The quicksilver necessary for the amalgamation was sent from Spain by the regular fleets and under control of the government, which reserved for itself the monopoly, partly on account of the revenue derived from it, partly because of the supervision thus obtained over the yield of metal; for miners had to make returns in proportion to the quantity of quicksilver distributed. It was given out only at the capital,[1] by royal officials, who with the superior connivance of the viceroy formed a body called the tribunal de azogues.[2] Whenever the quicksilver mines of Almaden in Spain failed to yield the required quantity, which in New Spain alone amounted to fifteen or sixteen thousand quintals,[3] the deficit was supplied from Austria at a dearer rate, rarely from Peru.[4] The commodity was supposed to be sold at actual cost, in order to encourage mining,[5] the price ranging from one hundred and eighty-seven pesos a quintal in 1590 to forty-one pesos for Spanish and sixty-three pesos for German quicksilver in 1777.[6] Occasionally also special reduc-
- ↑ Vera Cruz was for a short time made the place of distribution.
- ↑ Consisting of an administrador, a contador, a fiscal, a notary, and three subaltern officials. Villa-Señor, Theatro, i. 38, 39. See also Fonseca and Urrutia, Real Hac., i. 297-387; Galvez, Informe, 74-77. For other laws relative to this department see Recop. de Ind., ii. 569 et seq.; Providencias sobre Azogues, MS., 1—44, passim; Montemayor, Sumarios, 205-7. A royal cédula of 1709 made the office of the administrador independent of the viceroy. Reales Cedulas, MS., i. 32. The revenue of the tribunal is considered in the chapter on finance.
- ↑ Villa-Señor, Theatro, i. 38-9, speaks only of about 5,000 quintals for the middle of the eighteenth century, but he is evidently mistaken. In some years it was only about 10,000 quintals. The total yearly consumption of the Spanish colonies in America amounted to 25,000 quintals, while the total production of the European quicksilver mines averaged 30,000 quintals, Humholdt, Essai Pol., ii. 572-5.
- ↑ Only in urgent cases the second Count Revilla Gigedo made importations from China, and suggested to his successor the convenience of promoting this trade. Insruc., 250-1. Although Humboldt, Essai Pot., ii. 575, asserts that the project was dropped, the later viceroy Azanza resumed it. During a prevailing scarcity he made contracts with private persons and took steps to bring the commodity from China, Habana, Jamaica, and Peru. Azanza, Instrur., MS., 122-6. See also Guijo, Diario, in Doc. Hist. Mex., série i., tom. i. 244, 427; Robles, Diario, i. 1 et seq.
- ↑ Recop. de Ind., ii. 308-9; Montemayor, Sumarios, 205-7. Miners were entitled to six months' credit, Beleña, Recop., i. pt. iii. 107, but could not obtain a second supply until the first had been paid for.
- ↑ In 1750 the price was fixed at $82, in 1707 at $62. Humboldt. Essai Pol., ii. 573-4. Montemayor, sumarios, 205, says that as early as 1017 the price
