136 CHAPTER 7 THE BOURBON REFORMS AND SPANISH AMERICA
and ensuing revival of Spain are associated with
three princes of the House of Bourbon: Philip V
(1700–1746) and his two sons, Ferdinand VI
(1746–1759) and Charles III (1759–1788). Under
the aegis of “enlightened despotism,” the Bourbon
kings attempted nothing less than a total overhaul
of existing political and economic structures—a to-
tal renovation of the national life. Only such sweep-
ing reform could close the gap that separated Spain
from the foremost European powers and arm the
country with the weapons—a powerful industry,
a prosperous agriculture, a strong middle class—it
needed to prevent its defeat by England and Eng-
land’s allies in the struggle for empire that domi-
nated the eighteenth century.
The movement for reform, although carried
out within the framework of royal absolutism and
Catholic orthodoxy, inevitably provoked the hostil-
ity of reactionary elements within the church and
the nobility. As a result, the Bourbons, although
supported by such liberal grandees as the count of
Floridablanca and the count of Aranda, recruited
many of their principal ministers and offi cials from
the ranks of the lesser nobility and the small middle
class. These men were strongly infl uenced by the
rationalist spirit of the French Encyclopedists,^1 al-
though they rejected French anticlericalism and
deism. They were characteristic of the Spanish
Enlightenment in their rigid orthodoxy in religion
and politics combined with enthusiastic pursuit of
useful knowledge, criticism of defects in the church
and clergy, and belief in the power of informed rea-
son to improve society by reorganizing it along
more rational lines.
The work of national reconstruction began un-
der Philip V but reached its climax under Charles
III. This great reformer-king attempted to revive
Spanish industry by removing the stigma attached
to manual labor, establishing state-owned textile
factories, inviting foreign technical experts into
Spain, and encouraging technical education. He
aided agriculture by curbing the privileges of the
(^1) Writers of the famous Encyclopédie (1751–1780), who
were identifi ed with the Enlightenment and advocated
deism and a rationalist world outlook.
Mesta, or stockbreeders’ corporation, and by set-
tling colonies of Spanish and foreign peasants in
abandoned regions of the peninsula. He contin-
ued and expanded the efforts of his predecessors
to encourage shipbuilding and foster trade and
communication by the building of roads and ca-
nals. Clerical infl uence declined as a result of the
expulsion of the Jesuits in 1767 and of decrees re-
stricting the authority of the Inquisition. Under the
cleansing infl uence of able and honest ministers, a
new spirit of austerity and service began to appear
among public offi cials.
But the extent of the changes that took place in
Spanish economic and social life under the Bour-
bons must not be exaggerated. The crown, linked
by a thousand bonds to the feudal nobility and
church, never touched the foundation of the old
order—the land monopoly of the nobility—with
its corollaries of mass poverty and archaic agri-
cultural methods. These weaknesses, along with
its lack of capital for industrial development and
debility of its middle class, made Spain, despite its
marked advances in population and production,
a second- or third-class power compared to Great
Britain, France, or Holland.
The outbreak of the French Revolution, which
followed by a few months the death of Charles III
in December 1788, brought the reform era effec-
tively to a halt. Frightened by the overthrow of the
French monarchy and the execution of his royal
kinsman, Charles IV and his ministers banished
or imprisoned leading reformers and forbade the
importation of French rationalist and revolution-
ary literature. Yet the clock could not be and was
not entirely turned back, either in Spain or in the
colonies. Under the corrupt government of Charles
IV, for example, the expedition of Francisco Xavier
Balmis sailed from Spain (1803) to carry the pro-
cedure of vaccination to the Spanish dominions in
America and Asia, an act that probably saved in-
numerable lives.
In the fi eld of colonial reform, the Bourbons
moved slowly and cautiously, as was natural in
view of the powerful vested interests identifi ed
with the old order of things. There was never
any thought of giving a greater measure of self-
government to the colonists or of permitting them