recognize. If, on a first introduction and visit, he is told
that the house and all it contains is his own, and that the proprietor
is entirely at his service, he will neither take this literally nor as a
burlesque, but will receive the assurance for what it really signifies,
that is, as conveying a spirit of cordiality. These expressions are as
purely conventional as though the host asked simply and pleasantly after
his guest's health, and mean no more.

If progress is and has been slow in Mexico, it must be remembered that
every advance has been consummated under most discouraging
circumstances, and yet that the charitable, educational, artistic, and
technological institutions already firmly established, are quietly
revolutionizing the people through the most peaceful but effective
agencies.

As to government organization, the several states are represented in
congress by two senators each, with one representative to the lower
house from each section comprising a population of forty thousand. The
federal district is under the exclusive jurisdiction of congress. The
division of power as accorded to the several states is almost precisely
like that of our own government. The federal authority is administered
by a president, aided by six cabinet ministers at the head of the
several departments of state, such as the minister of foreign affairs,
of the treasury, secretary of war, and so on. Thus it will be seen that
the republic of Mexico has adopted our own constitution as her model
throughout.

As long as heavy and almost prohibitory duties exist in Mexico, and are
exacted on nearly everything except the production of the precious
metals, the development of her other resources must be circumscribed.
With a rich soil and plenty of cheap labor, she ought to be able to
export many staples which would command our markets, especially as
regards coffee, cotton, and wool. If the custom-houses on each side of
the boundary between this country and Mexico could be abolished, both
would reap an immense pecuniary benefit, while the sister republic would
realize an impetus in every desirable respect which nothing else could
so quickly bring about. Wealth and population would rapidly flow into
this southern land, whose agriculture would thrive as it has never yet
done, and its manufactories would double in number as well as in
pecuniary gain. It requires no argument to show that our neighbors could
not be thus largely benefited with