SPANISH MERCHANTS. 



189 



of Mexicans and Spaniards formed an essential 

 part of the new constitution. The Spanish mer- 

 chants, therefore, the great, and almost the only 

 capitalists, were allowed to remain in the coun- 

 try. Trade was declared to be free to all per- 

 sons, and with all countries ; yet this invitation 

 of competition did not at first much affect the 

 resident Spaniards, since they were already sole 

 possessors of the market, by holding in their 

 hands the greater part of the active trading capi- 

 tal : it rather augmented their profits, by giving 

 them a wider range for the employment of their 

 funds. 



It was intimated to me, shortly after I had 

 landed, that the Guadalaxara and Topic mer- 

 chants were anxious to establish, for the first 

 time, a direct commercial intercourse with Eng- 

 land; and that the arrival of the Conway had 

 been anxiously looked for, in order that arrange- 

 ments in that view might if possible be entered 

 into. I lost no time, therefore, but set out on 

 the next day for Topic, in company with an Eng- 

 lish gentleman, captain of an East India ship, and 

 a young Spaniard from Calcutta. 



