Page:Vol 3 History of Mexico by H H Bancroft.djvu/517

Rh interior, and his wife, who had disclosed the affair to the woman Maldonado.

In the mean while the Comanches continued their depredations, Laredo, Reinosa, Revilla, and other places being attacked at various times. Of not much avail were the measures dictated by commanders of presidios, and the count of Sierra Gorda, governor of Nuevo Santander. Though these outbreaks were of little importance in themselves, the concern which the government showed in regard to them is a proof that serious trouble was expected.

The European wars seem in one respect to have been rather an advantage to New Spain. The English fleets blockading Vera Cruz or cruising about the gulf were the cause of a great diminution of the silver export, preventing on the other hand the entry of merchandise from Spain. This necessarily promoted home industry and internal commerce, to which the surplus funds could be applied. Thus New Spain was made nearly dependent on herself for the time being, the commotions of the old world making the colony acquainted for the first time with the extent of her resources, and teaching her the value of an independent existence.

During his short rule Azanza was too busy to give much attention to the formation of new settlements; but on the borders of the river Salado, in Nuevo Leon, he established a new colony under the name of Candelaria de Azanza, with a detachment of militia as a guard for protection against the savages who passed through those regions during their raids on the frontier. Of the calamities during this