A History of Spain Part 31

The case of the Jesuit order was similar to that of the Inquisition, but the result of royal action was even more decisive. The hostility to the Jesuits in Catholic countries, already very great in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, was even more intense in the eighteenth. The other religious orders and the secular clergy were almost a unit in opposing them, for the Jesuits occupied a dominant place in church affairs, and were charged with tyrannizing over the others both in matters of theology and in questions of a temporal character. The ranks of their enemies were swelled by the continued adhesion of the universities to the Jesuit opposition and by the encyclopedists. The former complained because the youth were attending the Jesuit colleges, especially the n.o.bility, from whom the leading ministers of state were chosen, thus continuing the Jesuit influence, while those who were more or less addicted to encyclopedist views were hostile to the order both because of its power in the church and because of its partisans.h.i.+p in favor of papal jurisdiction and authority. In defending themselves the Jesuits had the support of many royal ministers and of the kings themselves for over half a century; Philip V and Ferdinand VI as well as Isabel Farnesio and the children of Charles III had Jesuit confessors.

Furthermore, the once hostile Inquisition became an instrument in Jesuit hands when that order got control of the inst.i.tution. Finally, the Jesuits had achieved vast power as a result of their hold on the affections of great numbers of the people, high and low, and in consequence of the extraordinary wealth which they had acc.u.mulated.

[Sidenote: Expulsion and suppression of the Jesuits.]

It was not until the reign of Charles III that any effective action was taken against them. While yet king of Naples, Charles had demonstrated his lack of cordiality toward the Jesuit order, and had begun to feel a suspicion, in common with other European monarchs, that the Jesuits might prove to be a danger to the state; in view of the actual power which the Jesuits possessed, it is not to be wondered at that the ultra-absolutist statesmen and kings of the eighteenth century should look upon them with disfavor. In the very year that Charles became king of Spain they were expelled from Portugal, and in the years 1764 to 1767 similar action was taken in France. The accession of Charles was a blow to the Jesuits in Spain, who now lost their influential place at court.

Four events of a political character tended to increase the feeling of hostility toward them. One of these occurred in the reign of Ferdinand, when the Jesuits of Paraguay opposed the cession of that territory to Portugal in exchange for Sacramento. The Indians of Paraguay rose in rebellion against the transfer, and it was believed that the Jesuits were in some way concerned. The second of the events was the attempted a.s.sa.s.sination of the kings of Portugal and France, which was attributed to the Jesuit order on account of the hostility of those monarchs to the Jesuits. Many were of the opinion that Charles might be in danger of a like fate. In the third place friction arose between Charles and the Jesuits as a result of the former's advocacy of the canonization of Juan de Palafox, a seventeenth century bishop of Puebla de los angeles in New Spain. The Jesuits opposed the king in this matter, and even procured the removal from the palace of the works of Palafox which Charles had given to members of his family. The fourth matter was of far more consequence,--the riots of 1766 at the time when the proposals of Squillace with regard to the modification of Spanish dress were enacted into law. On that occasion there was grave disorder in Madrid, including an attack on the king's guards, a number of whom were cruelly put to death. The king was obliged to yield to the demands of the mob, and a few days later unexpectedly left Madrid for Aranjuez,--a virtual flight, taken as a measure of precaution. Not only in Madrid, but also in Saragossa, Cuenca, Guadalajara, Alicante, Salamanca, Daroca, Tobarra, Mombeltran, Murcia, San Lucar, Huesca, Borja, San Ildefonso, Azcoytia, Villena, Ciudad Real, Jumilla, Coruna, Alcaraz, Quero, Las Mesas, Aranjuez, Palencia, and Navalcarnero there were similar outbreaks, and it seemed likely that Barcelona might also give trouble. In fine, there appeared to be an organized attempt at rebellion, and Charles and his ministers believed, or at least pretended to believe, that the Jesuits were behind it. Most probably the order itself did not promote the riots, although several of its members were compromised, but late in 1766 it was formally charged with responsibility by the _Consejo_. In January, 1767, the _Consejo_ proposed the expulsion of the Jesuits from Spain. The matter was submitted to a special _junta_, or council, which concurred in the recommendation of the _Consejo_, after which the decision was presented to various ecclesiastical personages, who likewise expressed their approval. It was decided, however, to say nothing of the motives, and the part of the proceedings concerning them has disappeared. Nevertheless, a doc.u.ment of Campomanes is at hand summing up some of the charges made at the meeting of the _Consejo_.

