ir duty, than to have their markets deluged with
smuggled ones that pay no duty at all. "To these miserable manufactures,
only capable of producing about one-half of what is required for the
consumption of the kingdom," (and that half, be it observed, of inferior
quality, and at vastly higher prices than the same merchandise could be
imported for,) "is the interest of the landed proprietors and commercial
class, as well as that of the entire community, sacrificed."

These manufacturing madmen, the Catalonians, are the plague-spot of the
Peninsula. Obstinate, fiery, and selfish, they think only of themselves,
and of what they consider their interests, petty and miserable as the
latter are compared to those of the rest of Spain. The real interests of
the country are obvious to any but prejudiced understandings. It is a
land flowing with milk and honey, or, what is far better, with wine and
oil; abounding in valuable products, of which the export might be vastly
increased by admitting the manufactures of countries possessing,
perhaps, a less-favoured soil and climate, but a more industrious
population. Instead of making bad calicoes at a high price, let the
Spaniards set to work to clear and plant their _despoblados_--let them
improve their system of agriculture, their mode of producing oil; let
them cut canals and make roads, and get something like decent
communications between towns and provinces. The irrigation of the soil
in Spain is also a matter of great importance, and which, in many parts
of the country, is at present sadly neglected. There are vast districts
that remain uninhabited and barren, solely because people will not build
or live where they are beyond a certain distance from water; districts
where every thing is parched and dry for the greater part of the year,
and where the land, although rich in its nature, becomes worthless from
excessive drought. The system of Artesian wells might, we are persuaded,
be introduced to great advantage in Spain; and for such, as well as for
canals, railways, and similar improvements, abundance of foreign capital
would be forthcoming, if--and here is the sticking point--Spaniards
would only show a disposition to remain quiet, and turn their attention
to the arts of peace, instead of ruining their country, wasting their
blood, and degrading the national character, by all these unmeaning and
unprofitable _pronunciamentos_ and skirmishings. It is probably not very
important at