municipal authority.
On the completion of the Spanish conquests in America, these were
divided into two vast governments; the northern one being subject to the
Viceroy of _New Spain_ [_Mexico_]; the southern to the Viceroy of
_Peru_. The former, with which this work has no concern, comprised all
the provinces to the north of the Isthmus of _Panamá_. Under the latter
were comprehended all the Spanish dominions in South America. It was so
inconveniently extensive that some of its districts were separated by
more than two thousand miles from _Lima_. Owing to the distance from
Spain at which these respective governments lay and the difficulties of
communication within them, it was inevitable that much inconvenience
should arise. This inconvenience, however, became intolerable as time
advanced. The population in the provinces remote from the seat of
government complained with reason of their being subjected to a ruler
whose residence was placed so far away as for practical purposes to be
inaccessible; whilst the authority of the Viceroy over such districts
was necessarily feeble and ill-directed.
As a partial remedy for these evils, a third Viceroyalty was later
established, in the year 1718, at _Santa Fè de Bogotá_, the capital of
_New Granada_, the jurisdiction attached to which included that over the
provinces of _Quito_, _Popayan_, _Choco_, and the region called _Tierra
Firma_. The Viceroys not only represented the person of the Sovereign,
but likewise possessed the full regal prerogatives within the precincts
of their respective governments. The external pomp with which they were
surrounded was suited to their real dignity and power, their courts
being formed upon the model of that of Madrid. The Viceroy had his
horse-guards and his foot-guards; his household regularly established; a
large number of attendants; and altogether such magnificence as hardly
to retain the appearance of delegated authority.
The Viceroys were aided in the discharge of the functions appertaining
to their rank by officers and tribunals similar to those in Spain, some
of whom were appointed by the King, and others by the Viceroy, but all
subject to the latter and amenable to his jurisdiction. The
administration of justice was vested in tribunals called _Audiences_,
formed on the model of the Court of Chancery in Spain. In the entire
Spanish dominions of America there were eleven _Audiences_,
of which seven were established in the southern division of the
continent,--namely, at _Lima_, _Panamá_, _Santa Fé de Bogotá_, _La
Plata_ or _Charcas_, _Quito_, _St. Iago de Chili_, and _Buenos Ayres_.
The number of judges in each Court of Audience varied according to
circumstances. The station was no less honourable than lucrative, and
was, for the most part, filled by persons whose merit and ability
invested the tribunal with much respect. Both civil and criminal causes
came under its cognizance; and for each peculiar judges were set apart.
The distance by which they were separated from the mother country not
unfrequently tempted the Spanish Viceroys to arrogate to themselves a
power to which even their Master was a stranger, namely, that of
intruding themselves into the seat of justice. In order to check such
usurpation, laws were repeatedly enacted prohibiting the Viceroys, in
the most explicit terms, from interfering in the judicial proceedings of
the Courts of Audience, or from delivering an opinion or giving a voice
with respect to any point in litigation before them. In some particular
cases, in which any question of civil right was involved, even the
political regulations of the Viceroy might be brought under the review
of the Court of Audience, which, in those instances, might be deemed an
intermediate power placed between him and the people, as a
constitutional barrier to circumscribe his jurisdiction. Such restraint,
however, as the Court might exercise over the person of the Viceroy was
limited to advice and remonstrance; in the event of a direct collision
between their opinion and his will, what he determined must be carried
into execution; they could but lay the matter before the King and the
Council of the Indies. The mere permission, however, to remonstrate and
to report upon one who represented the sovereign, gave great dignity to
the persons composing the _Audience_. Further than this, upon the death
of a Viceroy, without provision for a successor, the supreme power
devolved upon the _Audience_ residing in the capital of the Viceroyalty.
The decisions of these courts, in cases affecting sums exceeding six
thousand _pesos_, might be carried by appeal before the Council of the
Indies.
