Page:Mexico in 1827 Vol 1.djvu/460

430 provinces to the East, is by no means considerable, that of Jălāpă (the capital of the State of Veracruz,) not being supposed to exceed 600,000 dollars annually.

As the commercial interests of Great Britain in Mexico, are the principal object of this Section, I shall beg leave, before I proceed to trace the other effects produced by the Revolution, to express my opinion with regard to the line taken by the British merchants on their first arrival, in concentrating themselves, as they did, in the Capital.

I cannot but think, that, in attempting to supply, from any one point, (however central,) a country of such vast extent as Mexico, they have, in fact, repeated the error committed by the Spaniards, with merely a great reduction in the value of the goods brought into the market, in consequence of a great competition.

Thus, in the Capital, European manufactures have often been sold under prime cost, while the same articles, if landed upon other points of the coast, and properly spread through the country, without the addition of unnecessary land-carriage, (which is an expense always incurred when goods are transmitted through the Capital to the Interior,) might have been disposed of at a moderate rate of profit.

This was, perhaps, an unavoidable mistake at first, when the nature of the country was so little known; but now that the effects of the system