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ANALYSIS 
 
 OF THE 
 
 MEMORIAL 
 
 PRESENTED BY THE 
 
 SECRETARY OF THE TREASURY, 
 
 TO THE 
 
 FIRST CONSTITUTIONAL CONGRESS 
 
 Unitttf mtxitan ^tattjsit 
 
 REltiG THE SUBSTANCE OF A REPORT OF THE FINANCIAL 
 
 COMMITTEE OF THE CHAMBER OF SENATORS, AND PRINTED 
 • BY ORDER OF THE SAME. 
 
 TR.JNSLJTEI) FROM THE OFFICIAL COPY PUBLISHED IN 
 MEXICO. 
 
 LONDON: 
 PRINTED FOR G. COWIE AND CO. 31, POULTRY; 
 
 By R.Clay, 9, Devonshire Street, Bishopsgatc. 
 
 1825. 
 Price Three Shillings, 
 
■^^ 
 
NOTE BY THE TRANSLATOR. 
 
 The Minister of Finance of the United 
 States of Mexico, having, in conformity 
 with the provision to that effect in the Mexi- 
 can Constitution, presented to the Mexican 
 Congress, a Memorial on the state of the 
 Pubhc Finances of the RepubHc, that do- 
 cument was referred to the examination of 
 a Committee consisting of four members of 
 the Senate: the result of whose labours 
 forms the translation now presented to the 
 English reader. For the better under- 
 standing the " Analysis'' of the Com- 
 mittee, the substance of the Finance 
 Minister's Memorial is annexed. 
 
 These documents will probably be deemed 
 worthy perusal by those who, whether in the 
 prosecution of commercial views, or under 
 the influence of higher considerations, take 
 an interest in watching the progress of so- 
 ciety in the New World, There are some 
 features in the *^ Analysis" which will hard- 
 ly fail to command attention and respect. 
 The unreserved openness with which every 
 part of the Minister's report is examined — 
 the judicious reforms and improvements 
 
( iv ) 
 
 in the administration of the Revenue 
 which are suggested — the honest anxiety 
 shown for the maintenance of public 
 faith — are all highly creditable to the 
 authors of the '' Analysis." The lover 
 of constitutional government will con- 
 template with satisfaction, a state of soci- 
 ety, in which the temperate and rational 
 examination of the administration of the 
 public revenue is thus submitted to public 
 scrutiny— the political economist will be 
 agreeably surprised at seeing a nation, 
 hitherto so cruelly excluded from partici- 
 pating in the general spread of intelligence, 
 so well acquainted with some of the favour- 
 ite} principles of his science : in short, the 
 " Analysis'* is as creditable to the ability of 
 the Commission from which it has pro- 
 ceeded, as it is to their integrity and good 
 feeling. 
 
 The occasion of this publication is not 
 unsuitable to the expression of a wish, that 
 all the new Republics of the South should, 
 as speedily as their respective circumstances 
 may admit, adopt the same habit of present- 
 ing to their respective Congresses annual 
 statements of their revenue and expenditure. 
 Nothing is more calculated to beget a na- 
 tional feehng at home, than encouraging 
 the people to take an interest in the pro-- 
 
( V ) 
 
 ceedings of their constitutional rulers and 
 legislators, — or to maintain and excite 
 confidence abroad^ than publicity in the 
 administration of the revenue. Great indeed 
 is the contrast now presented, between that 
 state of despotism from which these nations 
 have recently emerged — under which they 
 were scarcely permitted the faculty of 
 thinking — and that in which we now find 
 them, exercising all the functions of reason- 
 able beings. Nor less striking is another 
 comparison, which unavoidably, though 
 painfully, forces itself upon the mind. While 
 the Government of Old Spain continues to 
 hold forth in its conduct towards its cre- 
 ditors, the most shameful, deliberate, un- 
 provoked, and disgusting instance of a 
 breach of public faith that the world has 
 ever beheld, these young Republics are seen 
 making use of every exertion to meet the 
 punctual discharge of every engagement they 
 have entered into. Although in some of these 
 States, many changes in the form of govern- 
 ment, and in the persons by whom it has 
 been administered, have occurred, every 
 succeeding administration has invariably 
 recognized the public debt as it found 
 it. No subterfuges, no special pleading 
 have been had recourse to, to shew that 
 money might be borrowed to-day under 
 
( vi ) 
 
 every symbol of authority and good faith , 
 and the obligation to repay it, repudiated 
 to-morrow; on pretence that the borrower, 
 when he took the money, was in a state of 
 restraint and coercion.* So far indeed has 
 the opposite feeling been carried by the 
 Mexican Government in particular, that it 
 has, with a magnanimous liberality, adopted 
 the debt contracted by the Spanish Royalist 
 Government, although at the time of doing 
 so, and unhappily still, engaged in war with 
 that government. Nothing better can be 
 desired for the Mexican nation, than a per- 
 severance in such honorable and high- 
 minded feelings, and, that in measures 
 of finance, it may adopt and act up 
 to the prudent and upright course marked 
 out for it by the authors of the ^* Ana- 
 lysis ;" exercising a reasonable and whole- 
 some control over the public expendi- 
 ture; looking to the vigilant collection of 
 every branch of the revenue, (as the surest 
 means of reducing the amount of its im- 
 posts) ; and preserving, at all hazards, and at 
 every sacrifice, faith with the public creditor. 
 London^ September y 1825. 
 
 * It is a fact which ought incessantly to be repeated, until 
 justice be done to the injured parties, that the very household 
 wants of King Ferdinand of Spain were supplied out of those 
 very loans which he now refuses to acknowledge. 
 
ANALYSIS, &c. 
 
 IT has been the intention of the Financial 
 Committee, from the very commencement of the 
 Session, to present an Analysis of the Memorial 
 of the Secretary of the Treasury. Feeling, how- 
 ever, that in the existing state of things, the in- 
 terests of the nation required that the greatest 
 precision, and the utmost extension, should be 
 given to their enquiries, in order that right and 
 constitutional principles might be applied to the 
 subjects discussed in the Memorial, the Com- 
 mittee determined to request, and did accord- 
 ingly request, certain detailed and authentic 
 information, which they thought essential to 
 the question. It has happened, however, that 
 a press of business in the department of the 
 Minister, has prevented or retarded the receipt 
 of the information alluded to. In the mean time 
 
 =*A 2 
 
the close of the Session approaching, and the 
 Memorial being widely circulated, without any 
 correction of its errors, — and as, in the opinion of 
 the Committee, many inconveniences may result 
 from this circumstance, they have come to a reso- 
 lution to lay before the Chamber a brief Analysis, 
 which, though it may not be so complete as more 
 extensive materials would have enabled them to 
 make it, may still be sufficiently so for the pur- 
 pose it has in view, and for recommending to the 
 attention of the Chamber^, the suggestions that 
 will be found at its close. Further than this the 
 Committee cannot go, as it does not belong to the 
 functions of this Chamber to originate those fiscal 
 measures which may be recommended in the course 
 of this Analysis ; but as its present information is 
 limited, the Committee reserves to itself the pri- 
 vilege of entering again upon the subject, when the 
 details above alluded to may come to hand. 
 
 For the sake of perspicuity, the- Committee will 
 confine itself to the examination of the items of 
 receipts and expenditure, in the estimates of the 
 Minister, making on each such observations as 
 may occur to it. It will then proceed to consider 
 the measures that have been thought necessary 
 to meet the supposed deficit, and will conclude 
 with a rapid glance at the political tenor of the 
 Memorial^ deducing from the whole, certain sug- 
 gestions, which it has deemed expedient to submit 
 to the consideration of the Chamber. 
 
Duties on exports and imports. 
 
 The total amount of these duties is *$2,732,995;. 
 Ir. 4g.— the net produce $2,575,732 6r. 6g,i 
 leaving, for the expense of collection, $157,262 
 2r. lOg., equal to about 6 per cent., a sum mo- 
 derate enough, if we consider the perplexity, 
 want of order, and numerous abuses that have 
 prevailed in the administration of the revenue, 
 and which cannot as yet be supposed to be en-> 
 tirely remedied. 
 
 With respect to the estimate for the present 
 year, it appears, at the first glance, considerably 
 under-rated. The estimate that was formed on 
 passing the law of classification of the revenue, 
 amounted to $2,700,000, including the produce 
 of the Custom-houses of Yucatan, which were 
 calculated with sufficient approximation from an 
 authentic document. How then can the pro- 
 duce of the present year be less, when the progress 
 of the prosperity of the country is a fact so noto- 
 rious ? The Minister says, that " avoiding mere 
 " calculation, I have taken (in making the esti- 
 " mates) the actual amounts of the most recent 
 " periods, having, in some of the items (where it 
 " was possible) adopted those of the year 1823; 
 *' in others, the last six months of that year (1823) 
 " and six first of 1824; and in some, those of a 
 *' still later period." But can it, after all, be con- 
 
 * This mark signifies dollars. 
 
& 
 
 sidered as any thing more than mere calculation, 
 to compute the probable revenue of this year, by 
 the partial receipts of the periods just mentioned ? 
 In these branches of the revenue, the receipts in 
 a certain number of months of one year, can never 
 give the effective produce of other months ; then 
 why should we adopt such calculations as lead to 
 infer a deficiency, and reject those which show how 
 it may be covered ? In favour of the last, we may 
 urge, as has already been observed, the advance 
 and progress of public wealth, resulting from the 
 consolidation of our institutions, the support our 
 mineral treasures have met with, the improvement 
 of other branches of national industry, and the 
 active and extensive commerce flowing into our 
 ports. 
 
 In the Memorial which the Minister Arrillaga 
 presented to Congress, 12th of November, 1823^ 
 it was stated, fol. 16, that the receipts of the 
 Maritime Custom Houses, for the 6 months from 
 April to September of that year, compared with 
 those of the same period for the preceding year, 
 gave an increase of $177,884 .6.2. This increase, 
 which ought to be $256,474 .7.5, would, if ex- 
 tended to the whole year, give the sum of 
 $512,949 . 6 . 10, which is the real excess of the 
 year 1823 above the year 1822. What then 
 would be the excess, if we compare, on this prin- 
 ciple, the receipts of 1825 with those of 1823, 
 which have, as the Minister himself says, served a& 
 
a guide in his Memorial. It would not assuredly 
 be extravagant to increase, by one million, the 
 estimate referred to, and perhaps at this moment 
 the assertion is sufficiently proved by the receipts 
 at the custom-houses during the first months of 
 the year; nevertheless we will state this in- 
 crease at half a million of dollars, adding 200,000 
 for the produce of the custom-houses of Yucatan. 
 It has been said above, that the increase of 
 $177,884 .6.2, as stated by the Minister, ought 
 to be $256,474 .7.5, and before the Committee 
 go any further, they will account for this correc- 
 tion. In the statement. No. 5, of the said 
 Memorial, to which the Minister refers, there is a 
 mistake in the produce of the Maritime Custom- 
 house of Tampico, which consists in having stated 
 the produce of the Inland Custom-house, and not 
 that of the Maritime. When this mistake is 
 rectified, there results in favour of the Maritime 
 Custom-houses, the sum of $78,590 .1.3, and 
 consequently, the difference between the two 
 years compared, is as the Committee have stated 
 it above. 
 
 The Memorial comprehends, under one head^ 
 the Duties of Importation, of Exportation, of 
 Anchorage, Tonnage, and Admiralty dues — a 
 method very defective, inasmuch as it does not 
 furnish thfi means of comparing the different 
 branches of revenue one with the other ; of the 
 Importation with the Exportation; and of the 
 
various articles of which these two last are com- 
 posed ; comparisons, at all times useful, frequently 
 ihdispensible, not so inuch for the sake of ascer- 
 taining what is called the Balance of Trade, as 
 in order to form an accurate estimate of the state 
 of national industry with respect to foreign com- 
 merce, of the progress or decline of any particular 
 brainch of it, so that in the latter case the proper 
 remedy may be aprplied. For the same purpose it 
 would be of great use, that at least once in the year, 
 circumstantial Reports should be published of the 
 total Exportation and Importation, detailing the 
 particulars of every branch thereof, and of the 
 humber and tonnage of all vessels entering aria 
 leaving our Ports. 
 
 INTERIOR CONSUMPTION BVTY .--^( Derecfios 
 
 de Internacion.J 
 
 Nothing is said in the Memorial, nor can be 
 said, of a duty which has only just been established. 
 It is only necessary to observe, that neither in the 
 Memorial, nor in any documents possessed by the 
 Committee, does there appear any account of 
 the stations or watch-houses which it was thought 
 necessary to establish with a view to the more 
 punctual and exact collection of this tax. To the 
 sum calculated by the Minister, must be added 
 $375,000, as the part belonging to the interior 
 consumption duty out of the $500,000 of increase,. 
 
9 
 
 calculated in this Analysis, on the duties of im- 
 portation, leaving out of the calculation the cus- 
 tom-houses of Yucatan, where no interior con- 
 sumption duty is paid : but as the Memorial does 
 not furnish the necessary details for separating from 
 the total mass of duties, that of importation, three' 
 fourth parts of which, after deducting the con- 
 sumption of the Ports, and rectifying the incon- 
 siderable differences which arise from the variations 
 in the duties on liquors, will give the interior con^ 
 sumption duty ; and as it appears that the duty 
 does not correspond with what, according to this 
 calculation, it ought to be ; the Committee will limit 
 the increase of the produce to only §250,000. 
 
 When the Financial Committee of the Con- 
 stituent Congress proposed and adopted the 
 establishment of a duty on interior consump- 
 tion (Derecho de Internacion), they were 
 influenced by these weighty arguments ; 1st. 
 Because it would be more easy to prevent 
 smuggling, by limiting the collection of the duty 
 to ten points, or free ports, than to collect the 
 same under the old form of Alcabala, in the inland 
 custom-houses, which are much more in number. 
 2dly : on account of the simplicity of the system, 
 and the advantages that would result from the di- 
 minution of public offices and agents of the Federa- 
 tion, in the interior of the States. 3dly : to avoid 
 the perplexity resulting from the necessity which 
 
10 
 
 the new system had created, of returning the Alca- 
 bala on goods introduced for the consumption of one 
 town, and afterwards removed to another, as it 
 was understood that the Alcabala should only be 
 paid once. But two of these arguments have 
 recently assumed a new aspect ; for with reference 
 to the first, smuggling has increased, doubtless in 
 consequence of the heavy burden imposed on the 
 purchaser, who finds he must add 15 per cent, to 
 the capital destined to be laid out in foreign goods: 
 and with reference to the second, as a Commis- 
 sioner of the Federation is maintained in the 
 inland custom-houses, and 3 per cent, granted to 
 the States on the same goods, it appears easy to 
 re-establish the ancient system of Alcabala, en- 
 trusting its collection to the States under the super- 
 intendance of the General Commissioners, who are 
 at present established in the custom-houses. In this 
 manner, and while the ruinous system of interior 
 Alcabala exists, so highly injurious to the nation, the 
 collection of this tax would be more simple, smug- 
 gling would be deprived of its principal stimulus, 
 and the enhanced price of foreign goods, occasioned 
 by the heavy payment in advance, would be avoided. 
 In the States every efficacy would be given to this 
 arrangement by the Governors ; besides which it 
 would be organized in such a manner as to be 
 united to the 3 per cent, granted on the consump- 
 tion ; and with the superintendance that has been 
 
11 
 
 suggested, all fear of abuse would be removed. 
 It appears then that it would be advisable to 
 abolish the Interior Consumption Duty, and esta- 
 blish the old Alcabala, on as moderate a footing 
 as the exigencies of the Treasury permit. 
 
