SIX MONTHS IN MEXICO. 53 



England, France, Italy, Holland, Germany, 

 &c. are only so many paltry states or provinces 

 to which the king of Spain appoints governors, 

 who superintend the manufactories, &c. for 

 the benefit of that country. I found it dan- 

 gerous to contradict this flatly. One lady 

 asked me where a muslin dress had been 

 made ? I answered " in England." And how 

 came it here ? " " Probably through Spain," I 

 replied. " Well, then," she added, " what is 

 England but the workshop of Spain ?" Many 

 of them think that the riches of Spain, drawn 

 from Mexico, enable the other, and as they 

 call them, the poorer parts of Europe, to 

 live. 



Of the wars in Europe they know as little 

 as of its general state ; and even the name of 

 Wellington seemed scarcely known in Xa- 

 lapa, though they had heard indeed, of the 

 buccaneers, and spoke of our illustrious 

 Drake, and Sir Walter Raleigh, as pirates. 



