MEXICO. 



547 



was amended by substituting the words "are 

 strongly advised'' for ' are required " in the 

 direction of the discipline upon the subject. 



XV. West Indian (Wesleyan) General Conference. 

 This body is composed of the Eastern and 

 Western Annual Conferences. The reports 

 presented to the General Conference showed 

 that it included 52,593 members, of whom 

 6,005 are junior members, and 2,087 are *' on 

 trial," the rest being " full members." The 

 triennial session of the General Conference 

 was held beginning March 20. 



XYI. South African Conference (Wesleyan). This 

 Conference met at King William's Town, in 

 April. The Rev. William Tyndall presided. 

 The statistics for the year showed the number 

 of itinerant preachers to be 89 ; of local preach- 

 ers, 560; and of members, 45.124. 



MEXICO, a confederated republic of North 

 America; area, 761,040 square miles. It is 

 divided into twenty-seven States, one Federal 

 District, and one Territory (Lower California). 

 The population is about 11,000,000, 19 per 

 cent, being whites, 38 pure Indians, and 43 

 per cent, of mixed races. The cities of over 

 20,000 inhabitants were hi 1888 : Mexico. 350,- 

 000; Ptiebla, 112,000; Guadalajara, 95,000; 

 Leon, 60,000; Guanajuato, 52,000; Mrida, 

 40,000; San Luis Potosi, 35,000; Zacatecas, 

 30,000; Queretaro, 30,000; Oajaca, 28.000; 

 Colima, 26,251 ; Saltillo, 26,000:' Morelia, 25.- 

 000; Airuas Calieutes. 22.000; Vera Cruz. 21.- 

 000; Orizaba, 20,500; Pachuca, 20,200; and 

 Durango, 20,100. 



Government. The President is Don Porfirio 

 Diaz, whose term of office will expire on Dec. 

 1, 1892. His Cabinet is composed of the fol- 

 lowing ministers : Foreign Relations, Seiior 

 Ignacio Mariscal ; War, Gen. Pedro Hinojosa; 

 Public Works, Gen. Pacheco; Justice, Senor 

 Joaqnin Baranda ; Finance, Senor Manuel Du- 

 blan ; Interior, Seiior Manuel Romero Rubio. 

 Congress will be called upon at its next session 

 to establish a new Cabinet office, that of Min- 

 ister of Posts and Telegraphs. The Minister 

 to the United States is Senor Matias Romero : 

 the United States Minister at Mexico is Edward 

 S. Bragg; the Consul-General at Mexico Elaw- 

 son C. More ; at Matamoras. Warner P. Sut- 

 ton ; the Mexican Vice-Consul at New York is 

 Don Antonio Laviada y Peon ; the Consul at 

 Brownsville, Don Manuel Treviflo; the Con- 

 sul-General at San Francisco, Don Alejandro 

 K. Coney; at New Orleans, Don Manuel G. 

 Zamora, 



Proposed American Acquisition of Lower Califor- 

 nia. Mr. Vanderveer, of California, introduced, 

 on Jan. 21, 1889, a joint resolution in the 

 House of Representatives at Washington, re- 

 questing the President to open negotiations 

 with Mexico for the cession of Lower Califor- 

 nia to the United States. When asked about 

 the chances of consummating such cession, Mr. 

 Romero, the Mexican minister, replied that his 

 Government had no disposition or inclination 

 to sell any portion of Mexican territory, and 



that, even if it should be inclined to do so, the 

 transaction could not be carried out, b< 

 there is no power under the Constitution au- 

 thorizing the transfer of national property. 



Treaty. The Japanese minister, Mr. Mutsu, 

 and the Mexican minister, Sefior Romero, 

 signed, at Washington, early in December, 1888, 

 a treaty of amity and commerce between their 

 respective countries, subject to ratification by 

 their governments. Heretofore there have 

 been no diplomatic relations between the two 

 countries. 



Finance. The proceeds of the 10,500,000 

 6-per-cent. loan, negotiated at Berlin, have been 

 applied in part to buying up, at 40 per cent., 

 the bonds issued under the English conversion 

 debt arrangement, the remainder, over $16,- 

 000.000 in gold, being applied to canceling the 

 debt the Government owed the National Bank. 

 The American debt has meanwhile been can- 

 celed, so as to leave only $300.000 unpaid. 

 The consolidated internal debt, on June 30, 

 1888, amounted to $16,052,000. The floating 

 debt was of equal amount, bearing no interest. 

 The budget for 1888-'89 estimated the income 

 at $37,900,000, and the outlay at $38,537,239. 



The report of the Minister of Finance for 

 the fiscal year ended June 30, 1887, was pub- 

 lished on Feb. 18, 1888, and reads as follows: 



The Federal revenues were $32.126.509. Deduct- 

 ing $P53.15>3 of the part collected in credits of the 

 public debt through the purchase of wa>te lands and 

 nationalized properties, there results as the net amount 

 received $31,168,352. or $3.357,443 more than the col- 

 lection of the previous year, when the net income 

 only reached $27,810,909*; and, even comparin. 

 pro'duct with the most favorable one of the last quin- 

 quennium, which was the fiscal year 18S2-'83, it still 

 exceeds that by $332,873. The principal causes of 

 this increase of receipts mav be found (Ij in the 

 collection of import duties, which in this fiscal year 

 rose to $17,268.650, while in the previous year they 

 did not exceed $14.852,980 ; (2) in the receipts from 

 stamps, which reached $7,538,150, when in the pre- 

 vious year they only produce ' - : (3) in the 

 new tax on salaries, "which yielded $885,560. 



The official Government organ, in its issue of 

 Dec. 5, 1888, contained a decree of November 

 30, through the provisions of which the import 

 duties were to be raised 2 per cent., the pro- 

 ceeds to be set aside toward defraying the cost 

 of harbor improvements. 



A 7-per-cent. 400,000 loan was floated in 

 London for account of the city of Mexico, to 

 provide means for the finishing of the Tesquis- 

 quiac tunnel for draining the valley of Mexico. 

 The net profits realized by the National Bank 

 in 1887 were $1,238,364* against $1,123,758 

 netted in 18SG, the dividends declared being 

 $880,000, against $800,000. 



Army and Navy. The army of the republic 

 consisted, on June 30, 1888. of 19,466 infantry, 

 with 1,110 officers: 6,095 cavalry, with 465 

 officers; 1,688 artillery, with 128 officers; and 

 2,768 gendarmes, with 247 officers together. 

 31,967. The navy consisted of five gun-boats. 



Postal Service. The number of post-offices of 

 the first class in 3877 was 300; minor ones, 



