LINAGE’S NORTE.
645
thirteen years from 1779 to 1791 amounted to $224,052,025, while in the preceding thirteen years it was only $155,160,564.[1]
But a trying period of intestine strife awaited the colony of New Spain, and during the death struggle for release from the fetters with which she had been shackled for three centuries by the mother country, commerce again declined, until independence gave to Mexico free action and insured corresponding progress.
During the earlier period of the commercial history of New Spain, statistics showing the actual amount of trade carried on are meagre; of its limitations, however, a correct idea can be obtained from multitudinous royal cédulas and ordinances which exhibit thoroughly Spain's policy. The correspondence of viceroys also affords considerable information as to the fluctuating condition of trade and the prosperity of the country. Still more valuable in this respect are the reports of such rulers to their successors, among which especial mention may be made of Mancera, Instruccion, in Doc. Inéd., xxi.; Linares, Instruccion, MS., and Revilla Gigedo, Instruccion Reservada. This last work exhibits not only close observation on the author's part, but a more liberal tendency than might be expected in a viceroy of New Spain; for though he was somewhat biassed by the spirit of the government at that time, his views were singularly correct, and his administration just. The Instruccion Reservada was not published in Mexico before 1831. It supplies in 353 pages a complete account of every branch of the government, and was deemed so important that in the following year the supreme government ordered the publication of an index to it, which, however, not being alphabetically arranged, is of little service. Probably the most valuable contribution to information on commerce is Linage's Norte de la contratacion, in two books of 299 and 264 pages respectively, published in Seville in 1672, a work which describes fully the laws, customs, and practices which pertained to trade between Spain and her American colonies. Joseph de Veitia Linage was a knight of the order of Santiago, a member of the king's council, and treasurer and juez oficial of the casa de contratacion. He was thus fully competent to compile a work which for completeness can challenge any preceding publication of the kind. Not only does it include information upon commerce, but much relating to the revenue and assaying departments. The author in his preface informs his readers of the sources from which he made his compilation and drew his results. Naturally they were principally official documents, including royal cédulas and instructions, the correspondence of officers of the crown, the members of the council of the Indies and of the casa de contratacion. But besides these authorities he did not omit to consult the historians of his time.
- ↑ Essai Pol., ii. 734-7.
