THE RISE AND PALL OF AN EMPIRE 19
Nemesis awaited her opportunity, which showed itself
in the years following. As a result of their ruthless measures,
the Spaniards were able to bring to the motherland enor-
mous "wealth." But was it wealth in the real sense
of the word ? Did it benefit the ordinary people ? It
consisted for the most part of gold and raw materials,
which were immediately taken by king, aristocracy, land-
owners, Church, and great merchants. The ordinary
people benefited hardly at all; and, as a consequence, unrest
began to show itself on every side. For a period of about
two hundred and fifty years the glut of wealth, ill-distributed
and ill-used, proved to be in the nature of a disease which
caused the steady decline of Spain both abroad and at home.
There was a better period during the reign of Charles III.
(1759-88), during which this fairly "enlightened despot"
did many good things in the interest of the people. He
founded agricultural colonies, divided common lands,
abolished tax on grain, bestowed franchises upon the arts,
improved industry, brought peace in the Mediterranean,
and opened new markets abroad.
Of the period before him it has been written that Spain
had become a country of the blind, suffering a darkness so
ignominious that there was not a single man in any college
or university able to light a candle to aid those who were
curious about natural science. Poetry lay on its deathbed,
and the drama had declined to a state of complete insipidity.
Yet the power of the Catholic Church remained to such a
point that medical doctors had to make use of pills that bore
the label " Catholic " ; and woe betide the leech who did
not use them generously in his practice ! It was in the
reign of Charles II., who did so much good for Spain, that
the United States won their freedom from the English
crown. So discontented were the Spanish colonists in the