At this period the trade ot Vera Cruz probably exceeded thirty million pesos a year. Apart from commerce the city had little to depend upon. So limited was the area of cultivated land in its vicinity[1] that nearly all the leading articles of consumption were brought from a distance. Stock-raising was the chief occupation in the surrounding country, and hides and dried fish the only commodities exported from the province. Much of the prosperity now enjoyed was due to the measures adopted by Cárlos III. in 1778 with a view to facilitate commerce between Spain and her colonies. Many of the restrictions which had aimed at a monopoly of trade, and had served only to divert it into the hands of foreigners, were now removed, and no community was more greatly benefited thereby than that of Vera Cruz, which was still the only port of entry on the northern seaboard of New Spain. In 1795 a tribunal of commerce[2] was established there by royal decree, and its operations were of great benefit both to the city and the province. At the opening of the nineteenth century the city had attained the full growth of her prosperity, and more substantial buildings were erected than during the two preceding centuries. The madrepore stone, called by the natives piedra múcura, and found in abundance on the reefs
- ↑ Elsewhere in the province agricultural products were considerable, including among other items 300,000 fanegas of corn a year, 243,750 arrobas of cotton, and 80,000 arrobas of sugar. Lerdo de Tejada, Apunt. Hist., 365-6.
- ↑ 'Consulado.' In 1784 the office of 'comandancia del resguardo de todas las rentas' was created in Vera Cruz by order of the crown, the regulations adopted being the same as those in force at Cádiz.
lege. There were also two chapels outside the walls. Villa-Señor, Teatro, i. 271. Although there were more priests in Vera Cruz than were needed, many of the towns in the district had none, and in 1802 had not been visited by the bishop of Puebla, to whose diocese they belonged, for 47 years. The first hospital was established by two Jesuits on the island of San Juan de Ulúa. During the rule of the Marquis of Montesclaros a hospital was founded in Vera Cruz and named after the marquis. It was abandoned in 1805. The next one founded in the city was the military hospital of San Cárlos, completed in 1764. One named Our Lady of Loreto was built for the accommodation of women, and one for convalescents was commenced in 1784 and placed in charge of the Bethlehemite nuns. The last three, together with the public hospital of San Sebastian, existed in 1807. Lerdo de Tejada, Apunt. hist., 377-8.