They were the following: responsibility for the Squillace riots; the diffusion of maxims contrary to the royal and the canon law; a spirit of sedition (of which some evidence was introduced); treasonable relations with the English in the Philippine Islands; monopolization of commerce and excess of power in the Americas; a too great pride, leading them to support the doctrines of Rome against the king; advocacy by many Jesuit writers of the right of tyrannicide; political intrigues against the king; and aspiration for universal monarchy. While the evidence in support of these charges is no longer available, it is clear that they were exaggerated, or even without foundation,--at least in the case of their supposed relations with the English. On the other hand, the intensely royalist ministers of the era of the enlightened despotism would have felt grave concern where a more democratic age might have found no cause for worry. Some historians claim that Charles hesitated to sign the decree, because the Jesuit general was said to have threatened the publication of doc.u.ments purporting to show that the king was the illegitimate son of Isabel Farnesio and Alberoni, and others a.s.sert that Charles was given reason to believe that the Jesuits planned to a.s.sa.s.sinate him and the members of his family if the expulsion were promulgated. Whatever the truth may be, he delayed only a few days, signing the decree on February 27, 1767. The Count of Aranda was charged with its execution, and proceeded to fulfill that duty with great secrecy and despatch, so that the blow should fall simultaneously and without warning in all parts of Spain's dominions. Never was a decree more carefully carried out. On the night of March 31 in Madrid, and on the next night in the provinces, the Jesuits were surprised in their establishments and told that they must leave Spain. There were at this time 2746 Spanish Jesuits in 120 inst.i.tutions, scattered through 117 towns. In the Americas the decree was carried out later in the same year or early in 1768, and in some cases there was popular resistance to their expulsion, although no untoward incidents of that character had occurred in Spain. Without consulting the pope, Charles decided to send the Jesuits to the Papal States, although on the eve of the expulsion he informed the pope of his intention, promising also to pay the Jesuits enough to permit them to live in a fitting manner. Despite the pope's entire sympathy with the Jesuits, there were reasons why he did not wish them to land in his territory, and when the boats which were carrying them arrived off Civita Vecchia, the port of Rome, Cardinal Torrigiani ordered them to keep away, threatening to open fire on them if they should not. Thereupon, they went to Corsica, where the Jesuits were landed, being joined later by their American brethren. Finally, the pope consented to their establis.h.i.+ng themselves in Bologna and Ferrara, where some ten thousand from Spain and the Americas found a haven,--much against the will of the secular clergy of those places. Charles now set about to procure the dissolution of the order, and in this he was aided by the kings of Portugal, France, and Naples, from which last-named country the Jesuits had also been expelled late in 1767. In 1773 their efforts were at length successful, as a result, very largely, of the skillful diplomatic achievements of Jose Monino, Spain's special representative at the papal court. For his work in this matter Monino was rewarded with the t.i.tle of Count of Floridablanca.

[Sidenote: Royal attempts to reduce the financial immunities of the church.]

One of the leading preoccupations of the kings in dealing with the Spanish clergy was to reduce the immunities of a financial character which they enjoyed. Ever since the thirteenth century, efforts had been made with that object in view, and considerable success had been attained by the Hapsburg kings, while the attempts of the Bourbon monarchs to check the acquisition of lands by the church or to render at least a portion of them subject to taxation have already been traced in the chapter on social inst.i.tutions. A great deal remained to be done, however, before the church would be reduced to the level of the bourgeois cla.s.s in the payment of tributes. For a proper appreciation of this subject it is necessary to bear in mind the many sources of income of the Spanish church. In addition to the profits from their lands, cattle, and quit-rents (_censos_), churchmen received t.i.thes (_diezmos_), first-fruits (_primicias_), fees for ma.s.ses, marriages, funerals, and burials, alms for the mendicant orders, gifts, and still other forms of contributions from persons and lands not under their economic control. Their seigniorial rights were still extensive, for as late as 1787 there were 3148 towns of one type or another under their rule. To be sure, portions of these revenues were already being paid to the crown, while many former ecclesiastical earnings had altogether disappeared, or had been taken over by the state. In some places the clergy were subject to certain taxes, and in others they were not; in Castile churchmen paid part of the _alcabala_; in Catalonia they paid all the royal tributes. The laws of the century displayed a consistent intention on the part of the kings to reduce their financial immunities still further. Thus in 1721 the clergy of Castile and the Canaries were required to pay customs duties which had not previously been exacted from them; in 1737 a tax of thirty-three per cent was levied on all new landed possessions of the church in Valencia; in the concordat of the same year the pope granted that all lands thenceforth coming into the possession of ecclesiastical inst.i.tutions might be taxed in the same manner as those of lay individuals, if the king should so decide; when Charles III was about to ascend the Spanish throne, Pope Benedict XIV granted him the eventual subjection of the clergy to the same tributary basis as laymen; in 1763 the clergy of the crown of Aragon were ordered to pay the _alcabala_ from that time forth; in 1765 churchmen in general were made subject to the military tax of the _milicias_ (militia), and in 1780 the pope authorized the king to collect up to one third of the income of benefices to which the king had the right of nomination. These provisions were not carried out in full; there would no longer have been any financial question between the kings and the church if they had been. Aside from the royal gains of a legislative character the clergy were often induced, or compelled, to make special grants to the state in times of war, and occasionally they came forward of their own free will.

