NOTE LXIV. p. 337.

No bale of goods is ever opened, no cheft of treasure is examined. Both are received on the credit of the perfons to whom they belong; and only one inftance of fraud is recorded, during the long period in which trade was carried on with this liberal confidence. All the coined filver which was brought from Peru to Porto bello in the year 1654, was found to be adulterated, and to be mingled with a fifth part of bafe metal. The Spanish merchants with their ufual integrity fuftained the whole lofs, and indemnified the foreigners, by whom they were employed. The fraud was detected, and the treafurer of the revenue in Peru, the author of it, was publickly burnt. B. Ulloa Retablif. de Manuf. &c. lib. ii. p. 102.

NOTE LXV. p. 342.

Many ftriking proofs occur of the scarcity of money in Spain. Of all the immenfe fums which have been imported from America, the amount of which I fhall afterwards have occafion to mention, Moncada afferts that there did not remain in Spain, in 1619, above two hundred millions of pefos, one half in coined money, the other in plate and jewels. Reftaur. de Efpagna, Difc. iii. c. 1. Uztariz, who publifhed his valuable work in 1724, contends, that in money, plate, and jewels, there did

not remain a hundred millions. Theor. &c. c. 3. Campomanes, on the authority of a remonftrance from the community of merchants in Toledo to Philip III. relates, as a certain proof how fcarce cafh had become, that perfons who lent money, received a third part of the fum which they advanced as interest and premium. Educ. Popul. i. 417,

NOTE LXVI. p. 346.

The account of the mode in which the fac tors of the South Sea Company conducted the trade in the fair of Porto bello, which was opened to them by the Affiento, I have taken from Don Dion. Alcedo y Herrera, prefident of the court of Audience in Quito, and governor of that province. Don Dionyfio was a perfon of fuch a refpectable character for probity and difcernment, that his teftimony, in any point, would be of much weight; but greater credit is due to it in this cafe, as he was an eye-witness of the tranfactions which he relates, and was often employed in detecting and authenticating the frauds which he defcribes. is probable, however, that his representation being compofed at the commencement of the war which broke out between Great Britain and Spain, in the year 1739, may, in fome inftances, difcover a portion of the acrimonious fpirit, natural at that jun&ture, His detail of

facts is curious; and even English authors confirm it in fome degree, by admitting both that various frauds were practifed in the tranfactions of the annual fhip, and that the contraband trade from Jamaica, and other British colonies, was become enormously great. But for the credit of the English nation it may be observed, that thofe fraudulent operations are not to be confidered as deeds of the company, but as the difhonourable arts of their factors and agents. The company itself fuftained a confiderable lofs by the Affiento trade. Many of its servants acquired immense fortunes. Anderfon Chronol deduct. ii. 388.

NOTE LXVII. p. 353.

Several facts with respect to the institution, the progrefs, and the effects, of this company, are curious, and but little known to English readers. Though the province of Venezuela, or Caraccas, extends four hundred miles along the coaft, and is one of the moft fertile in America; it was fo much neglected by the Spaniards, that during the twenty years prior to the establishment of the company, only five fnips failed from Spain to that province and dur ing 16 years from 1706 to 1722 not a fingle ship arrived from the Caraccas in Spain. Noticias de Real Compania de Caraccas, p. 28. During this period Spain muft have been supplied almost entirely with the large quantity of cacao,

Before the

which it confumes, by foreigners. erection of the company, neither tobacco nor hides were imported from Caraccas into Spain. Id. p. 117. But since the commercial operations of the company began in the year 1731, the importation of cacao into Spain has increased amazingly. During thirty years fubfequent to 1701, the number of Fanegas of cacao (each a hundred and ten pounds) imported from Caraccas, was 643, 215. During eighteen years fubfequent to 1731, the number of Fanegas imported was 869,247; and if we fuppofe the importation to be continued in the fame proportion during the remainder of thirty years, it will amount to 1,448,746 Fanegas, which is an increase of 805,531 Fanegas. Id. p. 148. During eight years fubfequent to 1756, there has been imported into Spain by the Company, 88,482 arrobas (each twenty five pounds) of tobacco; and hides to the number of 177,354. Id 161. Since the publication of the Noticias de Compania, in 1765, its trade feems to be on the increase. During five years fubfequent to 1769, it has imported 179, 156 Fanegas of cacao into Spain, 36,208 arrobas of tobacco, 75,496 hides, and 221,432 pefos in fpecie. Campomanes, ii. 162. The laft article is a proof of the growing wealth of the colony. It receives cafh from Mexico in return for the cacao, with which it supplies that province, and this it remits to Spain, or days out in purchafing European goods. But

befides this, the most explicit evidence is produced, that the quantity of caçao raised in the province is double to what it yielded in 1731; the number of its live-ftock is more than treble, and its inhabitants much augmented. The revenue of the bishop, which arifes wholly from tythes, has increased from eight to twenty thou fand pefos. Notic. p. 69. In confequence of the augmentation of the quantity of cacao imported into Spain, its price has decreased from eighty pefos for the fanega to forty. Id. 61. Since the publication of the first edition, I have learned that Guyana, including all the extenfive provinces fituated on the banks of the Orinoco, the islands of Trinidad and Margarita are added to the countries with which the company of Caraccas had liberty of trade by their former charters. Real Cedula, Nov. 19, 1776. But I have likewife been informed, that the inftitution of this company has not been attended with all the beneficial effects which I have afcribed to it. In many of its operations the illiberal and oppreffive fpirit of monopoly is confpicuous. But in order to explain this, it would be neceffary to enter into minute details, which are not fuited to the nature of this work.

NOTE LXVIII. p. 360.

This firft experiment made by Spain of opening a free trade with any of her colonies, has