Problems And Progress in Mexico, c. 1800
Alexander von Humboldt was a German scientists who left a detailed description of
his visits to the Spanish Empire around 1800. The laws of Spain prevented entry to all
non-Spanish Europeans to the Spanish Empire. Humboldt's comments as an outsider are then,
especially valuable.
Mexico is the country of inequality. No where does there exist such a fearful
difference in the distribution of fortune, civilization, cultivation of the soil, and
population. The interior of the country contains four cities, which are not more than one
or two days' journey distant from one another, and possess a population of 35,000, 67,000,
70,000, and 135,000. The central table-land from la Puebla to Mexico, and from thence to
Salamanca and Zelaya, is covered with villages and hamlets like the most cultivated part
of Lombardy. To the east and west of this narrow strip succeed tracts of uncultivated
ground, on which cannot be found ten or twelve persons to the square league. The capital
and several other cities have scientific establishments, which will bear a comparison with
those of Europe. The architecture of the public and private edifices, the elegance of the
furniture, the equipages, the luxury and dress of the women, the tone of society, all
announce a refinement to which the nakedness, ignorance, and vulgarity of the lower people
form the most striking contrast. This immense inequality of fortune does not only exist
among the cast of whites (Europeans or Creoles), it is even discoverable among the
Indians.
The Mexican Indians, when we consider them en masse, offer a picture of extreme
misery. Banished into the most barren districts, and indolent from nature, and more still
from their political situation, the natives live only from ,hand to mouth. We should seek
almost in vain among them for individuals who enjoy anything like a certain mediocrity of
fortune. Instead, however, of a comfortable independency, we find a few families whose
fortune appears so much the more colossal, as we least expect it among the lowest class of
the people. In the intendancies of Oaxaca and Valladolid, in the valley of Toluca, and
especially in the environs of the great city of la Puebla de los Angeles, we find several
Indians, who under an appearance of poverty conceal considerable wealth. When I visited
the small city of Cholula, an old Indian woman was buried there, who left to her children
plantations of maguey (agave) worth more than 360,000 francs. These plantations are
the vineyards and sole wealth of the country. However, there are no caciques at Cholula;
and the Indians there are all tributary, and distinguished for their great sobriety, and
their gentle and peaceable manners. The manners of the Cholulans exhibit a singular
contrast to those of their neighbors of Tlascala, of whom a great number pretend to be the
descendants of the highest titled nobility, and who increase their poverty by a litigious
disposition and a restless and turbulent turn of mind. Among the most wealthy Indian
families at Cholula are the Axcotlan, the Sarmientos and the Romeros; at Guaxocingo, the
Sochipiltecatl; and especially the Tecuanouegues in the village de los Reyes. Each of
these families possesses a capital of from 800,000 to 1,000,000 of livres. They enjoy, as
we have already stated, great consideration among the tributary Indians; but they
generally go barefooted, and covered with a Mexican tunic of coarse texture and a brown
colour, approaching to black, in the same way as the very lowest of the Indians are
usually dressed.
The Indians are exempted from every sort of indirect impost. They pay no alcavala; and
the law allows them full liberty for the sale of their productions. The supreme council of
finances of Mexico, called the Junta superior de Real Hacienda, endeavored from
time to time, especially within these last five or six years, to subject the Indians to
the alcavala. We must hope that the court of Madrid, which in all times has endeavored to
protect this unfortunate race, will preserve to them their immunity so long as they shall
continue subject to the direct impost of the tributos. This impost is a real
capitation tax, paid by the male Indians between the ages of ten and fifty. The tribute is
not the same in all the provinces of New Spain; and it has been diminished within the last
two hundred years. In 1601, the Indian paid yearly 32 reals of plata of tributo, and
four reals of servicio real, in all nearly 23 francs. It was gradually reduced in
some intendancies to 15 and even to five francs. In the bishopric of Mechoacan, and in the
greatest part of Mexico, the capitation amounts at present to I I francs. Besides, the
Indians pay a parochial duty (derechos parroquiales) of 10 francs for baptism, 20
francs for a certificate of marriage, and 20 francs for interment. We must also add to
these 61 francs, which the church levies as an impost on every individual, from 25 to 30
francs for offerings which are called voluntary, and which go under the names of cargos
de cofradias, responsos and misas para sacar animas.
If the legislation of Queen Isabella and the Emperor Charles V appears to favour
the Indians with regard to imposts, it has deprived them, on the other hand, of the most
important rights enjoyed by the other citizens. In an age when it was formally discussed
if the Indians were rational beings, it was conceived granting them a benefit to treat
them like minors, to put them under the perpetual tutory of the whites, and to declare
null every act signed by a native of the copper-coloured race, and every obligation which
he contracted beyond the value of 15 francs. These laws are maintained in full vigour; and
they place insurmountable barriers between the Indians and the other casts, with whom all
intercourse is almost prohibited. Thousands of inhabitants can enter into no contract
which is binding (no pueden tratar y contratar); and condemned to a perpetual
minority, they become a charge to themselves and the state in which they live. . . .
