Mexico in 1827/Volume 2/Chapter 1

by Henry George Ward

 

 

SECTION I.

 

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Before I enter upon the enquiry which is to form the subject of this Section, viz. "A comparative statement of the produce of the Mines, during a double term of fifteen years, before and since the Revolution of 1810, with the proportion borne by the Produce to the Exports of the precious metals, during the same period;" it is necessary to premise, that it is almost impossible, from the want of authentic data, to institute any exact comparison between the quantity of Gold and Silver raised in any two years of these two periods, or to fix the proportion borne by it, in each year, to the Exports.

The utmost that can now be attempted, is, to form a reasonable estimate of the total Produce, and total Exports, of each fifteen years, without pretending to arrive at an exact analysis, the materials for which no longer exist. During the Civil War, the Archives, not only of the College of Mines, (to which Humboldt had access, and by which the produce of each separate District might have been ascertained,) but of almost all the Mining Deputations,^[1] were destroyed; and, after the most diligent enquiries, both in the Capital, and the Interior, I have been able to obtain but few, and scattered remnants of those valuable documents, which had accumulated in the great mining Provinces, during the three preceding centuries. Even the registers of the sums paid into the Cajas Provinciales, (Provincial Treasuries) as the King's Fifth, have disappeared; and their loss is the more to be regretted as they would have furnished data, upon which the total Produce might have been easily, and correctly computed.

The Coinage, therefore, is the only standard that can now be adopted; and although this, from its nature, cannot comprehend the whole amount of the precious metals raised, (some portion of which, in each year, was not converted into dollars,) yet, if about One million of dollars be added to the average of the Mint Returns, for Silver not registered at all, and registered Silver worked up into plate, (the abundance of which, in Mexico, was, at one time, proverbial,) there will not, I believe, be any reason to suppose that the actual Produce of the country, during the fifteen years which preceded the Revolution, much exceeded the estimate thus formed.

With regard to the Second Period, which commences with the Civil War, the difficulty of forming any correct calculation of the annual produce of the country, is much increased.

The returns of the Mint of Mexico are of no avail, as, during the years 1810, 1811 and 1812, Mints were established at Guănăjūātŏ, Zăcătēcăs, Guădălajāră and Dŭrāngŏ, with which the Mint of the Capital had no connexion, and over which it exercised no control.

Nor do the returns of all these establishments combined, lead to a more satisfactory result; for there are many obvious reasons why they cannot be regarded as affording a correct estimate of the Produce:

1st. Because a large proportion of the Silver sent to the Mints was not Silver then extracted from the mines, but Plate belonging to Churches and private families, the whole of which was melted down during the Revolution, in order to supply the rapid decrease of the circulating medium.

2ndly. Because the Coinage in the Provincial Mints was so bad,^[2] and the quantity of base metal used as alloy so great, that even a correct account of the number of dollars struck off, would not be found to give a just idea of the quantity of Silver, which they contained.

3rdly. Because, of the large sums which passed through the hands of the Revolutionary Chiefs, (some of whom worked mines of considerable importance,) no account was ever given. And,

4thly. Because the gold contained in the silver, (a great abundance of which is found in the ores of some mines,) was never properly separated from it, after the communication between the Interior and the Capital was closed. None of the Departments possessed a Casa del Apartado, (in which the chemical process of separating the two metals, when combined, is performed;) and, although some portion of the gold may have been obtained by the use of quicksilver in the Ărāstrĕs, (crushing mills,) whatever remained incorporated with the silver was sacrificed; and, as the amount of gold, produced annually, before the Revolution, averaged 1,100,000 dollars, (a great part of which passed through the Casa del Apartado,) this loss, in fifteen years, must have amounted to a very considerable sum.^[3]

These observations sufficiently prove the unavoidable inaccuracy of any estimate that can now be formed, respecting the amount of the precious metals raised from the Mines of Mexico, during the fifteen years immediately subsequent to the Revolution: but having pointed out the difficulties that must be encountered, and the impossibility of so entirely surmounting them as to arrive at any very accurate conclusion, I shall proceed, without farther preamble, to state the results of my enquiries with regard to the Produce and Exports of each of the two periods under consideration.

By the annexed Table, (No. 1,) it appears that the registered Coinage of the Mint of Mexico, from the year 1796 to the year 1810, (inclusive,) amounted to 342,114,285 dollars; which gives an average of 22,807,619 dollars for each year.

To this I should add for Silver, (registered and unregistered), not coined, 1,192,381 dollars; thus giving Twenty-four millions of dollars as the whole annual average Produce of the Mines of Mexico during the fifteen years which immediately preceded the Revolution of 1810.

The registered Exportation from Veracruz, during the same period, on the account of the merchants, was, according to the Balanza General, or Annual Report of the Consulado of Veracruz,

	Dollars.
To Spain (in fifteen years)	91,340,275
To Spanish America	22,251,822
To Foreign Countries direct, in 1806 7-8, and 9	27,892,903
	——————
Total	141,485,000
	——————

The Average Commercial Exportation, therefore. to the East, in the fifteen years, would be 9,432,333 dollars, 2 reals.^[4]

The Exports of the Royal Treasury (not included in the Balanza General,) are not to be ascertained by any recent document; I have, therefore, been forced to take as the basis of my present calculation, Humboldt's Table of the Exports on the King's account, to Spain, and to the Spanish Colonies, during a term of thirteen years, (from 1779 to 1791,)^[5] which gives 108,428,677 dollars as the Total, or 8,340,667 dollars, 3 reals, as the annual average amount of each of the thirteen years.

To these, again, must be added 2,000,000, or 2,500,000 dollars, as the annual amount of illicit extraction by those engaged in the smuggling trade; most of the articles thus introduced being paid for in specie upon the spot.

