depots and trading factories in the Spanish American possessions; 36 this being a part of the price at which France and Spain secured the withdrawal of Great Britain from the grand alliance.

His Catholic Majesty Felipe V. and her Britannic Majesty Queen Anne were to receive each one fourth share in the profits obtained from the sale of these human chattels, the former agreeing to advance one million pesos for carrying on the trade, or in case he could not raise such an amount to pay interest thereupon at the rate of eight per cent a year. Before her decease, which occurred in the following year, the English sovereign, finding her share unprofitable, transferred it to the South Sea Company, though it does not appear that the latter reaped much benefit therefrom.

33

37

"Commercial houses," as they were termed, were at once established at Vera Cruz and elsewhere on the coast of the North Sea; but their owners, not content with the enormous profits of the slave-trade, violated the terms of the treaty by introducing cargoes of foreign merchandise. England was now permitted, as we have seen, to send yearly to Portobello a five hundred ton vessel freighted with merchandise; but each slaver that landed its living cargo on the shores of New Spain brought also a quantity of contraband goods. In vain the custom-house officers attempted to stay this traffic; and in vain the penalty of death and confiscation of property was threatened against

36 An asiento for the sale of slaves, with power to regulate their price, was also granted to the French about the year 1702.

37 Some of the clauses of this asiento are given in Moro, Informe (Mexico, 1724), 1-4, and all of them in an abridged form in Salmon's Modern Hist. (3d ed., London, 1746), iii. 220-2. The asiento had been previously granted (in 1702) to the French Guinea Company and was transferred to the crown of England at the treaty of Utrecht.

38 In a speech delivered before the company in 1731, Sir John Eyles in giving an account of this branch of their business during the previous ten years, states that, though the report of their having lost £2,000,000 by the trade was untrue, they had incurred such losses through the seizure of their effects by the Spaniards during the wars with Spain that their gains were very small. They were not, however, out of pocket. Id., 222.

39 Hist. Cent. Amer., ii. 586-7, this series.

CONTRABAND TRADERS.

289

all Spaniards who engaged in it. It was an easy matter to bribe the not over-conscientious or overvigilant officials, and thus to procure goods at cheap rates instead of paying tribute to the merchants of Seville. For twenty-eight years the South Sea Company and private adventurers carried on a contraband trade, almost to the exclusion of Spanish commerce, until, at the convention of Madrid in 1750, the former agreed to annul the asiento, receiving in return certain commercial privileges, and a money compensation of 500,000 pesos. During this period the commerce between the Spanish provinces and Europe was estimated at 286,000,000 pesos, of which amount English smugglers and slavers absorbed no less than 224,000,000 pesos, and only 62,000,000 pesos, or less than 22 per cent of the entire sum, fell to the share of the Spanish galleons.40

During the last years of his administration the viceroy was constantly engaged in petty warfare with the contraband traders; but to no purpose. All that man could do he did. The troops were kept on the alert; the armada de Barlovento also rendered good service, in consideration of which they received their pay" at no very long intervals, and sometimes evenwith regularity, the latter a rare incident in those days. But on the thinly peopled coast of New Spain were many excellent and secluded anchorage grounds, and the population being for the most part in league

40 Zamacois, Hist. Méj., v. 531.

41 In his instructions to his successor the viceroy says that the armada de Barlovento had received assistance from himself and his predecessors, as the troops were in arrears of pay, but that if a trustworthy person were sent to exainine the accounts of the different garrisons, it might be found that the king was a creditor rather than a debtor. The instructions relate to other matters, and are remarkable for their terseness and vigor of expression. Linares, Instruccion á su sucesor, in Vireyes de Mex. Instruc., MS., fol. i. 49, ii. 23. In June 1687 the seamen and troops belonging to the armada mutinied at Vera Cruz on account of not having received their pay, which was at the rate of about eleven pesos a month, and because they were not satisfied with this amount. On receiving a portion of their back pay and a full pardon they returned to their duty. Rivera, Gob. Mex., i. 262-3. Robles, 476, states that a force of mulattoes was sent against them and that three of the mutineers were killed.

HIST. MEX., VOL. III. 19

with the English, little could be done to check their unlawful traffic.

On the 15th of August 1716, Linares' term of office expired, and his decease occurred during the following year." He had proved himself a humane and benevolent man; but it was not until after his death that the full extent of his charities was known. It then appeared that besides devoting large sums to the relief of the poor, he had established free dispensaries at the different barriers of the city, and in his will he bequeathed a further amount for similar purposes. All his bequests were faithfully carried out by his executors, and among them was one of five thousand pesos in aid of the Jesuit missions in California.43

45

Linares' successor was Baltasar de Zúñiga, marqués de Valero and duque de Arion." The salary of the new viceroy was fixed at twenty-seven thousand pesos a year, a larger stipend than was usually paid, and its amount excited unfavorable comment from his predecessor. The condition of affairs in New Spain was not in keeping with such extravagance. The country had not yet recovered from the disasters of 1714, and two years after Valero had assumed office, tidings arrived of a severe famine in Texas. So great was the scarcity of grain that the troops stationed there threatened to desert. Provisions were at once forwarded to the governor of Coahuila, and in the hope of making that territory self-sustaining persons

42 He died in Mexico on the 3d of June, and his death was much regretted. He was buried in the Cármen convent, which was afterward known as the church of San Sebastian. His portrait was preserved in the nunnery of Santa Teresa la Nueva.