 REVENUE FROM TOBACCO. 
 
 This is a subject which, although it has been 
 under discussion for upwards of three years, has 
 never yet been considered in its true point of view. 
 The different decrees that have been passed within 
 this period, and the proposal of the Minister in 
 the present Memorial to alter the form of this 
 branch of revenue, prove this assertion; but as 
 the Committee reserve this subject for more de- 
 tailed examination hereafter, they confine them- 
 selves to the estimate. This, like the preceding, 
 appears much under-rated, and still more so, if we 
 remember that from the $648,147 .5.9, stated 
 by. the Minister in his abstract, are to be 
 deducted, $56,308, being for the salaries, &c. 
 of those employed in this branch of the revenue,, 
 as appears from the separate estimate of the 
 expenses of the Treasury. The statements on 
 which the estimate of the said produce has been 
 made, are the receipts of the years 1823 and 1824. 
 But will the more flourishing circumstances of 
 the present year make no difference in this 
 branch of the revenue? One of the principal 
 circumstances in favour of the consumption has 
 
12 
 
 always been considered the punctual paymeht of 
 the growers, and the timely purchase of their sup- 
 plies, which alone prevents the contraband trade. 
 In the Memorial it is said that these supplies have 
 been bought in ; and this must also be the case 
 with those of the present year, since the Govern- 
 ment possesses resources for the purpose. The 
 quantity of Tobacco circulated in the Republic, 
 both purchased unlawfully of the farmers and 
 sold by the Government itself, must have been 
 much reduced, in consequence of the consumption, 
 and of its not having been replaced. The mea- 
 sures taken by the Government, for suppressing 
 the contraband trade, must have produced some 
 good effects. The different Governments of the 
 States, disembarrassed of the care of attending to 
 their interior organization, which may have re- 
 laxed their vigilance, will now direct their atten- 
 tion to the improvement of the revenue. The 
 general Government itself is in a more favourable 
 situation for attending to the full supply of the 
 States ; by a want of which attention, the con- 
 sumption has been hitherto so materially affected. 
 In a note addressed to the Chamber by the 
 Legislature of New Leon, on the means it pos- 
 sesses for paying its contingent, it is said, that 
 in spite of the exertions of the Congress to enforce 
 the observance of the law of 12th February, 
 1824, and in spite of the partial good effects such 
 exertions produced, the produce of this branch of 
 
13 
 
 revenue is again reduced to nothing, entirely for 
 want of timely supplies of the article, which is the 
 great evil to which it is exposed, originating in a 
 want of vigilance, care, and punctuality, in the 
 remittances; the only circumstance which has 
 created and continues to maintain, cherish, and 
 perpetuate, the contraband trade. Consequently, 
 if abuses of such magnitude are avoided in future, 
 and if the circumstances just mentioned, and which 
 have always been considered essential to the pros- 
 perity of this branch, are to be depended on, as 
 likely to produce effects of a similar nature, it 
 follows that the estimate in the Memorial should 
 be increased, even though it be admitted that the 
 system has not produced the good results which 
 were expected from it at the time it was adopted. 
 Can it be supposed, in the face of these state- 
 ments, that the consumption of Tobacco ought to 
 be rated at two-thirds of what it averaged in 
 any one year of the 14 years ending in 1806 in- 
 clusive ? Shall we suppose that it ought only to 
 be reckoned at one-hdf ? Assuredly not. But 
 to remove all doubt respecting the low rate of the 
 estimate, especially from the minds of those who 
 are not aware of the influence which the timely 
 purchase of Tobacco from the farmers, and the 
 diminution and discontinuance of their sales or 
 those of the Government, with the other circum- 
 stances stated, have upon the increase of the 
 revenue, the Committee will take for granted 
 
u 
 
 that the consumption of the present year does not 
 exceed one-third of what it averaged in any year 
 of the period alluded to. But even in this case, 
 it would be 1,519,891 lbs. 8 oz., which would pro- 
 duce, according to the statements of the Memorial, 
 $1,044,925 .1.9 net. 
 
 REVENUE FROM GUNPOWDER. 
 
 With respect to this branch of revenue, it is 
 only necessary to observe that to the amount 
 which appears in the abstract, must be added 
 the consumption of the army, which cannot 
 be inconsiderable. Considering the immense 
 quantities supplied by the contraband trade, it 
 appears easy to raise the produce to what it was 
 formerly. Some persons have thought it should 
 be exempt from duty, and doubtless this measure 
 would be of advantage to mining operations — since 
 .although the treasury furnishes the miners with 
 the powder they require at prime cost, this is 
 always five or six times higher than the rate it can 
 be afforded by the contraband trade— a difference 
 that strikingly proves the disadvantages of all 
 commercial operations conducted by the govern- 
 ment. Nevertheless, as this branch of revenue^ought 
 from its nature to be under the superintendance 
 of the police, it will be time enough to introduce 
 such diminution of duties as the encouragement 
 of mining may require, when the interior organi- 
 
15 
 
 nation of the States has become more firmly esta- 
 blished — and then the produce of this branch may 
 be derived from a heavy duty which may be 
 imposed upon those who obtain permission to 
 manufacture it. The army may draw its supplies 
 either from mills of its own— or if a more econo- 
 mical mode be desirable, it may provide itself by 
 means of contracts. 
 
 ALCABALA ON TOBACCO, POSTS, AND 
 LOTTERIES. 
 
 On the first of these subjects the Committee 
 have no remark to make. The produce of the 
 second, although below that of former times, is 
 four times greater than that of the years 1822 and 
 1823 — a proof of the increasing activity of our 
 communications, and of the rapid advance and 
 progress of national industry — a fact not sufficiently 
 recognized by those who obstinately persist in 
 estimating our future wealth and resources, by a 
 reference to the state of the country previous to 
 the Revolution; as if the suppression of monopolies, 
 the more extensive distribution of capital, and the 
 opening our ports to the commerce of the world, 
 had not introduced a new and better order of 
 things, securing to us the greatest advantages 
 for the present, and affording the most cheering 
 assurances of future prosperity. The commercial 
 monopolist complains with reason that he is 
 
16 
 
 deprived of his former extravagant profits ; but if 
 the number of those engaged in commerce is at 
 the present time in the proportion of thirty to one 
 compared to those times, are the profits to continue 
 the same? The agriculturist, the manufacturer, 
 and even the mechanic complain of the low price 
 of their productions ; but if the price of every 
 article they consume is lower, why can they not 
 afford these productions at a proportionate abate- 
 ment ? It would be desirable that the receipts of 
 the Post Offices, &c., which, considered as a source 
 of revenue, are not of primary consideration, should 
 be devoted in part to the opening of new communi- 
 cations, and to the relieving the different towns 
 from the extortions to which they are exposed by 
 the mode adopted for the supply of post hordes. 
 To increase and improve the means of communi- 
 cation, i$ to approximate men to men, to shorten 
 the distance by which nature has separated towns, 
 and to give the truest support to national industry. 
 And if this remark holds good of all. countries, it 
 must peculiarly apply to a country so extensive 
 and so thinly peopled as ours. Accordingly, as far 
 as funds admit, the different branches of roads 
 should be increased, and every facility given to 
 our communication with those states and territories 
 which it may be safely said are not so well known 
 to us, as foreign and far-distant kingdoms. By 
 these means the bonds of national union will be 
 drawn closer, and the Republic will acquire strength 
 
17 
 
 arid consistency, sufficient to resist those impetuous 
 movements, to which, by the form of our goverur- 
 ment, we may be thought to be exposed. Know- 
 ledge will circulate with ease and rapidity, and 
 the progress and prosperity of one State will 
 naturally flow into another. 
 
 SALT WORKS. 
 
 The total produce of this branch of revenue is 
 $68,382 .1.4: the nett produce $26,367 . 9, 
 leaving for the expense of collecting, $42,015 . 7, 
 a sum quite enormous, being almost double the 
 nett produce, which is of itself a circumstance of 
 sufficient weight to justify the determination oi* 
 the Constituent Congress, to let these works on 
 rent. Could the produce of this branch of reve- 
 nue, in the years previous to the revolution, be 
 ascertained, even allowing for the great misma- 
 nagement that always prevailed in collecting it, 
 we should not have to remark in the Memorial 
 such great indifference on the subject of a branch 
 of the revenue capable of great amelioration. 
 Baron Humboldt rated the produce of the mines 
 of Peiion Blanco alone, at $125,000. In the 
 five years preceding the revolution, the annual 
 average sum paid into the treasury of Zacatecas 
 was $55,714 . 6 for Salt from the same mines 
 paid by the miners of that city; a sum which 
 % alone exceeds the produce rated in the abstract 
 of the Minister. It must be allowed that 
 
18 
 
 this was the period of the greatest prosperity of 
 the mines of Zacatecas, but it is no less certain 
 that to the sum above-mentioned must be added 
 the amount paid by the miners to the treasury 
 of San Luis, the amount of the Salt sold for 
 ready money at the works, and the amount of 
 the Salt carried to other mineral works ; so that 
 when all these items are added, and allowance is 
 made for the great loss by mismanagement to 
 which the old system was exposed, the computa- 
 tion of Humboldt appears to be correct ; at least 
 with respect to the period alluded to. In the five 
 years ending with 1799 inclusive, the annual pro- 
 duce of all the Salt works averaged §186,962 .5.6. 
 In the year 1822 it was computed at $93,481 .2.9; 
 and in the year 1823, the nett produce, according 
 to the statement No. 7 of the memorial of the 
 minister, Arrillaga, was $52,287 .6.8. Why, 
 then, should the produce of the year 1825 fall so 
 much short of all these ? 
 
 If we consider the produce of the Salt works 
 of Peiion Blanco, the expenses of which cannot 
 be considerable— the improvement in the admini- 
 stration of this branch of revenue introduced by 
 the Constituent Congress— the produce derived 
 from the duty on Salt, distinct from the Salt 
 works, and which is equally the property of the 
 treasury of the Federation — ^if we consider the 
 commodity itself, both as an article of universal 
 consumption, and as one so necessary in the working 
 of metals ; if we consider the daily increasing atten- 
 
19 
 
 tion directed to our mineral treasures, it will not 
 appear extravagant to estimate the produce at 
 $80,000, since even upon this estimate the pro- 
 duce of all the Salt works, and the duty on Salt, 
 falls short of the produce of the Salt works of 
 Peiion Blanco in its flourishing times. In this 
 point of view the Salt works appear by no means 
 so contemptible as the Minister seems to consider 
 them ; for if the produce will be diminished by 
 the abatement granted by Congress for the en- 
 couragement of mining, it must be increased in 
 an equal ratio by the suppression of a system of 
 mismanagement which must have reduced it one 
 half, or probably more— -a circumstance that 
 should hasten the arrangement for letting these 
 works on rent. Nothing is contemptible that 
 relates to a point of economy in the administra- 
 tion of the revenue. 
 
 TERRITORIES OF THE FEDERATION.* 
 
 ('Territorios,) 
 
 The total product is $16,147 .1.4, the nett 
 produce $9,950 .7.8, leaving for the expense of 
 collection $6,196 . 1 . 8, an excessive sum com- 
 pared with the total produce, which appears very 
 small. In the absence of authentic details, which 
 are not to be found in the Memorial, the committee 
 will make a calculation, which cannot assuredly 
 
 * For the names of these territories see subjoined Memo- 
 rial, p. 87.—Trandator. 
 
 b2 
 
^0 
 
 exceed the truth. The produce of the interiott* 
 Alcabala of the territories of Tlaxcala and Colima 
 in the year 1823, according to the statement 
 comprising six months of that year, drawn up by 
 the accountant-general^ was $35,356 .4.6, nett ; 
 if from this sum we deduct one third for the Al- 
 cabala paid by foreign goods, and add a fourth 
 part of this third for the duty on consumption 
 decreed subsequently, there remain $26,517 .3.4; 
 a sum almost three times larger than that 
 which appears in the Abstract, though it refers 
 to only two territories and only one rent. The 
 computation of the produce of foreign goods is 
 taken from the statement of the accountant-gene- 
 ral above referred to. Supposing that the mari- 
 time duties therein stated are produced by the 
 25 per cent, on importation, and that all the 
 goods that paid this duty in the ports, paid 12 
 per cent, more in the interior — two suppositions 
 which must both of them be far distant from the 
 truth— still the produce of this 12 per cent, com- 
 puted by what was produced by the 25 per cent, 
 in the maritime custom-houses, is with a slight 
 difference one third of the total produce of the 
 interior Alcabala ; therefore the other two thirds 
 are produced by the goods of the country. 
 
 NATIONAL PROlPERTY, TYTHE RENTS, &c. 
 
 Only one remark occurs at present relative to 
 the national property, viz. that the $23,546 . 9 paid 
 
21 
 
 for management is a very great sum, being above 
 half the nett produce of $42,245 .3.10. 
 
 CONTINGENCIES OF THE STATES. 
 
 To the sum which appears in the Abstract 
 should be added the contingent of the Stato 
 of Chiapa, which will not fall short of $31,250, 
 after deducting the one-third, as has been done 
 with the other States; although the popula- 
 tion of this State is only estimated at 150,000 
 inhabitants, and although it belongs to the last 
 class in point of wealth. 
 
 AVERIA AND PEAGE.* 
 
 The produce of these imposts has been directed 
 to be paid into the general treasury, till the esta- 
 blishment of a credito pybUco.\ It is of the 
 greatest importance to expedite the organi- 
 zation of this establishment, on which depends 
 not only the regulation of the branches above- 
 mentioned, and the punctual payment of the sums 
 for which they are reserved, but also the classifica- 
 tion and liquidation of the public debt, and the 
 administration of that part of the revenue appointed 
 
 * The nature of this tax is described in the subjoined Me- 
 morial, p. 88. Peage, or Tolls, is also exjJained under 
 the last name. — Translator, 
 
 t Credito Publico.'^An official department, so called, for 
 inscribing and classifying the national debt, superintending the 
 management of the funds appointed for its redemption, and 
 for promoting all measures connected with public credit. 
 Translator. 
 
to redeem it. The credit of the nation imperiously 
 demands that the attention of the Congress be 
 directed to the complete organization of this 
 branch of finance. 
 
