but the words and work not expressly quoted; the tobacco, dressed skins, corn, flour, &c. from France, with the illegal import of cottons—­that the whole contraband trade carried on in Spain cannot amount to less than the enormous mass of one thousand millions of reals, or say ten millions sterling a-year.  Conceding to the full the millions of pounds of tobacco here registered as smuggled from Gibraltar, of which, notwithstanding, we cannot stumble upon the official trace for half the quantity, we must, after due reflection, withhold our assent wholly to this very wide, if not wild, assumption of our Spanish friend.  We are inclined, on no slight grounds, to come to the conclusion, that the amount of contraband trade really carried on is here surcharged by not far short of one-half; that it cannot in any case exceed six millions sterling—­certainly still a bulk of illegitimate values sufficiently monstrous, and almost incredible.  We shall proceed to deal conclusively, however, with that special branch of the traffic for which the materials are most accessible and irrecusable, and the verification of truth therefore scarcely left to the chances of speculation.

First, for the rectification for exact, or official, quantities and values, we give the returns of the total exports of cotton manufactures, taken from the tables of the Board of Trade:—­

1840.  Cotton manufactures, L.17,567,310
      Yarns, 7,101,308

And for 1840 here are the exports to the countries specified:—­

         &nb
sp;                                           Declared Value.
1840.  Cottons to Portugal, yards 37,002,209 L.681,787
      Hosiery, lace, small wares, —­ 20,403
      Yarn, lbs. 175,545 2,796
 Id.  Cottons to Spain, yards 355,040 7,987
      Hosiery, &c. —­ 2,819
      Yarn, lbs. —­ 345
 Id.  Cottons to Gibraltar, yards 27,609,345 610,456
      Hosiery, &c. —­ 21,996
      Yarn, lbs. —­ 3,369
 Id.  Cottons to Italy and Italian Islands,yds.58,866,278 1,119,135
      Hosiery, &c. —­ 41,197
      Yarn, lbs.11,490,034 510,040
          
                                               -----------
                          Total, L.3,022,430

The discrepancies between some of the figures in these returns and those cited by Senor Marliani, arise probably from their respective reference to different years; they are, however, unimportant.  We have already shown, that, deducting the re-exports of cottons to Ceuta and the coast of Africa opposite to Gibraltar, the value of those destined for Spain, by way of the Rock; in 1840, could not exceed