sovereignty

Austrian monarchy

1

We see from this table, which may suggest very curious considerations as to the disproportion of European cultivation, that New Spain is almost four times larger than the French empire, with a population which till this day is seven times smaller. The points of analogy in a comparison of the United States* with Mexico are very strik

* The extent of territory of the United States is very difficult to estimate in square leagues, especially since the acquisition of Louisiana, the limits of which may be said to be very uncertain towards the west and north-west. According to M. Hutchins, the old geographer of the congress, and the author of the beautiful map of the countries situated beyond the Ohio, the United States contained in 1795 a surface of 640 millions of acres, or (discounting the lakes) 589 millions. Now 640 acres make a square mile; consequently (reducing in the proportion of 144: 25) the 589 millions of acres are equivalent to 159,000 square leagues, of 25 to the degree. I have followed in the estimation of the territory in the preceding table the manuscript notes with which I was furnished by a respectable statesman, M. Gallatin, the American treasurer at Washington. According to these notes, the United States, without Louisiana, contain 900,000 square miles, or 156,240 square leagues. This number is less by one-ninth than what is generally adopted by the American geographers; but this difference proceeds from the more exact calculations of the surface of the lakes, and the more eastern position of the Mississipy, determined by the observations of M., Ellicot. M. Gallatin believes that the error of his estimation does not exceed 50,000 square miles. The half of these 156,240 square leagues belongs to the Indians, and can only be considered in the light of a country possessed by allies. I am of opinion that if we only include the regions

ing, especially if we consider Louisiana and the western territory as the provincias internas of the great confederation of American republics.

I have described the state of the provincias internas as it was when Lleft Mexico. A considerable change hs since taken place in the military government of these vast provinces, of which the surface almost doull s that of the French empire. In 1807, two commandantes generales, brigadier generals (brigadiers) Don Nemesio Salcedo and Don Pedro Grimarest, governed these northern provinces. The following is the pre-ent division of the Gobierno militar, which is now no longer in the hands of the governor of Chihuahua alone:

in which the whites have already made establishments, and exclude those which are either desert or inhabited by Indians, the territory of the United States in place of 200,340 ought not to be estimated above 100 or 120,000 square leagues. Author.

The author is correct enough in the number of acres which he assigns to the square mile but he errs in converting the square miles into square leagues. The proportion by which he reduces the square miles into leagues is 144: 25, which is equal to 5.76: 1. This proportion corresponds exactly to geographical miles of 60 to the degree. But the English square mile of 640 acres is not a square geographical mile, but a mile of 69.2 to the degree. Hence the proportion to the square league is not 5.76: 1, but 7 66: 1. The territory of the United States therefore does not amount to 156,240, but to 117,478 square leagues. Trans.

PROVINCIAS INTERNAS DEL REYNO DE NUEVA

ESPAÑA.

A. Provincias internas occidentales.

1. Sonora.

2. Durango o Nueva Biscaya.

3. Nuevo Mexico.

4. Californias.

B. Provincias internas orientales.

1. Cohahuila.

2. Texas.

3. Colonia del Nuevo Santander.
4. Nuevo Reyno de Leon.

The new commandantes generales of the internal provinces, as well as the old, are considered as at the head of the administration of finances in the two intendancies of Sonora and Durango, in the province of Nuevo Mexico, and in that part of the intendancy of San Luis Potosi which comprehends Texas and Cohahuila. As to the small kingdom of Leon and New Santander, they are only subject to the commandant in a military point of view.

49

Vereynato)

2,621

2. Nuevo Santander

159,700

2. Intendencia de la Sonora

40,200

B07 606227