Page:Mexico (1829) Volumes 1 and 2.djvu/345

MEXICO. 305 which I have endeavoured, in the preceding Sections, most studiously to avoid. Having pointed out the difficulties with which this part of my undertaking is attended, I shall enter upon it without farther preamble, commencing, as I have always done, my account of the present state of Mexican trade, with a re- trospective view of what it was before 1810. From the time of the Conquest until the commencement of the Revolution, the trade of Mexico was confined to the two Ports of Acapulco and Veracruz, through which a very limited supply of Chinese, and European manufactures was introduced for the consumption of the inhabitants. The Acapulco trade was conducted by one Royal galleon, of from twelve to fifteen hundred tons ; and, until the year 177*^5 when a certain freedom of trade was conceded to the Colonies, the European imports were, in Hke manner, conveyed to the Eastern coast of New Spain in fleets of Register ships, char- tered expressly by Government for the purpose, and placed under the orders of a Royal officer ; which fleets only sailed from Seville or Cadiz once, in a term of four years. The intercourse with Europe, which, as infinitely the most important, I shall make the first subject of my enquiries, was managed, during this period, almost entirely by a few great houses, established in the city of Mexico. These bought up the cargoes of the Register ships at the fair, which was then held at Jalapa, on the arrival of the fleet, and afterwards re- gulated, at their pleasure, the retail price of the different importations from Europe, which they disposed of to the merchants of the Interior. In 177^5 important change occurred. The abolition of the Register ships, and the freedom of communication allowed with most of the principal ports of the Peninsula, put an end to the exclusive monopoly of Mexico, and induced a number of Spanish capitalists to establish themselves at Veracruz, which continued to be, under the new system, what it had VOL. I. X