ns of the tropical as of the temperate zone; with mineral
riches which may compete with, nay, which greatly surpass in their
variety, and might, if well cultivated, in their value, those of the
Americas which she has lost; with a territory vast and virgin in
proportion to the population; with a sea-board extensively ranging along
two of the great high-ways of nations--the Atlantic and the
Mediterranean--and abundantly endowed with noble and capacious harbours;
there is no conceivable limit to the boundless production and creation
of exchangeable wealth, of which, with her immense natural resources,
still so inadequately explored, Spain is susceptible, that can be
imagined, save from that deficient supply of labour as compared with the
territorial expanse which would gradually come to be redressed as
industry was promoted, the field of employment extended, and labour
remunerated. With an estimated area of 182,758 square miles, the
population of Spain does not exceed, probably, thirteen millions and a
half of souls, whilst Great Britain and Ireland, with an area of 115,702
square miles, support a population of double the number. Production,
however, squares still less with territorial extent than does
population; for the stimulus to capital and industry is wanting when the
facilities of exchanges are checked by fiscal prohibitions and
restrictions. Agricultural produce, the growth of the vine and the
olive, is not unfrequently known to run to waste, to be abandoned, as
not worth the toil of gathering and preparation, because markets are
closed and consumption checked in countries from which exchangeable
commodities are prohibited. The extent of these prohibitions and
restrictions, almost unparalleled even by the arbitrary tariff of
Russia, may be estimated in part by the following extract from a
pamphlet, published last year by Mr James Henderson, formerly
consul-general to the Republic of New Granada, entitled "A Review of the
Commercial Code and Tariffs of Spain;" a writer, by the way, guilty of
much exaggeration of fact and opinion when not quoting from, or
supported by, official documents.

"The 'Aranceles,' or Tariffs, are four in number; 1st, of
foreign importations; 2d, of importations from America; 3d,
from Asia; and, 4th, of exportations from Spain.

"The Tariff of foreign importations contains 1326 articles
alphabetically arranged:--

800 to pay a duty of 15 per cent in Spanish ves