| L.565,800 | |
| Say of linens one-third, | 74,660 |
| Of woollens, ib., | 32,360 |
| Of cinnamon, India goods, and other articles, in value L.90,000, minus tobacco, one-half, | 45,000 |
| ———— | |
| L.717,820 | |
| Tobacco, the whole, | 10,166 |
| ———— | |
| Total indirect exports | 727,986 |
| To which add direct | 554,000 |
| ———— | |
| L.1,281,986 |
Again, however, various products of Spain are also imported into the United Kingdom via Gibraltar, such as—
| Bark for tanning or dyeing, 5,724 tons, say value, | L.51,500 |
| Wool, 292,730 lbs. ib., | 29,270 |
It may be fairly assumed, therefore, that to the extent of L.100,000 of Spanish products, consisting, besides the foregoing, of wines, skins, pig-lead, &c., &c., is brought here through Gibraltar, which, added to the amount of the imports from Spain direct, will sum up the account thus:—
| Imports from Spain direct, | L.1,732,000 | |
| Via Gibraltar, | 100,000 | |
| ————— | ||
| Total, | L.1,832,000 | |
| Exports to Spain direct, | L.554,000 | |
| Via Gibraltar, | 727,900 | |
| ————— | ||
| L.1,281,900 | ||
| ————— | ||
| Excess in favour of Spain, and against England, | L.550,100 |
—A sum nearly equal to the amount of the exports to Spain direct. As we remarked before, these figures and valuations, which are sufficiently approximative of accuracy for any useful purpose, will take public men and economists, both here and in Spain, by surprise. Amongst other of the more distinguished men of the Peninsula, Señor Marliani, enlightened statesman, and well studied in the facts of detail and the philosophy of commercial legislation as he undoubtedly is, does not appear to have exactly suspected the existence of evidence leading to such results.
From the incompleteness of the Spanish returns of foreign trade, it is unfortunately not possible to test the complete accuracy of those given here by collation. The returns before us, and they are the only ones yet undertaken in Spain, and in order, embrace in detail nine only of the principal ports:—
| For Cadiz, Malaga, Carthagena, St Sebastian, Bilboa, Santander, Gijon, Corunna, and the Balearic Isles, the total imports and exports united are stated to have amounted, in 1840, to about | L.6,147,280 |
| Employing 5782 vessels of the aggregate tonnage of 584,287 | |
| Of the foreign trade of other ports and provinces no returns are made out. All known of the important seaport of Barcelona was, that its foreign trade in the same year occupied 1,645 vessels of 173,790 tonnage. The special aggregate exports from the nine ports cited to the United Kingdom—the separate commodities composing which, as of imports, are given with exactness of detail—are stated for 1840 in value at | L.1,476,000 |
| To which add, of raisins alone, from Valencia, about 184,000 cwts, (other exports not given,) value | 185,000 |
| Exports from Almeria, | 13,000 |
| ————— | |
| L.1,674,000 |
Although these are the principal ports of Spain, yet they are not the only ports open to foreign trade, although, comparatively, the proportion of foreign traffic shared by the others would be much less considerable. It is remarkable, under the circumstances, how closely these Spanish returns of exports to Great Britain approach to our own valuations of the total imports from Spain direct, as calculated from market prices upon the quantities alone rendered in the tables of the Board of Trade.
| Our valuation of the direct imports from Spain being | L.1,732,000 |
| The Spanish valuation, | 1,674,000 |