creased her
population. The powerful kingdom which a century before had dared to
threaten the independence of England and had enjoyed prosperity and
opulence, had become almost tributary to France and England. The treaty
of Utrecht reduced Spain to her peninsular provinces and her overseas
colonies. Though united with them by the ties of racial origin, religion
and tradition, it was not an easy task to defend them against the
inimical designs of powers that planned to dominate the seas and usurp
the place which Spain had won for herself.

Philip V. realized that the condition in which Spain had been left at
the end of the wars that preceded his reign made it incumbent upon him
to maintain peace and to further the country's recovery from a century
and a half of constant warfare. He was inspired by the example of France
under Colbert and Richelieu and his aim was by applying to Spain the
lessons France had learned during the leadership of those men, to bring
about a revival of Spain's previous greatness. He aspired to make Spain
internally stronger than she had ever been, to enable her to humble
England and to wrest from that great rival her ever increasing power in
America. His task was extremely difficult, for it really meant a
thorough reconstruction of the entire government. He found Spain in such
a state of stagnation that it required extraordinary efforts to rouse
in the country only a spark of the old spirit. He was the first
sovereign since Philip II. who had a strong will and a strong
personality and made his absolute power felt in every branch of the
government. He had to create a new navy; he had to organize and train a
new army; he had to reform the legislation, the finances, even the
police of the country. So poor was Spain at that time in men of strong
character and executive power, that he was obliged to employ foreigners
in some of the most important places in the army and navy as well as in
the council chamber.

Although during the latter half of his reign of forty six years his
initiative and energy were paralyzed and he lapsed into the passive
indifference which had characterized the attitude of some of his
predecessors, his innovations and reforms were the means of stimulating
inquiry into some of the evils, political and social, that Spain had
suffered from. He ushered in a new life, which slowly penetrated to
every corner of the kingdom and brought it into closer contact with the
outside world for