This supreme Council was established by King Ferdinand in 1511, and
perfected by Charles V., thirteen years later. Its jurisdiction extended
to every department, whether ecclesiastical, civil, military, or
commercial. With it originated all laws and ordinances relative to the
government and police of the colonies. By it were conferred all offices,
the nomination to which was reserved to the Crown; and to it was
accountable every _employé_ in America, from Viceroys downwards. It took
cognizance of all intelligence arriving from the American colonies, and
of every scheme for the improvement of their administration. It was the
invariable object of the kings of Spain to maintain the authority of
this great Council, whose measures and inspection were, as a rule, wise
and watchful. The meetings of the Council of the Indies were held in the
place of residence of the Monarch. This body, in fact, more or less
corresponded with our own Secretary of State for India in Council. There
was, besides, a tribunal or board for the special regulation of
commercial matters. This was called _Casa de la Contratacion_, or the
House of Trade, and was established in Seville, which port absorbed the
commerce with the New World as early as 1501. It took cognizance of all
matters appertaining to the annual fleets to and from Spanish America,
and its decisions were subject alone to revision by the Council of the
Indies.
The policy of Spain, with respect to her colonies in relation to other
nationalities, was one of jealousy and exclusion, which augmented in
proportion to their increased extent. In forming their American
settlements, says the historian Robertson, the Spanish monarchs adopted
a system taken partly from the colonizing principle of Greece and partly
from that of Rome. The early Hellenic migrations served to enable a
state to get rid of its superfluous citizens; the Roman colonies, on the
other hand, were military detachments stationed as garrisons in a
conquered province. The Spanish settlements in America partook of the
nature of both. Whilst they soon became semi-independent, their
connection with the mother country was retained by means of the rights
of legislation and of the power of nominating the persons who should
fill every department of the executive government.
The Spanish adventurers, who laid the foundations of the republics of
South America, were much more successful in the work of destruction than
in that of creation. Owing to a variety of causes, amongst them being
disease, war, famine, the imposition of impossible tasks, the burden of
oppressive taxes, transportation from the valleys to the mountains,
labour in the mines, and being employed in the place of beasts of burden
in expeditions--owing to these, the native population decreased with
immense rapidity. On the other hand, owing to the jealously-restrictive
policy of Spain in compelling her subjects in the New World to have
recourse to the mother country for many of the necessities of life, and
which could only be purchased at excessive cost, the numbers of the
Spaniards did not increase in the _ratio_ that might have been expected.
Other reasons contributed to this, the chief one of which was the tenure
of land, which was extremely unfavourable to the increase of population.
Many of the conquerors obtained permission to convert their
_encomiendas_, or estates with serfs attached to them, into
_mayorasgos_, a species of fief, which can neither be divided nor
alienated. Thus a great portion of landed property, under this rigid
form of entail, was withheld from circulation, and descended from father
to son unimproved, and of little value either to the proprietor or to
the community. In some instances enormous tracts of country were held by
one person, the reason being that only extensive districts could afford
the number of labourers requisite for the working of mines with any
prospect of gain. The evil effects arising from these causes were very
apparent; but we must hesitate to accept the computation of Benzoni[11]
that in the year 1550 the entire Spanish population in the New World did
not exceed fifteen thousand.
It is estimated, likewise, that the enormously expensive ecclesiastical
establishment in the Spanish colonies greatly retarded their progress.
The payment of tithes was enforced to the full extent, even in the case
of articles requiring artificial production. Such fertile and wealthy
regions, however, as had fallen to the lot of Spain in the New World
through the enterprise of her sons, could not fail in the long run
successfully to emerge from the mass of trammels which had been imposed
upon them by the ignorance of legislators, the force of circumstances,
and the power of superstition. Gradually a new society arose, the
component elements of which may be classified as follows:--
In the first place came the _Chapetones_, being the Spaniards who
arrived from Europe. The Court of Spain, jealously anxious to ensure the
dependence of the colonies on the mother country, made it a rule to fill
all departments of the state by Spaniards born. Each _employé_ was
required to furnish proof of a clear descent from a family of old
Christians, untainted by Hebrew or Moorish blood, and uncontaminated by
having appeared in the records of the Inquisition.