 Unencumbered with any expense of ad- 
 ministration, Averia and Peage will, with our 
 present flourishing and rapidly increasing com- 
 merce, soon be in a condition to fulfil the ob- 
 jects for which they were established ; and when 
 the capitals for which they are reserved are re- 
 deemed, they may be devoted (principally Averia, 
 which would in a short time produce §500,000 if 
 collected on importation) to the redemption of 
 the remaining part of the public debt. The re- 
 ceipts of this branch stated in the Abstract is 
 much lower than those which, according to the 
 Memorial, were obtained in the five years from 
 1772 to 1776, or those of the year 1811 ; and it 
 seems rather unaccountable that the receipts in 1825 
 should be so small, when the importation of foreign 
 goods must have been greater. The same may be 
 said of Peage, the produce of which is estimated 
 at less than what it was at the time of the Re- 
 volution. 
 
 MINT. 
 
 This is another question, which, although per- 
 fectly clear to every one else, is not so to certain 
 persons, who either have not lost the hope of a 
 return to the system of centralizing the coinage, or 
 who wish to keep up some pretext for perpetually 
 soliciting the re-establishment of duties. If the 
 
2a 
 
 coinage does not pay the charges, or ii' those per- 
 sons who send their silver to the Mint suffer any 
 delay in getting it exchanged, it would be a suffi- 
 cient motive, not for petitioning the re-establish- 
 ment of duties which are opposed to the interests 
 of the nation, but for insisting upon the responsi- 
 bility of the officers of the Mint, who have either 
 neglected or evaded the new regulation, which 
 required that a machine should be erected for 
 striking 30 millions of dollars, whereas they now 
 only strike 3 millions. It is pretended that from 
 economical motives the vacancies that have oc- 
 curred have not been filled up ; but this is merely 
 a subterfuge. A radical reform is necessary, which 
 should be extended to a simplification of the ma- 
 chinery : by these means the two reals per mark 
 would pay the expense of coining, and leave some 
 profit. 
 
 CLAIMS OF THE GOVERNMENT. 
 
 In the long list of claims in the Memorial, there 
 are some which might be as easily realized as any 
 of the items in the Abstract. It is only necessary 
 to exhort the minister to attend to the elucidation 
 of all doubtful points, and to realize without 
 delay all claims that can be realized, which cer- 
 tainly are neither few nor to a small amount. 
 
 FOREIGN LOANS. 
 
 The loan negociated by Don Francisco Borja 
 Migoni being in every respect concluded and 
 
definitively settled, it is time the Congress should 
 furnish an accurate and circumstantial account of 
 the particulars of this transaction and of the ap- 
 plication of the proceeds. The House of Repre- 
 sentatives, which, by the establishment of the office 
 of Accountant General, possesses the means of fur- 
 nishing such an account in the most ample and 
 elaborate form, will undertake this duty, as its 
 more peculiar province, devoting to the subject 
 that attentive consideration which all financial 
 operations demand of the Congress ; and most 
 especially one which, by the terms on which it 
 has been negociated, has imposed such a heavy 
 burden on the nation. The Chamber of Deputies 
 has also some duties to perform, and some re- 
 marks to make on this important subject. 
 
 With respect to the second loan, it appears that 
 it is also time to demand of the Government the 
 necessary information respecting it, and to consider 
 in what manner its proceeds ought to be applied ; 
 carefully avoiding those arbitrary measures, which, 
 in the absence of any precedent or fixed rules on 
 the subject, may possibly be suggested. In the 
 mean time it would appear that the proceeds 
 would be most properly employed in discharging 
 whatever debt may have been contracted for 
 military stores, &c., and in supporting and encou- 
 raging the branch of revenue derived from tobacco, 
 reserving the rest for the extraordinary expenses 
 that may be decreed by Congress, the ordinary 
 expenses being already covered, as appears by this 
 
25 
 
 Analysis. It may be further observed here, that 
 the Government, in issuing the bonds of this loan, 
 has shown its wisdom and foresight, and the nation 
 will be indebted to it for all the advantages it may 
 derive from the confidence inspired by our successes 
 subsequent to its negociation, in the solidity of our 
 establishment, and the adequacy of our resources to 
 meet the engagements we have contracted* 
 
 III the details given in the Memorial of the 
 application made by the ministry of the proceeds 
 of the first loan, it is said that a payment of 
 500,000 dollars has been made, by order of the 
 General Congress, dated the 27th December, 
 1821, and 22d March, and 12th June, 1822, being 
 for claims to that amount against the Govern- 
 ment. The Committee are of opinion that this 
 assertion is altogether a mistake, since on the date 
 first mentioned no General Congress existed, and 
 among the decrees issued by the Government, not 
 one can be found authorising the payment in ques-^ 
 tion, nor is there the slightest reference to any 
 debt, except that of the " Manilos."* The decree 
 
 * This relates to a seizure made by Iturbide. The mer- 
 chants of the Manillas had permission to send annually to 
 Mexico goods and merchandize to the amount of a million of 
 dollars, for which they received payment in the coin of the 
 country. When Iturbide first raised the cry of independence, 
 in order to obtain funds for opening the campaigri, he plun- 
 dered a convoy belonging to the Manillo merchants on the 
 road from Mexico to Acapulco, and took fronl them 700,000 
 dollars. The first Mexican Congress ordered this debt to 
 be paid in preference to other claims. Part of it was in fact 
 paid — Iturbide himself, when in pOwer, liquidated a por- 
 
26 
 
 of 22d March is confined to the giving permission 
 to leave the country to those famihes which had 
 till then been detained, and appointed that the 
 goods they might export with them should not 
 pay more than the 3 J per cent, ordered by the 
 general regulation of the provisional code ; but, as 
 by previous enactments 15 per cent, had been 
 ordered to be paid on coin exported, it was 
 decreed, in the 4th article of the said decree, that 
 these payments should be returned, and 13|^ per 
 cent, to those who had actually so exported coin ; 
 and in the 5th article it is stated, that in case 
 these sums are not in existence, or that the 
 Government has not the means of returning them, 
 bonds should be granted, payable in two years, 
 which should enjoy the same advantages as those 
 granted to the other bondholders, who had 
 co-operated in establishing the independence. In 
 no part of the decree alluded to is there the 
 slightest expression that could authorize the pay- 
 ment stated in the Memorial. The advantages 
 which those other bondholders are to enjoy have 
 not even been declared ; besides which, an express 
 authorization will be requisite before the pay- 
 ments in question can be made with the proceeds 
 of the loan. Further than this, the sums alluded 
 to belong, as is perfectly well known, to subjects 
 
 tion of it. The second Congress decreed that the certificates 
 of this debt should be accepted at the custom-houses in pay- 
 ment of duties; but the decree appears not to have been 
 acted upon yet. — Translator, 
 
4t 
 
 of the Spanish nation, and could not be taken out 
 of the country, by the payment above-mentioned, 
 without an infringement of the law of the declara- 
 tion of war, which prohibits the same ; besides, 
 there are many other considerations which would 
 oppose such a measure, all of them equally obvious 
 and important. 
 
 The third decree quoted in the Memorial 
 respects the negociation of a loan, through the me- 
 dium of the Consulates,* for 600,000 dollars, and 
 the establishing a duty of 2 per cent, on the coin 
 circulated in the interior, for the purpose of pay- 
 ing it off. There is no allusion in this decree to 
 the loan, nor could there be, since the loans were 
 made subsequently ; and as it cannot be supposed 
 that the ministry can have infringed laws, so 
 important and so clear, it is presumed that the 
 whole paragraph in question is a mistake, and 
 that the 500,000 dollars are still in existence, and. 
 will in due time be accounted for. 
 
 RECA PITULATION. 
 
 Corrected Estimates of the Nett Receipts for the Year, 
 as resulting from this Analysis, 
 
 Duties on Importation and Exportation $ 3,275,732 6 6 
 Duties on Introduction into Consumption "1,868,223 110 
 Revenue from Tobacco . . . . . ** 1,044,925 1 9 
 
 Carried forward 6,188,881 2 1 
 
 * There were two Consulates; one in Mexico, the other in 
 Vera Cruz. — The loan alluded to was a forced loan, which 
 these Consulates were commissioned to raise among the prin- 
 cipal merchants and capitalists in Mexico. — Translator. 
 
Brought forward 6,188,881 2 1 
 
 ftevenue from Gunpowder . . . . " 84,303 1 
 
 Alcabala on Tobacco " 39,784 7 
 
 Post Office, Posts, &c " 164,246 2 10 
 
 Lotteries " 70,136 7 8 
 
 Salt Mines " 80,000 
 
 Territories of the Federation . . . ** 26,617 3 4 
 
 National Property *' 42,245 3 10 
 
 Tythes " 529,989 5 2 
 
 Rents of the See of Mexico . , . " 86,929 7 
 
 Rentsof the Dignity of Treasurer . . " 8,194 3 
 
 Contingent of the States ....." 2,317,127 5 4 
 
 Averia ** 169,664 5 11 
 
 Peage " 37,454 4 
 
 Government Claims " 55,579 3 8 
 
 Foreign Loan "2,476,315 4 7 
 
 Estimate per Analysis $12,377,371 1 6 
 
 Estimate per Memorial of the Minister ** 9,770,372 3 
 
 Diflference $ 2,606,998 6 
 
 Having analysed the estimates of the receipts, 
 the Committee will now consider the estimates of 
 the disbursements. 
 
 WAR AND MARINE DEPARTMENT. 
 
 The estimates for this department amount to 
 $16,011,990 .5.3, calculated for an army of 
 62,552 men. It may be observed, in the first 
 place, that there is an error in the calculation of 
 the strength of the Mexican army, which must 
 amount to 65,305 men ; since, if we suppose the 
 estimate of the veteran corps correct, (in which, 
 however, there may be some slight inaccuracies), 
 and supposing also that the estimated force of the 
 
29 
 
 ihounted militia in active service is correct, (al- 
 though this has not been regulated by Congress>) 
 and that the corps denominated auxiliaries in 
 Bahio are added to these troops, there must still 
 be a mistake in stating that there are only seven- 
 teen battalions of active militia in the Republic, 
 including that of Colima. By a decree of the 
 12th of September, 1823, sixteen battalions were 
 ordered to be raised, of 1,212 men each; and by 
 a decree of the 2d of December, 1824, three more 
 in the state of Yucatan, of the same force, which 
 together make nineteen battalions, or 23,028 men. 
 The battalion of Colima, of 600 men, must not 
 be included in this number, but in those ap- 
 pointed to protect the coasts ; as this is one of those 
 battalions which were raised for this express pur- 
 pose, by a decree of the 20th of August, 1823. 
 In the same decree it is ordered that the cavalry 
 destined for the same service, should consist of 
 2,475 men, and not 2,733, as stated in the Me- 
 morial. When these rectifications are made, it 
 will appear that the effective force must be 65,305 
 men; viz. 
 
 Veteran Troops 22,534 
 
 Active Militia, Artillery 1,152 
 
 Do. Do. Infantry, 19 Battalions . 23,028 
 
 Do. Do. Cavalry, 8 Regiments . 0,504 
 Do. Cavalry and Infantry, to protect 
 
 the Coast 9,075 
 
 Auxiliaries of Bahio 3,012 
 
 Total . . 65,305 
 
30 
 
 In the second place, the Committee have to 
 remark, that it seems to be concluded and under- 
 stood, that the President of the Republic has the 
 power of putting the whole effective force under 
 arms, without any previous authority from Con- 
 gress. This may be fairly inferred, from the cir- 
 cumstance of the total expenditure of the army, 
 for the year 1825, being taken in the estimates, and 
 from its being stated in the '' Memorial of the Mi- 
 nister of War," p. 9, after some observations on the 
 peculiar circumstances, which, in the opinion of 
 the Government, make this measure necessary, that 
 he (the President) *' communicates to the Cham- 
 " bers the resolution he has taken, of putting the 
 *^ whole Mexican army under arms :" — which maybe 
 considered as intimating an intention, but certainly 
 not as an application for authority. But the in- 
 dispensibility of such authority, besides that it is a 
 first and radical principle in every system of consti- 
 tutional government, is expressly stipulated in our 
 Constitution, Article 50, in which, in treating of 
 the exclusive powers and privileges of the General 
 Congress, it is stated, paragraph 8, " To deter- 
 '^ mine the general expenditure ; to establish con- 
 " tributions necessary for meeting the same; to 
 " regulate its collection ; to fix its application ; 
 ^^ and to give an account of the same annually to 
 -^' the Government."— And in the 18th, '' To ap- 
 *' point the armed force, both by sea and land, 
 ** &c." It will be seen, from the spirit of these 
 
31 
 
 paragraphs, that the Government, so far from pos-' 
 sessing authority for putting the whole Mexican 
 army under arms, has not the power of increasing, 
 by a single man, the force appointed by Congress; 
 and that it in no manner has the right of fixing 
 the general expenditure, and of establishing the 
 contributions necessary for meeting it. 
 
 Hence it is evident that the estimates for the 
 army should be limited in the Memorial to such 
 force only as the Congress have put under arms ; 
 and if the Government should judge it necessary 
 to put the whole army under arms, it should make 
 known its intention, that the necessary authoriza- 
 tion may be obtained, giving in a separate esti- 
 mate of the increased expenditure thereby occa- 
 sioned. But on no account should the Government 
 take this responsibility on itself, as in fact it has 
 done, by organizing and putting under arms seve- 
 ral provincial corps. By decrees of Congress, it 
 does not appear that there should be any other 
 troops in service, than the veteran force, as rated 
 in the Memorial, and four provincial battalions, 
 which, by a decree of the 28th of November, 1823, 
 were ordered to be put under arms. 
 
 It has been already observed, that in the veteran 
 force, as stated in the estimates, some small cor- 
 rections should be made ; as, for example, that the 
 cavalry regiments, according to the decrees, should 
 be thirteen and not fourteen. It should also be 
 explained, whether the presidial companies are to 
 
32 
 
 b^ included in these thirteen regiments of cavalry, 
 as the First Article of the Decree relating to their 
 formation says: *^ The troop of cavalry of the 
 '^ standing army shall be formed into thirteen vete- 
 *^ ran regiments/' which would imply that the pre- 
 sidial companies are comprehended in it, as these 
 are also *^ cavalry of the standing army," and as, 
 by this arrangement, the due proportion between 
 infantry and cavalry would be established. But 
 to allow as ample an estimate as the present cir- 
 cumstances of the Republic may seem to render 
 necessary, we will grant that the veteran force is 
 correctly estimated, and that beyond this it is 
 necessary to put under arms the battalions, squa- 
 drons, and companies appointed to protect the 
 North coasts ; a battalion and two companies to 
 protect those of the South ; and another battalion> 
 ordered to be organized in Yucatan. All these 
 corps, which are more than have been decreed by 
 Congress, form a force of 28,696 men. 
 
 This estimate, as was observed, is as ample as 
 the present circumstances of the Republic can 
 possibly require. And, in fact, any excess of force . 
 above this estimate must be a heavy burden to 
 the nation without the slightest utility. It is 
 sufficient to assemble at a very short notice, 
 without leaving the ports exposed, an army 
 of 20,000 men, being a force very superior to 
 any that Spain, in her present circumstances, 
 can bring against us; and even though the 
 
33 
 
 situation of Spain were less critical, and 
 that it were possible we could be considered 
 in danger from an army of 30,000 men or 
 more, there could be no necessity for keeping on 
 foot a larger force than has been mentioned ; 
 since it could not possibly happen that we should 
 be menaced by such an attack, and not put under 
 arms the rest of the active militia, which would 
 enable us to oppose a double force to the enemy. 
 And if this were not sufficient, the national militia 
 would increase the number of our troops to any 
 amount that might be thought necessary. 
 
