The Buccaneers in the West Indies in the XVII Century | Page 5

which could be supplied
from Spain.[7] To maintain the commercial monopoly, legitimate ports
of entry in Spanish America were made few and far apart--for Mexico,
Vera Cruz, for New Granada, the town of Cartagena. The islands and
most of the other provinces were supplied by uncertain "vaisseaux de
registre," while Peru and Chili, finding all direct commerce by the
Pacific or South Sea interdicted, were obliged to resort to the
fever-ridden town of Porto Bello, where the mortality was enormous
and the prices increased tenfold.
In Spain, likewise, the colonial commerce was restricted to one
port--Seville. For in the estimation of the crown it was much more

important to avoid being defrauded of its dues on import and export,
than to permit the natural development of trade by those towns best
fitted to acquire it. Another reason, prior in point of time perhaps, why
Seville was chosen as the port for American trade, was that the Indies
were regarded as the exclusive appanage of the crown of Castile, and of
that realm Seville was then the chief mercantile city. It was not a
suitable port, however, to be distinguished by so high a privilege. Only
ships of less than 200 tons were able to cross the bar of San Lucar, and
goods therefore had to be transhipped--a disability which was soon felt
when traffic and vessels became heavier.[8] The fact, nevertheless, that
the official organization called the Casa dé Contratacion was seated in
Seville, together with the influence of the vested interests of the
merchants whose prosperity depended upon the retention of that city as
the one port for Indian commerce, were sufficient to bear down all
opposition. The maritime towns of Galicia and Asturia, inhabited by
better seamen and stronger races, often protested, and sometimes
succeeded in obtaining a small share of the lucrative trade.[9] But
Seville retained its primacy until 1717, in which year the Contratacion
was transferred to Cadiz.
The administration of the complex rules governing the commerce
between Spain and her colonies was entrusted to two institutions
located at Seville,--the Casa de Contratacion, mentioned above, and
the Consulado. The Casa de Contratacion, founded by royal decree as
early as 1503, was both a judicial tribunal and a house of commerce.
Nothing might be sent to the Indies without its consent; nothing might
be brought back and landed, either on the account of merchants or of
the King himself, without its authorization. It received all the revenues
accruing from the Indies, not only the imposts on commerce, but also
all the taxes remitted by colonial officers. As a consultative body it had
the right to propose directly to the King anything which it deemed
necessary to the development and organization of American commerce;
and as a tribunal it possessed an absolute competence over all crimes
under the common law, and over all infractions of the ordinances
governing the trade of the Indies, to the exclusion of every ordinary
court. Its jurisdiction began at the moment the passengers and crews
embarked and the goods were put on board, and ended only when the

return voyage and disembarkation had been completed.[10] The civil
jurisdiction of the Casa was much more restricted and disputes purely
commercial in character between the merchants were reserved to the
Consulado, which was a tribunal of commerce chosen entirely by the
merchants themselves. Appeals in certain cases might be carried to the
Council of the Indies.[11]
The first means adopted by the northern maritime nations to
appropriate to themselves a share of the riches of the New World was
open, semi-piratical attack upon the Spanish argosies returning from
those distant El Dorados. The success of the Norman and Breton
corsairs, for it was the French, not the English, who started the game,
gradually forced upon the Spaniards, as a means of protection, the
establishment of great merchant fleets sailing periodically at long
intervals and accompanied by powerful convoys. During the first half
of the sixteenth century any ship which had fulfilled the conditions
required for engaging in American commerce was allowed to depart
alone and at any time of the year. From about 1526, however, merchant
vessels were ordered to sail together, and by a cedula of July 1561, the
system of fleets was made permanent and obligatory. This decree
prohibited any ship from sailing alone to America from Cadiz or San
Lucar on pain of forfeiture of ship and cargo.[12] Two fleets were
organized each year, one for Terra Firma going to Cartagena and Porto
Bello, the other designed for the port of San Juan d'Ulloa (Vera Cruz)
in New Spain. The latter, called the Flota, was commanded by an
"almirante," and sailed for Mexico in the early summer so as to avoid
the hurricane season and the "northers" of the Mexican Gulf. The
former was