Next in order come the _Creoles_, or the descendants of Europeans
settled in America. This class very soon began to exhibit the degeneracy
which has invariably resulted wherever a portion of a vigorous race
inhabiting an invigorating climate has migrated to an enervating one. It
resulted, for example, in a marked degree with the Portuguese in India;
and if it has not the same result with the English, this is to be
attributed entirely to the fact that in almost all instances
Anglo-Indians send their children, at an early age, to be brought up and
educated in Europe, and that they themselves are being continually
recruited from the mother country. In the instance of such English as
are born and brought up in India, who are fortunately too few in number
to require to be classified like _Creoles_, the invariable rule of
nature holds good, as it does amongst the Italians and French who, ever
since the Crusades, have lived in greater or less numbers in the Levant,
the word “Levantine” being a synonym for moral and physical degeneracy.
Thus the _Creoles_, though many of them were descended from the
conquerors of the New World; though others could trace their pedigree to
the noblest families of Spain; though some possessed the advantage of
great patrimonial wealth, yet, owing to moral and physical causes, as
well as to special legislation, sank naturally into a second-class
position. Their mental vigour was in a marked degree lost, and such of
it as remained was devoted to the indulgences of pleasure and
superstition. Even the operations of commerce, in addition to the
functions of government, fell to the lot of the _Chapetones_ or natives
of Spain.
The third class in the Spanish colonists arose from the offspring,
either of Europeans with negroes, or of Europeans with original natives
of America. These were called, respectively, _Mulattoes_ and _Mestizas_,
and they multiplied so greatly as to constitute a very considerable
portion of the population throughout the transatlantic dominions of
Spain. The several stages of descent in this race were distinguished by
a peculiar name. In the third generation the hue of the Indian
disappeared, and in the fifth the blood of the _Mulatto_ became so
undistinguishable that his offspring obtained all the privileges of the
European. This robust and hardy race were invaluable in the Spanish
settlements in practising the mechanical arts.
Amongst the inhabitants of the Spanish colonies, the fourth rank was
assigned to the _negroes_ pure and simple. They were in several
settlements employed chiefly in domestic service. Their superior
physical strength, as well as their favour with their masters, gave them
an ascendancy over the natives, whom they were wont to treat with such
insolence and scorn, that an implacable antipathy arose between the two
races. This antipathy, which originated from accidental causes, was no
sooner perceived than it was sedulously fomented, great precautions
being taken to prevent anything which might form a bond of union between
the two races.
Last of all, in the order of society, came the unfortunate native
Indians, who had been so ruthlessly dispossessed of all their natural
rights. Due regulations determined the nature and extent of the services
which these were required to perform, and likewise the amount of the
annual tax imposed upon all males between the ages of fifteen and fifty.
When the native was an immediate vassal of the Crown, three-fourths of
the tax, which may have been on an average about four shillings a head,
were paid into the royal treasury. When he formed part of an
_encomienda_, a like proportion belonged to the holder of the grant. As
the original _encomiendas_ were only granted for two lives, they then
reverted to the sovereign. The benefit of the labour of the natives in
like manner belonged either to the Crown or to the holder of the grant.
They were compelled to assist in works of necessity, such as the culture
of corn, tending cattle, forming roads, bridges, &c.; but they could
not be constrained to labour for the furtherance of objects of personal
gratification or commercial profit. For the purpose of service in the
mines they were called out in successive divisions, called _mitas_, in
which each person took his turn. In _Peru_ each _mita_ could not exceed
a seventh part of any inhabitants of a district, and was detained at
service in the mines for six months at a time. Whilst engaged in this
service, however, each labourer was duly paid, receiving from two to
four shillings a day; and, after a time, a humane regulation was
introduced, forbidding the deportation of the natives of the plains to
the elevated regions. No Indian residing more than thirty miles from the
mine might be assigned to the _mita_ employed in it.
The natives living in town were subject to the Spanish laws and
magistrates; but those inhabiting their own villages were left in charge
of their _caciques_, by whom their affairs were regulated according to
traditional usage. This dignity was in many cases permitted to continue
by hereditary descent; and, for the further protection of the natives,
the Spanish Court appointed, in the course of time, an officer in each
district, who was styled “Protector of the Indians.” It was the duty of
this functionary to assert their rights and to represent them in courts
of justice. Of the reserved fourth of the Indians’ tribute a portion was
assigned as the salaries for the protector and the _cacique_, the
remainder being given for the purpose of their religious requirements,
or for their own support in years of famine or other such calamity.
