all unjust persecutions, and to prevent their being imposed on in trafficking with the Spaniards. In return for these services, they received a tribute in labor or produce."[1]
These protectors, like the zemindars over the ryots in India, did precisely what might have been expected. No men can safely be intrusted with absolute power over the liberty or labor of other men. "The abuse of these protecting regulations followed closely their institution." The peonage, which existed legally in New Mexico until abolished by our Congress, was a relic of the "protecting" encomiendas. It actually exists in some parts of Mexico now; it must practically continue to exist, with varying degrees of enormity and oppression, until the idle-landlord system is abolished.
Over the greater part of the country under cultivation, the mode of farming is primitive. Near the larger cities, and especially on the lines of the railways, English and American machinery is coming into use, chiefly the reaper. But this can be true only of the rich haciendas. The tiller who has no capital, and receives for his share
- ↑ Notes on Mexico. 1824. London and Philadelphia.