The total annual Exports appear, therefore, to have been:

⁠From Veracruz	Dollars.	Rs.
On Merchant's account	9,432,333	2
On King's account	8,340,667	3
	—————	——
Carried forward	17,773,000	5

	Dollars.	Rs.
Brought forward	17,773,000	5
From Acapulco (on both)	1,500,000
Contraband Trade	2,500,000
	—————	——
Total average value of Exports	21,773,000	5
	—————	——

Allowing 227,000 dollars more, on each year, for the Contraband Trade which appears to have increased in value in each successive year, although its exact amount cannot be ascertained, we shall have a total Exportation of Twenty-two millions of dollars, to set against a total Produce of Twenty-four millions; so that, during the fifteen years that preceded the Revolution, the amount of the precious metals that accumulated in Mexico would appear to have been Thirty millions of dollars.

This estimate differs materially from that given by Baron Humboldt, who did not conceive, at the time of his visit, that the annual produce of the mines exceeded twenty-three millions of dollars.

This calculation was perfectly natural in 1803, the average of the Coinage, from 1796 to that year, having only been 21,750,249 dollars;^[6] to which Humboldt adds 1,249,751 dollars, for silver not included in the Mint Returns.

But the Coinage from 1803 to 1810 inclusive, averaged 24,016,182 dollars (the total amount of the dollars registered in the Mint of Mexico, in these seven years, having been 168,113,278): and this circumstance sufficiently accounts for the difference in the average produce of the whole term, as given in the Essai Politique, and in the present calculation.

With regard to the benefit actually derived by the country from its mineral treasures, or, in other words, the annual addition to the circulating medium, (after paying the difference between the Imports and Exports, and the remittances on the account of the Royal Treasury,) which Humboldt estimates at One million of dollars in each year, the increased Produce likewise accounts for the increase in the annual accumulation, which I have estimated at Two millions of dollars.

I have no data that will warrant me in rating the average annual Exports, during the fifteen years now under consideration, higher than I have done, viz.: Twenty-two millions of dollars; although, if we divide that term into two periods, of eight and seven years, (from 1796 to 1803, and from 1804 to 1810 inclusive,^[7]) we shall find the Average of the Commercial Exports to have varied from 8,561,753 dollars, to 12,105,047 dollars. In the Exports of the Royal Treasury, I do not believe that there was any material change. There is, therefore, nothing in the fluctuations of the Commercial Exports to affect the calculation with regard to the Average of the whole term; while the Produce, undoubtedly, rather exceeded, than fell short of, the Twenty-four millions of dollars at which I have estimated it; 1,192,381 dollars being, in the opinion of those whom I have had occasion to consult upon the subject in Mexico, a very inadequate allowance for the Silver not included in the Mint Returns.

I cannot, therefore, estimate the annual addition to the circulating medium, before the Revolution, at a less sum than Two millions of dollars; and I am the more inclined to conceive this calculation to be correct, because the Exportation of Specie during the last fifteen years, (from 1810 to 1825,) appears so much to have exceeded the whole Produce of the Mines, that the country, had it not been for the surplus which accumulated during this season of prosperity, must have been left without a circulating medium at all.

This brings me to the second part of my enquiry, viz. the Average annual amount of the precious metals raised from 1810 to 1825, with the Exports during the same period.

I have already stated the impossibility of forming any very accurate calculation upon the last of these points, with regard to which much conjectural evidence must be admitted. As to the first, (the Produce,) although, for the reasons mentioned in the beginning of this Section, the returns from the different Mints cannot be said to furnish a correct estimate of the Silver raised from the Mines, they, nevertheless, comprise the only authentic data that can now be obtained, and I shall, consequently, make them the basis of my calculations.

By the annexed Tables (Nos. II. to VI.) it will appear that the Coinage, from 1811 to 1825 inclusive, in the whole territory of Mexico, was as follows:—

	Dollars.
In Mexico	111,551,082
In Guădălajāră	4,868,760
In Dŭrāngŏ	6,917,652
In Zăcătēcăs	30,659,518
In Chĭhūāhuă	1,216,000
	——————
⁠Forming a sum total of	155,213,012

from, which, however, must be deducted 1,636,040 dollars, being the value of 396 Tejos de oro (Ingots of gold), and 4263 Ounces, (Doubloons) remitted upon the account of the first Loan by the House of Goldschmidt, and included in the Coinage of the Capital for the year 1825; and 300,000 dollars likewise received in gold, about the same time, by the United Mexican Company.

The remainder (153,276,972 dollars,) will give 10,218,464 dollars 6 reals, as the annual average Produce of the fifteen years.

Yet, small as this sum is, in comparison with the Average of the registered Coinage before the Revolution, (22,807,619 dollars) it is impossible now to ascertain the Mines, or Districts, from which it proceeded.

Without regular Returns, it is difficult to show to what extent the effects of the Revolution were felt in each; but, in those Districts where records were kept, (extracts from most of which I have been enabled to obtain), the difference between the Produce of the fifteen years, before, and after, the commencement of the Civil War, appears to have been enormous.

In Guanajuato, the amount of the precious metals raised, diminished from 8,852,472 Marcs of Silver and 27,810 Marcs of Gold, ^[8] (the produce of the fifteen years preceding the Revolution^[9] to 2,877,213 Marcs of Silver, and 8109 Marcs of Gold; (or something less than one-third of the original amount of both,) which appears, by the annexed Table (No. VIII.) to have been the produce of the whole District from 1811 to 1825.

From Zacatecas, I have been able to obtain but partial accounts: it does not appear, however, by these, that any very great falling off took place in the early part of the Civil War, the Mines of Veta Grande, (now worked by the Bolaños Company,) having yielded, from 1796 to 1810, 1,171,328 marcs of Silver, and from 1811 to 1825, 917,097 marcs. (Table IX.) The difference, therefore, on the whole term, was only 254,231 marcs, or 2,160,963 dollars. But Zacatecas, even in the years of its greatest abundance, never produced more than Two millions of dollars annually;^[10] and, notwithstanding the little change which occurred at Veta Grande, from the number of other Mines, (not comprehended in that Negotiation^[11],) which were unworked in 1823, it may fairly be assumed that these Two millions were, latterly, reduced to One.

