mercial wants of Mexico had been previously supplied, and by the time which foreign adventurers required, in order to make the necessary arrangements for entering upon a field, which was entirely new to them.
The whole of the year 1822, and a great part of 1823, were consumed in these arrangements, which were rendered very complicated by the necessity of opening some new line of communication with the Interior; Veracruz having become nearly useless as a port, in consequence of its vicinity to the castle of Ulloa.
The Old Spaniards too, who naturally relinquished with reluctance their hold upon the country, were still engaged in winding up their affairs; and, while this state of transition lasted, there was little to animate foreign speculators: nor was it until the commencement of 1824, that they acquired sufficient confidence in the stability of the new institutions of the country, and a sufficient knowledge of the most obvious channels of communication, to enter upon a commercial intercourse with Mexico, with any sort of activity.
The effects of it in that year, have been already shown. The Trade of Alvarado and Veracruz, rose from Six to Sixteen millions and a half of dollars, (16,774,587,) while that with Tampico, which employed alone 5000 tons of American shipping, must have raised the total amount of the Imports and Ex-
