316 



MEXICO. 



cans, are rational and docile ; and there is every 

 reason to expect, in consequence of all that has 

 resulted from the Revolution, that the eyes of the 

 great mass of the population are now fully open- 

 ed to a due perception of these abuses, which not 

 only limited their own social happiness, but, by 

 degrading them in their own opinion, rendered 

 the work of oppression a task of comparative ease 

 and certainty. 



1 have said nothing of the treatment of the In- 

 dians, because I cannot speak from personal ob- 

 servation of their present state, compared with 

 the past. In every instance, however, the new 

 governments have abolished the oppressive poll- 

 tax, and, what was still more grievous, the forced 

 service or mita. Decrees have been published 

 in all the new states, formally including the In- 

 dians among the number of free citizens, and re- 

 pealing the laws by which they were rendered 

 ineligible to offices of trust, and as witnesses in a 

 court of justice. 



Now that all classes of men are allowed to settle 

 where they please, the population will spread it- 

 self over the country and rapidly increase ; and 



8 



