Morals, Manners, etc. For hospitality, generosity, and sobriety the people of New Spain exceed any nation perhaps on the globe; but in national energy, patriotism, enterprise of character, or independence of soul, they are perhaps the most deficient. Yet there are men who have displayed bravery to a surprising degree, and the Europeans who are there cherish with delight the idea of their gallant ancestry.
Their women have black eyes and hair, fine teeth, and are generally brunettes. I met but one exception to this rule, at Chihuahua—a fair lady, who, by way of distinction, was called "the girl with light hair." They are all inclining a little to enbonpoint; but none or few are elegant figures. Their dress generally is short jackets and petticoats and high-heeled shoes, without any head-dress. Over the whole dress they have a silk wrapper,[IV'-49] which they always wear and, when in the presence of men, affect to bring over their faces, but from under which you frequently see peeping a large sparkling black eye. As we approached the Atlantic and our frontiers, we saw several ladies who wore the gowns of our countrywomen, which they conceived to be much more elegant than their ancient costume. The lower class of the men are generally dressed in broad-brimmed hats, short coats, large waistcoats, and small clothes always open at the knees (owing, as I suppose, to the greater freedom it gives to the limbs on horseback), a kind of leather boot or wrapper bound round the leg somewhat in the manner of our frontier-men's leggings, and gartered on. The boot is of a soft, pliable leather, but not colored. In the eastern provinces the dragoons wear, over this wrapper or boot, a sort of jack-boot made of sole-leather, to which are fastened, by a rivet, the spurs, the gaffs of which are sometimes near an inch in length; but the spurs of the gentlemen and officers, although clumsy to our ideas, are frequently ornamented with raised silver-work on the shoulders, and the straps embroidered with silver and gold thread. They are always ready to mount their horses, on which the inhabitants of the internal provinces spend nearly half the day. This description will apply generally to the dress of all the men of the provinces for the lower class; but in their cities, among the more fashionable, they dress after the European or United States modes, with not more variation than we see in our cities from one six months to another.
Both men and women have remarkably fine hair, and pride themselves in the display of it. Their amusements are music, singing, dancing, and gambling. The latter is strictly prohibited, but the prohibition is not much attended to. The dance of —— is danced by one man and two women, who beat time to the music, which is soft and voluptuous, but sometimes changing to a lively, gay air. The dancers exhibit the motions of the soul by gestures of the body, snapping the fingers, and sometimes meeting in a stretched embrace. The fandango is danced to various figures and numbers. The minuet is still danced by the superior class only. The music made use of is the guitar, violin, and singers, who, in the first-described dance, accompany the music with their hands and voices, having always some words adapted to the music.
Their games are cards, billiards, horse-racing, and cock-fighting, the first and last of which are carried to the most extravagant lengths, losing and winning immense sums. The present commandant-general is very severe with his officers in these respects, frequently sending them to some frontier post in confinement for months, for no other fault than having lost large sums at play. At every town of consequence is a public walk, where the ladies and gentlemen meet and sing songs, which are always on the subject of love or the social board. The females have fine voices, and sing in French, Italian, and Spanish, the whole company joining in the chorus.
In their houses the ladies play the guitar, and generally accompany it with their voices. They either sit down on the carpet cross-legged, or loll on a sofa. To sit upright in a chair appeared to put them to great inconvenience; although the better class would sometimes do it on our first introduction, they soon took the liberty of following their old habits. In their eating and drinking they are remarkably temperate. Early in the morning you receive a dish of chocolate and a cake; at twelve you dine on several dishes of meat, fowls, and fish, after which you have a variety of confections, and indeed an elegant dessert; then drink a few glasses of wine, sing a few songs, and retire to take the siesta, or afternoon's nap, which is taken by rich and poor. About two o'clock the windows and doors are all closed, the streets deserted, and the stillness of midnight reigns throughout. About four o'clock they rise, wash and dress, and prepare for the dissipation of the night. About eleven o'clock some refreshments are offered, but few take any, except a little wine and water and candied sugar.
