the mother country was supposed to be endangered. Branches of agriculture and industry, which might have insured progress, labored for centuries under difficulties, and not only were the markets of foreign countries closed to them, but the colonies were obliged to receive the products of the old world. It is true this policy was chiefly directed against the mining and manufacturing industries,[1] but it affected none the less the agricultural interest, which was intimately connected with it. This explains the little advance in the different methods of husbandry; the sharpened stick, the wooden shovel, the copper hoe and sickle of the Aztec being comparatively less primitive than the rude plow introduced by the Spaniard in early times and still in use in the eighteenth century. About two hundred and fifty years elapsed before a more liberal spirit pervaded the colonial policy. One of the first steps was to settle the right to property in farm lands in an equitable manner, by granting for a small compensation the possession of such as had been held for years without legal title. The encouragement which these laws afforded,[2] was increased by giving the native laborer the much needed protection against Spanish oppression.[3] After that time the total value of agricultural products increased considerably, and amounted at the beginning of this century to more than $30,000,000 a year in those articles alone which were subject to the payment of tithes.[4] The injurious policy of several hundred years
- ↑ One of the ablest and best viceroys, the second Revilla Gigedo, was not entirely free from prejudice in this respect. 'He says in one place: 'It must not be overlooked that this (New Spain) is a colony which must depend upon its mother, Spain, and is obliged to make returns for the benefits which her protection affords.' And further: 'El único medio de destruir las fábricas del reino, es el que vengan á precios mas comodos de Europa los mismos efectos.' Instruc., 90-1, 93.
- ↑ They were of October 15, 1754, and March 13, 1756, and granted power to settle any difficulties to the viceroy and audiencia. Ordenes de la Corona, MS., i. 90-5; vi. 1-6; Cedulario, MS., i. 2S-33; Providencias Reales, MS., 160-6, 189-95.
- ↑ The text of the law, dated March 23, 1773, is given in Id., 188-9.
- ↑ The total of tithes in the bishoprics of Mexico, Puebla, Valladolid, Oajaca, Guadalajara, and Durango during the years 1769 till 1779 was $13,357,157
