Spain in 1830, vol. 2

by Henry D. Inglis

The recent erection of Cadiz into a free port, has not brought with it all the advantages that were anticipated; but it has, nevertheless, had an important influence upon its prosperity. Immediately upon Cadiz being created a free port, immense shipments of manufactured goods were made from England; and several branches of Manchester houses were established there. So improvident had been the export from England, that last autumn, calicos and muslins were bought in Cadiz 20 per cent. cheaper than in England. But the chief increase in the commerce of Cadiz, arises from the facilities now afforded for illicit trade with the rest of Spain. This is principally seen in the import of tobacco, which comes free from the Havannah, and which is not intended so much for the consumption of the city, as for supplying the contraband trade with the ports and coast of Spain. There are said to be six thousand persons in Cadiz employed in twisting cigars. But it is not in tobacco only that Cadiz has drawn to itself the illicit trade of the Mediterranean. There is also an extensive contraband trade in English manufactured goods, which can be bought throughout Spain, at only thirty per cent. above the price at which they cost in Cadiz. Gibraltar formerly monopolized the contraband trade of the Spanish coast; and the effects resulting from Cadiz having been made a free port, have proved most ruinous to the interests of Gibraltar; the merchants of the latter place have endeavoured to support themselves by establishing branch houses in Cadiz, and of these there are no fewer than twenty-five. The change in the commercial prosperity of Cadiz has materially affected its population,—in 1827, the inhabitants scarcely reached fifty-two thousand; in 1830, they exceeded sixty-seven thousand.

The whole commercial system of Spain is most erroneously conceived. The prohibitory system is carried to a length absolutely ruinous to the fair trader, and highly injurious to the revenue. The immense duties upon admissible articles, and the total prohibition of others, has occasioned a most extensive contraband trade, both externally,—with the various ports, and along the coast of Spain, and internally,—throughout the whole of the kingdom; and by this trade, admissible articles are introduced into the interior, at from one to three hundred per cent. below the duties imposed. Government could not fail to be benefited by permitting the importation of articles of general use, upon payment of such a duty as would allow the sale of the article at a lower price than is now paid by the consumer to the smuggler. As one example of the impolicy of the system, I may cite a fact respecting the trade in salted fish, the returns of which I have before me. The import of this article into Cadiz in one year, before that city was made a free port, amounted to four vessels, whose cargoes reached 4092 cwt.; while at the free port of Gibraltar, in the same year, forty-one vessels entered, with 89,106 cwt. the whole of which was intended for the illicit trade, and passed into Spain through the hands of the smugglers. The duty upon this article is more than one hundred per cent.; the smuggler considers himself remunerated by a gain of twenty-five per cent., so that the article which finds its way into the market through the contraband trade, is sold seventy-five per cent. cheaper than that which is admitted upon payment of the regular duties.

The duties upon British manufactured goods, amount almost to a prohibition; they often reach one hundred per cent.; and this trade is therefore also in the hands of the smuggler, who obtains the profit which, under a more wholesome system, might go into the treasury of the kingdom. The fraudulent dealer is also greatly assisted by the custom of granting a royal license to individuals to import a certain limited quantity of prohibited goods; an expediency resorted to in order to meet the exigences of the state: and under the license to enter a hundred tons of merchandize,—the merchant enters perhaps a thousand tons,—a deception easily practised in a country where, among the public officers, a scale of bribery is perfectly understood and acted upon.

I must not forget to mention, that the distinction of free port, conferred upon Cadiz, was a government expedient to raise money; and that the sum paid by the city for this privilege, is raised by duties levied upon the entrance of every inland article of consumption.

The road between Cadiz and Gibraltar has long been notorious for its difficulties and danger: it is altogether a mule track, lying partly through the outposts of the Sierras of Xeres and of Ronda, and partly along the sea-coast, and totally impassable during rainy weather, both on account of the swampy nature of the soil, and of the numerous streams which a mountain storm may convert in a few hours into impetuous and impracticable torrents. The accommodations too, are of the worst kind. Between Chiclana, which lies near Cadiz, and Algesiras, opposite to Gibraltar, a distance of nearly eighty miles, there is only one town, and the ventas are of the most miserable description:—but these are difficulties only; the dangers are still more formidable. From the middle of last June, till the middle of August in the same year, no fewer than fifty-three travellers had been robbed upon this road: many of these robberies had been attended with violence; and, in some instances, the travellers had been taken into the mountains, and long detained in the hope of ransom. More than two months had indeed elapsed since these robberies had been committed, and the danger was therefore less; the regular band under Don José had been broken up, and twenty-one of their number were at that time under sentence of death at St. Roqué; but the road was still considered unsafe—the post from Malaga had been robbed only the day before, and I was strongly counselled to go to Malaga by sea. It is frequently, however, such roads as these, that are most worthy the attention of the traveller; and as my object was to see Spain, I concluded a bargain with a man who had the reputation of being honest, for three horses and his own attendance; for which I agreed to pay twenty-one dollars.