 The active militia may, at any time, be put 
 under arms, and assembled at any given point, 
 with as much expedition as the permanent army. 
 We have, moreover, learnt from experience, that 
 the active militia, without the necessity of being 
 previously put under arms, are as serviceable in 
 the field as the troops of the line. All that the 
 Committee have to recommend is, that its organi- 
 zation should be completed — that it should be well 
 armed and equipped — that it should be distributed 
 in proper proportions, so as to press equally upon 
 the different towns, (as the Minister of War pro- 
 poses in his Memorial,) and that the civic militia 
 should be united to it, under proper regulations. 
 
 To maintain in arms a force of unnecessary 
 magnitude, is to consume in peace the resources 
 that are required in War — to encourage the 
 demoralization of the people — to compromise the 
 
34 
 
 principles that should prevail in a Republic — to 
 inflict, without the slightest excuse, two incal- 
 culable injuries on the nation, by subtracting from 
 its treasury the large sums necessary for support- 
 ing in indolence and inactivity a body of men use- 
 less and uncalled for, and by depriving its agricul- 
 ture, commerce, and manufactures, of the efficient 
 and valuable support it would otherwise have re- 
 ceived from them. The way to raise the credit 
 and respectability of our Republic is not to over- 
 whelm it, at this early period, with the weight of 
 contributions and taxes, but to husband its re- 
 sources, that they may be at hand when needed. 
 Whether our friend's or our enemies miscalculate 
 these resources, is a question that need not be 
 agitated. Whatever false opinions the latter may 
 form, must be to our advantage, since they will 
 eventually find us so much better prepared than 
 they expect. 
 
 In the Memorial there is a sum of $2,250,000 
 assigned for extraordinary expenses. But this 
 charge, like others that have been mentioned, re- 
 quires authorization. Whence, moreover, can 
 arise this propensity to make such enormous 
 charges? It cannot be explained, except by a 
 previous determination to prove a deficiency in 
 our revenue. Former Congresses came to a reso- 
 lution to expose the nation to the oppressive bur- 
 den of loans, because they found it impossible to 
 meet the extraordinary exigencies of our situation^ 
 
35 
 
 by the ordinary produce of the revenue. This, 
 then, is the true appUcation of loans. To attempt 
 to meet extraordinary expenses with the ordinary 
 revenue, is to forget the reason that induced us 
 to recur to them ; and now that we have con- 
 tracted another loan, under better auspices than 
 the first, which must still remain untouched, let 
 it be applied to meet these extraordinary ex- 
 penses, having first obtained the necessary autho- 
 rity ; and in the estimates of expenditure, let only 
 such a sum be charged as may be considered suflGi- 
 cient to meet those expenses, which cannot be 
 subject to the provision of the laws, and which 
 naturally must occur in the whole course of the 
 year, in the management of the affairs of a great 
 people. 
 
 According to the Memorial, there should be a 
 deduction of four millions of dollars from the War 
 Estimates, on account of the corps of the army 
 not being yet complete ; and a^ this holds equally 
 good as to the force that has been calculated, it 
 follows that a proportional abatement should be 
 made, amounting to about two millions ; but con- 
 sidering the deductions already made, and as 
 during the carrying into execution of the complete 
 organization of the military force, it is necessary 
 in thfe article of expense to give a certain latitude 
 to the Government, the Committee will limit the 
 abatement to a million of dollars, well convinced^ 
 
 c2 
 
36 
 
 at the same time, that the sum saved will be 
 greater. 
 
 It follows frdte what has been said, that the 
 deductions to be made (as will be seen in the 
 amended estimates of expenditure) are — first, the 
 sums corresponding to an increase of 33,856 men ; 
 secondly, the expenses purely extraordinary, rated 
 at two millions of dollars, leaving the 250,000 
 dollars for those which must necessarily occur, 
 and cannot be foreseen by the laws ; lastly, one 
 million of dollars for the same reason that the 
 Minister has deducted four millions. 
 
 MARINE. 
 
 It is stated in the Memorial that the govern- 
 ment has come to a resolution to remove the marine 
 department of San Bias to Acapulco, and that the 
 expensive operations necessary for this purpose, 
 are about to take place : but as no decree of Con- 
 gress has yet authorised these expenses, and as 
 no corresponding notice on the part of the govern- 
 ment has yet been given, it must be inferred that 
 the proposed removal cannot take place. 
 
 Confining ourselves to the estimate, we have to 
 remark that there is inserted a charge for the 
 expenses that must be occasioned in the year by 
 eight vessels, not yet arrived in our ports ; and as 
 it is already the beginning of April, and there is no 
 
37 
 
 appearance of their early arrival, and as even if 
 they should arrive and cause some expense, such 
 expense must be defrayed by the produce of the 
 loans, it follows that at least one fourth of the 
 estimated charge should be deducted. 
 
 There is also a charge for the maintenance of 
 a battalion of marine, raised without a decree, or 
 without any notice being given on the subject. 
 More than this, in the estimate of the expenses 
 of the ships, is included a charge for the marines 
 who are to man them in addition to the crews. 
 And as this service is, in fact, to be performed by 
 the very battalion of Marines alluded to, it follows 
 that the expenses are included in that estimate. 
 It appears, moreover, that there is no real neces- 
 sity for this battalion, whose duty might just as 
 well be performed by the land troops, as our 
 greatest want of marine force is for the reduction 
 of the Fort of Uloa. This obstacle being over- 
 come, the revenue of the Republic should not be dis- 
 sipated in supporting a navy, which must depend 
 after all on the number of merchant vessels, while 
 the more profitable employment of capital, offered 
 in the interior of the country, must, for some time 
 at least, divert attention from foreign commerce. 
 The Committee, then, for the reasons alleged, 
 think that the charge for the battalion of ^^^•^-'- 
 should be deducted from the Cb Limine. 
 
 The charge for the construction of two fri- 
 gates, three corvettes, and two brigs, ought also 
 
38 
 
 to be deducted : first, because in the Memorial of 
 the Treasury Department, page 26, paragraph 2, 
 it is observed that part of the proceeds of the 
 first loan have been devoted to the purchase of 
 ships : secondly, because they must in fact have 
 been paid for with the loans, since in the Me- 
 morial of the War Department, they are supposed 
 to have been in service from the 1st of January : 
 thirdly, because, even if this last fact were not 
 established, their purchase ought to be made with 
 the said proceeds, the object of such loans being 
 expressly to meet those extraordinary expenses 
 which the ordinary receipts of the revenue are 
 insufficient to cover. 
 
 The sum charged for Arsenals, &c., is to be 
 understood as referring to the new establishments 
 which the Government has in contemplation ; since 
 the charges for the common repairs of the vessels 
 now existing, and those expected, are included in 
 a previous item. But as no decree authorises the 
 expense of such new establishments, and no 
 measures have been taken for obtaining one, this 
 item should be deducted from the estimate. It 
 may also be suggested, that as the present situa- 
 tion of the country renders the strictest economy 
 necessary, those petty offices, and minor depart- 
 ments, the expenses of which are charged in this 
 estimate, should be abolished, and the business 
 transacted by the General Commissariat, with a 
 single department of marine annexed to their 
 
39 
 
 office. Nevertheless, as before such arrangements 
 can be carried into effect, there will be some e?fcn 
 penses distinct from those of the Commissariat, 
 and as some may also arise in the arsenals, inde- 
 pendent of the charge for the ordinary repairs of 
 the vessels, we may allow 150,000 dollars for^ 
 these two items. 
 
 DEPARTMENT OF FINANCE. 
 
 L 
 
 The estimate of the expenses of this depart- 
 ment seems reasonable : but without the necessary 
 details of each particular item, which cannot now 
 be obtained, only a general opinion can be formed. 
 Still it appears that the estimate of the expenses of 
 the Commissaries General, refers to as many Com- 
 missaries as there are States. So great a number 
 of Commissaries, however, besides being opposed 
 to economy, is contrary to the spirit of the law of 
 Commissariats, which, though it permitted the 
 establishment of Commissariats wherever the 
 Government might think proper, did not contem- 
 plate there being one Commissariat for every 
 State. 
 
 CLAIMS AGAINST GOVERNMENT. 
 
 In the item of Averia, the sum charged should 
 be the same as that allowed in the estimate of re- 
 ceipts, and should consequently be $169,664. 5 . 11, 
 
40 
 
 and not $183,514 .5.2, as stated in the List of 
 Claims. 
 
 According to the Statement No. 1, of the Me- 
 morial which the Minister Arillaga presented the 
 12th November, 1823, the debt of the ^^manillos" 
 was reduced, at the very least, to $356,126 .3.2. 
 We say at the very least, because the same state- 
 ment supposes it probable that a further part 
 thereof, of which they had then exact information, 
 may have been paid off, and because from that 
 time to this, farther sums may have been paid from 
 the same funds which provided for the former 
 payments; but even if this should not be the 
 case, it still appears that the actual sum owing 
 to the '' manillos," is $356,126 .3.2, and not 
 $483,200 . 5, as stated in the Memorial. 
 
 Having concluded the Analysis of the Expen- 
 diture, we proceed to recapitulate the different 
 items, without stating the expense of manage- 
 ment, salaries of officers, &c.; therefore the sums 
 stated are to be considered as exclusive of these. 
 
41 
 
 ESTIMATE OF EXPENDITURE. 
 
 Home and Foreign Departments, 
 As stated in the Memorial . . Dollars . 105,737 
 
 Department of the Minister of Justice, 
 As stated in the Memorial . . Dollars . 77,220 
 
 Department of the Minister of War and Marine, 
 
 Expenses of the Secretary's Office, Staff, 
 General Commandantships, Corps of En- 
 gineers, Generals* Pay, Dep6t of Officers, 
 Officers and Troops on Half-pay, &c. 
 Pensions, &c, as stated in the Memo- 
 rial Dollars 1,166,958 3 10 
 
 Artillery of the Line " 471,678 3 2 
 
 Infantry do. ..,..." 1,835,761 4 
 
 Cavalry of the Line *' 2,253,548 2 6 
 
 Presidial Companies of Cavalry . . ** 713,897 5 9 
 6 Battalions, 3 Squadrons, 4 Companies, 
 
 appointed to protect the North Coast . . 955,758 3 3 
 1 Battalion, and 2 Companies of Cavalry, 
 
 appointed to protect the South Coast . . 140,616 5 9 
 Battalion of Active Militia . . . , . .202,660 5 7 
 Extraordinary Expenses 250,000 
 
 Total $7,990,880 1 10 
 Deduct 1,000,000 
 
 Total Estimate of Expenditure of the War 
 
 Department $6,990,880 1 10 
 
42 
 
 Marine, 
 
 Department of the South Sea . . Dollars 31,466 
 
 Do. of the North do " 60,467 
 
 Pay of Officers, Crews, Protective Marines, 
 
 Victualling, Ordinary Repairs of 7 Ships 
 
 of Burthen for 9 months " 473,127 
 
 Officers' Pay, &c. of 1 do, for 1 year . " 99,119 
 
 Do. do. of 2 armed Sloops, mounting 12 
 
 guns in battery, and 1 on the gangway " 96,349 
 
 Do. do. of 7 Schooners, and 5 small craft " 292,128 
 
 Expenses of Hospitals ** 117,128 
 
 Building of Arsenals, Magazines, &c. . " 150,000 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 3 
 
 
 
 4 
 
 
 
 1 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 6 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Total $1,310,785 6 
 
 Department of the Minister of Finance, 
 As stated in the Memorial . . Dollars 1,083,143 1 3 
 
 Arrears and Claims against the Government, 
 
 Post-Office Debts Dollars 1,331 2 6 
 
 Charitable Foundation of California . . *• 8,850 1 Q 
 
 Inquisition " 2,235 
 
 Averia " 169,664 5 11 
 
 Peage " 37,454 4 
 
 Tobacco Growers, sums owing to them . " 149,209 6 
 
 The Manillos, their Debt ** 356,126 3 2 
 
 Total $724,871 6 7 
 
48 
 
 General Recapitulation. 
 
 Estimate of the Home aud 
 
 Foreign Departments . $ 105,737 
 Do. of the Department of 
 
 Justice 77,220 
 
 Do. of the do. of War . 6.990,880 1 10 
 
 Do. of the do. of Marine 1,310,785 6 
 
 Do. of the do. of Finance 1,083,143 1 3 
 
 Arrears 724,8/1 6 7 
 
 $10,292,637 7 
 
 Receipts $12,377,371 1 6 
 
 Expenditure .... 10,292,637 7 8 
 
 Excess of the Revenue above 
 
 the Expenditure . . . $2,084,733 1 10 
 
 From the preceding comparison it appears, that 
 the ordinary expenses of the year 1825 are not 
 only covered by the ordinary produce of the 
 revenue, and the remains of the first loan, but 
 that there is a very considerable surplus ; and that 
 the proceeds of the new loan remain untouched^ 
 to meet the extraordinary expenses that may 
 occur. We may therefore be considered to possess 
 ample resources for opposing all the enemies of our 
 freedom and independence. If we deduct from 
 the receipts the part remaining of the first loan, 
 there would be a deficit in the revenue of 
 
44 
 
 $391,582 .2.9; a sum our own revenue will of 
 itself certainly be sufficient to cover, if we advert 
 to the effect of the great increase of national 
 industry, and to the advantages that may reason- 
 ably be anticipated from the establishment of a 
 wise and vigorous government, capable of giving 
 encouragement and extension to every branch of 
 revenue, and determined to annihilate the notorious 
 and infamous smuggling trade, so long carried on 
 in our ports. 
 
 If we compare the preceding estimate of the 
 war and marine department with that made at 
 the conclusion of the year 1823 for the year 1824, 
 deducting two millions for extraordinary expenses, 
 we shall find that they are about equal. The 
 difference between the present estimate and the 
 one made by the Imperial Government for the 
 year 1823, notwithstanding the army is reckoned 
 at 35,000 men, is less than a million and a half; 
 and the difference is still smaller if compared with 
 1822, in which the estimate is also for the same 
 number of men, viz. 35,000. If we further com- 
 pare the same estimate with that made in Colom- 
 bia for the year 1824, we shall find it falls short of 
 it by little more than two millions of dollars, 
 although that republic was at the time engaged in 
 the important war with Peru ; and although the 
 extraordinary expenses thereby occasioned, and 
 which must have been heavy, were included in the 
 said estimate. The force of the veteran troops 
 
45 
 
 was twenty-two companies of artillery, thirty 
 battalions of infantry, and twenty-five squadrons 
 of cavalry, besides seventy-seven battalions of 
 veterans, and forty-two squadrons of militia. The 
 expense of gunpowder is also comprehended in 
 the said estimate, though it is not in ours ; and 
 this charge cannot have been inconsiderable, as 
 their fortifications are beyond comparison more 
 numerous than ours. These statements prove 
 beyond a doubt, that our estimate for the war 
 department is greater than that of the Republic 
 of Colombia. 
 
