=210. Reform of the colonial system about 1750.=—In the eighteenth century the old Spanish colonial system went to pieces. The government recognized at last that it could not execute the laws which it had made, and that the system which was meant to form the basis of a great empire resulted only in stifling Spanish commerce and in encouraging foreigners to great illegal gains. Foreigners were still excluded in theory; the importance of the change lay in the opening of the trade to the Spanish who had before been excluded by restrictions and taxes. Spanish merchants were allowed first to send out ships independent of the fleets, and then in 1748 the fleets were given up altogether. The prohibition on commerce between the colonies was removed, and many new ports in America were opened to the European trade. An indication of the results that might follow such a change in policy had been furnished by the experience of Havana. When this city was captured by the English in 1762 and thrown open to English trade, 727 merchant vessels entered the harbor in less than a year. Even though the prohibition of trade with foreigners was still retained, the effect of the reform in policy was nothing less than magical. In ten years the trade and the customs duties increased about eightfold. The reform came too late to benefit the Spanish industrial system. The colonies were destined to exercise their new strength in breaking their old bonds; while the home industries had decayed so far that a revival was impossible in competition with industries of more progressive nations. We leave Spain in the eighteenth century as we found her in the fifteenth century, serving the other countries of Europe by the production of raw materials, and dependent on them for her manufactured goods. Running through the list of the principal Spanish exports in the eighteenth century we find among them some that had undergone the first stage of manufacture, like wine, oil, soap, soda, and iron; but most were simple raw materials such as wool, salt, fruits, and nuts.