When the Jesuits were expelled in 1767, their properties were confiscated, although the government announced that in applying the proceeds it would bear in mind the objects of donors to the Jesuits, the interests of religion, and public utility. Nothing definite is known as to the amount of wealth this yielded to the state, although it must have been considerable. Many writers have made fanciful estimates as to the Jesuit properties, especially with regard to their holdings in the Americas, some of them exaggerating their value, and others going to the opposite extreme to make them appear inconsequential. Nevertheless, despite the progress made by the Bourbons, the church was still enormously wealthy at the end of the era; it is said that their annual income reached 1,101,753,430 _reales_ (about $70,000,000).

[Sidenote: Reduction of the number of persons in religious service.]

The statesmen and economists of the Bourbon era gave considerable attention to the problems arising from the great numbers of the clergy, taking steps to prevent an increase in the members.h.i.+p of religious orders and to bring about a reduction in the list of benefices and chaplaincies. The reign of Charles III was especially notable in this regard, and much was achieved. Still, though there were more churchmen and religious inst.i.tutions in the Hapsburg period at a time when the population was not so great, there were 2067 convents for men and 1122 for women in 1787, with 61,998 who had taken vows and 71,070 others who had not (though living at the convents), besides 70,170 members of the secular clergy. Thus there were over 200,000 persons in religious service in a total population of about 10,400,000, or one for every fifty-two persons.[64] By 1797 the numbers had been materially lessened.

At that time there were 93,397 men and women connected with the inst.i.tutions of the regular clergy, in 2051 convents for men and 1075 for women, and 58,833 priests. In 1808 there were eight archbishoprics and fifty-two bishoprics in Spain, sustaining 648 dignitaries, 1768 canons, 216 prebends, and 200 half prebends.

[Sidenote: Attempts at internal reform of the church.]

The question of the numbers of the clergy was closely related to the never-ending problem of reform in the internal life of the church. While matters were not so bad as they had been in earlier times, and while Spanish churchmen compared very favorably with those of some other countries,--for example, those of France,--the necessity for correction was nevertheless clear. Despite the fact that the church furnished many of the most distinguished names of the era in intellectual attainments, the ma.s.s of the lower clergy was decidedly uncultivated. There was a marked relaxation in discipline. Many churchmen absented themselves from their livings to become hangers-on at court,[65] with the result that the kings seven times in less than fifty years expelled all priests from Madrid whose parishes were not in that city. It was also deemed necessary to pa.s.s laws forbidding clergymen to wear lay dress, for it was claimed that they used it as a disguise, enabling them the more easily to indulge in immoral practices. Many clergymen were punished for improper solicitations in the confessional. Steps toward reform were taken by the popes in 1723, 1737, and 1753,--the two latter times in connection with the concordats of those years. The measures of the pope provided rules for the instruction and discipline of the clergy and sought to diminish the numbers of clergymen and of benefices and chaplaincies.

[Sidenote: Diminution in the rigor of religious persecutions.]

Outwardly there was little difference between this period and the one before it in the persecution of heresy and the effort to attain religious unity. Both of these ideals continued to be proclaimed in the laws, and the Inquisition made its accusations and condemnations and published its indices of prohibited books as formerly, but in fact a great change had come over the spirit in which the laws were interpreted. Such a rigorous policy to stamp out heresy as that employed by Philip II in the Low Countries was no longer thinkable, and while the Hapsburg kings had based their international policy on the re-establishment of Catholic unity, cost what it might, the Bourbons completely abandoned that idea. The treaties of Westphalia in 1648 seemed to have settled the question of religious warfare, with an acknowledgment of the right of Protestant nations to exist apart from the Catholic Church. Henceforth, wars were to be for various objects, mainly political and economic in the eighteenth century, but not for religion.

