RESULT.

Balance of the commerce of Vera Cruz in 1803.

Piastres. Piastres.

In national pro- Importation { ductions - 10,614,803

from Spain. ). In foreign pro- 18,493,289 ductions - 7,878,486 Exportation for Spain - - - - 12,017,072

Difference in favour of the importation 6,476,217

OBSERVATIONS.
-mom-

1. “The table of the balance drawn up by “ the consulado of Vera Cruz having obtained “ the approbation of the court and all the “ bodies of the state, we continue to give the “greatest publicity to whatever relates to “ the commerce of New Spain. We have • not included among the objects of impor“tation and exportation 5,000 quintals of “ mercury, 280,000 reams of paper destined “ for the manufacture of tobacco, 4,000 quintals “ of iron embarked in ships of war, 12,800 ‘ quintals of plates of copper, and five millions of “ piastres sent into Spain, as well as 1,200,000 “ piastres sent to the West India Islands for “ the maintenance of fortresses, because all “ these articles were exported and imported “on account of government.”

2. “There were three shipwrecks this year “ on the island of Cancun and the sand-bank “ of Alacran. The insurance company esta“blished the 17th July, insured in six months “ to the value of 746,000 piastres. The poli

“tical circumstances of Europe and the dread

“ of a maritime war have fettered the commerce “ of Vera Cruz, so that its activity was much “less than it was in the former year.”

Vera Cruz, 28th of January, 1804.

From these tables of the commerce of Vera Cruz, published by the Consulado, on adding the goods imported on account of government to those which are the object of mercantile speculation, we find,

~ In 1802. In 1803. Commerce Vera Cruz. Value. Value. In piastres...] In liv. tournois || In piastres. In liv. tournois. Exportation 57,947,ooo. 304,221,750 20,922,000 log,840,500 Gold and Silver (... 256,200,000 || 15,554,000 ...) Agricultural 9,147,000; 48,021,750 5,368, COOI 28,182,000 produce Importation 24,100,000 126,525,000 22,975,000 120,618,750

The one of these years exhibits an extraordinary commercial activity, because after a long maritime war, Europe began to enjoy the benefits of peace; and the other presents a less brilliant view, because from the month of June the dread of an approaching war put a stop to the exportation of the precious metals and agricultural produce of New Spain.

The Consulado of Vera Cruz, counts among its members, men equally distinguished for their knowledge and their patriotic zeal. It acts both as a court of justice (tribunal) in disputed commercial cases, and as an administrative council entrusted with the maintenance of the port and roads, hospitals, the police of the town, and whatever relates to the progress of commerce. This council is composed of a prior, two consuls, an assessor, a syndic, and nine councillors. They decide litigious causes gratis on verbal declarations, and without any intervention of lawyers. To the activity of the Consulado of Vera Cruz, we owe the undertaking of the road of Perote, which, in 1803, cost per league more than 480,000 francs", the amelioration of the hospitals, and the construction of a beautiful giratory light-house, executed after the plan of the celebrated astronomer, M. Mendoza y Rios, at London. This light-house consists of a very elevated tower, placed at the extremity of the castle of San Juan d’Ulua, which, with the lantern, cost nearly half a million of francs, t The lamps, with a current of air, and furnished with reflectors, are fixed on a triangle which turns by means of clock-work, so that the light: disappears whenever the machine pre

# 19,200l. sterling. Trans.
+ 20,000l. sterling. Trans.

54 , POLITICAL ESSAY ON THE [Book v.

sents one of its sharp angles to the entry of the port. At my departure from Vera Cruz, the Consulado were occupied with two new projects of equal utility, the supplying the town with potable water, and the construction of a mole, which, advancing in the form of a pier, may resist the shock of the waves. We had occasion to examine the former of these projects when treating of the dike of the Rio de Xamapa.” o - - In all parts of Spanish America, there is a decided antipathy between the inhabitants of the plains or warm regions, and the inhabitants of the table land of the Cordilleras. The European traveller is forcibly struck with this antipathy, whether he ascends the river Magdalen, for Carthagena, at Santa Fe de Bogota, or climbs the chain of the Andes, in his way from Guayaquil to Quito, from Piura and Truxillo to Caxamarca, or from Vera Cruz to the capital of Mexico. The inhabitants of the coast accuse the mountaineers of coldness and want of vivacity; and the inhabitants of the table land reproach those of the coast with levity and inconstancy in their undertakings. One would almost say that nations of a different origin have settled in the same province; for a small extent of ground unites, besides the climate and productions, all the