In Spanish eyes it was, not without reason,
wholly unjustifiable.
The colonial policy of Spain was calculated to raise up everywhere a host
of enemies. In her mistaken anxiety to keep all the wealth of her
colonies to herself she prohibited the rest of the world from engaging in
trade with them. Only with her might they buy and sell. The result was
that a great smuggling trade sprang up. No watchfulness could defeat the
daring and ingenuity of the English, Dutch, and French sailors who
frequented the Caribbean Sea. No threats could prevent the colonists from
attempting to buy and sell in the market that paid them best. The
ferocious vengeance of the Spaniards, which in some cases almost
exterminated the population of their own colonies, converted the traders
into the Buccaneers, an association of sailors of all nations who
established themselves in one of the islands of the Caribbean Sea, and
who for three-quarters of a century were the scourge of the Spanish trade
and dominions. Their cruelty was as remarkable as their skill and daring.
They spared neither man, nor woman, nor child. Even half a century after
their association had been broken up the memory of their inhuman
barbarity was so vivid that no Spanish prisoner ever mounted Anson's deck
without a lively dread, which was only equalled by the general surprise
at his kindly and courteous treatment. The sight of an English sailor
woke terror in every heart.
At last, in 1713, by the Treaty of Utrecht, that closed the famous War of
the Spanish Succession, in which Marlborough gained his wonderful
victories, Spain consented to resign her claim to a monopoly of trade
with her colonies so far as to permit one English ship a year to visit
the American coasts.
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