[Sidenote: Inter-relations of the different religious elements.]

The new spirit was manifested in, and was to some extent caused by, the frequency of communications between Catholics and Protestants or between Catholics and anti-church elements, such as the encyclopedists and Jansenists. In earlier times, such a correspondence would have been a serious religious crime which even the most prominent would have been afraid to attempt; now, it was not generally regarded as seriously reprehensible, though far from being looked upon with favor, and many churchmen themselves might have been held guilty if charges on this account had been brought. The quarrels of different factions in the church among themselves, notably the opposition to the Jesuits, and the intensely royalist policy of the kings tended in the same direction.

Some evidences of the new att.i.tude toward religion were also to be found in the laws. A treaty of 1713 with the Netherlands allowed Protestants of that country having business in Spain to reside in the peninsula, and a like privilege was granted to Spanish Catholics in the Netherlands.

The _asiento_ treaty with England in the same year did not, as had at first been proposed, restrict to Catholics the privileges thereby granted to Englishmen. A series of treaties with Morocco, Tripoli, Tunis, and Turkey in the reign of Charles III allowed of Catholic wors.h.i.+p by Spaniards in those countries, and agreed that Moslems coming to Spain should be respected in their religion. A general law of 1797 provided that any foreign artist or artisan could establish himself in the peninsula, and in case he were not a Catholic he was not to be molested in his religious opinions. The Jews were excluded from the operation of the law, however. Charles III had been favorable to a policy of toleration toward them as well, and had issued a decree in 1741, when he was king of Naples, permitting of their entry into his kingdom, but public opinion was still too strongly opposed to them, and he was obliged to recall his decree. Two ministers of Charles IV, Urquijo and Varela, made a like proposal, but he did not dare to follow their advice; rather, he expressly declared in a decree of 1802 that the existing laws and practices with respect to the Jews should continue to be observed. The Inquisition directed its activities in this period to attacking the new philosophic and religious ideas and to defending itself as well as it could from the inroads of royalism, while there were still numerous processes against superst.i.tious practices, Jewish wors.h.i.+p, and the crimes of bigamy and notorious immorality. The number of cases before the Inquisition was not less than formerly, and not a few persons, especially Jews and Illuminati, were put to death. In general, however, greater leniency was displayed, and the Inquisition was no longer the much feared inst.i.tution it once had been.

[Sidenote: Underlying spirit of intolerance and Catholic fervor.]

Nevertheless, both the clergy and the great majority of the people remained as intolerant as ever. Ignorance played no small part in this feeling; thus French priests expelled from their country at the time of the revolution were suspected of heresy, and the general opinion of the Spanish common people with regard to Frenchmen was that they were all not only heretics or atheists but also cannibals. The ideal of toleration hardly pa.s.sed beyond the narrow circle of the upper cla.s.ses, but it was they who decided the policy of the state; indeed, the att.i.tude toward religion in this period perfectly exemplified the workings of the benevolent despotism. The very men who expressed tolerant views and framed legislation to that end were pious in their private life, furnis.h.i.+ng numerous proofs thereof, every day. Thus Spaniards still gave a mult.i.tude of Christian names to their children, in order to procure for them the protection of many saints; they observed religious ceremonies, such as processions, baptisms, and saints' days of individuals, as the most important events of social life; they prayed daily, and at the sound of the Angelus all work stopped, even theatrical performances, and every one bowed his head in prayer; phrases with a religious turn were a part of everyday speech; sacred images and chapels were as abundant as formerly; and in a thousand ways, from the king to the lowest peasant, men continued to manifest their devotion to the Catholic faith.

CHAPTER x.x.xVII

ECONOMIC REFORMS, 1700-1808

[Sidenote: Bases of the economic reforms of the era.]

[Sidenote: Economic reforms in the Americas.]

