Vast tracts of profitable land in Mexico are still unsettled. As the
government becomes more and more stable, it is probable that these will
be occupied with emigrants from all other nations, eager to develop the
great natural resources. There are at present many Germans engaged in
all the branches of industry; and Englishmen, attracted by the great
mining and other capabilities of the country, are yearly investing more
and more capital in these enterprises. To the skill of English engineers
is due the successful achievement of the Mexican railway, the first
built of the great lines that now mark up the map in all directions.
Many a Mexican company had faced the chasm between the capital and the
gulf, but baulked before the leap. No government lasted long enough to
ensure the success of the enterprise, until, in 1868 republican
stability and English capital combined to push it forward, and in 1873
the road was opened to the public.
Two great lines connecting Mexico with the United States--the Mexican
Central and the National Railway--are essentially American enterprises.
The Yankee pervades Mexico--not, as many of its inhabitants fear, with
the deep design of absorbing all its territory into the already large
domain of the United States, but with his characteristic instinct for
doing a good thing for himself. He finds a perfect climate, a productive
soil, a land rich in metals and minerals, unlimited space for future
railroads, telegraphs, towns, shops, business. There are instances, no
doubt, where he thinks he has found a simple native population, easily
imposed upon, whose ignorance he may work to his own advantage. But
there is no doubt that Yankee liberality, intelligence, conscience, and
capital have already done much, and will do far more, to advance the
civilization of the country, and lift the spirit of the Aztec, kept low
down by centuries of life at the very base of the social pyramid, so
that it may ascend higher and higher towards its apex.
The darkest days of the Mexican Republic are over. Its members have
learned sharp lessons from adversity; they have suffered every thing
that their own headstrong conduct, their vain-glorious ambition could
bring upon them--civil war, anarchy, invasion by the army of a
neighboring government--their natural friend perverted to an enemy
partly by their own folly,--the unwarranted intervention of a foreign
potentate, the difficulties of debt, want of public faith, a low state
of public honesty.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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