Pos FUTURE PROSPECTS. 163 
|. trans-continental railway must first be completed through the 
southern territories of the United States ; there must be a 
. fair sprinkling of American settlers scattered throughout the 
i States to be acquired, so as to lead the people in the paths of 
a 
enlightened republicanism ; and the Mexican population, at 
present ruled by Congress, must be more firmly united to the 
Americans by the bonds of political freedom. All this I am 
_ confident will be done in time, and a very few years will 
‘ elapse, after the boundary line has been again moved south- 
ward, before we shall find railroads traversing the country — 
| a line to Chihuahua, another to Guaymas, or, still better, to 
4 Toquivampo or Mazatlan, and a third, perhaps, entering from 
| southern Texas. Then will follow a rapid increase in the 
; production of the precious metals, a result which directly 
affects all nations burdened with a heavy national debt. 
. Sonora and Sinaloa, with a fine healthy climate of which 
States farther south cannot boast, situated, moreover, along a 
‘ coast well supplied with harbours, and having an industrious 
_ Indian population accustomed to labour, should hold a similar 
position towards the Pacific States, as the South naturally 
occupies towards the North. All the semi-tropical pro- 
} ductions, such as rice, sugar, coffee, indigo, cotton, and 
tobacco, should here be grown for California and the Northern 
' Pacific; while mining, machinery, merchandise, and all the 
_Juxuries which accompany Anglo-Saxon civilisation, would 
. form the obvious articles of exchange. Thus, although the 
present is a day of darkness to them, there is more promise 
in the immediate future for these northern provinces than for 
any other part of the Mexican Republic. 
ua 