The Mint Returns, indeed, appear to contradict the assumption, as they give something more than Two millions of dollars, as the average Coinage of each year. But the Coinage of Zacatecas did not consist of the produce of Zacatecas alone: it comprehended a part of the produce of Sŏmbrĕrētĕ, and Cătōrcĕ, with that of Pīnŏs, and Rāmŏs, and other small Districts of San Luis Pŏtŏsī, the whole of which was brought to the Mint of Zacatecas, in preference to that of the Capital, with the exception of that portion of the Silver raised, that was conveyed to the coast in bars, without being converted into dollars at all, the general amount of which I shall have occasion, subsequently, to examine.

The average annual produce of Sombrerete, during this period, is stated, (though not upon the authority of registered returns) to have been 300,000 dollars, or about 200,000 dollars less than the ordinary produce, from the time of the great Bonanza of the Fagoaga family, (when Eleven millions of dollars were raised in eight months, from the Mine of El Păvĕllōn alone,) up to 1810.

The registered produce of the Mining Districts of San Luis Pŏtŏsī, (the most important of which was Cătōrcĕ) during a term of five years, before and after the Revolution, (for which alone I have been able to procure Returns,) is stated in the annexed Table, (No. X.) by which it appears that there was a decrease in the latter period of 8261 Bars of Silver, (each of 134 marcs, or 1139 dollars,) which gives a total difference of 9,409,279 dollars on the five years after 1810.

The produce of the Mines of Catorce in ten years, (from 1816 to 1825 inclusive,) according to an extract from the Registers, which has been recently transmitted to me, was 5,994,006 dollars; which, if one half of this sum, (or 2,997,003 dollars) be added for the five years not included in the Returns in my possession, will give 8,991,009 dollars, as the Total, or 599,400 dollars as the average annual produce of that District, on the whole fifteen years. Before the Revolution, Catorce was second only to Guănăjūātŏ in the amount of the Silver raised, the value of which was estimated by Humboldt, (in 1803) at Three millions and a half of dollars annually.

The produce of the Biscaina Vein, at Real del Monte, in seven good years before the Revolution, (from 1794 to 1801,) was Six millions of dollars, or 857,042 dollars per annum. From 1809 to 1823, it only yielded 200,000 dollars in all, or 14,285 dollars per annum.

If it were possible to obtain returns from the other Mining Districts, the disproportion between the produce before, and after, the year 1810, would be found to be equally striking.

In all, the principal Mines were abandoned, the Machinery was allowed to go to ruins, and the Silver raised was merely the gleanings of more prosperous times; the workings, (where any were attempted) being confined, almost entirely, to the upper levels.

Tasco, (which was an important military station to the South of the Capital) forms a solitary exception to this rule; for the town being constantly garrisoned by Royalist Troops, and only once taken by the Insurgents, the Tribunal de Mineria undertook to work the Mines there, which formerly belonged to the famous Laborde; and did so with such success, that the produce is supposed to have averaged 400,000 dollars annually. The other Mining Districts in the vicinity of the Capital, (Păchūcă, Chīcŏ, Zĭmăpān, Tĕmăscāltĕpēc, Tlălpŭjāhuă, el Ōrŏ, Zăcŭālpăn, Ăngăngēŏ, Sūltĕpĕc, and el Dŏctōr,) were all nearly abandoned, or their produce so much reduced, that no returns of it were kept.

The amount of the Silver known to have been raised since 1810, is, therefore, as follows:—

	Dollars.
Zăcătēcăs, (average)	1,000,000
Guănăjūātŏ, Gold and Silver, (average)	1,608,034
Cătōrcĕ, ditto	599,400
Sŏmbrĕrētĕ, ditto	300,000
Tāscŏ, ditto	400,000
Real del Monte, ditto	14,285
Guārĭsămĕy, Săn Dīmăs (included in Durango Coinage)	461,176
Northern Districts, included in Chihuahua Coinage	316,767
	—————
Total given by Registers in my possession	4,699,662
	—————

The above Table is only meant to show the impossibility of attempting, in the present state of Mexico, to ascertain the actual Produce of the country by any other standard than that of the Coinage. It was in the different Mints that the Silver raised was ultimately concentrated, as they alone afforded the means of converting it into the ordinary circulating medium of the country; and, with the exception of the Bars exported, direct, from the Eastern and Western Coasts, their Registers undoubtedly afford the fairest estimate of the real Produce.

The average amount of these, on the whole Fifteen years, being, as we have seen, 10,270,731 dollars, it becomes necessary to add no less a sum than 5,571,069 dollars to the returns of produce from the principal Districts, as given above, in order to make them equal in amount to the annual Coinage.

In any country but Mexico, it would be absurd to suppose that so large a mass of Silver could be raised, annually, from sources comparatively unknown; but, in New Spain, there is nothing either impossible, or improbable, in the supposition.

It is a fact universally admitted, that, in almost all the Mining Districts, although the towns have been ruined by the emigration of the wealthy inhabitants, whose capitals were formerly invested in Mining operations, the lower classes have, throughout the Revolution, found means to draw their subsistence from the Mines.

Under the denomination of Bŭscōnĕs, (Searchers) they have never ceased to work; and although, from the want of method in their operations, they have done the most serious injury to the Mines themselves, they have, in general, contrived to extract from the upper levels, or from the old workings, neglected in better times, for others of greater promise, a very considerable quantity of Silver.

This desultory system is still pursued in many parts of the country; and, at Zĭmăpān, Zăcŭālpăn, el Dŏctōr, and many of the Northern Districts, a large population is even now maintained by it.