43 Linares was the first secular of the congregation of the Buena Muerte, and the spacious edifice belonging to the society was erected mainly at his expense. It exists at the present day. Alegre, Hist. Compend., iii. 177.

He took office August 16, 1716.

45 Linares remarked: Habré vivido seis años en opulencia; y aunque ahora no me hallo en abundancia volveré á los piés del Rey, gustoso, á hacerle ver que con veintisiete mil pesos de sueldo, sin abusar de sus caudales, ni vender la justicia, me restituyo satisfecho á ellos.' Zamacois, Hist. Mėj., v.

were sent to instruct the natives in the science of agriculture.

On the 16th of June 1718, while returning from the procession of corpus christi in company with the oidores, an attempt was made on the viceroy's life. When about to ascend the stairs of his palace, a man named Nicolás Camacho grasped at Valero's sword, drew it half way from the scabbard, and would probably have plunged it into his body had he not been seized by the attendant halberdiers. On being questioned as to his motives it was found that the wouldbe assassin was a lunatic, and after a brief trial he was sent to the hospital of San Hipólito.

46

During the remainder of the viceroy's administration, which lasted until the 15th of October, 1722, the provinces of New Spain were in a prosperous condition. The mines were unusually productive, the yield of quicksilver being especially large; the crops were abundant; and the volume of trade was greatly increased.47

The sole drawback to this flourishing condition of affairs was the outbreak of hostilities between France and Spain, occasioned by a dispute between the duke of Orleans, who was appointed regent during the

46 The trial lasted only two days. A report of it is given in Dic. Univ. Hist. Geog., app. i. 470-1. It is the opinion of the writer that Camacho was not insane, but the victim of an intrigue on the part of the viceroy who purposed to deprive him of his wife. The same view is taken in Registro Trimestre, i. 385-407. The editor makes the following comment on the trial: ‘Esta causa forma una especie de contraste con la que dimos en le número antérior, y aunque los jueces aparecen mas equitativos, queda siempre una sospecha de que el desgraciado Camacho, fué victima de una intriga para quitarle á su muger. Por lo demás se advierten cosas dignas de notarse en esta causa. Tal es por ejemplo, el que en un hecho sucedido à mediodia y á muy poca distancia de os testigos presenciales, solo Muelas asegure que Camacho arremetió con el espadin al virey, diciendo unicamente los demás que se lo estrajo de la vaina. Es tambien notable el dictámen fiscal, que fundado en la idea equivocada de que no puede haber un completo trastorno mental sin furor, pide la pena correspondiente al delito de Lesa Magestad in primo capite. Creemos que tambien es de notar el parecer del protomedicato, pues que su dictámen nada tiene de médico y cualquiera pudiera decir lo mismo sin haber saludado los principios del arte. Sin embargo, esta es una causa formada con esmero, pues per lo singular del caso se mandó al rey copia de ella.'

In 1721 the fleet from New Spain reached Cádiz with treasure and merchandise to the value of 11,000,000 pesos. Mayer's Mex. Azt., i. 228.

minority of Louis XV., and Cardinal Alberoni, the minister of Felipe V. On the 19th of May 1719 the garrison of Pensacola surrendered to the French, and the colonists and missionaries of Florida and Texas were compelled to take refuge in Coahuila. But the French could not maintain their foothold in the country. When the news of their invasion reached Mexico, Valero quickly despatched against them a force of five hundred men under command of the marquis of San Miguel de Aguayo, governor of Texas and Coahuila. The French retired from Texas; the missions were reestablished; and the peace which was concluded in 1721 put an end to further aggressions.45

49

Mention has already been made of the buccaneer settlements in Yucatan, where, as we have seen, the freebooters, when not engaged in making raids on the Spanish settlements or cruising in quest of Spanish treasure ships, occupied themselves with cutting dyewoods and mahogany. A favorite rendezvous of these adventurers was the Isla Triste, or as it is now known the Isla del Cármen, at the entrance of the bay of Términos. During the war of the Spanish succession they frequently attacked Spanish vessels trading between Campeche and Vera Cruz. In 1708 Fernando Meneses Bravo de Saravia, when on his way accompanied by his family to the province of Yucatan, of which he had been appointed governor, was taken from his vessel in the bay of Campeche by the pirate Barbillas. Saravia was set on shore and

48 On the 31st of March in the same year, the Sacra Familia, a vessel of 300 tons, with 6 guns and 70 men, was captured by Captain Shelvocke in the port of Sonsonate (the modern Acajutla) at the mouth of the river of the same name. The prize contained only small arms, hand grenades, and ammunition, and, as the captain remarks, was hardly worth the risk and trouble of capture. Voy. de Shelvocke, in Beranger, Coll. Voy., iii. 3-4, 89-125; and Kerr's Coll. Voy., x. 500-1. In the latter a detailed account of the voyage is given, compiled from the narratives of Shelvocke and Captain William Betagh, the commander of the marines. They sailed from Plymouth on board the Speedwell on the 13th of February 1719, bound on a privateering expedition on the coasts of Chile, Peru, and New Spain, but met with little success. 19 Hist. Cent. Amer., ii. 623 et seq., this series.