 Although from the preceding calculations there 
 results a considerable surplus, it should always be 
 kept in mind — first, that this surplus is occasioned 
 by the loans, and not by the produce of the 
 revenue : secondly, that these loans should be 
 kept untouched, to meet the extraordinary 
 expenses that may occur, amongst which the 
 most important are those that may arise in 
 the event of war : thirdly, that the ordinary 
 expenses ought to be increased by the sum 
 necessary for covering the public debt, which 
 cannot fall short of four millions of dollars 
 annually. Justice, and the credit of the nation, 
 imperiously demand that the present year should 
 not pass by without the establishment and organi- 
 zation of an express fund for this purpose, with 
 the proper arrangement and application of con- 
 tributions necessary for the punctual and exact 
 
46 
 
 payment of the interest of the debt. This opera- 
 tion would be of incalculable benefit to the 
 nation : — first, it would save from ruin innumerable 
 families who are in the deepest distress, owing to 
 the non-payment of the interest of their capitals : 
 secondly, it would give these families a new and 
 most powerful motive to support the Govern- 
 ment : thirdly, it would bring into circulation fifty 
 or sixty millions of dollars, which, by the impulse 
 and encouragement they must give to national 
 industry, would speedily enable the minister to 
 meet the extra charge that would be laid upon 
 the nation: fourthly, it would establish our 
 credit, so that should we be again under the 
 necessity of recurring to loans, such operations 
 might be conducted and concluded in our own 
 country, without the necessity of appealing to 
 foreign nations, and of exposing ourselves to the 
 disadvantageous and heavy terms on which these 
 negotiations have hitherto been concluded. If 
 these consequences are fairly deduced — if the mea- 
 sure proposed be consistent with justice — if indeed 
 it be an injustice to withhold it — assuredly we 
 should not lose a moment in carrying it into 
 execution, and giving to this important branch of 
 administration all the efficacy and extension it 
 requires. The Committee will not limit them- 
 selves to the mere recommendation of the 
 measure: they proceed to suggest the contribu- 
 tions, which, in their opinion, ought to be esta- 
 
47 
 
 blished — though by the (constitution they have no 
 power to carry them into effect. 
 
 As those reasons no longer exist which gave 
 occasion to the proposals made to Congress in the 
 fourth and last article of the Memorial, the Com- 
 mittee would not detain the Chamber with any 
 discussion respecting these proposals, if they did 
 not appear to the Committee to be founded on 
 mistaken and pernicious views ; and as it is not 
 impossible they may be reproduced, under new 
 circumstances, at a future period, the Committee 
 do net think it superfluous to make a few remarks 
 respecting them. 
 
 The first object to which the Minister directs 
 his attention is the rent of Tobacco ; and after 
 giving the history of this branch of revenue during 
 the whole period of the independence, he endea- 
 vours to shew the necessity of manufactories, in 
 order to prevent smuggling. The Committee are 
 of the same opinion ; but who is it that complains 
 of the plan of free manufactories ? Where does 
 this plan exist ? Where has this dangerous free- 
 dom established itself? It is certain that the 
 Congress left to the option of the States the 
 estabhshment or continuation of the manufactories ;. 
 but these States, who have as much interest as the 
 Government in the proper management of the 
 revenue, continue the system of manufactories,, 
 and will soon succeed in giving them a degree of 
 perfection which the central one never attained- 
 
48 
 
 If, in consequence of the breaking up of the manu- 
 factories of Puebla and Guadalupe, and the de- 
 crease in that of Mexico, there are now in these 
 places a certain number of individuals deprived of 
 the means of subsistence, let us turn to those re- 
 cently established in other States, and we shall see 
 numerous families supported by them, who were 
 previously in distress and embarrassment, in con- 
 sequence of an oppressive Government having 
 concentrated in its own immediate neighbourhood 
 all the means of obtaining a livelihood. 
 
 Our Ministers of Finance should consider the 
 incalculable evils resulting from perpetual changes 
 in the administration of the revenue. These 
 changes must be inevitable, if every new Minist' ;. 
 disregarding the importance and value of stabilit) 
 in matters of Finance, insists upon remodelling the 
 system he finds established, according to his own 
 ideas and principles. A change of system, good 
 in itself, may not be so unless persevered in ; 
 it may otherwise tend only to perplexity and con- 
 fusion. It should be remembered also, that it is 
 not necessary that the system should be the best 
 one possible; only, when once established, let it 
 be fairly tried, and any defects that may appear 
 in it be remedied ; and those improvements and 
 modifications adopted which time and experience 
 may suggest. Whether the alterations proposed 
 in the Memorial are of this character, appears to 
 the Committee very doubtful. 
 
49 
 
 In discussing this question, the Committee will 
 show, first, that there is no reason to change the 
 present system of the Tobacco monopoly ; se- 
 condly, that the former system, which the Minister 
 proposed to re-establish, is opposed to the pre- 
 sent form of government; thirdly, that if it 
 were not so opposed, the revenue would not be 
 improved by its adoption; fourthly, that the 
 system at present established is, with some modi- 
 fications, capable of giving it all the productive- 
 ness possible. The last Congress, as is confessed 
 in the Memorial, gave to this branch a form ana- 
 logous to that of our Government ; and in this 
 point of view alone, the new system has a real 
 ^'''^Intage over the old. And if to this circum- 
 siance we add, that the present system has been 
 adopted after a variety of experiments — after long 
 and repeated discussions — after the most attentive 
 consideration, the presumption is against the inno- 
 vation proposed, especially when so little time has 
 been afforded for collecting information, and for ex- 
 amining the principles upon which it is thought 
 advantageous to make the alteration in question. 
 It is well known, that in order to re-establish 
 the monopoly on a proper footing, it is necessary 
 to purchase the Tobacco seasonably of the cultiva- 
 tors ; to take especial care that it be of good qua- 
 lity; that it be planted only in situations under 
 the immediate inspection of the Directors; that 
 the quantity in circulation, either purchased of the 
 
 p 
 
50 
 
 Government, or clandestinely of the cultivators, 
 be bought in; and finally, that the manufactured 
 Tobacco be of good quality. The law which gave 
 to the Rent its present form, expressly directed 
 that these precautions should be observed. The 
 Government informed Congress that it pos- 
 sessed sufficient funds for purchasing the To- 
 bacco of the cultivators, and for buying in the 
 quantity in circulation ; and this circumstance was 
 the great inducement to adopt the new system 
 of monopoly; but whether it were owing to a 
 mistake in its calculations, or that unexpected 
 demands were made upon the resources of Govern- 
 ment, the Tobacco was not bought till the con- 
 clusion of the year. The quantity circulating in 
 the country remained, and has remained still, in 
 the same state; the plantations have been con- 
 tinued in their former situations, with few excep- 
 tions ; and the Tobacco of the Monopoly is of such 
 bad quality, that it is evident the purchases have 
 been negligently made, or that smuggled Tobacco 
 is mixed with it. To this it must be added, that 
 the manufactories have been neglected to such 
 a degree, that the consumers, are under the neces- 
 sity of applying to the contraband trade for a 
 substitute for the mouldy and decayed article pro- 
 duced in the manufactories. If this be the case, 
 and it is notorious to all the world, is it to be won- 
 dered at that we have not yet experienced all the 
 good effects expected from the systein last esta- 
 
51 
 
 Wished? The wonder is, that we have experi- 
 enced any effects at all, and this is one of the 
 best arguments in its favour. If the most import- 
 ant provisions of the law were never carried into 
 effect, what can be rationally inferred against the 
 law itself? Is the neglect, culpable or not cul- 
 pable, of the Government, to be urged as an ar- 
 gument against the law ? Moreover, the monopoly 
 must have been entrusted to the States, either at 
 the time provided by the law, or subsequently 
 with the other branches of revenue. In the first 
 case, the States could not have possessed the re- 
 quisite funds for organizing the monopoly in ques- 
 tion, for establishing manufactories, and for taking 
 the necessary measures for preventing smuggling ; 
 and in the second case, they have had no time for 
 the experiment, since the assignment of the mono- 
 poly took place the 16th of November, and the 
 Memorial, which complains of the defects of the 
 system, must have been drawn up in December. 
 And if the General Government, with greater re- 
 sources than the States^ has not been able, on its 
 part, to fulfil the obligations imposed on it by 
 the law, is it at all surprising that the States, 
 without resources for establishing manufactories, 
 with less time, engaged, as they have been, with the 
 interior organization of their respective Govern- 
 ments, should be equally open to the charge of in- 
 voluntary neglect? We must therefore come to the 
 conclusion, that the new system of monopoly can- 
 
 d2 
 
52 
 
 not have had a fair trial ; and that, consequently, 
 the reasons alleged in the Memorial for changing 
 the system are not well founded. When due time 
 shall have elapsed for carrying the law in question 
 into effect, in its full extent; when the Govern- 
 ment shall have fulfilled all its stipulations ; when 
 the system shall have received all the improvement 
 and modification of which it is susceptible, and 
 shall be found insufficient and ineffectual ; it will 
 then be time to resort to new expedients. But 
 until then. Congress will be cautious of acceding 
 to the innovations proposed in the Memorial. 
 
 Amongst other things, it is said that the pre- 
 sent system cannot be firmly and advantageously 
 established, because it depends on the co-opera- 
 tion of the States, which will never be very effi- 
 cient, in consequence of their being so little 
 interested in its support. This argument was 
 disproved when the question of the classification of 
 the revenue was agitated; in addition to which, 
 it may now be observed, that the States are in- 
 terested in preserving, in all its purity, the present 
 form of government ; and as the former system of 
 monopoly subjected individuals to the immediate 
 authority and influence of the General Powers, 
 it follows that the States have a powerful political 
 motive, independent of any pecuniary interest, 
 for giving their support to the new arrange- 
 ment. 
 
 It has been said, that the former system of mo- 
 
53 
 
 nopoly was opposed to the present form of govern- 
 ment. In confirmation of this, we will remark, 
 that in the system of federation we must distin- 
 guish two kinds of central institutions ; one which 
 is in conformity with it, because the very fact of 
 being federated supposes them to emanate from 
 one of the radical principles of this form of go- 
 vernment—which is absolute subjection of all the 
 States to a common centre, in their relations of 
 state to state, and in their foreign relations with 
 other nations — the other opposed to it, as destroy- 
 ing another radical principle of federation, which 
 consists in the absolute liberty and independence 
 of these states, in every thing relating to their 
 interior administration. The Constituent Con- 
 gress well understood these principles, when they 
 decreed the separation of the different branches 
 of revenue: hence they assigned to the General 
 Government those of the maritime custom-houses, 
 as emanating from foreign commerce, as belong- 
 ing to all the States, and as necessary to 
 preserve in them the balance of trade. Notwith- 
 standing the great defects of the interior con- 
 sumption duty (DerecJio de Internacion), it 
 was thought better to suffer this inconvenience, 
 than to continue the ^^ Alcabala," which required 
 for its collection an increased number of Com- 
 missioners in the States, and the intervention 
 of the General Government in the affairs of citi- 
 zens. The revenue from Posts, &c. may be 
 contemplated under two different aspects. Con- 
 
sidered as a source of revenue, it is of the least 
 importance ; nevertheless, as its regulation, even 
 in this point of view, must be subject to the 
 central authorities ; and as it does not place the 
 citizen in the power of the General Government, 
 it must be considered as consistent with the prin- 
 ciple of federation. The revenue from Lotte- 
 ries is in the same situation ; and as to the Salt 
 Works, it was thought advisable by Congress to 
 let them for a certain sum, in order to avoid the 
 necessity of any interference on the part of the 
 Government in the interior of the States, which 
 any other method of administration would have 
 occasioned. Lastly, to the monopoly of Tobacco 
 was given the only form adapted to the federation, 
 by leaving its administration to the States, and con- 
 ceding to the General Government the exclusive 
 privilege of supplying them with Tobacco at a fixed 
 price. Why, then, should we undo the work of the 
 Constituent Congress, and alter the judicious 
 arrangements adopted in the distribution of the 
 revenue, for the sake of re-establishing a system 
 which, even in the opinion of those who propose 
 it, is inconsistent with our form of government? 
 This system is, in fact, one of those institutions 
 which affect the freedom and independence of 
 the local administration of the several States. It 
 renders, not only the States, but the citizens them- 
 selves, dependant on the General Government; 
 and this too not only in their civil, but, what is of 
 far more importance, in their domestic relations* 
 
55 
 
 for if the Government had not the privilege of 
 searching the houses of the citizens, it would not 
 have the means of preventing smuggling. Such 
 a privilege demands for its regulation and exer- 
 cise a particular legislation, which must be en- 
 trusted to agents of the federation — a provision 
 that is diametrically opposed to the principle of 
 independance in the local administration of the 
 States — It would subject the citizen to different 
 powers and authorities in affairs belonging en- 
 tirely to the local administration, and thus destroy 
 one of the radical principles of the Federation. 
 
 In the present state of things, the measures 
 formerly adopted, and the same number of agents, 
 would be insufficient for the re-establishment of 
 the monopoly, because its disorder has reached its 
 maximum ; and because smuggling is carried 
 on to the greatest possible extent, in consequence 
 of the Revolution having given a wider range to 
 commerce, and thus opened channels, which were 
 previously unknown. It would therefore be essen- 
 tial to increase the number of individuals employed 
 in this service, to establish custom-houses at 
 several new points, and to give to its administra- 
 tion a vigour it never had under the despotic 
 system. Now the individuals employed must 
 be either dependant or independant of the local 
 authorities : in the latter case, the principle of 
 federation is destroyed, and authorities are created 
 within the States, to which the citizen must become 
 subject, without the possibility of interference on 
 
56 
 
 the part of the local authorities to preserve and 
 protect his rights. In the former case, the autho- 
 rities alluded to must be regulated and superin- 
 tended by the supreme powers, or not : — if so 
 regulated, all the authorities of the States, from 
 the highest to the lowest, must be in subjection to 
 those powers, which is contrary to the principle of 
 federation : — if not so regulated, then these autho- 
 rities would want the vigour indispensable to 
 the administration ; for the Government having 
 no control over the conduct of its agents, and 
 these latter having no stimulus to engage them to 
 a correct performance of their duties, all measures 
 that might be proposed for the organization of the 
 monopoly would be inefficient and useless. It is 
 also necessary to bear in mind the effects that 
 would be produced in the States by this multitude 
 of custom-house agents scattered throughout 
 them — their natural propensity to insubordination 
 and mismanagement— and the disputes, disturb- 
 ances, and disorganization, so fatal to the best 
 interests of the federation, produced by their 
 perpetual collision with the local authorities. 
 The present contest between the commandants and 
 commissariats, sufficiently shews the ill effects of 
 this sort of collision. 
 