Amongst the inhabitants of pure origin the whites would occupy the second place,
considering them only in the relation of number. They are divided into whites born in
Europe, and descendants of Europeans born in the Spanish colonies of America or in the
Asiatic islands. The former bear the name of Chapetones or Gachupines, and
the second that of Criollos. The natives of the Canary islands, who go under the
general denomination of Islenos (islanders), and who are the gerans of the
plantations, are considered as Europeans. The Spanish laws allow the same rights to all
whites; but those who have the execution of the laws endeavour to destroy an equality
which shocks the European pride. The government, suspicious of the Creoles, bestows the
great places exclusively on the natives of Old Spain. For some years back they have
disposed at Madrid even of the most trifling employments in the administration of the
customs and the tobacco revenue. At an epoch when every thing tended to a uniform
relaxation in the springs of the state, the system of venality made an alarming progress.
For the most part it was by no means a suspicious and distrustful policy; it was pecuniary
interest alone which bestowed all employments on Europeans. The result has been a jealous
and perpetual hatred between the Chapetons and the Creoles. The most miserable European,
without education, and without intellectual cultivation, thinks himself superior to the
whites born in the new continent. He knows that, protected by his countrymen, and favored
by chances common enough in a country where fortunes are as rapidly acquired as they are
lost, he may one day reach places to which the access is almost interdicted to the
natives, even to those of men distinguished for their talents, knowledge and moral
qualities. The natives prefer the denomination of Americans to that of Creoles.
Since the peace of Versailles, and, in particular, since the year 1789, we frequently hear
proudly declared, "I am not a Spaniard, I am an American!" words which betray
the workings of a long resentment. In the eye of law every white Creole is a Spaniard; but
the abuse of the laws, the false measures of the colonial government, the example of the
United States of America, and the influence of the opinions of the age, have relaxed the
ties which formerly united more closely the Spanish Creoles to the European Spaniards. A
wise administration may reestablish harmony, calm their passions and resentments, and yet
preserve for a long time the union among the members of one and the same great family
scattered over Europe and America, from the Patagonian coast to the north of California. .
. .
The Spanish laws prohibit all entry into the American possessions to every European not
born in the peninsula. The words European and Spaniard are become synonymous in Mexico and
Peru. The inhabitants of the remote provinces have therefore a difficulty in conceiving
that there can be Europeans who do not speak their language; and they consider this
ignorance as a mark of low extraction, because, everywhere around them, all, except the
very lowest class of the people, speak Spanish. Better acquainted with the history of the
sixteenth century than with that of our own times, they imagine that Spain continues to
possess a decided preponderance over the rest of Europe. To them the peninsula appears the
very centre of European civilization. It is otherwise with the Americans of the capital.
Those of them who are acquainted with the French or English literature fall easily into a
contrary extreme; and have still a more unfavorable opinion of the mother country than the
French had at a time when communication was less frequent between Spain and the rest of
Europe. They prefer strangers from other countries to the Spaniards; and they flatter
themselves with the idea that intellectual cultivation has made more rapid progress in the
colonies than in the peninsula.
This progress is indeed very remarkable at the Havannah, Lima, Santa Fe, Quito,
Popayan, and Caraccas. Of all these great cities the Havannah bears the greatest
resemblance to those of Europe in customs, refinements of luxury, and the tone of society.
At Havannah, the state of politics and their influence on commerce is best understood.
However, notwithstanding the efforts of the patriotic society of the island of Cuba, which
encourages the sciences with the most generous zeal, they prosper very slowly in a country
where cultivation and the price of colonial produce engross the whole attention of the
inhabitants. The study of the mathematics, chemistry, mineralogy, and botany, is more
general at Mexico, Santa Fe, and Lima. We everywhere observe a great intellectual
activity, and among the youth a wonderful facility of seizing the principles of science.
It is said that this facility is still more remarkable among the inhabitants of Quito and
Lima than at Mexico and Santa Fe. The former appear to possess more versatility of mind
and a more lively imagination; while the Mexicans and the natives of Santa Fe have the
reputation of greater perseverance in the studies to which they have once addicted
themselves.
No city of the new continent, without even excepting those of the United States, can
display such great and solid scientific establishments as the capital of Mexico. I shall
content myself here with naming the School of Mines, directed by the learned Elhuyar, to
which we shall return when we come to speak of the mines; the Botanic Garden; and the
Academy of Painting and Sculpture. This academy bears the title of Academia de los
Nobles Artes de Mexico. It owes its existence to the patriotism of several Mexican
individuals, and the protection of the minister Galvez. The government assigned it a
spacious building, in which there is a much finer and more complete collection of casts
than is to be found in any part of Germany. We are astonished on seeing that the Appollo
of Belvidere, the group of Laocoon, and still more colossal statues, have been conveyed
through mountainous roads at least as narrow as those of St. Gothard; and we are surprised
at finding these masterpieces of antiquity collected together under the torrid zone, in a
table-land higher than the convent of the great St. Bernard. The collection of casts
brought to Mexico cost the king 200,000 francs. The remains of the Mexican sculpture,
those colossal statues of basaltes and porphyry, which are covered with Aztec
hieroglyphics, and bear some relation to the Egyptian and Hindoo style, ought to be
collected together in the edifice of the academy, or rather in one of the courts which
belong to it. It would be curious to see these monuments of the first cultivation of our
species, the works of a semi-barbarous people inhabiting the Mexican Andes, placed beside
the beautiful forms produced under the sky of Greece and Italy.