Where so much has to be recorded of cruelty and misgovernment on the
part of the Spaniards towards the natives of South America, it is
gratifying to be enabled to state that hospitals were erected for the
benefit of indigent and infirm in _Lima_, _Cuzco_, and elsewhere, where
the natives were treated with all humanity.
On a general review of Spanish legislation with respect to the
treatment of the natives of the New World, it is admitted on all sides
that, granted that Spain possessed any rights over them at all, her
government, from the time of Isabella onwards, was most solicitous for
their spiritual and material well-being. Several causes, however, as has
been already observed, contributed to thwart the wise and humane
legislation on the part of the mother country. Chief amongst these were
the distance of the colonies from Spain, and the self-interest of those
persons whose duty it was to see the laws and regulations enacted. In
_Peru_ more especially the Indians are stated to have been much
oppressed, the law forbidding their employment at more than thirty miles
from their homes being often broken. In several provinces, however, the
natives were permitted to enjoy not only ease but affluence--possessing
well-stocked farms, and being supplied with all the necessaries and many
of the luxuries of life.
An important feature in the history of the Spanish colonies is the
condition of the Church in the latter, and its connection with the
State. Ferdinand “the Catholic” was likewise Ferdinand the politic; and
in his transactions with the Holy See he had a vigilant eye for the
interests of his Crown. With an early precaution against the
introduction of Papal dominion in America, he solicited and obtained
from the Pope, Alexander VI., a grant to his Crown of the tithes in all
the newly-discovered countries, upon the condition of making provision
for the religious instruction of the natives. Julius II. likewise
conferred upon him and his successors the right of ecclesiastical
patronage and the disposal of all benefices in the colonies. It is true
that these pontiffs were entirely in the dark as to the value of that
which was demanded; and when this fact became better known, their
successors had occasion to lament their inconsiderate liberality. But
the grants were beyond recall, and their consequence was to make the
Spanish monarchs the heads of the American Church. In them the
administration of its revenues was vested, and their nominations to
benefices were at once confirmed by the Pope. Thus was avoided all
collision between spiritual and temporal jurisdiction. This limitation
of the Papal authority is the more singular when we consider the
character of the nation and that of the monarch by whom it was devised.
The hierarchy of Spanish America was constituted similarly to that of
Spain. The inferior clergy were divided into three classes, _Curas_,
_Doctrineros_, and _Misioneros_. Of these, the first were parish
priests; the second had charge of districts inhabited by subjected
Indians; the third were employed in converting and instructing
independent tribes. The revenues of the Church were immense; its
edifices and convents were magnificent, and its display of wealth
ostentatious. Nothing could be less suitable for establishments so
situated as were the Spanish colonies in South America than the
introduction of the monastic system; yet that system was soon to be
found there to a most flourishing extent. In a new settlement, where
there is room to spread, the main object should be to encourage
population; but the Spaniards, with their usual blindness, began from
the first to erect convents, where persons of either sex were shut up in
large numbers under a vow of celibacy. The numbers who crowded into
those abodes of superstition and of listless ease were utterly lost to
society; and the consequence of this was the more serious, inasmuch as
none but persons of Spanish extraction were admitted into the
monasteries.
A considerable proportion of the secular clergy in America were natives
of Spain, being for the most part such as had little prospect of
advancement in their own country. They were, as a body, not remarkable
for their attainments either in science or in literature. But the
greater part of the ecclesiastics in Spanish America were regulars. The
missionaries of the four mendicant orders had permission from the Pope
to accept parochial charges in America, without being subject to the
jurisdiction of the bishop of the diocese. It is to these alone amongst
Spanish ecclesiastics that we are indebted for our accounts of the civil
and natural history of the various provinces. Amongst them may be
mentioned the history of the New World by the Jesuit Acosta, and
likewise the natural and civil history of _Chili_ by the Abbé Molina,
from whose work I have quoted, and who, although a Chilian, is so
singularly fair towards the sworn foes of his country, the Araucanians.
