Page:Mexico (1829) Volumes 1 and 2.djvu/363

MEXICO. 323 Acapulco is likewise beginning to be again frequented, as the nearest harbour on the Western coast to the Capital, from which it is only distant ninety leagues. This sudden extension of the channels of communication has, of course, increased the difficulty' of giving any general view of the present amount of the trade of Mexico, or of analyzing the principal articles of which it consists. It is, however, generally admitted, that the first effect of the Revolution of 1821, was to cause an immediate and extraordi- nary decrease in the Imports and Exports, the total amount of which, at Veracruz, fell, in 1821, to . 17,244,569 1822, . 14,030,478 1823, . 6,259,209 The change becomes still more sensible if applied to the Imports alone. In 1821, they varied from their average value of 10,364,238 dollars, to 75245,052 dollars, or about two-thirds. In 1822, they dechned to 3,723,019 dollars, or about one- third of their former amount. In 1823, they rose slightly, being in all 3,913,019 dollars, that is, exceeding by 190,000 dollars the Imports of the pre- ceding year, but still faUing short of the former average by nearly two-thirds. During the two first of the years mentioned above, the Imports and Exports of Veracruz may be taken as a fair estimate of those of the country in general, no other ports being, at that time, frequented : but in 1823, this was ifto longer the case. Twenty-three American vessels are known to have entered the port of Tampico in that year ; and at Veracruz, hostihties having commenced, in September, with the Castle of St. John, (then in the hands of the Spaniards,) the Custom-house was transferred to Alvarado, which became, for the time, the principal port of entry. . Xt .woidd, therefore, be necessary to have an exact return of the trade both of Tampico, and of Alvarado, during the Y 2