 It follows from all that has been said, that the 
 monopoly of Tobacco not being so productive as 
 formerly, in consequence of the difficulty of pre- 
 venting smuggling, and the increase of expense 
 which its re-establishment demands, a new mini- 
 
57 
 
 ster, instructed by past experience, will represent 
 to Congress the unfortunate state of this branch of 
 revenue ; and after detailing in his Memorial, the 
 history of the unavailing alterations that have 
 been made in it, and those v^hich are still proposed, 
 will conclude by imploring that the system be con- 
 solidated in a manner analogous to the form of 
 Government. The legislatures of the States 
 would co-operate in the reform, which might be 
 carried into effect with a great saving of time, 
 trouble, and expense, by adopting those improve- 
 ments of which the established system is suscepti- 
 ble, and remedying those deficiencies with which 
 it may at present be charged. 
 
 This is, in fact, all that is necessary to give this 
 monopoly all the productiveness possible. It has 
 been supposed above, that the Governments of the 
 States are at liberty to admit or reject the new 
 system of monopoly, — a supposition which ought 
 not to be granted for a moment. The States are 
 bound to adopt it, — since, on their adoption, de- 
 pends the establishment of a revenue necessary to 
 the support of the Republic, — which is, to say 
 the least, no burden to them, — and which offers 
 the only means of maintaining inviolate the form 
 of government sanctioned by the Constitution. 
 But as the law did not provide against an abuse 
 that might prevail in the States themselves, by 
 the purchase of smuggled Tobacco, in order to 
 avoid buying it by weight of the Federation, (an 
 
58 
 
 abuse of which, it is presumed, the supreme 
 powers of the States were not themselves guilty, 
 but which was, nevertheless, practised and con- 
 nived at through the medium of their agents), it is 
 essential to remove all possibility of the recur- 
 rence of such practices, which must not only be 
 highly prejudicial to the Federation, but to the 
 States themselves, that are interested in the estab- 
 lishment of the monopoly. This may easily be 
 done, by a forced distribution of Tobacco for the 
 consumption of the States, and by imposing on 
 them the obligation to pay for the same, at the 
 time they pay their contingent. The guide for 
 making this distribution might be, the informa- 
 tion the Government possesses of the quantity 
 formerly consumed, making allowance for some 
 variations and differences introduced by the Revo- 
 lution, and keeping in mind the present increase 
 of smuggling, which cannot be annihilated at 
 once, but gradually and progressively. If this 
 organization were given to the monopoly, it would 
 have all the productiveness possible; and when 
 it had attained some degree of regularity, the 
 consumption of one State would serve to estimate 
 that of another, making allowance for any differ- 
 ence of circumstances that may exist between them. 
 The objections that may be made to this system 
 will fall to the ground, if we recollect that, until 
 our foreign commerce shall be sufficiently exten- 
 sive to furnish the sums necessary for the general 
 
59 
 
 expenses, it is indispensible that part of them 
 should be defrayed by the States ; and that, since 
 it is allowed that the rent of Tobacco is really 
 necessary, it is essential to organize it in such a 
 manner, as to press equally upon all,---an advan- 
 tage that cannot exist without the measure pro- 
 posed, because otherwise the deficiency in the 
 produce of the rent, in some States, would be 
 supplied by contributions which must press upon 
 all. But, in the form proposed, this most oppres- 
 sive burden would be avoided, — the monopoly 
 would attain a productiveness it never previously 
 had, and would be, at the same time, a considerable 
 benefit to the States, by increasing the revenue, 
 which must eventually add to their resources. 
 
 From this discussion it is evident, that the 
 reasons assigned for altering the monopoly are 
 not satisfactory, — that the former system is op- 
 posed to the form of government,— that if it 
 were not so opposed, it would not produce the 
 expected results, — and that the present system, 
 under proper modifications, would give this branch 
 of our revenue all the productiveness possible. 
 Hence the Committee are of opinion, that the 
 motion of the Minister ought to be rejected. 
 
 REDUCING THE NUMBER OF PORTS. 
 
 It appears singular, that having so few ports 
 ef entry along our extensive line of coast, there 
 
60 
 
 should be any proposal for reducing their number, 
 instead of increasing it, as the interests of the 
 country, if well understood, plainly require. If 
 the opinions of Government and of the Minister 
 of Finance were not better appreciated, it might 
 almost be imagined that it was intended to revive 
 the old plan of confining commerce to one port, 
 and concentrating it in a given point in the in- 
 terior; but such ideas are equally inconsistent 
 with the intelligence and impartiality of our 
 Government, and with the constitution of the 
 country, divided as it is into a number of inde- 
 pendent States, having an equal voice in the 
 supreme Congress, where the freedom of the ports 
 must ultimately be decided. The day is past for 
 such mischievous and anti-social projects, which 
 would make the riches and prosperity of one pro- 
 vince consist in the misery of the rest — as if its 
 inhabitants could never be sufficiently happy, un- 
 less its neighbours were indigent and wretched. 
 Under present circumstances, it is essential to 
 open our shores to foreign commerce, and that 
 the maritime States should be allowed those ports 
 which nature herself has given them. By these 
 means our extensive coasts would become peopled, 
 and the nation would, in a short time, attain a 
 degree of prosperity that baffles calculation. But 
 it is asked, will not smuggling increase ? To this 
 it may be replied : although a port be not pri- 
 vileged to receive goods, does it cease to be a 
 
61 
 
 port ? — or do foreigners and nations forget that it 
 is a port ? If the Government finds it impossible 
 to prevent smuggling in the ports which it is pro- 
 posed to reduce, even with the aid of officers and 
 agents, how will they prevent it without such 
 assistance ? Who will inform them of what passes 
 in those deserted ports, where the interest of the 
 few inhabitants, and even the local authorities, 
 favour the smuggling trade ? Rich, too, as our 
 coasts are in those productions which will one day- 
 constitute so valuable a branch of our foreign 
 commerce, how are they to be turned to advan- 
 tage, if their exportation is to be shackled with 
 the heavy freight, and expenses of conveyance to 
 the privileged ports? The Committee consider, 
 therefore, that the arguments for reducing the 
 number of ports are quite untenable. 
 
 DUTIES ON GOLD AND SILVER. 
 
 Although the Chamber of Deputies has al- 
 ready come to a decision on this question, and 
 every possible light has been thrown upon the 
 subject, by various publications, and repeated and 
 profound discussions, we shall notwithstanding 
 make a few remarks on some particular points 
 which have least come under examination. 
 
 Gold and Silver are the great springs of all 
 our industry: agriculture, commerce, the arts, 
 depend, directly and immediately, on the Mines. 
 
62 
 
 The foreign trade is supported entirely, or almost 
 entirely, by the precious metals. Hence the im- 
 mense importance of encouraging a branch of 
 national industry, on which the prosperity of the 
 country so essentially depends. The most efficacious 
 means of encouraging such a branch of industry, 
 is to diminish the expense of production. Duties 
 increase this expense, consequently they check 
 production ; therefore, in our case, they attack the 
 very heart and root of national prosperity. There 
 is no reason why the principles established and 
 admitted with regard to other branches of indus- 
 try, should not hold equally good of the production 
 of the precious metals. The fact of their being 
 " money*' will only explain their more extensive 
 demand and consumption ; it cannot alter the laws 
 of production, which are immutable. 
 
 It is a calculation, notoriously false, to estimate 
 the present produce of this branch of revenue by 
 what it was previous to the Revolution. If, in 
 fact, it is reduced to the half, and the re-establish- 
 ment of the duties operates immediately against 
 the increase that would take place, how can cal- 
 culations of the tax be made upon a produce that 
 neither does, nor can exist? It is said in the 
 Memorial, that the considerations that have 
 obliged the Minister to propose the re-establishment 
 of the duties, are as imperative now, as they will 
 be of little consequence hereafter. But if it is 
 impossible that the duty should amount to what 
 
63 
 
 it was in the five years from 1795 to 1799, since 
 the quantity produced is less by one half, how can 
 the re-establishment of the duty be the only means 
 of covering the deficiency of the present year? 
 It is, indeed, singular that the amount of a duty 
 should be expected to be the same, when the pro- 
 duce upon which it is paid is so greatly different. 
 It is said that the proposed measure must chiefly 
 affect foreigners, who have made their calculations 
 on the basis of the reduced duties : and that if our 
 own nation submitted to it in former times, it 
 certainly could do so now, when the country so 
 imperiously demands it. With respect to the first 
 of these premises, there is a mistake, which in- 
 volves consequences of the most grave, and, to a 
 certain degree, odious nature. It is not true that the 
 weight of the measure would fall upon foreigners ; 
 but upon a branch of national industry, on which 
 the prosperity of all the others depends. And more 
 than this, if foreigners took the reduction of duty 
 into account in their calculation, why should we 
 have the bad faith to cause their failure ? This 
 does not imply that the nation has not the right 
 of re-establishing these, or any other duties; but 
 only that the disappointment of the calculations of 
 foreign nations is not sufficient reason for the 
 measure. With repect to our own nation, cer- 
 tainly we must not estimate what it can bear now^ 
 by what it was accustomed to bear in former 
 times, because this mode of calculation would lead 
 
64 
 
 to the most extravagant conclusions. Besides 
 this, it must be recollected that the large capitals 
 formerly employed in mining, do not now exist ; 
 and even if they did exist, they would not be suffi- 
 cient for re-establishing the Mines, for there is an 
 immense difference between the amount of capital 
 necessary for continuing operations once brought 
 into activity, and that necessary for re-establishing 
 them after being abandoned. It is a well-known 
 fact, that the deeper the Mines, the greater the ex- 
 pense of working them ; hence the Spanish Govern- 
 ment were under the necessity of reducing the 
 duties, in proportion to the increasing depth of 
 the Mines ; and even before the Revolution, before 
 any of those misfortunes had occurred which have 
 since occasioned the abandonment of the greater 
 part of the Mines, a necessity had been felt of 
 some reduction in the duties — a measure which 
 would have been eventually granted by that 
 Government (which well understood its own in- 
 terests in these points), or it would have hazarded 
 the loss of the most important branch of its reve- 
 nue. These considerations prove that the nation 
 cannot, at the present day, support the high duties 
 that were paid in former times. 
 
 It is further asserted in the Memorial, that the 
 abatement of duties has had little or no effect on 
 the progress of mining. Without attempting to 
 shew how fully, how palpably this assertion is dis- 
 proved, both by reason and experience, we shall 
 
65 
 
 content ourselves with asking if it be not a fact, 
 that for want of capital we have been under the 
 necessity of contracting with foreign capitalists for 
 working our mines; — and further, if it be not 
 equally true, according to the Memorial itself, 
 that foreigners have made their calculations on the 
 basis of the reduced duties. Consequently, the 
 Mines have received this benefit from the reduc- 
 tion of duty— viz. they have been supported by a 
 very large capital, which the nation could not 
 otherwise have furnished. 
 
 As the'^Mines do not at [the present time pro-" 
 duce the quantity of metals necessary to meet the 
 calculation made in the Memorial, and it being 
 impossible that they should produce them in 
 future, in the event of the re-establishment of the 
 duties in question — it follows that the public trea- 
 sury would be deprived not only of the duties, 
 erroneously calculated, but also of those duties 
 that would have resulted from the progress of 
 mining, if the reduced duties had not been re- 
 pealed. To make this perfectly clear, and to 
 expose the great errors of the calculations of the 
 Memorial, we will refer to a fact, which it is in the 
 power of every one to verify. 
 
 For some years past the mines of Vetagrande 
 have been the principal support of the city and 
 state of Zacatecas. But for them, both the one 
 and the other would have been reduced to the 
 lowest degree of misery; and although their 
 
66 
 
 annual produce may be reckoned at 600,000 
 dollars, more or less, they have not, for several 
 years, put a single dollar into the pocket of the 
 proprietors. According to the calculation of the 
 Memorial, and supposing that the proposed duties 
 should amount to 15 per cent., the sum of 90,000 
 dollars w^ould be paid into the treasury for duties 
 on the said produce of 600,000 dollars. But as in 
 this case the 90,000 dollars vrould be a dead loss to 
 the proprietors, the consequence v^^ould be that 
 they could not carry them on, but would be under 
 the necessity of abandoning them ; and then, besides 
 the inevitable ruin of a State, we should lose not 
 only the 90,000 dollars erroneously calculated, but 
 also the duties now received, and those that might 
 be received hereafter. These duties, viz. those at 
 present paid on the 600,000 dollars, are 18,000 dol- 
 lars produced by the 3 per cent, on metals ; 48,000 
 dollars produced, at the very least, by the alcabala 
 on the different articles of consumption, at present 
 bought with the 600,000 dollars, which, if the 
 system of the Minister were adopted, would not 
 be bought at all, for want of funds ; 12,000 
 dollars at the least, produced by the 2 per cent, on 
 coin circulated ; and as after some mercantile 
 transactions in the interior, the coin would arrive 
 at our ports, to be exported in exchange for 
 foreign merchandize, after payment of a duty of 
 3i per cent, making 21,000 dollars, and as the 
 duties on the fbreign merchandize thus introduced 
 
67 
 
 into the country, would at present amount, at the 
 very least, to 45 per cent, more, making 270,000 
 dollars, there results a total amount of 359,000"^ 
 dollars, which would be lost to the treasury, with- 
 out taking into account other indirect sums, such, 
 for example, as tithes, mint dues, &c. 
 
 It will be seen from this exposition, that in con- 
 sequence of a wrong calculation, instead of the 
 treasury receiving the sum of 90,000 dollars, it 
 would suffer an effective loss of at least 359,000 
 dollars, and a whole State would be ruined. There 
 are several mines in the same predicament as 
 Vetagrande — ^in a still worse predicament are those 
 which do not pay their expenses — which are now, 
 
 • This sum should be 369,000 dollars, as appears from the 
 following Recapitulation : 
 
 Sl8,000 
 On Produc- ^ 48.000 
 tion and Cir 
 culation. 
 
 On Exporta- 
 tioD. 
 
 3 per cent, on Metals. 
 Alcabala on different Articles 
 purchased w4th the 600,000 
 dollars. 
 
 12,000 . 2 per cent, on Coin circulated. 
 21,000 . 3| per cent, on Coin exported. 
 270,000 . Duties on goods imported, bought 
 with the 600,000 dollars, 
 reckoned at 45 per cent. 
 
 $369,000 
 
 The principle on which this calculation proceeds, ^s 'Suffi- 
 ciently correct, but in degree it seems pushed to an unreason- 
 able length. — Translator, 
 
 E 2 
 
68 
 
 and always have been, many ; and the same obser- 
 vations are applicable to all those which from the 
 poorness of the ore cannot pay their expenses if 
 the high duties are re-established. 
 
