more than £1,000,000 a year; by 1834 they rose to £10,000,000; in the next fifty years they were increased sixfold, being worth £66,000,000 in 1880; and £70,000,000 in 1890. Yet this rich empire has cost us practically nothing to acquire, and has added very little to our national debt. For its acquisition has been one of the few examples in modern times of a war of conquest, and that too a conquest aided chiefly by native soldiers themselves and paid for by the conquered nation.

CHAPTER II

THE COMMERCIAL EMPIRES IN THE WEST

109. Colonies of European Powers. We have just seen in the last chapter how the great colonial empires grew up in the eastern hemisphere; how Portugal, Holland, and France all had the start of England in the foundation of them; but how in the end England, or rather the East India Company, acquired a dominion greater than any. In the western world the process is somewhat similar, though not quite the same. But here again England was, as usual, last in enterprise, and yet has gained the largest empire; although, just when she had conquered her great rival France in North America, she lost the larger half of her power there by a great historical mistake.

Now, throughout the whole of this period of the commercial history of Europe-that is, from the discovery of the New World down to the present time-you must continually remember that our present colonial empire, which we rightly call Greater Britain, is only the survivor of a number of other great colonial empires gained, and since lost, by other European states. Just as there is now a Greater Britain, so there was, not so very long ago, a Greater Spain and a Greater France, to say nothing of Greater Portugal and Greater Holland, which latter are still by no means to be overlooked. But in this chapter it is Greater France and Greater Spain that concern us more closely, as we trace the story of their rise and decay, and try to discover the reasons for their present insignificance. We saw that the spirit of monopoly combined with gross

mismanagement ruined the colonial possessions of Portugal, and that a monopoly again cost more than it was worth to the Dutch. The causes acting in the New World were really the same, though operating in a different form.

110. The Discoverers of the New World. Spain's Monopoly. Every one knows how the western hemisphere was thrown open by the discoveries of Columbus in the West Indies (1492) and South America (1498), and by those of Cabot and his sons (in 1497) in North America. The age was one of exploration. Alvarez de Cabral (§ 96), the Portuguese, discovered Brazil in 1500; Ponce de Leon, the Spaniard, discovered Florida in 1512; Hernandez Cordova visited Yucatan and Central America in 1517. Then came the era of conquest-the conquest of Mexico by Cortez in 1519; of Peru by Pizarro in 1524; of Chili by Almagro in 1535. But on the whole the vast countries opened up by the explorers were developed with extreme slowness. Almost the whole of the sixteenth century passed away before the European powers seriously turned their thoughts to the New World. Consequently it remained almost exclusively for a hundred years in the possession of Spain, her neighbour Portugal, as we saw, preferring to try her fortune in the east. France planned a settlement in North America, of which only the name (Carolina, from Charles IX.) remains, for it was destroyed by the Spaniards from Florida. Sir Walter Raleigh tried and likewise failed. The Dutch did not appear upon the scene till the end of the century (1595), nor was it till then that France and England also seriously began to found colonies. Spain for a hundred years monopolised the New World, which, moreover, had been granted to it by a papal decree.

111. The Great Power of Spain. In the sixteenth century Spain was indeed by far the greatest power in Europe. It had long been driving out the Moors; and now, scarcely had it become a united kingdom and free from foreign races when, by the discoveries of Columbus, it gained another continent. For in the same year, 1492, that this discovery was made, the Moorish power in Spain was

annihilated by the conquest of Granada, in the reign of the celebrated Ferdinand and Isabella. Spanish power in Europe then went on increasing, largely owing to the fortunate chain of inheritance by which Charles V. gained the empire of Germany, the Netherlands, Burgundy, and Sicily; while Philip II., the husband of our Queen Mary, governed besides Spain itself, Portugal, Milan, Sicily, the seventeen provinces of the Netherlands, and Franche Comté, in Europe; Tunis and Oran in Africa, together with the Canary and Cape Verde Islands; the Philippine and Molucca Islands in Asia, as well as the Portuguese colonies in that quarter; and finally in America the empires of Mexico and Peru, New Spain, Chili, and nearly all the islands of the western hemisphere.

112. Effect of her Discoveries upon Spanish Trade.— But Spain explored her new conquests in the west with only one object-the acquisition of gold and silver. The most fertile regions, though possessing the most luxuriant natural resources, were despised unless they immediately exhibited signs of the precious metals. In 1532 the first silver mines, those in the Mexican province of Zacatecas, were discovered, and then those of Potosi in Peru. The unfortunate native Indians were employed in these mines, and were so cruelly worked that nearly all of them perished, and their places had to be supplied by the importation of negro slaves from Africa. The precious metals positively streamed into Spain, and an era of extraordinary luxury arose. The Spaniards have in all ages despised commerce and industrial arts with an intensity that has since brought its natural punishment in their financial ruin; and at this period they despised them still more. They drove out the Jews, their most diligent and skilful workmen. Their own industry, such as it was, could not suffice for all the desires which the silver of Peru gave them the means of satisfying; and thus foreign merchants and artisans had to supply the deficiency. A great part of the precious metals from Spanish colonies was sent to the markets in the Netherlands, to be there exchanged for linen and woollen cloth, manufactured metals, English woollen fabrics, corn, and also timber, pitch, and all other

necessaries for shipbuilding; for Spain now wanted many ships to sail to and from her new colonies. Italy and the Levant sent her artistic works and articles of luxury which the now wealthy Spaniards bought in large quantities. Moreover, foreigners now hastened with their wares to Spanish ports-to Seville, Cadiz, and San Lucar. English, Dutch, and German merchants brought the articles of which Spain had need, and which I have just mentioned, and took back in return quantities of gold and silver, pearls, and precious woods from the New World; as well as wines, wool, and silk-for which products the country has always been famous-from Spain itself. Of course under these favourable circumstances even Spanish industry received a stimulus, especially in the making of woollen, velvet, and silken fabrics, armour, and fine leather; but industry was subject to many vexatious and cramping restrictions, and did not attain a really healthy or permanent growth.

113. The Colonial Policy of Spain.-In her colonies Spain pursued the same foolish policy of discouraging industry. Few harbours were established. The cultivation of European products and all manufactures were forbidden. Ferdinand and Isabella had caused the vine and olive to be introduced into the Antilles and South America, but the cultivation of these fruits was suppressed (except in Peru and Chili for purely local use), in order that the inhabitants might be compelled to buy from Spain. Natives and colonists alike were forced to purchase from the mother country all kinds of clothing and manufactured articles. The unfortunate Indians had to buy things of the use of which they were absolutely ignorant-buttons, books, laces, mirrors, ornaments, and the like. In fact Spain put into practice to its fullest extent the mischievous "sole market" theory of colonisation to which I have already referred, and under which a colony is merely looked upon as a market for the goods of the mother country, while it is not allowed to manufacture or to sell goods on its own account. Even trade carried on by Spanish merchants was subject to most hampering restrictions. They were only allowed to send out goods in royal ships, and the quantity and price thereof