The Silver thus obtained was sold, in each Real de minas, at from four to six, eight, and twelve reals per marc below the Mint price, to those of the inhabitants who could afford, on such terms, to wait for an opportunity of forwarding it, under convoy, to the nearest Mint, where it was exchanged for dollars. It was called, in its rough state, Plata Piña, or Plata Pasta; and, incredible as it may appear that the value of the precious metals thus brought annually into circulation, should have amounted to Five millions and a half of dollars, there is no other mode, at present, of accounting for by far the largest proportion of the Ten millions of dollars, which, unquestionably, were coined annually, in the different Mints of Mexico, during the Civil War.

One million, indeed, may be deducted from the Coinage of each of the four or five first years of the Revolution, for the plate, which was brought into circulation during that period.

But then, at least, as much must be added, upon the whole fifteen, for unregistered Silver sent out of the country in bars. A very large proportion of the great Bŏnānză^[12] of the Marquis of Bŭstămānte at Bătŏpīlăs, comes under this description, nearly the whole of his enormous wealth having been sent direct to Gūāymăs, and from thence to Gūāyăquīl and Pănămā, where it was shipped for Spain by the Pacific, or sent across the Isthmus to Portobello.

A similar exportation took place from all the Districts to the North of San Luis Pŏtŏsī, and particularly from Catorce, where, from the facility of the communication with the Coast, the Old Spaniards, by whom most of the mines were worked in 1810, were in the habit of shipping off all the Bars that contained a Ley de Oro, and no inconsiderable proportion of the pure Silver, to the Peninsula, without converting them into dollars at all.

I should, therefore, be inclined to estimate the total produce of the country, during the fifteen years ending in 1825, higher, by nearly One million of dollars, than the Mint Returns; and to suppose that, even during the worst of times, the value of the precious metals raised, annually, from the Mines of Mexico, cannot have averaged less than Eleven millions of dollars.

The immense amount of the Exports on private account; and the necessity of balancing, with the produce of the Mines, nearly the whole of the Imports of Foreign manufactures, (a part of which was covered, before the Revolution, by the Agricultural produce,) will explain the fact of the country having been reduced to a state of extreme penury, in the midst of this apparent wealth; the Minimum of the produce of Mexico being nearly double the Maximum of the average produce of any of the other Colonies of Spain, before the Revolution. ^[13]

It now remains for me to trace the effects of the Revolution upon the circulating medium of the country, by comparing, in as far as such a comparison is possible, the amount of the Exports of Specie, during the last fifteen years, with that of the Produce, in conjunction with the Specie, which may be supposed to have accumulated, during the fifteen years of prosperity, by which the Revolution was preceded.

The whole circulating medium of Mexico was estimated by Humboldt, in 1803, at fifty-five, or sixty millions of dollars.^[14] To this I should add fourteen millions, as the increase during the Seven following years, when the average Exports were, according to my calculation, Twenty-two millions of dollars, and the average Produce Twenty-four millions; thus making the whole circulating medium, in 1810, amount to about Seventy-two millions of dollars.

The Mines, in fifteen years, appear to have produced 153,276,972, (according to the Mint Returns,) or 165,000,000, if the Average, which I have taken, of Eleven millions annually, be correct; which, with the Seventy-two millions already in existence, give a Total of Two hundred and thirty-seven millions of dollars.

The exact amount of the Exports in Specie, it is impossible to ascertain; but, during a period of disorder, which, at one time, amounted to almost total disorganization, the allowance made for unregistered Exports must be very large.

Respecting those of which an account was kept, I have obtained the only accurate information now to be procured, viz. extracts from the Registers of the Custom-Houses of Vĕrăcrūz, Ăcăpūlcŏ, Săn Blās, and Măzătlān, for which I am indebted to His Majesty's Consular Agents at those Ports. . By these it appears, that the Commercial Exports of Veracruz, from 1811 to 1820, were,

	Dollars.
To other Spanish Colonies	14,302,701
To Foreign Countries direct	434,608
To Spain	53,553,897
	—————
Total	68,291,206

 

The Exports of
	1821 were	$\scriptstyle {\left\{{\begin{matrix}\ \end{matrix}}\right.}$	Dollars	8,353,178
			Wrought Silver	67,488
	1822	$\scriptstyle {\left\{{\begin{matrix}\ \end{matrix}}\right.}$	Dollars	7,489,780
			Wrought Silver	81,237
	1823	$\scriptstyle {\left\{{\begin{matrix}\ \end{matrix}}\right.}$	Dollars	1,293,823
			Wrought Silver	30,779
	1824			2,854,936
	1825		(about)	6,000,000
				—————
	Total from 1811 to 1825,			94,462,427
				—————
	The Imports from 1811 to 1820 were,
				Dollars.
From Spain				66,815,639
From Foreign Countries direct				2,769,725
From other Spanish Colonies				24,098,656
				—————
			Total	94,284,020
				—————

The Imports from 1821 to 1825 inclusive, were:— 

		Dollars
1821		7,245,052
1822		3,723,019
1823		3,913,092
1824		12,082,030
1825	$\scriptstyle {\left.{\begin{matrix}\ \\\ \end{matrix}}\right\}\,}$	12,082,030
(No returns, therefore taken at the same amount as 1824)[15]
		—————
Total		39,045,223
		—————
Or, with the Imports of the ten preceding years		133,238,243
		—————

From this amount must be deducted 27,770,774 dollars for the registered Exports of Agricultural Produce during the fifteen years under consideration; but this still leaves a balance against Mexico; the registered Imports being (with all deductions made) 105,557,469 dollars, and the registered Exports 94,462,427 dollars. The difference (11,095,042 dollars) must have been covered by the illicit extraction of Gold and Silver to that amount; there being no article of Agricultural Produce, with the exception of Cochineal, sufficiently valuable to hold out a similar inducement for contraband Trade. The registered shipments of Cochineal by Old Spaniards, who took this mode of making remittances to Europe, amounted in five years, (from 1821 to 1825) to 7,451,992 dollars; and as this bears a fair proportion to the Produce, (Vide Book I. Sect. III.) it is not to be presumed that the illicit extraction can have been very great.