The revenues of the Academy of Fine Arts at Mexico amount to 125,000 francs, of which
the government gives 60,000, the body of Mexican miners nearly 25,000, the consulado, or
association of merchants of the capital, more than 1,500. It is impossible not to perceive
the influence of this establishment on the taste of the nation. This influence is
particularly visible in the symmetry of the buildings, in the perfection with which the
hewing of stone is conducted, and in the ornaments of the capitals and stucco relievos.
What a number of beautiful edifices are to be seen at Mexico! nay, even in provincial
towns like Guanaxuato and Queretaro! These monuments, which frequently cost a million and
a million and a half of francs, would appear to advantage in the finest streets of Paris,
Berlin, and Petersburg. M. Tolsa, professor of sculpture at Mexico, was even able to cast
an equestrian statue of King Charles the Fourth; a work which, with the exception of the
Marcus Aurelius at Rome, surpasses in beauty and purity of style everything which remains
in this way in Europe. Instruction is communicated gratis at the Academy of Fine
Arts. It is not confined alone to the drawing of landscapes and figures; they have had the
good sense to employ other means for exciting the national industry. The academy labours
successfully to introduce among the artisans a taste for elegance and beautiful forms.
Large rooms, well lighted by Argand's lamps, contain every evening some hundreds of young
people, of whom some draw from relievo or living models, while others copy drawings of
furniture, chandeliers, or other ornaments in bronze. In this assemblage (and this is very
remarkable in the midst of a country where the prejudices of the nobility against the
casts are so inveterate) rank, colour, and race is confounded: we see the Indian and the
Mestizo sitting beside the white, and the son of a poor artisan in emulation with the
children of the great lords of the country. It is a consolation to observe, that under
every zone the cultivation of science and art establishes a certain equality among men,
and obliterates for a time, at least, all those petty passions of which the effects are so
prejudicial to social happiness.
Since the close of the reign of Charles the Third, and under that of Charles the
Fourth, the study of the physical sciences has made great progress, not only in Mexico,
but in general in all the Spanish colonies. No European government has sacrificed greater
sums to advance the knowledge of the vegetable kingdom than the Spanish government. Three botanical
expeditions in Peru, New Granada and New Spain, under the direction of MM. Ruiz and
Pavon, Don Jose Celestino Mutis, and MM. Sesse and Mocino, have cost the state nearly two
millions of francs. Moreover, botanical gardens have been established at Manila and the
Canary islands. The commission destined to draw plans of the canal of los Guines, was
also appointed to examine the vegetable productions of the island of Cuba. All these
researches, conducted during twenty years in the most fertile regions of the new
continent, have not only enriched science with more than four thousand new species of
plants, but have also contributed much to diffuse a taste for natural history among the
inhabitants of the country. The city of Mexico exhibits a very interesting botanical
garden within the very precincts of the viceroy's palace. Professor Cervantes gives annual
courses there, which are very well attended. This savant possesses, besides his
herbals, a rich collection of Mexican minerals. M. Mocino, whom we just now mentioned as
one of the coadjutors of M. Sesse, and who has pushed his laborious excursions from the
kingdom of Guatimala to the north-west coast or island of Vancouver and Quadra; and M.
Echeveria, a painter of plants and animals, whose works will bear a comparison with the
most perfect productions of the kind in Europe, are both of them natives of New Spain.
They had both attained a distinguished rank among savans and artists before
quitting their country.
The principles of the new chemistry, which is known in the Spanish colonies by the
equivocal appellation of new philosophy (nueva filosofia), are more diffused in
Mexico than in many parts of the peninsula. A European traveller cannot undoubtedly but be
surprised to meet in the interior of the country, on the very borders of California, with
young Mexicans who reason on the decomposition of water in the process of amalgamation
with free air. The School of Mines possesses a chemical laboratory; a geological
collection, arranged according to the system of Werner; a physical cabinet, in which we
not only find the valuable instruments of Ramsden, Adams, Le Noir, and Louis Berthoud, but
also models executed in the capital, even with the greatest precision, and from the finest
wood in the country. The best mineralogical work in the Spanish language was printed at
Mexico, I mean the Manual of Oryetognosy, composed by M. del Rio, according to the
principles of the school of Freyberg, in which the author was formed. The first Spanish
translation of Lavater's Elements of Chemistry was also published at Mexico. I cite these
isolated facts because they give us the measure of the ardour with which the exact
sciences are begun to be studied in the capital of New Spain. This ardour is much greater
than that with which they addict themselves to the study of languages and ancient
literature.
Source:
from Alexander von Humboldt, Political Essay on the Kingdom of New Spain, trans.
John Black (London: Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme, and Brown, 1811), vol. 1, pp. 134-217,
passim.
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