charges, both legislative and executive, as well as the contingent due to the Federation, which has been paid with great punctuality,) 629,070 Dollars; so that a balance of 4,555 Dollars was left in favour of the State, at the end of the first twelve months, in which the experiment of self-government had been tried.
The capital can hardly expect, under the present system of free intercourse with Europe, to regain its former importance, which depended, principally, upon the native manufactures of wool and cotton.
Its population, before the Revolution, amounted to 67,000: it is now much reduced, although not nearly so low as the Census of 1825 appears to indicate. La Puebla being still supposed to contain from forty-five to fifty thousand inhabitants. A large portion of these will, probably, be compelled to have recourse to agricultural labours for support, and as there is a complaint of a want of hands amongst the landed proprietors, the general interests of the State will gain by the suppression of a branch of industry in the towns, which could only be supported by a system of taxation upon all the rest; the produce of the looms of La Puebla, during the best times, being infinitely dearer than the European manufactures, by which they are replaced, even under the pressure of the enormous duties, which, by the old Tariff, were exacted upon them.
With the exception of my journey to La Puebla, I was unable, during the first twelvemonth after my