My object in thus comparing the Exports of specie with the Imports of European Manufactures, (which may appear, at first, to have no immediate connexion with the question now under consideration,) is, to show that no part of the Spanish property withdrawn from the country since the commencement of the Revolution, can be comprehended in the registered Exportation from Veracruz, since the total amount of the Exports does not cover the total amount of the registered Imports, but leaves a balance of 11,095,042 dollars, to be paid by some other channel.

In the other ports it will be impossible for me to attempt a similar comparison, as I have not been able to obtain returns of Imports of any kind. I must, therefore, confine myself to a statement of the amount of the entries of the precious metals shipped in each port; and even these are but little to be depended upon, as the gentleman, to whom I am indebted for the extracts from the Registers of Săn Blās and Măzătlān, informed me that, in the opinion of the oldest merchants upon the Western coast, the registered Exports did not amount to above one half of the real amount of the Silver exported; in which opinion Mr. Barcaiztegui, from whom I received similar returns of the Exports from Acapulco, fully coincided.

Having premised this, I shall annex the results of the enquiries of these gentlemen, in one Table, without adding, as pièces juistificatives, the original Returns, which are in my possession, but are too voluminous for insertion.

 

Amount of Specie exported.
Years.	San Blas.	Mazatlan.	Acapulco.
1810			13,000
1811			25,883
1812			24,461
1813	346,884		108,331
1814	records missing	746,000
1815	1,276,629	608,106
1816	672,222	511,655	1,288,578
1817	757,086	343,719	154,000
1818	records lost	ditto	391,217
1819	ditto	ditto	218,689
1820	652,400	33,510	692,477
1821	1,570,542		23,191
1822	1,527,530	10,309	37,250
1823	1,054,708	84,420	223,000
1824	787,055	118,560	35,600
1825	182,243	165,797	57,075
	————	————	————
Total	8,827,299	2,622,076	3,292,752
	————	————	————

From Gūāymăs, there are no returns; nor is any account whatever of Imports to be obtained from San Blas, on the West; or from Tampico, or any other port to the North of Veracruz, on the Eastern coast, during the period to which my enquiries are limited.

It is probable, however, that the registered Exports from San Blas and Mazatlan, do not more than cover the amount of the Imports: as, from the moment that the port of San Blas was opened to Foreign trade by General Cruz, in 1812, the value of the European manufactures with which the Tableland was supplied, through this channel, can hardly have been less than the average amount of the Exports of the Twelve years, viz.: 735,608 dollars.

At San Blas, therefore, as at Veracruz, no allowance can be made upon the registered Exports of Specie for the property of Old Spaniards transferred to Europe; the Exports being hardly equivalent in value to the European Imports. The same may be said of Ăcăpūlcŏ and Măzătlān: yet, the Spanish property actually realized, and abstracted from the capital of the country as it existed in 1810, is calculated by the best-informed Mexicans, (as I have stated in Section V. of the last Book,) at from Eighty, to One hundred and forty millions of dollars.

Let us first, therefore, see the amount of the whole registered Exports, and then consider the additions which must be made to it.

The value in dollars of the Exports from Veracruz, was:— 

	Dollars.
From 1811 to 1820	68,291,206
From 1821 to 1825	26,171,221
San Blas (in the fifteen years)	8,827,299
Măzătlān (ditto)	2,622,076
Acapulco (ditto)	3,292,752
	—————
Total, in fifteen years.	109,204,554
	—————

Of the Exports on the King's account, which are not included in this estimate, nothing certain is known; but, from the difficulty which the Viceregal Government experienced from 1811 to 1817, in raising funds to meet the exigencies of the moment in Mexico, I am induced to believe that, during the whole of that time, no remittances to Madrid can have been made. The Tobacco monopoly, and the duties upon Gold and Silver, of which the "sobrante liquido, remisible," was composed before the Revolution, failed entirely; and, although new taxes were substituted for them, these were barely sufficient to defray the expenses of the war. After 1816, things became more settled, and some trifling remittances were made, which ceased again entirely upon the declaration of Independence in 1821, so that I should not calculate them in all, during the whole fifteen years, at more than ten millions of dollars.^[16] With regard to the Smuggling Trade, this was by no means the case, for, if the demand for European manufactures became less amidst the general distress, the profits of the illicit trader increased; the facility with which goods were introduced being proportionably greater, and the reduction in the price consequently, such as to enable him to defy competition. I do not, therefore, conceive the amount of the Contraband Trade ever to have fallen below the average before the Revolution, viz. two, or two and a half, millions of dollars.

We must, therefore, make the following additions to the registered Exports as given above, viz.:—

	Dollars.
	109,191,454
Remittances to Royal Treasury	10,000,000
Smuggling Trade, in fifteen years, taken at something below the average amount before 1810	34,910,953
Allowance for the Exports of three years, the Returns for which have been lost at San Blas, taken at the average of the other twelve, viz. 735,608 dollars	2,206,824
Balance of the excess of registered Imports in fifteen years at Veracruz	11,095,042
	——————
Total	167,404,273
	——————

This I regard as the amount of the Exports, in gold and silver, that must, necessarily, have taken place, in order to cover that portion of the Imports from Europe, that remained unpaid, after deducting the whole of the exportable national Produce; with the addition of ten millions only as remittances to Madrid.

The Spanish Property remitted to Europe constitutes, therefore, nearly the whole of the unregistered Exports, the amount of which must be entirely a question of conjectural evidence; there being no data whatever upon which a calculation could be formed. We must, therefore, be guided by a few leading points, which seem to require more particular attention.

The First of these, is the well-known fact that, before the Revolution, two-thirds of the capital of the country were in the hands of Spaniards, who engrossed the whole commerce of Mexico, and were, likewise, most extensively engaged in agriculture and mines.

The Second, is the equally well-ascertained fact, that almost all these Spaniards have quitted the country, and that the depressed state of the Mines, of Agriculture, and of Trade, is due, in a great measure, to the withdrawing of those capitals, by which they were formerly supported.

