16-2

CONTRABAND TRADE.

CHAP. XXII.

were permitted. One English ship was allowedannually to dispose of a cargo, and under coverof her tenders are said to have been at handto supply other goods as fast as the permittedor registered cargo was sold. This kind ofcommerce continued from the beginning of thecentury to about the year 17<10, when the popularcry in England involved the country in a warunder pretence of Spanish outrages committed onEnglish contraband traders. It was a commercewhich offered great inducements to the Spanish settlers to defraud the colonial revenue, and asthe temptation was strong, so it was increasedby the corrupt conduct of the officers of therevenue and the facilities thereby afforded to thesmugglers.

This state of affairs, on what was then knownby the name of the Spanish main, continued fornear forty years, and though the war of 1740suspended first, and soon gave a different di-rection to the trade, it was continued under anotherform to the end of the century. Don Juan deUlloa, in his despatches to the court of Spain ,enters into the details of this trade, which showsit to be very extensive, and that large quantitiesof silver and gold were surreptitiously exchangedfor the goods of England, Holland, China , andIndia 1 . This commerce was active on both shores

1 See Noticias Secretas de America, cap. 9.