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TEXAS STATE LIBRARY
that of the New World, and was forced to r~lax a little in his system of exclusion. This relaxation, however, was of little or no benefit to the Colonies. When the mother country was no longer able to keep the Interlopers out of the colonial ports, she allowed the vessels of other nations to participate in the commerce by registering their vessels in Spain, and obtaining a license from the Council of the Indies.- This license, however, had to be purchased at a rate which was equivalent to an equal division of profits between the Crown and the merchant_; so that although the Colonies, by this arrangement, was abundantly supplied with· commodities, they were still burthened with extravagant prices. The interlopers, no longer tempted by enormous gains, aban- doned their hazzardous traffic; and the Colonies, after a brief enjoy- ment of a free trade, were resubjected to the commercial rapacities of· the mother country. The Regi:3ter ships supplanted the Galeons, which were abandoned in 1784, after a continuance of two hundred years.- In the unhallowed anxiety of the mother country to perpetuate her dominion over the Americas, and to make herself the soul recipient of its mineral wealth, every possible measure was adopted to detain the people in a state of dependence and degradation. The national ener- gies were directed exclusively t_o the working of the mines, to the pro- hibition of almost every other branch of industry. Nothing was al- lowed to be produced in the colonies-whether agricultural or mechan- ical-which the Peninsula was capable of furnishing. The inhabitants were forbid to cultivate the vine, the olive, tobacco, the mulberry for the rearing of silk-worms, and indeed every kind of production which might compete with with [ sic J the mother country in the culture of the same. Nor were they allowed to pursue the mechanic arts-to work in iron-to make their own utensils of labor-to establish factories of any kind-or even to fabricate many of the simplest articles of domes- tic comfort. They were forced to rely upon the Peninsula for nearly all the necessaries of life; for clothing, furniture, ornaments, luxuries of every kind, and even for some of the primary articles of subsistence which their prolific soil and propitious climate were capable of produc- ing almost spontaneously. Every thing had to be imported from Old Spain; and upon the onorous terms which we have already described. It -seemed, indeed that if the Court of ~Iaurid had possessed the power of drying up the fountains of the country, it would have been done in order that other revenues might arise from the supplying the New- World with water.- By these means not only was the industry of the Peninsula stimu- lated and a profitable market secured for its productions; but an other object was promoted of vital importance to the views of the Cro~vn. We allude to the benighting effects of such a policy upon the mmd and character of the people. It prevented the growth of intelligence among them, and the habit of thinking for themselves-an indispensible consequence to the stability of Spanish domination; for it is eveident that no government founded upon such tiranical principles could ever long be inforced-even by the sword-without the aid of ignorance. Hence the necessity of keeping the Creoles in such condition. Their degradation was the strength of the government. In view o~ ~his _trut~, they were forbi_d the use of books-excluded f~om all ~artic1pation m public affairs-shut out from the hope of social equality-treated as
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