The Third, is the curious circumstance which I have endeavoured to develope in the preceding pages, namely, that no portion of this capital can be included in the registered Exports, to the amount of which it must consequently be added.

Having arrived at this conclusion, it remains to fix the sum, at which the capital actually withdrawn in Specie must be estimated.

The lowest calculation of the Mexicans upon this subject is eighty millions of dollars, while many go as high as one hundred and forty millions.

The last is utterly impossible, for the Minimum of eighty millions would leave the country without any circulating medium at all.

I have supposed seventy-two millions to have been the accumulation of the precious Metals in Mexico in 1810; which, with the whole produce of the mines up to 1825, gives a total capital of two hundred and thirty-seven millions of dollars.

If we add to the Exports, as given in the preceding pages, (167,404,273 dollars,) eighty millions of dollars more, we should reduce the currency of New Spain in 1827 to ten millions of dollars less than nothing. I should be inclined, therefore, to take one third of the registered Exports, (109,204,554 dollars,) as a reasonable estimate of those of which no entry was made.

	Dollars.
This would give	36,401,518
which, added to the total Exports, (according to my estimate of their amount)	167,404,273
	——————
gives a Total of	203,805,791
	——————

and this, again, leaves about thirty-three Millions of dollars as the circulating medium of Mexico at the present day, after allowing nearly thirty-six millions and a half for the Spanish capital withdrawn since the commencement of the Civil War.

The extreme scarcity of money that has been felt in Mexico during the last two years, renders the result given by this calculation by no means improbable. In 1810, with a currency of seventy-two millions, and a clear surplus produce of two millions more, which appears to have been the case during the seven last years before the Revolution, nothing could equal the facility with which advances were obtained for every useful, or even useless, project. In 1826, with a currency reduced to thirty-three millions, and a produce of eight, (the whole of which is required to cover the Imports alone,) three per cent, per month has been paid in the capital for specie, and that, too, where security was given for the full amount of the advances, by deposits of goods.

As it is to the Mines that we must look for the source of every future improvement in Mexico, I shall endeavour, in the subsequent parts of this book, to point out the manner in which their progress is likely to be affected by the present scarcity, which, operating, as it were, in a vicious circle, checks the produce of that, by which alone it can be itself relieved. Here, it will be sufficient to state the conclusions which may be drawn from the facts detailed in the preceding pages, with regard to the point more immediately under consideration, viz.: the comparative Produce and Exports of the Precious Metals in Mexico:—they appear to be,

1st. That the annual average Produce of the Mines of Mexico, before the Revolution, amounted to twenty-four millions of dollars, and the average Exports to twenty-two millions; and,

2ndly. That, since the Revolution, the Produce has been reduced to eleven millions of dollars, while the Exports in specie have averaged 13,587,052 dollars in each year.

To this I may add that the produce has decreased latterly, in consequence of the sudden abstraction of that portion of the Spanish capital, that still remained in the country, after the declaration of Independence in 1821.

The Old Spaniards, who had survived the first years of the Revolutionary War, (in the course of which many transferred the whole bulk of their convertible property to Europe,) retained a sufficient portion of their funds in circulation to give a certain activity to trade, and to the mines, in which most of them were, directly, or indirectly, engaged.

The Produce rose in consequence, (as tranquillity and confidence were restored,) from Four millions and a half of dollars (to which it had fallen in 1812) to Six, Nine, Eleven, and Twelve millions, which was the amount of the Coinage, in 1819, in the Capital alone.

In 1820, the Revolution in Spain, and the apprehension of the effects which it might produce in Mexico, caused a considerable fluctuation, and the Coinage of the year in the Capital fell to 10,406,154 dollars. In 1821, when these apprehensions were realized, and the separation from the Mother-country became inevitable, the whole disposable capital, that had remained till then invested, was withdrawn at once, and the coinage in Mexico sunk to five millions; from which it fell to three and a half, at which it continued during the years 1823 and 1824.

In 1825, the foreign capitals recently invested began to produce some effect; but, in 1826, the total amount of the coinage in the five mints of the Mexican Republic did not exceed 7,463,300 dollars, as will appear by the Table, marked No. 12.

This is not to be regarded as indicating a failure on the part of the Companies, but merely as proving that the capital introduced by them had not then proved an equivalent for the capital previously withdrawn; or, at all events, that time had not been allowed to repair the ruinous consequences of the sudden abstraction of that capital, and the suspension of all Mining works that ensued.

But this inquiry belongs more properly to the Second Section, to which I shall accordingly proceed, begging leave to refer my readers to the twelve Tables annexed to this Section, (none of which are, I believe, as yet known to the Public,) for a more detailed examination of the data upon which my calculations are founded. They consist mostly of extracts from Official Records, the originals of which are in my possession. Some of them I procured myself, during my visit to the Interior. For others I am indebted to the kind intervention of friends; but I can warrant the authenticity of all: and, whether the conclusions which I have drawn from them be thought correct, or not, the materials themselves will, I believe, be found to comprise nearly all the information, that is now to be obtained, respecting the points which it was the object of this Section more particularly to examine.

TABLE No. I. First period.

Account of the Coinage of the Mint of Mexico for 30 years, from the year 1796 to the year 1825, both inclusive.
Years.	Gold.			Silver.			Total.
	Dollars		Reals	Dollars	Rls.	Grs.	Dollars	Rls.	Grs.
1796	1,297,794	0	0	24,346,833	0	6	25,644,627	0	6
1797	1,038,856	0	0	24,041,182	7	0	25,080,038	0	6
1798	999,608	0	0	23,004,981	7	0	24,004,589	2	3
1799	957,094	0	0	21,096,031	3	3	22,053,125	3	3
1800	787,164	0	0	17,898,510	7	0	18,685,674	7	0
1801	610,398	0	0	15,958,044	1	0	16,568,442	1	0
1802	839,122	0	0	17,959,477	3	3	18,798,599	3	3
1803	646,050	0	0	22,520,856	1	9	23,166,906	1	9
1804	959,030	0	0	26,130,971	0	3	27,090,001	0	3
1805	1,359,814	0	0	25,806,074	3	3	27,165,888	3	3
1806	1,352,348	0	0	23,383,672	6	0	24,736,020	6	0
1807	1,512,266	0	0	20,073,954	7	3	22,216,250	7	3
1808	1,182,516	0	0	20,502,433	7	3	21,684,949	7	3
1809	1,464,818	0	0	24,708,164	2	6	26,172,982	2	6
1810	1,095,504	0	0	17,950,684	3	6	19,046,188	3	6
Total	16,102,382	0	0	326,011,903	0	0	342,114,285	0	0

 

TABLE No. II. Second period.

