Page:Mexico (1829) Volumes 1 and 2.djvu/264

 226 MEXICO. all the abuses of absolute power, and protecting the houses and persons of the inhabitants of the republic, against the undue exercise of authority in any shape. In a more advanced stage of society, many of these enact- ments might have been dispensed with ; but in a country that had so recently thrown off' the yoke, they were necessary, in order to inspire confidence in the system, and to teach the people to value their new rights in proportion to the extent of the grievances, from which they were exempted by them. It cannot be denied that many of the provisions of the Federal Act, have already produced a good practical effect, and tended greatly to rouse the country into useful activity. Proofs of the attention already paid to the education of the rising generation, will be found in Books V. and VI. of this sketch ; and this is the first great step towards a better order of things. Statistical enquiries, too, are prosecuted with eagerness in all parts of the country, in order to furnish materials for the annual reports required, both by the General Congress, and by the Legislatures of the States. In these, a mass of curious information is already collected, and every day tends to throw more light upon the resources of the country ; while the pre- cautions taken against too hasty a change of system, (Articles 165, 166, and 167,) embolden monied men to invest their capitals, once more, in those branches of industry which were formerly most productive. It is to be regretted, that the non-introduction of the trial by Jury, the want of publicity in the administration of jus- tice, and of a little more tolerance in religious matters, should cramp this rising spirit, and check the progress which must otherwise be made. But I am inclined to consider these defects as perhaps una- voidable sacrifices to the prejudices of the day, and to look to time, and to the action of the system itself, as the best mode of removing them.