50 



COLONIAL RESTRICTIONS. 



Mexico, proper, the yield is from eighteen to twenty ; and even in 

 the old possessions of California, it is set down at from fifteen to 

 seventeen. The best writers consider, however, that notwithstand- 

 ing the extraordinary fertility of their soil, the Mexicans do not 

 produce in ratio of quantity, superior crops to the best agricultural 

 portions of the United States. 



The agricultural advantages of New Spain were early pointed out 

 by some of the colonial authorities to the Spanish Home govern- 

 ment ; but the very fact of their existence seems to have alarmed the 

 Court and to have originated those restrictive laws which, as we have 

 shown in our historical narrative, so long ensured the dependence of 

 the colony. The King, the Cabinets and the Council of the Indies 

 united in believing that if the internal resources of the nation were 

 developed, fostered, and placed upon a firm basis, the political as 

 w^ell as the industrial independence of America might naturally en- 

 sue ; and accordingly, these authorities resolved at once to adopt 

 the narrow system of restrictions which retained the essentially 

 productive power in the hands of Spain. Zumarraga, the first 

 bishop and second archbishop of Mexico, addressed urgent letters 

 to the Emperor Charles V., exhibiting the agricultural value of the 

 country, and solicited laborers, plants, seeds, cattle, and all the 

 usual means for the development of Mexican resources. The Ban- 

 dos published in the year 1524, by Cortez, which are yet preserved 

 in the Hospital of Jesus, in the capital, contain wise decrees for 

 the encouragement of industry, and prove that the military life of 

 the Conqueror had not made him forgetful of his early agricultural 

 labors in the West Indies when he first emigrated from Spain. 

 But the policy of Spain was constantly declared to be adverse to 

 this w T holesome and reasonable encouragement. When Luis de 

 Velasco, the second of that name who was viceroy in New Spain, 

 passed thence to the viceroyalty of Peru, he was instructed by the 

 King and Council of the Indies to be careful not to " foster manu- 

 factures, nor to allow the cultivation of vines, inasmuch as there 

 was already ample provision of these things and the commerce of 

 the kingdom should not be impaired by such colonial products." 

 At the same epoch, his successor in Mexico, the Conde de Mon- 

 terey, was also required to be equally vigilant and restrictive in the 

 region confided to his government. These orders, however, were 

 not always faithfully complied with throughout such extended and 

 sparse jurisdictions as those of Mexico or Peru ; and accordingly 

 in 1610, through the Marques de Montesclaros, who replaced the 