The general purport of Catholic testimony gives but a poor report of the
moral character of the South American regular clergy, many of whom are
said to have been not only destitute of the virtues to the observance of
which they were sworn, but even of ordinary decorum. The vow of poverty
was treated with contempt, some of the ecclesiastics becoming amongst
the chief oppressors of the natives whom it was their duty to protect.
The vow of chastity received as little regard.
[Sidenote: 1757.]
These irregularities did not escape the notice of the authorities, and
one Viceroy of _Peru_ took effective measures for restraining the
regulars. They had recourse, however, to such influences at Madrid that
their ancient practices were soon again tolerated. Being thus exempt
from all restraints, they at length excited such scandal and disgust
that Ferdinand VI. was constrained to issue an edict prohibiting
regulars of any denomination from taking charge of parishes; and
declaring that, on the demise of the present incumbents, none but
secular priests, under due jurisdiction, should be presented to vacant
benefices.
The early missionaries admitted natives of America into the Church with
such haste that it was utterly impossible for them to comprehend the
doctrines which they professed to receive; if for no other reason than
that neither priests nor converts were more than superficially
acquainted with the other’s language. It sometimes happened that from a
desire to please their conquerors, or for some other reason altogether
apart from conviction, there was a sudden rush to obtain admission into
the Church. On the whole, however, it is to be feared that the Spanish
ecclesiastics made but small progress in instilling into the natives the
real doctrines of Christianity. Even after two centuries had passed, but
few natives possessed such spiritual discernment as to be admitted to
the Holy Communion. When the Inquisition was established by Philip II.
in his transatlantic dominions, in 1570, the natives were exempted from
the jurisdiction of that tribunal.
[Sidenote: 1545.]
A fresh impulse was given to emigration to _Peru_ by the accidental
discovery by an Indian, as he was climbing the mountain in pursuit of a
_llama_, of the silver mines of _Potosí_, which poured forth their
treasures in such profusion as to astonish mankind. Some idea of the
mineral wealth of the Spanish possessions in the New World may be
obtained from the computation that, from the year 1492, gold and silver
annually entered Spain to the value of four millions sterling. In this
figure, which was regularly accounted for, is not included the treasure
fraudulently imported free of duty, and which might perhaps amount to
nearly as much more. These mines were not worked by the Crown, but by
private adventurers, with the natural result that a spirit of gambling
was very soon produced, which had a most debasing effect upon the
colonial character.
But although the mines of _Peru_ were the great attraction of the
country, they were fortunately not the only source of wealth. To that
country the world owes many products of at least as much value to it as
silver and gold. It has been already mentioned that the earliest notice
which we have of the potato occurs in Pizarro’s first exploring
expedition. That adventurer would have smiled had any one suggested to
him that the root to which his starving followers had recourse in order
to satisfy their hunger might be a greater boon to mankind than even
the _Inca’s_ ransom. To _Peru_ we likewise owe, exclusively, the
_Quinquina_, or Jesuits’ bark, which has perhaps allayed more misery
than even Pizarro caused. _Cacao_, and various other products of value,
quicksilver being amongst them, likewise come from the same quarter.
[Sidenote: 1568.]
_Don_ Francisco de Toledo came out to _Peru_ as Viceroy in the year
1568. He was a man well advanced in life and of much experience, but of
a political morality which is not to be defended according to our
ethics; although it might claim numerous precedents in Roman history.
With the sole object of increasing public security, and without the
least pretence of any crime on the part of the illustrious victim save
that of being a living political danger, he put to death the last of the
_Incas_, the young Tupac Amaru.
This Viceroy, however, was most conscientious in his desire for the
well-being of the people committed to his charge. He was indefatigable
as well as prudent in legislating; and he devoted five years to making a
journey throughout every district of his Viceroyalty, with such success
that the Peruvians admitted that their country had not been so well
administered since the time of the good Tupac Yupanqui. It is to this
governor that the University of St. Mark at _Lima_ mainly owes its
existence; and he had the advanced judgment to perceive that the two
main sources of Peruvian wealth were corn and wool, rather than silver
and gold. It was to the fact that _Don_ Francisco de Toledo, who
remained in _Peru_ till 1579, was accompanied in his journeys by the
Jesuit D’Acosta that we owe the valuable natural history of _Peru_,
composed by that writer, the results of fifteen years of literary
labour.
