supposed failure of those golden dreams, by which the imagination of the public was captivated in 1824, (and to which no small portion of the enthusiasm there displayed in favour of American Independence may, perhaps, be traced,) that that revulsion of feeling, which has since taken place, must be ascribed, as well as the despondency, with which those most interested in American affairs, now look forward to the issue of their several undertakings. For these gloomy forebodings I see, at present, no ground; but if persevered in, they may be attended with circumstances still more injurious to British interests in the New World, than even the errors committed during the period of wild and unbridled speculation, by which they were preceded. I shall endeavour, therefore, by a plain statement of the advantages and disadvantages of the line that has been pursued, to show the nature of the expectations that may still be reasonably entertained with regard to the result.
If I were to take into account nothing but the amount of capital now invested in the mines of Mexico, the average annual produce of these same mines, before the Revolution, and the fact, that those from which by far the largest proportion of this annual produce proceeded, are now worked upon British account,—I should hazard but little in pronouncing the success of all the Companies to be unquestionable. But experience has shown how ill calculations formed on such a basis can stand the