If a review of the political and ecclesiastical inst.i.tutions of this period displays the enlightened despotism on its despotic side, a study of the economic reforms effected, or tried, reveals the benevolent or enlightened att.i.tude of the autocratic state endeavoring to improve the lot of the people. In addition to the philanthropic aspect of these attempts, they were influenced, also: by the general current of eighteenth century thought, giving attention to economic problems; by the very evident necessity for reforms in Spain, which country had found itself in a condition of utter misery at the close of the preceding era, with the result that a mult.i.tude of pamphlets had been written to explain the decline and suggest remedies; and by the desire to attain other ends, such as that of defence against the aggressions of England, which had to be based in the final a.n.a.lysis on the economic recovery of Spain. Not only in Spain but also in the Americas, and almost more strikingly, this was an age of economic reform, based primarily on Spain's need of the colonial markets as a factor in her own regeneration. Nevertheless, this was the period when the old monopoly utterly fell, in part because of the entry of foreigners into the colonies or their establishment in Spanish ports to take over the goods coming from the Americas, and in part as a result of a deliberate policy, throwing open the commerce of the new world, if not directly to all nations, at least indirectly through the intervention of the many Spanish cities which came to enjoy the privilege of the overseas trade.

The American situation cannot be dealt with here, but it must be held in mind as one of the vital elements in Spain's economic progress.

[Sidenote: The reformers and their achievements.]

[Sidenote: Statistics of population.]

The most genuine representative of the century's political economists in Spain was Campomanes. Although a follower of the French physiocratic school, which maintained that agriculture was the princ.i.p.al sustain of a nation's wealth, he did not fail to recognize the importance of manufacturing, and endeavored to foster that industry through the dissemination of works of an educative character, the enactment of protective laws, and the founding of model establishments. Of equal rank with Campomanes, though not as effective in achieving reforms, was Jovellanos, while there was hardly a minister of prominence in the entire period who did not attain to some distinction as an economist.

The general effect of the reforms was beneficial, making itself felt in all branches of the production, exchange, and consumption of goods, as well as in an increase in population. Thus the 5,700,000 inhabitants of Spain at the beginning of the era had nearly doubled by 1787, when the total was 10,409,879 (or 10,286,150 by another estimate), and had still further increased to 10,541,221 in 1797. The following table of occupations for these two years is interesting both as showing the economic distribution of the population and as indicating the direction of the reforms.

-------------------------------+------------+----------- 1787 1797 -------------------------------+------------+----------- Ecclesiastics 182,425 168,248 n.o.bles 480,589 402,059 Employees (of the government?) 41,014 31,981 Soldiery 77,884 149,340 Students 50,994 29,812 Farmers and (farm?) laborers 1,871,768 1,677,172 Manufacturers and artisans 310,739 533,769 Servants 280,092 174,095 Merchants No figures 25,685 -------------------------------+------------+-----------

The discrepancies between the two columns are in part accounted for by the fact that Spain was at peace in 1787, and at war with England in 1797. In a total of some 3,000,000 workers it is notable that the majority were devoted to agricultural pursuits (including about 100,000 engaged in pastoral labors), showing that the cultivation of the soil was the princ.i.p.al basis of the national life. The vast number of ecclesiastics, n.o.bles, and servants, nearly a third of the total, is eloquent of the social problem which the government had to face. In the course of ten years they had fallen away to less than a fourth of the whole. Statistics as to density of population showed Guipuzcoa, Valencia, Asturias, Navarre, and Vizcaya in the lead, with respectively eighty, forty-eight, forty-seven, forty-three, and forty-two inhabitants to the square kilometer. Andalusia had thirty-nine, Granada and Catalonia thirty-four each, Aragon only twenty-one, while Extremadura with fourteen and La Mancha and Cuenca with thirteen each brought up the rear. In total population Galicia led with 1,345,000. Catalonia had 814,412, Valencia 783,084, Andalusia 754,293, Granada 661,661, and Aragon 623,308. Large urban groups were rare; there were fewer than forty cities with a population of 10,000, and seventeen of them were in Andalusia. The four largest cities were Madrid (156,000), Barcelona (115,000), Seville (96,000), and Valencia (80,000). Economic prosperity did not correspond exactly with these figures, for the factors of climate, soil, irrigation, and nearness to the sea entered into the situation.

[Sidenote: Wretched state of domestic life.]

[Sidenote: Obstacles in the way of economic reforms.]

Despite the great body of reforms carried out, the problem was overwhelming, and much of the country was still in a backward state at the end of the era. Aragon and Old Castile were in a miserable condition, not nearly equalling their agricultural possibilities, and La Mancha was in a far worse plight. The number of large-sized towns in Andalusia gave that land an appearance of wealth and prosperity which was not borne out by the facts, if the situation of the country districts were taken into account. The character of Spanish houses at this time was also expressive of the national economic shortcomings.

