From the Baron Humboldt’s “Political essay on the kingdom of New- Spain.”

“The Indian cultivator is poor, but he is free.

His ſtate is even greatly preferable to that of the peaſantry of the north of Europe.

There are neither corvees nor villanage in New-Spain, and the number of ſlaves is next to nothing.

Sugar is chiefly the produce of free hands.

There the principal objects of agriculture, are not the productions to which European luxury has aſſigned a valuable and arbitrary value, but cereal gramina, nutritive roots, and the agave, the vine of the Indians.

The appearance of the country proclaims to the traveller that the ſoul nouriſhes him who cultivates it, and that the true proſperity of the Mexican people neither depends on the accidents of foreign commerce, nor on the unruly politicks of Europe.

In Mexico, the beſt cultivated fields—thoſe which recal to the mind of the traveller, the beautiful plains of France—are thoſe which extend from Salamanca towards Siloe, Guanaxato, and the Villa de Leon, and which ſurround the richeſt mines of the known world.

Wherever metallick ſeams have been diſcovered in the moſt uncultivated parts of the Cordilleras, on the inſulated and deſert table lands, the working of mines, far from impeding the cultivation of the ſoil, has been ſingularly favourable to it.

Travelling along the ridge of the Andes, or the mountainous part of Mexico, we every where ſee the moſt ſtriking examples of the beneficial influence of the mines on agriculture.

Were it not for the eſtabliſhments formed for the working of the mines, how many places would have remained deſert—how many diſtricts uncultivated, in the four intendencies of Guanaxuato, Zacatecas, San Luis Potoſi and Durango, between the parallels of 21 and 25 degrees, where the moſt conſiderable metallic wealth of New- Spain is to be found?

While the coaſt, expoſed to the violent effect of the ſolar heat, was, as it continues to be, the ſeat of diſeaſe, we cannot wonder that the higher regions were preferred, as abodes, by the old population of America, and by their ſucceſſors.

The valley in which the city of Mexico ſtands, is upwards of 6580 feet above the level of the ſea—it is of an oval form, encompaſſed on all ſides by mountains, and contains ſeveral lakes.

The largeſt is ſalt—formerly it ſurrounded the city, which was approached only by cauſeways, conſtructed in the water—but at preſent the extent of this lake is diminiſhed, and the city is now on the land, at ſome diſtance from the waters edge.

The circumference of the valley is 67 leagues.

Mexico is undoubtedly one of the finest cities ever built by Europeans in either hemiſpheres.

With the exception of St. Peterſburg, Berlin, Philadelphia, and ſome quarters of Weſtminſter, there does not exiſt a city of the ſame extent, which can be compared to the capital of New Spain for the uniform level of the ground on which it ſtands, for the regularity and breadth of the ſtreets, and the extent of the public places.

The architecture is generally of a pure ſtyle, and there are even edifices of very beautiful ſtructure.

The exteriour of the houſes is not loaded with ornaments.

The baluſtrades and gates are all of Biſcay iron, ornamented with bronze; and the houſes, inſtead of roofs, have terraces like thoſe in Italy and other ſouthern countries.

Mexico has been very much embelliſhed, ſince the reſidence of the Abbe Chappe there, in 1769.

However, it muſt be agreed, that notwithſtanding the progreſs of the arts within theſe laſt thirty years, it is much leſs from the grandeur and beauty of the monuments, than from the breadth and ſtraitneſs of the ſtreets—and much leſs from its edifices, than from its uniform regularity, its extent and population, that the capital of New Spain attracts the admiration of Europeans.

The preſent population of Mexico is eſtimated at 135 to 140,000 individuals.

It probably conſiſts of

2,500 white Europeans.

65,000 white Creoles.

83,000 indigenous [copper-coloured] 25,500 Meſtizoes, mixture of whites and Indians 10,000 Mulattoes.

137,000 inhabitants.

“There are conſequently in Mexico 69,500 men of colour, and 67,500 whites; but a great number of the Meſtizoes are almoſt as white as the Europeans and Spaniſh Creoles!

“Among the colonies ſubject to the king of Spain, Mexico occupies at preſent the firſt rank, both on account of its favorable poſition for commerce, with Europe and Aſia.

We ſpeak here merely of the political value of the country, conſidering it in its actual ſtate of civilization, which is very ſuperior to that of the other Spaniſh poſſeſſions.

Many branches of agriculture have undoubtedly attained a higher degree of perfection in the Carraccas than in New Spain.

The fertility of the ſoil is greater in the provinces of Cumana, of New Barcelona, and Venezuela; and it is greater on the banks of the Lower Orinoco, and in the northern part of New Grenada, than in the kingdom of Mexico, of which ſeveral regions are barren, deſtitute of water, and incapable of vegetation.

But on conſidering the greatneſs of the population of Mexico, the number of conſiderable Cities in the proximity of one another; the enormous value of the metallick produce, and its influence on the commerce of Europe and Aſia; in ſhort on examining the imperfect ſtate of cultivation obſervable in the reſt of Spaniſh America, we are tempted to juſtify the preference which the court of Madrid has long manifeſted for Mexico, above its other colonies.”