In the year 1838, Señor Jose Gomez de la Cortina,—ex-Conde de la Cortina, one of the most enlightened citizens of Mexico, published a carefully prepared essay upon the population of Mexico, in the 1st No. of the Bulletin of the National Institute of Geography and Statistics of the Mexican Republic; and his opinion was that the number of inhabitants greatly exceeded any of the above amounts. By observing the increase of population in different periods of five years, he considered it satisfactorily proved by the Tablas Geographico-politicas, of 1803, that the augmentation, in favorable years, was at the rate 14/5 per cent. By applying this ratio to the census of the Tablas, which gave in 1803, 5,764,731 inhabitants, we shall have an increase of about 105,000 yearly; and if we calculate at this rate of augmentation for the 46 intervening years, we find in 1850 an increase of 4,830,000, or a grand total of 10,594,731.

In the year 1842, however, when an estimate was made of a basis of population, upon which to found a call for a Congress to form a new constitution under the plan of Tacubaya, in 23 Departments or States and Territories, exclusive of Texas, the government calculated that there were 7,015,509 inhabitants.

Table of Population in 1842.
Departments.Population.
Mexico,1,389,502
Jalisco,679,311
Puebla,661,902
Yucatan,508,948
Guanajuato,512,606
Oajaca,500,278
Michoacan,497,906
San Luis Potosi,321,840
Zacatecas,273,575
Vera Cruz,254,380
Durango,162,618
Chihuahua,147,600
Sinaloa,147,000
Chiapas,141,206
Sonora,124,000
Queretaro,120,560
Nuevo Leon,101,108
Tamaulipas,100,068
Coahuila,75,340
Aguas Calientes,69,698
Tabasco,63,580
Nuevo Mexico,57,026
Californias,33,439
7,015,509
Deduct for—New Mexico,57,026
Upper California, since25,000
added to the United States.82,026—82,026
Estimated actual population in 1842,6,933,483
Add 10 per cent. for the probable increase in 7 years693,348
Proximate actual population in 1850,7,626,831

This population may be relatively classed among races and castes as follows:

4,354,886Indians.
1,100,000Whites.
2,165,345Meztizos, Zambos, Mulattoes, &c.
6,600Negroes.
7,626,831

As Mexico, since the treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, in 1848, possesses 798,402 square miles, this will give nine inhabitants and a fraction, to the square mile.

From these calculations we deduce some very important facts as to the physical and intellectual condition of Mexico, which are very significant in the illustration of history. It appears that the total number of pure whites in the republic, is, in all probability, not more than 1,100,000; while the Indians, Negroes, Zambos, Mulattoes, Meztizos, and all the mixed bloods, amount to 6,526,831. During our residence in Mexico we ascertained from reliable authority that among the Indians and negroes but two per cent. could read and write, while among the whites, and castes, but twenty per cent. were estimated to enjoy those benefits. Thus we have:

87,229Indians and Negroes able to read and write.
653,069Whites and mixed castes able to read and write;