Page:Vol 4 History of Mexico by H H Bancroft.djvu/20

4 the merchant marine is next to nothing, the art of ship-building being lost, Italy, France, and England doing Spain's carrying; while pirates and filibusters ravage colonial waters, and industries and trade fall into the hands of foreigners.

The eighteenth century opens with a thirteen years' war for the succession, when the house of Bourbon crowds out the house of Hapsburg. Of the Bourbon princes before Joseph Bonaparte, are Felipe V., 1700-1746; Fernando VI., 1746-1759; Carlos III., 1759-1788; Carlos IV., 1788-1808; and Fernando VII., the same year. Following Bonaparte, 1808-1814, is Fernando VII. till 1833, Isabel II. till 1868, a brief period of republicanism, 1868-9, Amadeo of the house of Savoy, 1871-3, then more republican dictatorships, and finally the house of Bourbon again restored in the person of Alfonso XII.

Out of the necessary discipline incident to the war of the succession grows some improvement. Agriculture and industry are revived. Legislation is in some degree purified. The wings of the holy see are clipped, and the church stripped of part of its property and influence. Fernando VI., being small in body, weak in mind, full of fear and hypochondria, and withal of a kind and benevolent disposition, the country recuperates somewhat under his rule. Retrenchments are made. The inquisition is emptied. Some defences are restored, industry and commerce are cultivated, and other reforms instituted.

Carlos III. is an abler man and makes more mischief. Church and inquisition are still further checked and the Jesuits are expelled. Among the reformers of the period are Count Aranda, an Aragon grande of French proclivities and friend of Voltaire; Count Campomanes, a man of culture and literary activity, a patriot and friend of progress; and Count Floridablanca, who in 1777 succeeds Campomanes as prime minister. The last named is less bigoted than his age, though opposed to French radicalism; while