[Sidenote: 1611.]
The commercial policy of Spain in forbidding all trade between her
colonies and other nations had, in the course of time, a singularly
retributive effect upon herself. Owing to various causes, amongst which
was the expulsion by Philip III. of the Moors, her industrial population
became so reduced that that country was at once obliged to contract her
operations of war and of peace. From want of men her fleets were ruined,
and from the same cause her manufactures had sunk into decay; even her
agriculture was insufficient for the national consumption. The law
respecting colonial trade was still enforced, and the mineral wealth of
the _Andes_ still flowed into Spain; but the necessities of demand and
supply were above law, and her merchants had to look to other countries
for the supplies which were to be sent to America in return, and thus
the gold and silver merely passed through Spain on its way to England or
to Holland, to France and Italy. In the name of Spanish firms those of
the above nations sent their goods to America, and at length it was
computed that, of the European goods supplied to the Spanish American
provinces, not more than a twentieth part were of Spanish growth or
fabric. The climax of this state of things was arrived at when the lord
of the mines of _Potosí_ was constrained to issue an edict raising
copper money to a value in currency nearly equal to that of silver.
The fleets, which supplied the transatlantic colonies, were
distinguished by the name of _Galleons_ and _Flotas_, respectively, and
were equipped annually, taking their departure from Seville and latterly
from Cadiz. The galleons touched first at _Carthagena_ and then at
_Porto-Bello_. To the former port resorted the merchants of _Santa
Martha_, _Caraccas_, _New Granada_, and other provinces; the latter port
was the emporium which supplied _Peru_ and _Chili_. At the right season
of the year the product of these countries was transported by sea to
_Panamá_; whence, as soon as the appearance of the fleet was announced,
it was conveyed across the isthmus, on mules, and down the river
_Chagre_ to _Porto-Bello_, the noxious climate of which village gave it
the unenviable distinction of being the most unhealthy spot in the
world. For the greater part of the year it was the residence of negroes
and mulattoes, but during the six weeks of the fair it was a
_Nigni-Novgorod_, in which was transacted the richest traffic of two
hemispheres. The _Flota_ proceeded to _Vera-Cruz_, for the supply of
_Mexico_.
The restrictive regulation of Spain, by which her enormous colonial
trade was confined to a single port, had, of course, the effect of
throwing the commerce into the hands of a few houses, who could regulate
their own prices, with the result of checking enterprise and diminishing
production. The object of the monopolists was, not to supply the
colonies with as much goods as the latter could consume and could afford
to purchase at prices remunerative both to producers and to merchants;
but to throw upon the markets such a moderate amount of goods as might
secure exorbitant prices. There were not wanting Spanish statesmen and
political-economists who could discern the ruinous effects of such a
state of things; and the most extravagant measures were suggested with a
view to check them. It required, however, the convulsion produced by
civil war, and the contact into which Spain was thus thrown with foreign
nations, to rouse her into vigorous action.
The monarchs of the Bourbon line took measures to suppress a state of
things which had overturned the system of Spanish trade with America.
The trade with _Peru_ was now thrown open to the French, whose King
granted the privilege to the merchants of St. Malo, who, unlike their
grasping competitors of Cadiz, furnished the Pacific Viceroyalty with
European goods in liberal quantity and at a moderate price. The result
was that the trade of Spain with her own chief colony was on the point
of being extinguished. Peremptory instructions had accordingly once more
to be issued, forbidding the admission of foreign vessels into any port
of _Chili_ or _Peru_.
But on her escape from this danger Spain found that she had incurred
another. The treaty of Utrecht conveyed to Great Britain the _Asiento_
for supplying Spanish colonies with negroes, and further granted to that
country the privilege of sending annually to the Fair of _Porto-Bello_ a
vessel of five hundred tons with European commodities. British factories
soon arose at _Carthagena_ and _Panamá_; and the agents had ample means
of becoming acquainted with the condition of the American provinces,
with the result that contraband trade greatly flourished. Thus, by the
aid of a system of wholesale bribery of the revenue officers, nearly the
entire commerce of Spanish America fell into the hands of foreigners.
