Spanish America (Vol.1&2). Sir Richard Henry Bonnycastle
in New Spain, but most of those which are in use in the capital and great cities, by the nobility and gentry of fashion, are the productions of the London workshops.
Commerce.—The commerce of New Spain has been of late years considerably augmented, both by the great additions made to agriculture, and by the formation of good roads from the interior; when these shall become sufficiently finished to admit of the conveyance of merchandise by means of waggons instead of on the backs of horses, mules, and Indians, the commercial relations of New Spain, will embrace the most remote countries of the Old World. The internal traffic consists chiefly in maize, ingots of metal carried from the mines of the capital to be coined or assayed, hides, flour, tallow, woollens, European goods, of which iron and mercury form the most prominent articles; cocoa, chocolate, copper, woods for the cabinet-makers, cottons, wines, tobacco, sugar, rum, pulque, wax, powder for the mines, &c.
The exterior traffic consists in coin, plate, ingots of the precious metals, cochineal, sugar, flour, indigo, provisions, hides, pimento, vanilla, jalap, sarsaparilla, mahogany, logwood, cabinet-woods, soap, cocoa, &c.; these are exported from Vera Cruz and Campeachy. The imports from Europe, are cottons, linens, woollens, silks, paper, brandy, mercury, steel, iron, wines, wax, vinegar, raisins, almonds, olives, oil, saffron, corks, thread, crockery-ware, and cordage, with a variety of minor articles, such as fruits, medicines, toys, &c. The imports from the East Indies, at the port of Acapulco, are calicoes, silks, muslins, cottons, spices, gums, and jewellery, which trade is carried on by armed vessels, under the orders of officers of the Spanish royal navy; New Spain returns to the East Indies, coined silver, iron, cochineal, cocoa, wine, oil, wool and hats.
The imports from the other Spanish American colonies to Acapulco are chiefly in cinchona, or Jesuits bark, Chili, or long-pepper, oil, Chili-wine, copper, sugar and cocoa; for which New Spain returns woollens of her own manufacture, cochineal, tea and some East Indian articles.
The commerce of New Spain has suffered much since the war, from the heavy duties exacted at Vera Cruz, for articles the produce of European soil, manufactured in the mother country, and by the want of encouragement to the introduction of goods manufactured in countries which have carried the arts to a greater height than they have hitherto reached in Spain, as well as to the restrictions put upon the cultivation of tobacco, the olive, and the wine. We shall not examine here the value of the export and import trade of this viceroyalty. It is well known, that the duties do very little more than support the administration, and that having subsidies to make annually to the islands of Cuba, Porto Rico, and to other of the Spanish colonies, Mexico affords very little towards the support of Old Spain. Indeed amongst the whole of the Spanish American colonies, none but the vice-royalties of Peru and Mexico, make any regular remittances of monies to Spain for the assistance of the mother-country; the charges of government swallowing up all the revenues in the others. M. de Humboldt cites the public accounts of the colonies as his vouchers, and states, that the revenue of New Spain may be estimated at upwards of four millions sterling, of which about a million and a quarter are annually remitted to Spain, the remainder being consumed in the subsidies paid to Porto Rico, Cuba, &c., and in the interior administration. An anonymous writer, who styles himself Espagnol amante de su Patria, has lately published a pamphlet in London, in which he shows that the revenue derived by the Spanish government, has very much decreased since the period of M. de Humboldtʼs travels; although a free trade has been conceded to the island of Cuba, by means of which, the administration of that island has been enabled to meet their expences, and to have a small sum in reserve, without being obliged to have recourse to the Mexican subsidy.
The revenue of New Spain consists in the duties paid on all gold and silver extracted from the mines, on the sale of quicksilver, the coinage, sale of tobacco and powder, duties of entry, and embarkation at the ports, the tribute imposed on the Indians, duty on pulque (the fermented liquor of the agave), sale of indulgences from Rome, tax on the clergy, sale of powder, stamps, sale of snow, which is a royal right, and very productive in the hot regions, where so much cooling liquors are consumed, and some other minor taxes. With the amount of money collected under these heads, the expences of the administration, of the missions to the northern provinces, the fortifications, dockyards, ships of war, the militia and regular troops are paid, together with the subsidies before-mentioned.
The Army of New Spain consists of a regular force raised in the country, of ten thousand men, and more than 20,000 militia. In the present time, the army and navy of New Spain must be considered as a component part of the military force of the Mother country, as she is engaged in reinforcing them, by every means in her power, in order to quell the disturbances which have arisen to such a height in her more southern colonies.
The insurgents have made no decided progress in New Spain; they are seen only in the province of Puebla, or rather in the old province of Tlascala, in small bodies, and in the district of Texas, on the northern part of San Luis Potosi, where they have formed a slight establishment in Galveston Bay.
In Guadalaxara and Valladolid symptoms of disaffection have been shown; but it has been immediately quelled, and the discontented were dispersed by the Spanish troops; the few who could get together taking shelter in an almost inaccessible island of the lake Chapala in Valladolid.
The Indians are said to take no part with the insurgents, nor are the people of the interior at all willing to enter into the struggle; on the contrary, they have formed themselves, in many of the districts, into military bodies for the preservation of the public tranquillity.
It will be seen, on consulting the journals of the present time, that the Government of the United States lays strong claim to that portion of the kingdom of New Spain, east of the bay of St. Bernardo; it having been declared in congress, that Galveston Bay, where the insurgents have been attempting to form settlements, in order to annoy from thence, the coasts of San Luis Potosi and Vera Cruz, is within the limits of the United States. Should this assertion, which is founded on the treaty of 1783, be well grounded, the Spanish government will have no other barrier to oppose to any future aggression of that power, than the great river Bravo del Norte, which will bring the Americans within a very short distance of the capital, and will leave them some of the richest silver mines in the government of San Luis Potosi.
We shall now give a description of the capital of New Spain, as in it the commerce, the wealth, and the power of the country, is, as it were, concentrated.
METROPOLIS OF NEW SPAIN.
Mexico, the capital of the Spanish vice-royalty of New Spain, is situated in 19° 25ʹ 45ʺ north latitude, and 99° 5ʹ 5ʺ west longitude, in a beautiful valley near the banks of the lake Tezcuco. The houses are mostly founded on piles, on account of the marshy nature of the ground, and the town is intersected by numerous canals. The scite of the city is the same as that of the ancient Mexico, which is said to have been so denominated from the god of war of the Mexicans, whose appellation was Mexitli, as he had a temple erected there to his worship. A palace was erected by Cortez, opposite to the scite of the palace of Montezuma. This city is a very fine one, and it is asserted that, with the exception of some parts of Westminster, Petersburgh, Berlin and Philadelphia, there is no city of the same magnitude which bears any comparison with Mexico for its great regularity, the extent of the public buildings and places, the level, and the general architecture. The railings and gates of the houses are of iron, ornamented with bronze, and the roofs of the houses are flat, and formed into terraces. The great breadth and length of its streets is an object of admiration to strangers, but it is said they are nevertheless dirty. The streets are paved and lighted by large reflecting lamps, and generally run in straight lines, from west to east, and from north to south; the footpaths are guarded by little stone-pillars, and a covered sewer runs along the middle of the streets, as in France.
The chief building is the vice-regal palace, built by Fernando Cortez, near the ruins of that of Montezuma; it stands in the central square, near the cathedral, and is a massive stone edifice. The cathedral is a magnificent building, and cost the labour of upwards of ninety years. In it are two images of the Virgin, one of solid gold, weighing