The government has multiplied the difficulties of Europeans intermarrying with the Creoles or Metifs to such a degree that it is difficult for such a marriage to take place. An officer wishing to marry a lady not from Europe is obliged to acquire certificates of the purity of her descent 200 years back, and transmit it to the court, when the license will be returned; but should she be the daughter of a man of the rank of captain or upward this nicety vanishes, as rank purifies the blood of the descendants.
The general subjects of conversations among the men are women, money, and horses, which appear to be the only objects, in their estimation, worthy of consideration. Uniting the female sex with their money and their beasts, and having treated them too much after the manner of the latter, they have eradicated from their breasts every sentiment of virtue or ambition, either to pursue the acquirements which would make them amiable companions, instructive mothers, or respectable members of society; their whole souls, with a few exceptions, being, like those of Turkish ladies, taken up in music, dress, and the little blandishments of voluptuous dissipation. Finding that the men only regard them as objects of gratification to the sensual passions, they have lost every idea of that feast of reason and flow of soul which arise from the intercourse of two refined and virtuous minds.
The beggars of the City of Mexico are estimated at 60,000 souls; what must be the number through the whole kingdom, and to what reason can it be owing that, in a country superior to any in the world for riches in gold and silver, producing all the necessaries of life and most of its luxuries, there should be such a vast proportion of the inhabitants in want of bread or clothing? It can only be accounted for by the tyranny of the government and the luxuries of the rich. The government strives, by all the restrictions possible to be invented without absolutely driving the people to desperation, to keep Spanish America dependent on Europe.
Trade, Commerce, Manufactures, and Revenue. The trade and commerce of New Spain are carried on with Europe and the United States by the port of Vera Cruz solely, and with the East Indies and South America generally by Acapulco; and, even at these ports, under such restriction as to productions, manufactures, and time, as to render it of little consequence to the general prosperity of the country. Were all the numerous bays and harbors of the gulfs of Mexico and California opened to the trade of the world, and a general license given to the cultivation of all the productions of which the country is capable, with freedom of exportation and importation, with proper duties on foreign goods, the country would immediately become rich and powerful, and a proper stimulus would be held out to the poor to labor, when certain of finding a quick and ready sale for the productions of their plantations or manufactories. The country abounds in iron ore, yet all the iron and steel, and articles of manufactures, are obliged to be brought from Europe, the manufacturing or working of iron being strictly prohibited. This occasions the necessary articles of husbandry, arms, and tools to be enormously high, and is a great check to agriculture, improvements in manufactures, and military skill. The works of the Mexicans, in gold, silver, and painting, show them naturally to have a genius which, with cultivation and improvement, might rival the greatest masters of either ancient or modern times. Their dispositions and habits are peculiarly calculated for sedentary employments, and I have no doubt, if proper establishments were made, they would soon rival, if not surpass, the most extensive woolen, cotton, or silk manufactures of Europe; their climate being proper to raise the finest cotton in the world, and their sheep possessing all the fineness of wool for which they are so celebrated in Spain. Under these circumstances, together with the immense quantities of the raw materials which they have on hand, wool sells for a mere trifle; and, in fact, they scarcely take half from the fleece of the sheep, for the coarse manufactures of the country and to make beds.
I cannot presume to state the revenues of the country from official documents, but the following statements I have had from so respectable a source, and they are so confirmed by my own observations, that I think much reliance may be placed on their correctness. The mint coins, per annum, at least, $50,000,000 in silver and $14,000,000 in gold, the one-fifth of which (the duty) is equal to $12,800,000.[IV'-50] The duties on foreign goods and the amount paid by the purchasers of monopolies may be estimated at $4,000,000; which, with the duty on gold and silver, makes the annual revenue $16,800,000. The civil list of the kingdom is $580,000, the military $7,189,200; these together amount to $7,760,200, which, deducted from the gross revenue of $16,700,000, leaves a clear revenue for the king from his Mexican dominions of $9,030,800. The money paid for the support of the clergy is not included in this estimate, as they receive their revenue through its own proper channel. The best paid officers under the government cost the king nothing in a direct line, yet the oppressive manner in which they pay themselves and impoverish the people would render it better policy to abolish their impositions and pay them out of the public treasury by a direct salary.