In travelling between Cadiz and Gibraltar, the plan usually recommended is, to leave Cadiz in the afternoon, and sleep at the town of Chiclana; the following day a push is made to reach Tariffa, or the Venta de la Jondal; and the third day, a moderate journey brings the traveller to Gibraltar. I left Cadiz therefore about two o’clock, and proceeded along the causeway, and through Isla, both of which I have already spoken of in returning from Xeres to Cadiz. In the course of four leagues, I was stopped no fewer than five times by custom-house officers, and was obliged each time to have a peceta ready, to avoid the inconvenience of search: this is only a part of the system of bribery and robbery which pervades every public department in Spain; these men have scarcely any salary; and for the sake of a paltry saving, government allows itself to be robbed to a hundred times the amount, by the contraband trade, which is connived at by all the under employées. Shortly after leaving Isla, I left the Xeres road, and turned to the right, through a dreary and swampy plain that extended nearly to Chiclana: it was almost dark when we yet wanted a league of the town; but we put our horses into a gallop—and no horses go more agreeably than the little Andalusians—and arrived about eight o’clock at the door of the posada. Here we found tolerable accommodation for this part of Spain—some good fresh eggs, and a stretcher to sleep upon—and at five next morning we mounted, and trotted out of the town.

It still wanted nearly two hours to sunrise; but the crescent moon lighted our path. It has been said, truly, that the waning moon is the moon of the traveller. In southern countries, where the nature of the climate creates a necessity for night journeys, or in any country when a long journey is necessary, it cheers many a lonely hour, and gives security to the traveller in uncertain and dangerous paths. When day dawned, I found myself travelling among uncultivated hills, with pine trees scattered over them, and the ground entirely covered with the crocus, and many other beautiful flowers; the track seemed to depend entirely upon the knowledge of the guide, who wound in and out among the glades and the trees, and up and down the declivities, with the assured step of a man who knows his business. The sun rose with its usual splendour; and soon after, we descended into a valley full of pleasing, and even cheerful scenes. No one could have believed it to be the beginning of November; it was like a July morning in England,—calm, and mild, and sunny,—the sky was without a cloud, and the little birds were at their play and their song. The valley was finely wooded, and covered with thousands of aromatic shrubs; a flock of milk-white sheep was feeding in one place, and a small herd of cattle in another; two or three muleteers, and their trains, were winding down the neighbouring heights; and a peasant, with his gun, and two dogs, was wading among the underwood, in search of provender for his cabin. From this valley, we passed again into a more deserted country, where, in one spot, I observed a small hut constructed of branches of trees, bound together by the Esparto rush, and inhabited by a woman, who brought a bottle of brandy to the door, and tempted the muleteer by an encomium upon its excellence. The owner of the hut was no doubt the man we had seen with his gun and dogs. Soon afterwards, we came in sight of Vegé, a small village situated upon a conical hill about one thousand feet high, which stands at one side of a charming fertile valley, full of orange groves and fig trees; and at the foot of the hill, we stopped at a venta to refresh the horses, and ourselves. This was a wretched place, where nothing could be had to eat, and where there was neither table nor chair; a little hot water however, was got with some difficulty; and with tea without sugar or milk, and bread, which I had brought along with me, I made an indifferent breakfast. The master of the venta and his wife, struck me as being two of the most suspicious-looking people I had seen in Spain; and the guide afterwards almost admitted that they were not to be depended upon. It was in this venta, about three months before, that a robbery, attended with some violence, was committed: ten banditti entered, while three travellers were at supper; and it was well known that the owners of the venta were not unacquainted with some of the number.

From this venta, there are two roads to Gibraltar; one, which leads to Tariffa, about thirty-four miles distant,—the other, by a solitary venta, considerably nearer. The master of the venta strongly urged us to go by the latter; but having been expressly cautioned against this in Cadiz, I resolved to keep to my original plan, and go to Tariffa; but, in such cases, it is always wise to keep one’s counsel. Accordingly, I pretended to be convinced by his reasoning; but the moment we left the venta, I told the guide that I was resolved to go by Tariffa; and he, although more disposed towards the shortest road than I relished, promised that I should be obeyed.

For a short time after leaving the venta, there was some appearance of a road; but it soon terminated, and we struck to the left, among wide green slopes, thickly scattered with fine clumps of ilex, beneath which, many herds of swine were feeding. We passed two or three mud cabins, with a patch of cultivation round them; at the door of one of these, an old man was seated upon a bundle of rushes, and a fine athletic young man stood beside him leaning upon a long gun. The picture was striking; but it is by persons like these, more perhaps than by regular banditti, that the solitary traveller runs the risk of being robbed. Soon afterwards a young man, habited something like a soldier in undress, joined us: he said he was running away from Xeres, having been detected in some contraband transaction, and that he was going to Tariffa. It is never safe in Spain, to join company with strangers: this man and the guide immediately began to differ as to the road; and the guide, after some altercation, yielded to the other, whose good intentions I had afterwards the strongest reasons for doubting.

The country through which we passed, after leaving the venta where we breakfasted, was for the most part uncultivated; here and there, a little corn land was to be seen; and I noticed one or two ploughs at work: herds of cattle, horses, and sheep occasionally gave life to the landscape; and now and then a man with his gun, ranged the brushwood, or was seated upon a bank: but there were no houses, and no stationary inhabitants: whoever we met seemed to be far from home; and every little while, a monumental cross was seen by the way-side; I counted no fewer than twenty-seven during the day’s journey.