Cave houses and adobe huts with roofs of straw abounded in Castile. The houses of Galicia were described as having walls of unpolished stone, often without cement, reaching scarcely higher than a man's head, with great slabs of rock for a roof; the doorway and a hole in the roof served as the only means for the penetration of light and for the escape of smoke; and the domestic animals and the family made common use of the wretched house. In the Basque provinces, Navarre, and Valencia the homes were much better, besides being cleaner, although a lack of gla.s.s windows, chimneys, and furniture was quite general in all parts of Spain. Through French influences these defects were beginning to be overcome as the era approached a close. If to this miserable state of the domestic life there is added the ignorance of the people (who resisted innovations designed to benefit them), the economic inequality resulting from the concentration of vast landed estates in a few hands, the difficulty of communications, the burdens of taxation, the mismanagement of the administration (despite the efforts of enlightened ministers), the frequency of wars, and the persistence of a spirit of repugnance to labor (leading to a resort to mendicancy or vagabondage or to a reliance upon a somewhat questionably desirable charity) it becomes clear why the economic situation should have been considered perhaps the most urgent problem which the Spanish ministers had to solve, and their failure to overcome all of the difficulties can be understood. According to Campomanes there was an army of 140,000 beggars and vagabonds in Spain in his day, most of whom were able to work and might have found something to do. He and the other ministers of Charles III endeavored to solve the matter by putting the physically able women in workhouses, the men in the army and navy, and the old and infirm in homes for the aged and in hospitals, but owing to the lack of funds these projects could not be carried out in entirety.

[Sidenote: Constructive attempts of the state and private individuals to overcome economic evils.]

The evils of the economic situation being clear, efforts were made, especially in the reign of Charles III, to correct them at their sources. To combat the ignorance, indifference, and in some cases the laziness and prejudice of the ma.s.ses with regard to labor technical and primary schools were founded and model shops and factories established; prizes were awarded for debates and papers on various industrial subjects; printed manuals, including many translated from foreign languages, were scattered broadcast; teachers and skilled laborers from foreign lands were induced to come to Spain, and Spaniards were pensioned to go abroad to study; privileges, exemptions, and monopolies were granted to persons distinguis.h.i.+ng themselves by their initiative and zeal in industry; and laws were pa.s.sed to raise the dignity of manual labor. In this campaign the government received substantial aid from private individuals. In 1746 the first of the _Sociedades Economicas de los Amigos del Pais_ (economic societies of the friends of the country) was founded. In 1766 its statutes were published, serving thenceforth as the model for other like inst.i.tutions in Spain, all of them devoted philanthropically to the encouragement of agriculture and other phases of the economic life of their particular district. n.o.bles, churchmen, and members of the wealthy middle cla.s.s formed the backbone of these societies, of which there were sixty-two in 1804. Many of them published periodicals, or founded schools for the study of such subjects as agriculture, botany, chemistry, the various trades, stenography, and economics. To promote the cultivation of the soil the state itself a.s.sisted in schemes for the colonization of waste lands. The most famous instance was that of the government colonies in the Sierra Morena country of northern Andalusia. In 1766 a certain Bavarian adventurer offered to bring six thousand German and Flemish laborers to settle that district. Charles III favored the project, and it was at once undertaken. For a time it was successful; a number of settlements were made,--there were forty-one in 1775,--and considerable crops were raised. In the end the project failed, due to bad administration, lack of funds, the imposition of heavy taxes, the opposition of the clergy to the predominantly lay spirit of the undertaking, the jealousies arising between the Spanish and foreign elements (for many of the colonists were Spaniards), and the failure to provide adequate means of communication whereby the colonists could export their surplus products. Some of the towns continued to exist, however, and the project was influential in causing private individuals to attempt colonizations, several of which were successful. Among other constructive governmental measures were the removal of the legal obstacles to the sale or division of waste lands or lands common, the restriction of the privileges of the _Mesta_, the betterment of the conditions surrounding leases (favoring the prolongation of the period of the lease, and aiming to a.s.sist the individual who actually cultivated the soil), and the reduction of customs duties or a grant of complete freedom of entry in the case of certain raw materials used in Spanish manufacturing establishments.