 It is commonly objected that all branches of 
 national industry are as deserving encouragement 
 as the mines, and that therefore the charges ought 
 to press equally on all. The first part of the 
 proposition may be granted without hesitation, if 
 we limit it to those productions of national indus- 
 try which may be exported to foreign countries, 
 or which may prevent the importation of a foreign 
 commodity; and with reference to the second 
 assertion, we must observe, that the re-establish- 
 ment of the old duties destroys the equality so 
 desirable to be preserved between this and the 
 other branches, as in this case it would be more 
 heavily burdened than any other. There are 
 also a great many reasons for giving every advan- 
 tage and encouragement to the mines : in the 
 first place, no branch of industry opens so vast a 
 market to the productions of the country, and 
 consequently no branch contributes so powerfully 
 to the internal prosperity of the nation : — in the 
 second place, no branch so effectively promotes, 
 or can promote our foreign commerce, inasmuch 
 as it furnishes the principal, and, at present, 
 almost the only production we give in exchange 
 for foreign merchandize : — thirdly, no branch 
 
69 
 
 requires such immense capital : — ^fourthly, no 
 branch exposes its capital to such infinite hazards, 
 since in other branches the outlay and profit may 
 be calculated with sufficient approximation ; 
 whereas in mining, no such calculations can be 
 made with any certainty, and immense sums are 
 repeatedly lost : — fifthly, in no other branch are 
 the wages of labour so high (in consequence of 
 the fatigue, disorders, and dangers incident to 
 mining operations), by which it is rendered less 
 productive, and the profits of the capitalists pro- 
 portionably diminished : — sixthly, no other branch 
 but this is continued to be carried on when it has 
 ceased to yield any profit. In agricultural, com- 
 mercial, and manufacturing speculations, the 
 undertaking is given up as soon as it is 
 found to be unprofitable ; but it is not so in 
 mining, — the speculator continues the works, 
 though attended with no advantage, and even 
 with loss, in the hope of being remunerated in 
 the end, either by an improvement in the quality 
 of the metal, or by an increase of the quantity 
 produced. These distinctions are real and impor- 
 tant, and should be taken into consideration by 
 every economist who studies the proper degree of 
 encouragement to be given to the different 
 branches of industry in a mineral country. 
 
 Finally, neither the Government should propose, 
 nor the Congress decree, the establishment of any 
 duties, which, besides that they press exclusively 
 
70 
 
 on the mining States, even in these States cannot 
 operate in proportion to the totality of their 
 wealth ; for it is very possible that their wealth 
 may be equal, and the metals produced very 
 unequal, or vice versa, circumstances which, in 
 either case, would destroy that equality with 
 respect to duties and obhgations which the States 
 have under the law, and which Congress is 
 obliged to preserve by the 49th article, 4th part, 
 of the Constitution. If it is thought that the 
 mining States are the richest, because they are 
 the monopolists of a production so essential to 
 the prosperity of the rest, this would be a reason, 
 not for establishing a contribution which should 
 press exclusively upon them, but for assigning 
 them a contingent proportioned to their greater 
 wealth and resources. The Constituent Congress 
 took these circumstances into account, when they 
 apportioned to the States the duty of 3 per cent, 
 now payable on metals, and placed, in the assign- 
 ment of the respective contingencies, Zacatecas, 
 St. Luis, and Durango in the rank of the most 
 wealthy States. Take from these States the con- 
 sideration they derive from their mines, and in a 
 moment they become the least important of the 
 Federation; for it is well known that the scarcity 
 of water in these districts is not only very un- 
 favourable to the general progress of agriculture, 
 but that it frequently occasions the total ruin of 
 the crops, and the death of the cattle, preventing 
 
n 
 
 these States from ever reaching, in this branch at 
 least, and those that immediately depend upon it, 
 the prosperity attained by other provinces. 
 
 Having thus proved that there is no necessity 
 for the measures proposed by the minister, that 
 they are contrary to the real interests of the 
 nation, and opposed to the established system of 
 Government, it follows that they ought not to be 
 acceded to.* 
 
 The object of this Analysis being accomplished, 
 the Committee will just glance at the political 
 tenor of the Memorial that has been presented. 
 In the first place, it is essential to remark, that 
 although every branch of finance has been sepa- 
 rately and circumstantially discussed, and the 
 necessary contributions suggested, for meeting 
 the supposed deficit, no proper notice has been 
 taken of the Public Debt. Every one knows that 
 public credit is the main-spring and support of all 
 government. With it, we obtain useful con- 
 nexions, money, soldiers, for whatever enterprises 
 we may undertake. Without it, the most colos- 
 sal power is overwhelmed by difficulties, which 
 
 * Tlie proposal of the Minister of Finance for increasing 
 the duty on metals was negatived in the Congress, by a 
 majority of 1-5 to 2. — Translalor. 
 
72 
 
 would not have the slightest effect on a nation 
 that possesses it. But this omnipotent protector 
 of nations cannot be conciliated without proper 
 concessions. To have credit, we must recognize 
 all obligations we contract, and discharge them 
 with punctuality. What will be said of us, when 
 it is found, that in the first Financial Memorial of 
 the Constitutional Government, nothing is said 
 of the former public debt, nor of that subse- 
 quently contracted, although part of the stipula- 
 tions of these contracts must be fulfilled in the 
 very course of the present year ? Why has not a 
 line been reserved, in the estimate of expenditure, 
 for the payment that will be called for? And 
 when does so important a neglect occur? Pre- 
 cisely at the very period when the question of the 
 recognition of our independence is in agitation, 
 when the bonds of a new loan are about to be 
 issued, the value of which would have been en- 
 hanced, if proper notice had been taken in the 
 Memorial of the important branch connected with 
 the redemption of the debt, and in which there 
 must be a corresponding decline, in consequence 
 of a contrary proceeding. 
 
 In addition to this, the ministry, either because 
 it is thought necessary to put under arms an army 
 of 62,000 men, or with a view to dispose the 
 Chambers to adopt the contributions proposed, 
 endeavours to prove a deficit to a considerable 
 amount : to which, if we add four miUions, which. 
 
73 
 
 at the very least, will be required for the interest 
 of the public debt, we shall have an amount very 
 difficult to be met under our present circumstances. 
 Of three measures suggested for this purpose, 
 the proposal to reduce the number of ports is 
 injurious to our foreign commerce, besides, that 
 it gives a poor idea of the consideration in which 
 a branch of the highest importance is held among 
 us, and of the state of an administration, compelled 
 to have recourse to such a contemptible expedient 
 to suppress the contraband trade. The proposal 
 to increase the duties on metals, cuts at the very 
 root of that interest which foreigners have in the 
 support of our Mines, and, consequently, tends to 
 paralyse, and even ruin, the enterprises that have 
 been undertaken, and from which we derive the 
 capital necessary for bringing them into activity, 
 which could not otherwise be obtained. And as, 
 in order to induce us to accede to the proposed 
 increase of duties, it has been attempted, in the 
 Memorial, to revive those obsolete and contempti- 
 ble ideas respecting foreigners, which the Spanish 
 Government, favoured by our isolated situation, 
 endeavoured to instil into us — ideas, which imbibed 
 in infancy, and sanctified, to a certain degree, by 
 fanaticism, have still a lamentable influence highly 
 prejudicial to the real interests of the nation— it is 
 natural to suppose that the indications of such a 
 spirit will be followed in Europe by a correspond- 
 ing decline of that good opinion and lively interest. 
 
74 
 
 which must have been inspired by the happy issue 
 of our political regeneration. And what will re- 
 sult from all this ? That our credit will fall ; for 
 with such documents before them, foreign nations 
 must almost think we are on the eve of bank- 
 ruptcy. And at what time, we again ask, will 
 such disadvantageous opinions be formed of us? 
 Precisely when the bonds of a second loan are 
 about to be issued, and when, it is to be feared, 
 that the great victory, which has fixed for ever 
 the destinies of America, will scarcely counter- 
 balance the bad impressions occasioned by the 
 Memorial we have analysed. 
 
 Those functionaries who are at the head of our 
 ministry ought ever to remember, that whatever 
 passes amongst us will undergo the scrutinizing 
 examination of other Governments — that the Me- 
 morial of a minister should furnish the fullest in- 
 formation, especially on financial matters, in order 
 that the most favourable opinions may be formed 
 of our resources — of our civilization — of the mo- 
 rality of our government — for it is from these 
 details that results will be deduced, with more or 
 less justice, of which we shall feel the effects here- 
 after, either to our cost, or to our advantage, as 
 circumstances may hereafter determine. Finally, 
 a public man should never lose sight, in his pro- 
 jects, of the relations established between his own 
 and other countries. The political existence of 
 the people depends on these relations being 
 
75 
 
 strictly maintained, and we give that existence a 
 fatal blow, when we circumscribe our ideas to the 
 small orbit of the country in which we reside. 
 
 The Committee concludes with submitting to 
 the consideration of the Chamber, the following 
 suggestions, proceeding from the foregoing dis- 
 cussion : 
 
 1. In all future financial memorials, the 
 amount of every duty, collected in the ports, to 
 be separately and particularly stated. 
 
 2. Statements of all the trading vessels enter- 
 ing and leaving our ports, of their tonnage, of 
 the amount of coin exported, of all other exports 
 and imports, to be published, once at least, in 
 the course of the year. 
 
 3. While the system of interior Alcabala con- 
 tinues in force, the interior consumption duty 
 to be taken off, and the Alcabala formerly levied 
 on foreign goods to be re-established. 
 
 4. This duty to be paid once, under the 
 regulations established for the interior Alcabala, 
 and to be collected by the custom-houses of the 
 States, in union with the 3 per cent, on consump- 
 tion, under the superintendance of the Govern- 
 ment Commissioner of the said custom-houses. 
 
 5. The States not to be permitted to give up the 
 monopoly of tobacco, and a forced distribution of 
 raw tobacco to take place among them, in propor- 
 tion to the respective consumption of these States. 
 
76 
 
 6. The Government to form, every year, at 
 the proper time, an estimate of the quantity to be 
 distributed, which is to be submitted to the appro- 
 bation of Congress. 
 
 7. The payment of the raw tobacco, thus dis- 
 tributed, to be made in the same manner, and 
 at the same time, as the contingent : but an ex- 
 tension of two months to be granted for making 
 the first payment. 
 
 8. Those States that have no manufactories, 
 to be furnished with manufactured tobacco, at 
 a proportionate advance of price. 
 
 9. The establishment of posts to be increased 
 as well in the States as in the distant territo- 
 ries of the Republic: and in other districts new 
 communications to be opened. 
 
 10. The Government to make an estimate of 
 the expense of these improvements, to be submit- 
 ted to the approbation of Congress. 
 
 11. It shall at the same time propose some plan 
 for relieving the public from the great inconve- 
 nience, occasioned by the present regulations re- 
 specting post-horses. 
 
 12. The Government to organize, with as 
 little delay as possible, a new system of adminis- 
 tration for the Mint. 
 
 13. The Government to take measures for 
 reducing within proper bounds, the immense ex- 
 pense in collecting some of the duties. 
 
77 
 
 14. The Government to lay before Congress 
 the documents relating to the terms on which the 
 first loan \yas negotiated, and to give an account 
 of the application of the proceeds, that the defini- 
 tive approbation of Congress may be given to all 
 these arrangements. 
 
 15. The same to be done with respect to the 
 second loan ; and Congress, in communication with 
 the Government, to determine the distribution 
 or application of the proceeds. 
 
 16. In the mean time it appears that the pro- 
 ceeds of the loan should be applied : 1st, to the 
 payment of the sums still due for military stores, 
 vessels, &c. 2dly, to the support of the rent of 
 tobacco. 3dly, to the purchase of 50,000 mus- 
 kets, 20,000 carbines, and 30,000 sabres, which 
 should be distributed among the States, in propor- 
 tion to their population, to complete the equipment 
 of the civic militia. 4thly, the remaining part should 
 be reserved for the extraordinary expenses that 
 may occur, and which may be approved by Con- 
 gress. 
 
 17. The approbation of Congress to be given 
 to the estimates of the Home, Foreign, and Judi- 
 cial Departments, as well as to the estimate of the 
 Minister of Finance for his department, without 
 prejudice to what may result on the production 
 and examination of the accounts. 
 
 18. In accordance witb the spirit of the law of 
 the 21st September, 1824, there ought not to be 
 
78 
 
 Commissariats in every one of the States ; still 
 less so in the Territories of the Federation. 
 
 19. With respect to the War and Marine De- 
 partment, the Government should not consider 
 itself at liberty to exceed the expenses decreed 
 by Congress. If the Government should find any 
 further expenses necessary, it should make an esti- 
 mate of them with as little delay as possible, and 
 submit the same to Congress. 
 
 20. It should accordingly be interdicted from 
 putting the corps of active militia under arms, but 
 may continue the organization of the same. 
 
 21. The corps appointed to protect the north 
 and south coast, at present under arms, not to 
 be understood to come under the last article. 
 
 22. The Commissariats General of the Mari- 
 time Department to exercise the functions of 
 Intendants of Marine. 
 
 23. The Government to make the necessary 
 arrangements for regulating this measure, and 
 to submit the same to Congress for appro- 
 bation. 
 
 24. The War Committee to consider and 
 propose a plan for a new distribution of the active 
 militia, so that it may press equally on all the 
 States. 
 
 25. The said Committee also to determine 
 whether the Presidial Companies are to be com- 
 prehended in the Veteran regiments decreed by 
 Congress. 
 
79 
 
 26. The said Committee also to form a plan 
 for the organisation for the active cavalry mi- 
 litia. 
 
 27. The Committee for redeeming the Public 
 Debt should propose those measures it may 
 tliink expedient, for establishing and conducting 
 this branch of finance. 
 
 Committee Saloon, lOth April, 1825. 
 
 (Signed) Canedo. 
 
 Medina. 
 Garcia. 
 Barraza. 
 
MEMORIAL 
 
 ON THE 
 
 STATE OF THE PUBLIC FINANCE, 
 
 REFERRED TO IN THE PRECEDING ANALYSIS. 
 
MEMORIAL 
 
 ON THE y 
 
 STATE OF THE PUBLIC FINANCE, 
 
 read in the chamber of deputies and the senate by the 
 minister of the department,* in fulfilment of the 
 Article 120 of the federal constitution of the united 
 
 MEXICAN STATES. THE 4tH JANUARY, 1825. 
 
 Of all the duties of my office, I discharge this moment 
 the most arduous, on account of its magnitude, and my 
 own deficiencies; on account of the almost insuperable 
 difficulties which stand in the way of its perfection, and 
 on account of the respect due to the assembly in which 
 I perform it. 
 
 The present Memorial, without any fault of mine, 
 does not fulfil the injunction 50 of the law 106. The sys- 
 tem of finance has but just been sanctioned, and a year 
 must elapse before the exhibition of accounts from the 
 various departments can take place simultaneously with 
 those of the Treasury. 
 
 I took possession of the Ministry on the 9th of August. 
 In the literal sense, the period is short enough, but the 
 difficulties of the time have rendered it more insufficient. 
 I labour with anxiety, I make some advances, but much 
 that I propose is paralysed by inaction and ignorance^ 
 by the necessary consequences of the troubles of the 
 times which have preceded me, and by the difficulties 
 inherent to new establishments. 
 
 * Don Jose Ignacio Esteva. 
 f2 
 
84 
 
 On these accounts I do not flatter myself to raise the? 
 present Memorial to the exactness of which it is suscep- 
 tible. I shall give it as much as I can. The matter may 
 be divided into four points : — I. The condition in which 
 the Treasury was.— 2. That in which it now is.— III. The 
 condition in which it is absolutely necessary that it shall 
 be placed.— IV. The means of attaining that object. 
 