The squadron of _galleons_ was reduced from fifteen thousand to two
thousand tons.
[Sidenote: 1739.]
It was not to be expected that Spain should tamely submit to such a
state of things. Her first measure, undertaken with the view of
improving matters, was to establish along her colonial coasts a system
of guardships, with the object of preventing smuggling. The British
colonial commerce, with the Spanish settlements, was, however, so firmly
established that it would not be put down; and the Spanish coasts were
so extensive that no system of guardships could exercise a sufficiently
vigilant watch. The consequence was, in the first place, complaints, and
then, acts of violence; which brought on another war between Great
Britain and Spain, the consequence being that the latter country was
released from the terms of the _Asiento_ granted by the treaty of
Utrecht.
Left at liberty to regulate her own colonial trade, Spain now profited
by experience in so far that she was induced to permit a considerable
part of her commerce with America to be carried in _register_ ships;
which were fitted out during the intervals between the stated periods
for the sailing of the _galleons_ and the _flota_, by merchants at
Seville and Cadiz, who obtained a license for this purpose. The
advantage of thus regularly supplying the demand in the colonies was
soon perceived to be so great that, in 1748, the _galleons_, which had
been an institution during two centuries, were abolished; whilst the
single vessels no longer proceeded to _Porto-Bello_; but, sailing round
_Cape Horn_, conveyed directly the productions of Europe to the Chilian
and Peruvian ports.
[Sidenote: 1764.]
It may seem strange to a generation accustomed to read day by day the
notice of events occurring in the most remote parts of the globe almost
as soon as they happen, that a nation such as Spain, possessing as it
did enormous foreign possessions, could have been contented with
receiving news concerning their progress once only in the course of each
year. Such, however, was nearly always the case, until about the year
1740, when register ships were permitted. Previously to that date the
annual fleet of _galleons_ was the sole means of postal communication
between the mother country and her South American possessions. It is
true that news of passing transatlantic events occasionally reached
Spain through other nations, whose intercourse with her colonies it was
her constant object to repress. It was not until the year 1764 that
packet-boats were appointed to be despatched on the first day of each
month from Coruña to _Havana_ or _Porto Rico_; whence letters were
conveyed in smaller vessels to _Vera Cruz_ and _Porto-Bello_, to be
forwarded from there to the north or to the south, as the case might be.
A packet-boat sailed once in each two months for the river _Plata_, to
supply the districts on the eastern side of the _Andes_. As these
packet-boats were permitted to take out and to bring home a stated
amount of produce, Coruña, from this time forward, shared with Cadiz the
profits of the colonial trade.
[Sidenote: 1774.]
The year 1774 marks a further advance in Spanish liberal colonial
legislation, the Viceroyalty or provinces of _New Spain_, _Guatemala_,
_Peru_, and _New Granada_, respectively, being permitted the privilege
of free-trade with each other. This was followed, four years later, by
the promulgation of an entirely new commercial code for the Indies, the
consideration of which more naturally falls within the chapter relating
to the Viceroyalty of _Buenos Ayres_. I may conclude this _resumé_ of
the Viceroyalty of _Peru_ by a statement of the actual profit in specie,
which the mother country is estimated to have derived from that
possession.
The best Spanish authorities are agreed in considering that the
Sovereign, owing to various causes, the chief being peculation and
smuggling, was defrauded of about one half of the colonial revenue which
legitimately belonged to him. But, notwithstanding corruption and
illicit importation, the revenue derived by the Spanish monarch from his
American possessions was still very considerable. It arose from taxes,
which may be divided into three branches. The first includes what was
paid to the King as Lord Superior of the New World, namely, the duty on
the produce of the mines and the tribute exacted from the natives. The
second branch comprehended the duties upon commerce. The third included
such dues as came to the King in his capacity as temporal head of the
colonial Church and as administrator of its funds. It is estimated that
_Peru_ yielded to the Crown a revenue of about a million sterling, one
half of which may have been consumed in the expense of the provincial
establishments. This amount, or whatever it may have been, it is to be
remembered, accrued to the Spanish Crown from this important colony, _in
addition_ to the wealth derived from it by the parent state by means of
its exclusive trade.