Public works were also undertaken, such as the construction of irrigation ca.n.a.ls, though many were not completed or were made so imperfectly that they soon went to ruin; great highways to open up the peninsula were planned, and under Charles III much work upon them was done, though not enough to meet the needs of the country; an efficient mail service was developed by Floridablanca; s.h.i.+pbuilding was encouraged; banditry and piracy were to a great extent suppressed; government support was given to commercial companies; and a national bank was established by Charles III,--which failed in the reign of Charles IV. The government also intervened in problems of local subsistence, with a view to maintaining articles of prime necessity at a low price and in sufficient quant.i.ty, but its action in this particular did not always produce the desired result. Finally, the government interested itself in charity. Benevolent inst.i.tutions were founded, not only with a view to checking mendicancy and vagabondage, but also to provide homes for unfortunate women, insane persons, and orphans.

Private individuals gave liberally for these purposes, or founded charitable organizations, which rendered service of a somewhat remarkable character in succoring the poor, building hospitals, and rescuing children. Mutual benefit societies were formed, reaching into every walk of life, and some of these, termed _montepios_ or _montes de piedad_, were made compulsory for the employes of the government; thus the _montepio_ for soldiers, dating from 1761, served as a pension system whereby some provision was made for the widows and orphans of the deceased. All of these reforms encountered the difficulties arising from ignorance, conservatism, the resistance of vested interests, graft, and bureaucratic c.u.mbersomeness which have already been discussed. The very immensity of the reforms projected was against their satisfactory execution, for more was tried than could be done well. Other obstacles already mentioned, such as bad administration, insufficiency of funds, and lack of persistence, contributed to the same result. Nevertheless, though plans outran accomplishment, a vast amount was done, especially in the reign of Charles III, when the spirit of the era reached its culminating point.

[Sidenote: Obstacles to agricultural development and attempts to overcome them.]

To form a correct idea of the state of agriculture in this period it is necessary to note how the lands of the peninsula were distributed. At the beginning of the nineteenth century, after a hundred years of effort directed to the release of realty, the church possessed 9,093,400 _fanegas_[66] of land, the n.o.bles 28,306,700, and the plebeian cla.s.s 17,599,000, but the greater part of the estates of both the n.o.bles and the plebeians was entailed, and therefore impossible of alienation, closing the door to the growth of a cla.s.s of small proprietors. The proportion of proprietors to population was only one in forty. In avila, for example, the church owned 239,591 _fanegas_, 157,092 were entailed, and only 8160 were cultivated by owners who resided in the neighborhood.

The small proprietor was to be found princ.i.p.ally in the north and east, but he was far outnumbered, even in those regions, by the lessees of lands, who were also the overwhelmingly strongest element numerically in Castile. The forms of renting were various, both as to the type of payment required and as to the length of term. Where the term was practically hereditary, conditions were much better, approximating those of the small proprietor. In Andalusia _latifundia_ were the rule, cultivated in only a portion of the estate by day laborers, who were employed at certain seasons of the year, living in a state of great misery at other times. This evil was tempered in Extremadura by the utilization of lands common. Despite the sincere attempts of the government to encourage agriculture, that industry was still in an extremely backward state at the close of the era, with only a little of the cultivable ground planted, an insufficient development of irrigation, and a lack of fencing. Valencia and the Basque provinces were the most nearly prosperous regions; the others were in a wretched state. In addition to the governmental reforms already referred to, the following may be mentioned: several laws of Charles III forbade owners to dispossess tenants arbitrarily, and even went so far as to prohibit ejectments unless the owner should consent to reside on his lands and cultivate them; attempts were made to procure reforestation, partly with a view to conserving the water supply, but the national repugnance to trees was so great that the laws were not carried out; and the abusive privileges of the _Mesta_ were attacked by Charles III, and in the next reign, in 1795, the separate jurisdiction of that organization was taken away, but as the laws did not clearly authorize the enclosure of cultivable lands the relief to agriculture was slight. Wheat was the princ.i.p.al crop, supplying more than enough, in normal years, for the needs of the peninsula. Grapes were also raised in large quant.i.ties, and were made into excellent wines, many of which were exported. For the rest there were fruits, vegetables, the silkworm, and other things of the sort which had always been cultivated in the peninsula. Various kinds of beans, and especially chickpeas (_garbanzos_), were grown in large quant.i.ties, and furnished an important element in the nation's food. An estimate made in 1812 calculated the total value of farm products as 72,476,189,159 _reales_ (about $4,500,000,000) yielding annually some 3,600,000,000 _reales_ (about $225,000,000).