Years.	Gold.			Silver.			Total.
	Dollars	Reals		Dollars	Rls.	Grs.	Dollars	Rls.	Grs.
1811	1,085,364	0	0	8,956,432	2	9	10,041,796	2	9
1812	381,646	0	0	4,027,620	0	9	4,409,266	0	9
1813				6,133,983	6	0	6,133,983	0	6
1814	618,069	0	0	6,902,481	4	6	7,520,550	4	6
1815	486,464	0	0	6,454,799	5	0	6,941,263	5	0
1816	960,393	0	0	8,315,616	0	3	9,276,009	0	3
1817	854,942	0	0	7,994,951	0	0	8,849,893	0	0
1818	533,921	0	0	10,852,367	7	6	11,386,288	7	6
1819	539,377	0	0	11,491,138	5	0	12,030,515	5	0
1820	509,076	0	0	9,897,078	1	0	10,406,154	1	0
1821	303,504	0	0	5,600,022	3	6	5,903,526	3	6
1822	214,128	0	0	5,329,126	4	6	5,543,254	4	6
1823	291,408	0	0	3,276,413	3	0	3,567,821	3	0
1824	236,944	0	0	3,266,936	2	0½	3,503,880	2	0½
1825	2,385,455	0	0	3,651,423	3	0	6,036,878	3	0
Total	9,400,6.91	0	0	102,150,391	0	9½	111,551,082	0	9½

No. III.

Coinage of Guadalajara from 1814 (when a Mint was first established there) to 1825.
	Dollars.	Reals.
⁠From Jan. 26, to Dec. 31, 1814	901,949
⁠From Jan. 1 to April 30, 1815	192,749	2
⁠From Feb, 9 to the end of June, 1818	219,449
⁠From June 13 to the end of Dec. 1821	255,174
⁠In 1822	931,645
⁠In 1823	734,355	2
⁠In 1 824	957,365
⁠In 1825	676,073	4
Total⁠	4,868,760	0

 

No. IV.

Coinage of the Mint of Durango from 1811 to 1825.
Years.	Dollars.	Reals.
⁠1811	247,439
⁠1812	808,792
⁠1813	784,240
⁠1814	438,050	2
⁠1815	336,987
⁠1816	314,193
⁠1817	139,800	6
⁠1818	260,830	4
⁠1819	244,298
⁠1820	136,793
⁠1821	209,229	2
⁠1822	608,666
⁠1823	818,430
⁠1824	753,345	2
⁠1825	816,558	2
Total⁠	6,917,652	2
Durango, July 15, 1826

No. V.

Coinage of the Mint of Zacatecas from Nov. 1810 to Dec. 1825.
Years.	Dollars.	Reals.
From Nov. 14, 1810, to Aug. 31, 1811	1,154,902	6
From Sep. 5, 1811, to March 26, 1813	4,776,971	4
From April 3, 1813, to July 29, 1814	2,455.000	0
From July 30, 1814, to May 16, 1818	3,635,107	6
From June 16, 1818, to Dec. 30, 1818	638,174	3
From Dec. 31, 1818, to Dec. 30, 1819	1,026,775	4
In 1820	764,011	6
In 1821	1,326,700	7
In 1822	3,610,455	0
In 1823	3,965,000	0
In 1824	4,093,062	5
In 1825	3,213,356	0
Total⁠	30,659,518	1

No. VI.

Account of the Number of Bars of Pure Silver, and Bars with a Ley de Oro, entered in this Treasury from 1791 to August 1825, with their Value in Marcs.
	Bars.	Marcs.	Ounces.
Silver amalgamated	3,687	477,778	1½
Silver smelted	6,514	823,743	7½
Bars with a Ley de Oro	246	30,223	2
	10,447	1,331,745	3
Gold, pure and mixed with silver	672	14,392	2
Total.	11,119	1,346,137	5
Chihuahua, Aug. 21, 1825.
(Signed)	Ramon Mascarena

No. VII.

Account of the Produce of Guanajuato from 1796 to 1810.
Years.	Bars.	Marcs of Silver.	Marcs of Gold.
1796	3,734	491,126	1,081
1797	5,265	707,042	968
1798	4,784	625,937	2,529
1799	3,825	499,966	1,972
1800	3,874	506,676	1,932
1801	2,638	342,608	1,457
1802	3,867	502,497	1,676
1803	5,706	750,887	1,538
1804	5,734	755,861	2,128
1805	5,510	723,789	2,495
1806	4,716	618,417	2,188
1807	4,417	578,735	2,396
1808	4,685	617,474	1,842
1809	4,737	620,012	2,189
1810	3,896	511,445	1,419
Total	67,388	8,852,272	27,810
Guanajuato, July 26, 1826.
(Signed)⁠ Jose de la Luz Sanchez.

No. VIII.

