of insurance developed and several companies were formed. Mercantile adventures were covered by insurance policies at an early date, and Philip II. in the years 155G, 1587, and 1588 issued a number of laws regulating such transactions and the action of underwriters. This business, however, was confined to Spanish shippers and insurers, the policies issued by the latter being subject to the approval of the consulado in Seville.[1] But the stimulus given to commerce by the removal of restrictions in 1778 induced the merchants of Vera Cruz to establish a marine insurance company in 1789,[2] which was to last for five years, and again in 1802 a second one was formed on a larger scale, thus indicating the increase in commercial operations.[3]
In 1781 the conde de Cabarrus, who enjoyed a high reputation in matters of finance, addressed a memorial to the king of Spain advocating the establishment of a national bank. The proposal being supported by the minister Jovellanos, the king by cédula of the 26th of June 1782 authorized the creation of a joint stock banking company with the title of Banco de San Cárlos. The number of shares was fixed at one hundred and fifty thousand, open to all purchasers, and the capital at fifteen million pesos fuertes.[4]
On the 18th of June 1783 subscriptions were opened
- ↑ Recop. de Ind., iii. 474-90. In 1773 a royal cédula was issued correcting various abuses prevailing in the insurance business. Rescriptos Reales Ecles., MS., 23-6.
- ↑ With a capital of $230,000 divided into 46 shares at $5,000 each. Lerdo de Tejada, Apunt. Hist., v. 311.
- ↑ The capital of the second company was 400,000 pesos fuertes divided into 80 shares, 58 of which were immediately taken up by merchants of Vera Cruz. A list of the shareholders and a copy of the by-laws will be found in Gaz. Mex. (1802-3), xi. 97-101.
- ↑ Reales Ordenes, iv. 1-56.
and again granted from 1805 to 1809, when it was withdrawn by cédulas of the 17th of May and 27th of July. Concessions were, however, granted to certain merchants allowing them to introduce into colonial ports goods proceeding directly from foreign ports. The mercantile monopoly of Vera Cruz received its final blow in 1820, when a number of ports on both the Atlantic and Pacific shores of New Spain were opened to foreign trade. Lento de Tejada, Comer. Ester., 20-1. Consult, also, Reglamento y Aranceles Reales, Comer. Libre, 1-262; Ordenes de la Corona, MS., iii. 45-8, and vi. 82-5; Azanza, instruc., MS., 141-57.