[Sidenote: Revival of manufacturing.]

[Sidenote: Mining.]

[Sidenote: Fis.h.i.+ng.]

[Sidenote: Unsatisfactory state of the laboring cla.s.ses.]

In their efforts to revive manufacturing the kings continued during most of the period to follow the old ideal of state protection and state initiative in placing industries upon a firm foundation, intervening, also, to regulate the work on its technical side. In the second half of the century, especially in the reign of Charles III, the liberal ideas of the physiocratic school, hostile to all forms of government regulation, brought about the employment of a new system, leaving matters to the decision of the individuals concerned. Laws were now pa.s.sed removing the prohibitions of earlier years. Joined with the educative measures already referred to, such as the establishment of model factories and the importation of foreign workmen, the new methods brought about a revived intensity of industrial life. Much the same things as formerly were made; the textile factories of Catalonia and Andalusia were the most prosperous. The chemical industries and those having to do with the preparation of foods did not develop equally with others. The Americas continued to be one of the princ.i.p.al supports of Spanish manufacturing, as a purchaser of the goods made in the peninsula. After centuries of scant productivity in mining, Spain began again to yield more nearly in accord with her natural wealth. A great variety of mineral products was mined, although very little of precious metals. On the other hand the formerly prosperous fis.h.i.+ng industry was in a state of decline. In 1803 it was estimated that the total industrial yield for that year was 1,152,660,707 _reales_ (about $72,000,000). The revival, however, was of an ephemeral character, for the social factors affecting labor were too grave a handicap.

Thoroughgoing popular instruction was necessary before there could be any permanent advance; the Spanish laborer was able enough, but needed to be rescued from his abysmal ignorance. Wages were low. In 1786 the ordinary laborer of Seville earned four and a half _reales_ (about $.28) a day; in Barcelona the average was eight _reales_ ($.50). Agricultural laborers in Andalusia made from three and a half to five _reales_ ($.22 to $.33) a day; shepherds got two pounds of bread daily and 160 _reales_ ($10) a year. To be sure, money was worth more than now. Work was not always steady, with the result that famine and beggary were frequent.

There was no such thing as organized labor; to go on strike was a crime.

The only remedy of the laborer against his employer was an appeal to the _corregidor_, but this was so ineffectual that it was rarely tried.

[Sidenote: Obstacles to Spanish commerce and efforts to overcome them.]

Attempts were made to combat the obstacles which hindered Spanish commerce. Unable to compete with other European countries in the export trade, except as concerned small quant.i.ties of certain raw materials, Spain was hard pressed to maintain an advantage in her own domestic and American field. At the beginning of the century many of the laws tended in fact to discriminate against Spaniards, as witness the heavy export duties, which were collected according to bulk, thus operating against the type of products which Spain most frequently sent abroad. Charles III changed this system, collecting duties according to the nature of the goods as well as paying regard to weight, and charging a higher rate against foreign cargoes. Taxes were numerous in kind and heavy in amount, wherefore smuggling and graft overcame some of the beneficial effects which might have been expected from this legislation. Protective tariffs and prohibitions were also employed to encourage Spanish manufactures and trade, but particular exigencies often caused a reversal of this policy in the case of certain items of foreign make.

Thus the importation of foreign muslins was forbidden in 1770, but in 1789 the prohibition was removed when it was found that local manufacture did not suffice for the country's needs. A series of decrees by Charles III endeavored also to reduce the coinage to systematic order, but the multiplicity of coins and the retention of provincial moneys militated against complete success. The prohibition against the export of coin was maintained, but licenses to take out certain quant.i.ties were granted on payment of a three per cent duty.

Practically, the prohibition was a dead letter, owing to the prevalence of smuggling, and it served as a hindrance to commerce. An ineffectual attempt was made in 1801 to unify the system of weights and measures.

Lack of an adequate merchant marine and an insufficiency of good ports, despite the efforts to remedy the situation in both cases, were still further obstacles to Spanish trade, whereas such an excellent port as Vigo had no suitable highway to connect it with the interior. Bands of mules continued to be used as the princ.i.p.al carrying agency in land commerce. Improper methods of keeping books were a handicap, but the paternalistic nature of the government made itself felt, requiring business men to employ a good method of accounting, and specifying the precise way in which they should do it. Finally, trading had usually been considered incompatible with n.o.bility. The stigma was in a measure removed, although only in the case of business on a large scale, and some of the n.o.bles became merchants.