58 
[ Rep. N^o. 564. ] 
riches by their 6xhibitions in Europe, the Mexican Congress passed a law 
prohibiting their exportation and hence the common people reason, that 
if old stones are so valuable, new weeds must be worth a great deal of 
money. 
But, independently of every other consideration, their hereditary hos¬ 
tility to strangers, cherished by their own authorities, is sufRcient to cause 
them to throw every obstacle into the way of all inquiring foreigners. 
Of the despotism which the civil authorities exercise, even on their own 
countrymen, you may infer from the fact that, about six weeks since, a 
gentleman was put in the prison by a vulgar alcalde of the present year, 
for not having taken off his hat when passing at thirty yards distance in 
the street. The conduct of these authorities resembles that of negroes 
when made overseers of their brother slaves. In the West India islands 
and in our Southern States, you will find that the slaves infinitely prefer 
a white to a black overseer, as the latter is much more overbearing and 
cruel in his treatment. The Greek tax-gatherer of his fellow Greeks, un¬ 
der the Turkish Government, and the Hindoo exciseman, among his fellow 
Hindoos, under the British Government, and all the authorities under the 
Spanish American Governments, are equally proofs of the despotism uni¬ 
versally exercised by fellow slaves when invested with even temporary 
power over their brethren. I have repeatedly stated the fact, that so far 
is my ofiicG from atfording respect or protection to my person, that I am 
indebted to my profession alone for my partial exemption from insult and 
outrage. But any foreigner who undertakes any pecuniary enterprise in 
this country, may rest assured that he will never be able to carry it into 
complete execution. If his property is not destroyed, and his person not 
imprisoned by the nearest barefooted alcalde, or despotic sub-delegate, the 
common council of the city will pass an especial ordinance to his injury; 
and if that be not suificient to break up his establishment, the legislature 
of the State will decree an especial law against the branch of industry in 
which he is engaged. A Doctor Baldwin established a saw-mill, moved 
by animal power, on the banks of the Goazacoalcos, and was beginning 
to reap the rewards of his capital and industry thus eniployed, when the 
legislature of Vera Cruz imposed a tax on the trees he cut, and on the 
boards he sawed, amounting to a prohibition; and, after spending more 
money than he ever gained, in inefiectual attempts to obtain justice, he 
abandoned the saw-mill in despair. Hundreds of similar examples may 
be cited throughout the Mexican States. 
But what can a foreigner expect when he sees the manner in which 
they treat even such of their own citizens as engage in any industry or 
enterprise likely to augment their own fortunes and the prosperity of the 
States in which they reside ? The late P. Guzman, of Merida, was the 
most meritorious citizen of Yucatan, in our use of the epithet. He intro¬ 
duced the few important manufactures that existed in this peninsula; 
such as the tanning of hides, the making of soap, &c. He also projected 
the extraction of the coloring matter of logwood for exportation; which 
renders valuable the trees in the interior, too distant from the shore to pay 
the expenses of transportation. As the machinery for shipping the wood 
was costly, and the success of the extract in the foreign market still pro¬ 
blematical, he begged and obtained, in 1828, an exclusive privilege of only 
five years from the legislature of this State; but, as soon as he got the 
