Azanza, who, as we have related, assumed the viceroyalty in May, 1798, was exceedingly well received in Mexico. His worthy character was already known to the people, and almost any new viceroy would have been hailed as a deliverer from the odious administration of Branciforte. Azanza was urbane towards all classes, and his discreet conversation, at once, secured the respect and confidence of the colonists. Besides this, the early measures of his administration were exceedingly wise. He dissolved the various military encampments, established and maintained at enormous cost, by his predecessor in the neighborhood of the eastern coasts. This heavy charge on the treasury was distasteful to the people, while so large an assemblage of colonial troops necessarily withdrew multitudes from agricultural and commercial pursuits, and greatly interfered with the business of New Spain. Anxious, however, to protect the important post of Vera Cruz, the viceroy formed a less numerous encampment in its neighborhood; but the greater portion of its officers and men perished in that unhealthy climate. The war with England was not altogether disadvantageous to Mexico, for although the royal order of the 18th of November, 1797, was repeated on the 20th of April, 1799, by which a commerce in neutral vessels had been permitted with the colony's ports, yet, as the seas were filled with enemy's cruisers, the Spanish trade in national vessels was narrowed chiefly to exports from the mother country. This course of commerce resulted in retaining the specie of Mexico within her territory, for the precious metals had hitherto been the principal article of export to Spain in return for merchandise despatched from Cadiz. The _internal_ trade of Mexico was, accordingly, fostered and beneficially sustained by the continuance of its large annual metallic products within the viceroyalty until peace permitted their safe transmission abroad. The beneficial retention of silver and gold in the country was not only manifested in the activity of domestic trade, but in the improvement of its towns and cities, and in the encouragement of manufactures of silk, cotton and wool. In Oaxaca, Guadalaxara, Valladolid, Puebla, Cuautitlan, San Juan Teotihuacan, Zempoala, Metepec, Ixtlahuaca, Tulancingo, the number of looms increased rapidly between 1796 and 1800. In Oaxaca thirty were added; in San Juan Teotihuacan thirty-three; in Querétaro, three thousand four hundred persons were employed; while, in the town of Cadereita, there existed more than two hundred looms, giving employment to more than five hundred individuals.