Produce of Guanajuato from 1811 to 1825.
Years.	Bars.	Marcs of Silver.	Marcs of Gold.
1811	2,067	270,206	550	0	0
1812	2,702	357,930	907	0	0
1813	2,204	292,211	462	0	0
1814	2,568	337,795	708	0	0
1815	2,088	275,905	841	0	0
1816	2,041	269,711	694	0	0
1817	1,580	199,706	523	0	0
1818	1,215	155,112	401	0	0
1819	1,149	145,362	450	2	2
1820	814	100,465	326	2	7
1821	600	73,983	298	3	6
1822	795	95,057	597	2	2
1823	804	96,802	413	5	5
1824	931	106,775	517	3	6
1825	830	100,193	419	4	0
Total.	22,388	2,877,213	8,109	0	4
Guanajuato, July 26, 1826.
(Signed)⁠ Jose de la Luz Sanchez.

No. IX.

Produce of the Mines of Veta Grande from 1795 to 1825.
Years.	Marcs.	Ounces.	Years.	Marcs.	Ounces.
1795	41,900	3	1811	42,776	3
1796	35,570	4	1812	32,970	1
1797	10,533	3	1813	83,166	6
1798	15,702	6	1814	98,378	3
1799	8,178	5	1815	29,034	2
1800	17,348	3½	1816	45,197	6
1801	14.326	7	1817	39,243	6
1802	20,996	1	1818	50,770	2
1803	64,291	3	1819	59,954	7
1804	136,836	3½	1820	67,886	3½
1805	299,944	7½	1821	52,186	5½
1806	193,533	2	1822	86,293	3
1807	102,999	6	1823	94,452	3½
1808	184,230	2	1824	67,093	6½
1809	65,293	6	1825	67,699	6½
1810	101,550	4
Total	1,313,237	2½	Total	917,105	0½

No. X.

Account of the number of Bars of Pure Silver, and Bars with a Ley de Oro, entered in this Treasury from 1800 to 1804, and from 1815 to 1819.
Years.	Bars of Pure Silver.	Bars with a Ley de Oro.
1800	2,388	59
1801	2,410	37
1802	2,426	63
1803	3,898	49
1804	2,784	60
Total	13,906	268
1815	1,724	12
1816	863	12
1817	1,026	10
1818	1,111	14
1819	1,135	7
Total	5,859	55
Treasury of the State—San Luis Potosi.
January 16, 1827.⁠(Signed)⁠ Juan Guajardo.

No. XI.

Account of the Produce of Catorce from 1816 to 1825.
Years.	Marcs.		Dollars.
1816	39,236	2	313,890
1817	89,888	4	719,108
1818	89,095	2	712,762
1819	87,549	7	700,339
1820	88,136	3	705,091
1821	77,862	4	622,900
1822	112,519	5	900,157
1823	86,634	5	693,077
1824	78,327	6	626,622
1825	79,186	4	633,492
Total	828,432	42	6,627,438

No. XII.

Mints.	Silver.	Gold.	Total Dollars.
Mexico	2,733,221	573,024	3,306,245
Zacatecas	2,427,844		2,427,844
Guadalajara	369,079	30,947	400,026
Durango	789,207		789,207
Guanajuato	539,978		539,978
Total	6,859,329	603,971	7,463,300

1. Vide Section II. for an explanation of this term.
2. The dollars which have survived this period of disorder, are now only taken at a discount of from fifteen to twenty per cent.
3. I have myself seen ores from Guārĭsămĕy, at the Mint of Durango, which contained 2100 grains of gold to the Marc, (there are 576 grains in the ounce.) The mine of Rayas has produced ores containing 2700 grains; and 550 grains per Marc is by no means an uncommon ley de oro (proportion of gold) in the mine of Villalpando, at Guanajuato.
4. The Average of Commercial Exports given here differs from that given in the Analysis of the Balanza General, in the last Section of the preceding Book, in as much as the calculation there embraces a term of twenty-five years; while here it only comprehends fifteen years, and ends exactly at the time when the registered commercial Exports began to decrease.
5. Vide Essai Politique, Book V. Chapter XII. page 444, 8vo edition.
6. The Mint Returns from 1796 to 1803 (inclusive,) give 174,001,998 dollars as the Total Coinage during the eight years.
7. Total Exports from 1796 to 1803, (Veracruz) 56,859,768 dollars. Total Exports from 1804 to 1810, 84,735,332 dollars.
8. The Marc of Silver may be taken at 8½ dollars, and that of Gold at 136 dollars; so that the produce of Guanajuato in dollars, from 1796 to 1810, was 79,028,017 dollars, and from 1811 to 1825, 25,559,009 dollars.
9. Vide Table VII.
10. Humboldt gives the total produce in five years (from 1785 to 1789, at 1,264,991 marcs, which give an average of 2,048,484 dollars on each year.
11. Negotiation is a Mexican Mining term, and signifies a number of Mines, worked as one undertaking, by an individual, or association of individuals, whose quota of expences and profits is divided into twenty-four Barrs, as they would be in working a single Mine.
12. Bonanza is a sea term, used by the Mexican Miners to designate a Mine in such a state as to cover all the expences of working it, and to leave a considerable annual profit to the proprietor. It implies no particular sum, for you may have a bonanza of a million, or a bonanza of 20,000 dollars; but it always signifies that things are going on satisfactorily;—in short, that you are in the Trades, with studding sails set below and aloft, and every prospect of a prosperous voyage.

13. The average produce of Peru, as given by Humboldt, in 1803, was	5,317,988	dollars.
    Buenos Ayres. . . .	4,212,404
    New Grenada	2,624,760
    Essai Politique, Livre IV Chap. XI.

14. I am induced to adopt Humboldt's estimate of the amount of the circulating medium of Mexico in 1803, not because I conceive it to have been correct, but because, in a calculation, where so much must necessarily be left to conjectural evidence, I wish to have something more than a mere supposition of my own to serve as a basis. Sixty millions are thought by most people to be very much under the real amount.
15. The Imports for these years, include those of Alvarado; Veracruz having been nearly abandoned as a port in 1823, as stated in the preceding Section.
16. This is merely a supposition, open both to inquiry and correction; for, with regard to the Royal Exports, I have no data to guide me. They probably exceeded my estimate considerably, in which case, the value of the Spanish property remitted to Europe might be still farther diminished.