MEXICO. 



541 



Total area of States in leagues, 119,710. 



The proportion of the Mexican league to the 

 English or American mile is fifty to nineteen. 



Of this population of 10,000,000, according 

 to the most probable estimates, 6,500,000 con- 

 sist of Indians of various tribal descent, the 

 Aztecs being only a small portion of the num- 

 ber, and of the remaining 3,500,000 at least 

 3,000,000 are half-breeds, or are mixed with 

 Indian blood in some proportion, leaving only 

 about 500,000 inhabitants of wholly white de- 

 scent. 



Mr. Sargent (above referred to) resumes as 

 follows : " For many years before and since 

 the intrusion of Maximilian, Mexico was a 

 prey to revolutions. These have gradually 

 ceased. Under the regime of the existing 

 President, Gonzalez, and his predecessor, Diaz, 

 there has been no political disturbance of any 

 moment. The thoughts of all classes, tired of 

 continual change, have been directed to social 

 and material improvement ; the name of a 

 stable government is daily more and more ap- 

 preciated, and public opinion is so firmly set in 

 favor of a continuance in the present path of 

 tranquillity and progress that there would seem 

 to be but little fear of a recurrence of revolu- 

 tions. It was the knowledge of this improved 

 state of things that persuaded the wide-awake 

 people of the United States that the time had 

 come for opening up Mexico to American com- 

 merce. Enlightened Mexican statesmen like 

 Diaz and Romero were found ready to respond, 

 and showed a desire to encourage the introduc- 

 tion of American trade and American capital 

 into the country. But public opinion had to 

 be educated up to the mark, and time had to be 

 allowed for the expansive force of American 

 commerce, working, as by an inevitable law, 

 to force its way into Mexico, when the pro- 

 viding of railways would be proved to be 



Total population, 10,025,649. 



an absolute necessity. Accordingly, events 

 brought on the time." 



STATE VALUATION. A Government esti- 

 mate, taken in 1880, gives the following figures 

 of assessed valuation of real estate and export 

 of precious metals : 



PUBLIC OFFICERS. The President of the Re- 

 public is General Manuel Gonzalez, whose 

 term of office will expire on December 1, 1884. 

 His Cabinet is composed of the following min- 

 isters : Secretary of Foreign Affairs, Sefior J. 

 Mariscal; Interior, C. Diez Gutierrez; Jus- 

 tice and Instruction, vacant; Finance, F. 

 Landero y Cos ; Public Works, General 0. Pa- 

 checo; "War, General E. Naran jo. Supreme 

 Court, President (and Vice-President of the 

 Republic), Sefior J. L. Vallarta, and the ma- 

 gistrates are : P. Ogazon, J. de Mata Vasquez, 

 M. Alas, M. Blanco, J. M. Bautista, M. Saldafia, 



E. Avila, P. Ortiz, J. M. Vasquez Palacios, J. 



F. Corona, M. Auza, and M. Rojas ; with J. E. 

 Muftoz, Attorney-General, and E. Ruiz, Pro- 

 curator-General. 



GOVEENOES OF STATES. Aguas Calientes, R. 

 Arellanos ; Campeachy, A. Shields ; Coahuila, 

 E. Madero ; Colima, F. Santa Cruz ; Chiapas, 



