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George Bancroft, History of the United States from the Discovery of the American Continent, Vol. 5, 13th edition., The American revolution. (search)
richest in soil, natural products, and mines, and having a submissive population of nearly twenty millions of souls. In the midst of this unexampled grandeur of possession, Spain, which with Charles V. and Philip II. had introduced the mercantile system of restrictions, was weak, and poor, and wretched. It had no canals, no good roads, no manufactures. There was so little industry, or opportunity of employing capital, that though money was very scarce, the rate of interest was as low at Madrid as in Holland. Almost all the lands were entailed in perpetuity, and were included in the immense domains of the grandees. These estates, never seen by their owners, were poorly cultivated and ill managed; so that almost nothing fell to the share of the masses. Except in Barcelona and Cadiz, the nation every where presented the most touching picture of misery and poverty. And Spain, which by its laws of navigation reserved to itself all traffic with its colonies, and desired to make the