Page:Vol 3 History of Mexico by H H Bancroft.djvu/651

Rh arrest it. With the impetus given to it by hostilities with foreign nations and the fostering influence of a blind policy, smuggling was too firmly grafted to be destroyed. A few intervals of animation in commerce during the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, it is true, are perceptible, but they were but spasmodic revivals of the magnificent trade which Spain had carried on with her colonies in the days when her own industries were flourishing.

During the period immediately succeeding the conquest, the trade of New Spain was carried on almost exclusively with Santo Domingo; but this commercial intercourse soon ceased, by reason of the arbitrary proceedings of Cortés, and the ill-treatment of merchants. At this time, owing to the scarcity of coin, internal trade was reduced to barter, mantas being the standard of value; but much inconvenience arose from the different prices demanded by the Indians for the commodities they brought to market. To obviate the want of a convenient currency, the council of the Indies suggested in 1533 that gold and silver be weighed by ounces and traded in that form.

Nor were the regulations which governed intercolonial traffic better devised. The selfish spirit which induced their promulgation led to evils similar to those in regard to commerce with foreign countries. Laws were incessantly violated, and the amount of