by virtue
of the assiento. In other respects, the trade and navigation of the
English to the ports of Spain were regulated by former treaties. It was
stipulated, that they should pay no other duties than those that were
exacted of them in the reign of Charles II. of Spain; that they should
be treated on the footing of the most favoured nations; and continue to
enjoy the privilege of taking salt at the island of Tortuga. But there
was no article restricting the Spanish guarda costas from searching the
British vessels on the high seas; although, as we have already observed,
this insolent prerogative, assumed without right, and exercised without
humanity, was in effect the original and sole cause of the late rupture,
which had been attended with such enormous expense to the nation. It
must be owned, however, that his catholic majesty was at this period
extremely well disposed to live upon good terms with Great Britain.
He was resolved to indulge his people with the blessings of peace,
to propagate a spirit of industry throughout his dominions, and in
particular to encourage commerce, which he foresaw would prove a much
more certain and inexhaustible source of wealth, power, and influence,
than all the treasures he could drain from the mines of Mexico and Peru.
His resolutions on this interesting subject were chiefly directed by don
Ricardo Wall, who now acted as his minister at London; a gentleman of
Irish extract, who had distinguished himself in the field as well as in
the cabinet, and possessed the joint qualifications of a general and
a statesman. He had, by virtue of a passport, come over privately to
England before the peace, in order to pave the way for the treaty, by a
secret negotiation with the English ministers; but immediately after the
peace was proclaimed, he appeared in the character of ambassador. He
was possessed of the most insinuating address, shrewd, penetrating, and
inquisitive. While he resided in London, he spared no pains in learning
the nature of those manufactures, and that commerce, by which Great
Britain had been so remarkably aggrandized; and on his return to Spain,
where in a little time he was placed at the helm of affairs, he turned
the knowledge he had thus acquired to the advantage of his country.
He not only promoted the useful arts, within the kingdom of Spain, but
demonstrated the infinite advantage that would accrue from an active
trade, which the Spaniards had for many-ages neglected; a