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Zitierempfehlung
Alexander von Humboldt: „Mexico“, in: ders., Sämtliche Schriften digital, herausgegeben von Oliver Lubrich und Thomas Nehrlich, Universität Bern 2021. URL: <https://humboldt.unibe.ch/text/1809-Voyage_de_MM-33-neu> [abgerufen am 25.04.2024].
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Permalink: https://humboldt.unibe.ch/text/1809-Voyage_de_MM-33-neu |
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| Titel | Mexico | ||||||
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| Jahr | 1820 | ||||||
| Ort | Providence, Rhode Island | ||||||
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Nachweis in: Rhode-Island American and General Advertiser 12:78 (4. Juli 1820), S. [1].
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| Sprache | Englisch | ||||||
| Typografischer Befund | Antiqua; Spaltensatz; Auszeichnung: Kursivierung; Fußnoten mit Asterisken. | ||||||
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|1||Spaltenumbruch|
from humboldt’s essay politique.
We wish to compare the extent and pop-ulation of Mexico, with the two empires withwhich this beautiful colony has relations ofunion and rivalship. Spain is five times small-er than Mexico; and probably in less than acentury, the population of Mexico will equalthat of Spain. The United States of NorthAmerica, since the cession of Louisiana, andthe claim of Rio Bravo del Norte as their lim-it, include 240,000 square leagnes; and theirpopulation is but little superiour to that ofMexico.
If the political force of two States dependonly on the space which they occupy on theglobe, and on the number of their inhabitants;if the nature of the soil and configuration ofthe coasts; if the climate, the energy of thenation, and, above all, the perfection of the so-cial institutions, were not the principal ele-ments of this grand calculation of power (cal-cul dynamique) the kingdom of New Spain
might now rank with the Confederation of the
American republicks. Both feel the incon-venience of a population too unequally distrib-uted. That of the United States, though occu-pying a soil and climate less favoured by na-ture, increases with a rapidity infinitely great-er; nor does it include, like the population ofMexico, nearly two millions and an half ofAborigines. These Indians, brutalized by thedespotism of the ancient Azteque, Sovereigns,and by the vexations of the first conquerors,although protected by Spanish laws, gener-ally wise and humane, enjoy, in fact, but lit-tle of that protection, on account of their greatdistance from the supreme authority. Thekingdom of New Spain has one marked advan-tage over the United States; the number ofslaves, either African or of the mixt race, is,in Mexico, almost nothing (presque nul)—anadvantage, which the European colonists didnot begin to appreciate until after the tragicevents of the revolution of St. Domingo; so|Spaltenumbruch|true is it, that the dread of physical evils ope-rates more powerfully than moral considera-tions on the true interests of society, or theprinciples of philanthropy and justice, so fre-quently declared in Parliament, in the Con-stituent Assembly, and in the works of philos-ophers! The number of African slaves in theUnited States is more than a million—it is thesixth part of the whole population. TheSouthern States whose political influence hasincreased since the acquisition of Louisiana,have, inconsiderably, augmented the numberof slaves. But, by a national act, the result ofboth justice and prudence, the commerce in ne-groes has been abolished. This would havebeen done at a much earlier day, if the lawhad permitted the President of the UnitedStates (a magistrate whose name* is dear tothe true friends of humanity) to oppose him-self to the introduction of slaves, and by thatto save future generations from great misfor-tunes.
MEXICO.
* Thomas Jefferson, author of the excellentEssay on Virginia.