 I. The first of these, however, has been performed by 
 my predecessors since the creation of the Ministry ; but 
 in order at once to avoid repeating what has been de- 
 scribed by more expert pens (the state in which the 
 Treasury stood before our happy emancipation), and to 
 supply an improper omission in the Memorial, I shall 
 explain in the second point, to which I pass, the origin 
 of the revenues now called General Revenues^ — their 
 progress, decline, and present state. 
 
 IL The Ministry is discouraged at observing frus- 
 trated the laborious attempts of four preceding Minis- 
 ters to investigate exactly the receipts of the revenue. 
 
 The want of information in the superior departments, 
 and their confusion, arises from circumstances. The 
 same in France and Spain produced equal uncertainty. 
 The exposes of the Ministers of Finance in both king- 
 doms give proofs of it. Neither policy nor experience 
 have acquainted nations with any means of peaceably 
 throwing off a tyrannical domination, such as we suffered 
 under. The achievemerft of liberty is worth the evils 
 inherent to the attempts to acquire it. Among others 
 of these evils, an inevitable one is the destruction of 
 public documents, and a consequent confusion in the 
 exhibition of accounts, with studied suppression and in- 
 volution for the purpose of concealing guilt. It is 
 under this knowledge of the causes and occasion of the 
 evil, that the Ministry have attempted to remedy it. 
 
 [^The Minister then gives a detailed account of the different 
 branches of the public revenue ^ in the following order ;] 
 
85 
 
 DUTIES OF IMPORTATION AND 
 EXPORTATION. 
 
 A custom-house was first established at Vera Crusfj 
 in 1530, and a receiver was placed at Acapulco as early 
 as 1562. These, and subsequently San Bias, were the 
 only ports in Mexico for the export and import of pro^ 
 duce and manufactures ; but the list now comprises also 
 Alvarado, Campeachy, Tampico, Altamira, Soto J^a 
 Marina, and Refugio, in the Gulf— and Mazattan and 
 Gruaimas on the Pacific. The changes which hav6 
 taken place in the tariff, and the extension of the num- 
 ber of ports, prevent the Minister from comparing the 
 present and past produce of this branch of the re- 
 venue. 
 
 DUTY ON INTRODUCTION INTO CON- 
 SUMPTION— fi^erecAo de Internacion.) 
 
 This tax was imposed by a sovereign decree, dated 
 4th of August, 1824. The recentness of the imposition, 
 prevents an exact estimate of its amount ; but as the 
 basis was 15 per cent, on foreign produce, an estimate 
 has been formed, which will be found in the abstract. 
 
 REVENUE FROM TOBACCO. 
 
 By a Cedula of the 13th of August, 1764, a monopoly 
 of tobacco was decreed throughout the Mexican nation. 
 The average of the first five years produced 652,213 
 dollars net, and its produce progressively increased till it 
 reached, in 1808, to four millions four hundred and 
 forty-seven thousand four hundred and eighty-six dol- 
 lars. In 1809 it decreased to three millions five hun- 
 dred and seventy-nine thousand five hundred and fifty^ 
 
The net produce is now reduced to six hundred and 
 forty-eight thousand one hundred and forty-seven. 
 From its present state of decHne to absohite annihila- 
 tion, is but a step ; and this must either take place, or 
 the remedies which will be proposed must be applied 
 to it. 
 
 REVENUE FROM GUNPOWDER. 
 
 This commenced as early as 1571. Its produce in 
 the five years, ending 1793, amounted to 505,101. The 
 average from 1795 to 1799 was 669,648. It declined in 
 18^2 to 167,412, and is now 178,546. 
 
 THE ALCABALA ON TOBACCO IN THE 
 COUNTRIES OF ITS PRODUCTION, 
 
 produced, in 1809, 103,435 dollars. It is not now pos- 
 sible to estimate its probable produce with exactness, 
 but the average of two years will be given in the 
 abstract. 
 
 REVENUE OF POSTS. 
 
 This revenue produced 181,156 dollars from 1794 to 
 1798. In 1822 it had decHned to 122,114; but it 
 appears to be again increasing, as will be seen in the 
 abstract. 
 
 [The Lottery and Salt Works are mentionedy hut seem at 
 present immaterial sources of revenue ; for these me 
 refer to the ahstractJ] 
 
REVENUE OF THE TERRITORIES OF THE 
 FEDERATION. 
 
 The Federal Constitution declares Upper and Lower 
 California, Colima, and Santa Fe of New Mexico, to be 
 territories of the Federation. A sovereign decree of the 
 24th of November last, declares also Tlaxcala to be a 
 territory of the Federation. The probable produce of 
 their revenues is mentioned in the abstract. 
 
 NATIONAL PROPERTY. 
 
 These consist of the property of the charitable 
 fiind of the Californias, of Temporalities,* and of the 
 Inquisition. There may also be added others by the 
 law of the classification of revenues. 
 
 CALIFORNIA. 
 
 The missions in California were formerly under the 
 direction of the Jesuits, and on the extinction of the 
 order, were taken into the hands of the Government, 
 The revenues derived thence do not defray the expenses 
 of the missions ; so that California is at present of little 
 importance as a source of revenue, 
 
 INQUISITION. 
 
 The funds formerly belonging to this body produced 
 61,713 dollars; the rents of houses 6,500, and sup- 
 
 * Temporalidades — -Estates belonging to the Jesuits, which, since 
 the suppression th'^ that order, have come into possession of th« Gor 
 vernment. — Translator, 
 
88 
 
 pressed canonries 30,000. The produce has declined 
 since 1811, and a very small part can now be reckoned 
 lipon. 
 
 [ The Minister then reckons a number of small branches of 
 revenue^ which formerly belonged to the Crorm, and 
 which answer to our frst-fruits and tenths and other 
 ancient revenues derived from Ecclesiastical prefer- 
 ments. Their produce is given in the abstract,^ 
 
 AVERIA (AVERAGE). 
 
 (This branch of revenue, which seems to consist of a 
 variety of small ad valorem duties* on cargoes, is destined 
 for the Sinking Fund. It is, however, at present enu- 
 merated among the general revenues, as the direction of 
 the Sinking Fund has not been estabhshed. The pro- 
 duce seems to have fallen off in about the same propor- 
 tion as the imports and exports.) 
 
 TOLLS. 
 
 This branch of revenue was created in 1796 to open 
 a road from Mexico to Vera Cruz. Its produce at first 
 was 74,000, and in dollars it did not exceed 31,556. 
 
 THE MINT (Casa de Moneda) OF MEXICO. 
 
 The sovereign decrees. No. 106 and 125, require 
 me to speak of this establishment. Its name, known 
 throughout all the world by its abundant labours, which 
 ainounted to 20 millions of dollars annually, spoke for 
 its usefulness. By it the Treasury profited greatly, and 
 in cases of great drains, met them by means of this as- 
 sistance. Now it produces nothing. To aid the miners, 
 
 - — ^ — — . ■ ■ I •» ■ ■ ■■ 
 
 * 1| per Cent. — Translator. 
 
89 
 
 and encourage mining, the supreme governing junta has 
 reduced the duties on coinage to a minimum, so that the 
 coinage does not pay its own expenses, as the quantity 
 coined is small, while the expenses of the house go on 
 increasing. In this situation I found it on entering the 
 Ministry, and under the same system I shall speak of 
 it. 
 
 Its first establishment was ordered by a cedula of the 
 11th May, 1535. After 1733, the working of money, 
 except on account of the Government, was prohibited. 
 To this end was formed a fund of a million of dollars, 
 destined for the. purchase of metals at fixed prices. 
 This was increased to 2,600,000 dollars, by order of 
 September 16, 1780. Now it is reduced to httle more 
 than 100,000 dollars. 
 
 To this establishment was united, in 1779, the assaying 
 (apartado)* of gold and silver. Every thing was en- 
 trusted, and still is entrusted, to the charge of a super- 
 intendent. In the average of five years, from 1778 
 to 1782, the minting of silver and gold produced 
 1,565,185 dollars; from which, when all the expenses 
 were deducted, there remained 1,139,462 dollars net. 
 
 At that time, conformably to Ordinance, there was 
 paid on silver, with gold, on each mark of metal reduced 
 to the standard of the dollar, 5 reals 7 maravedies ; for 
 loss and waste, 27 maravedies ; and for refining, when 
 that was necessary, 8 maravedies. 
 
 There remained to the establishment, for expense of 
 labour, 3 reals 32 maravedies. On each mark of silver 
 coined, 18 grains short weight was permitted. Four 
 drachms were also paid on each piece of metal, under 
 the name of bocados (mouthfuls), for the assayers, at 
 
 * Apartado — The process of separating the gold from the bars oC 
 silver which contain it. The establishment where tlie process is con- 
 ducted, is called the Apartado. It is dependant on the Mint. 
 
 Translator, 
 
90 
 
 whose charge were all the expenses of the assay : — and 
 on every mark of gold coined there was a gain to the 
 establishment of 7 dollars, 7 reals, 2 maravedies. 
 
 At present only 2 reals per mark are paid ; 8y grains 
 short weight is permitted, and there remain to the esta^ 
 blishment on each mark of gold coined, 2 reals. 
 
 From this reduction, and the want of the profit of 13 
 grains on what was called yielded gold (oro cedido)* 
 which, on account of the small amount of present ma- 
 nufacture, is not rendered, has proceeded the decline of 
 the establishment. In 1823 it suffered a loss of 37,233 
 dollars, 5 reals, 8 grs. ; and that of 1824 is calculated at 
 25,000 dollars. 
 
 [^After particularizing the arrears under various branches, 
 which he supposed recoverable, tlie Minister proceeded 
 to the head of] 
 
 FOREIGN LOANS. 
 
 One was proposed by Don Bartoleme Vigors Richars^ 
 in the name of the house of Barclay, Herring, and Co., 
 of London, on account of which he supplied 500 thousand 
 dollars, but which did not take effect ; another by Don 
 Robert Staples, who in money, credit, and tobacco, fur- 
 nished the Government with 1,263,701 dollars. The 
 last, which still exists, consisted of 3,200,000/. sterling, 
 which Don Francisco Borja Migoni, contracted in Lon- 
 don, with the house of B. A. Goldschmidt and Co. This, 
 after the deductions of the contract, was reduced to 
 
 * Ore cedidoj improperly so called, is the gold contained in silver 
 bars that does not equal 30 grains per mark. Even now, when the 
 gold is not yielded in this proportion, it becomes the property or per- 
 quisite of the Mint. This is contrary to the spirit of most of the 
 regulations of this establishment. It should rather be called oro 
 robado. — Translator. 
 
91 
 
 about 5,900,000 dollars, which the Government could 
 dispose of in its respective instalments. It did so in 
 effect to the sum of 2,271,153 dollars, 3 reals, up to the 
 time of my entering the ministry. 
 
 Of the remaining 3,628,886 dollars 5 reals disposable, 
 l,652j521 have been disbursed, which have been applied 
 in the most economical manner possible to the assistance 
 of the Californias, many years forgotten by the Govern- 
 ment, and reduced to the greatest degree of misery ; to 
 the outfit of legations, the organization of the army, 
 contracts for clothing, and purchase of vessels and to- 
 bacco, in order to take as much of the latter as possible 
 from the hands of the producers, with the laudable ob- 
 ject of preventing fraud. 
 
 There remain for the year 1825—1,976,315 dollars, 
 from which one-third is to be deducted, under the re- 
 solutions for the endowment of the sinking fund. The 
 remainder will be charged on the abstract of the re- 
 venue. 
 
 A new loan of 3,200,000 pounds sterling is con- 
 tracted, by way of commission, on account of the Mexican 
 nation, with Manning and Marshal, as the representatives 
 of the house of Barclay, Herring, Richardson, and Co.^^. 
 of London, under the condition of not being able ta 
 realize it in a year stipulated for in the twelfth condition, 
 of the loan concluded with Goldschmidt, through Mi- 
 goni, which year expires in February next. 
 
 The Government, under the authority of the General 
 Congress, after the 27th August, 1823, deviated from 
 the former methods, and reduced its contract for the 
 sale of its Bonds in foreign markets to the most favour- 
 able bidders. The object was to obtain for the Republic 
 the gaui which must have been otherwise held by the 
 Contractors, if the Bonds had been sold at a fixed 
 price. 
 
m 
 
 ABSTRACT of the GROSS PROCEEDS, EXPENSES, and NET 
 PRODUCE of the GENERAL REVENUES belonging to the 
 FEDERATION, 6y the Sovereign Decrees, Nos. 70 and Ql. 
 
 
 
 51 
 
 Pay of 
 
 Net 
 
 Duties on Import & Export 
 
 Whole Receipt. 
 
 B-3 . 
 
 Hi 
 
 Officers. 
 
 Produce 
 
 2,732,995 
 
 29,462 
 
 127,799 
 
 2,575,732 
 
 Duties on introduction into 
 
 
 
 
 
 consumption {Derechos 
 
 
 
 
 
 de internacion) 
 
 lj618,223 
 
 
 . . 
 
 1,618,223 
 
 Revenue from Tobacco, 
 
 
 
 
 
 including in the column 
 
 
 
 
 
 of expenses the purchase 
 
 
 
 
 
 and manufacture 
 
 1,029,671 
 
 381,524 
 
 . . 
 
 648,147 
 
 Revenue from Gunpowder 
 
 178,546 
 
 54,015 
 
 40,228 
 
 84,303 
 
 Alcabala on Tobacco in the 
 
 
 
 
 
 countries where it is pro- 
 
 
 
 
 
 duced 
 
 39,784 
 342,533 
 
 
 
 39,784 
 
 Posts 
 
 111,480 
 
 66,807 
 
 164,246 
 
 Lottery 
 
 95,858 
 
 11,735 
 29,200 
 
 13,985 
 
 70,136 
 
 Salt Works 
 
 68,382 
 
 12,815 
 
 26,367 
 
 From the territories of the 
 
 
 
 Federation .......... 
 
 16,147 
 
 64Q 
 
 5,546 
 
 9,950 
 
 National Property, proper- 
 
 
 UT17 
 
 ty of the Compassionate 
 
 
 
 
 
 Fund of Californias, of 
 
 
 
 
 
 Temporalities, and the 
 
 
 
 
 
 Inquisition . . , 
 
 66,692 
 
 900 
 
 23,546 
 
 42,245 
 
 Tenths in the eight Cathe- 
 
 
 
 
 
 drals of the nation .... 
 
 529,989 
 
 
 , . 
 
 529,989 
 
 Rents of the See of Mexico 
 
 86,929 
 
 
 
 86,929 
 
 Ditto from the Dignity of 
 
 
 
 
 
 Treasurer 
 
 8,194 
 
 
 
 8,194 
 
 Contingent of the States . . 
 
 2,285,877 
 
 .*. 
 
 . . 
 
 2,285,877 
 
 AVeria 
 
 169,664 
 47,994 
 
 
 
 169,664 
 
 Tolls 
 
 
 
 
 Mint 
 
 •• 
 
 •• 
 
 •• 
 
 Slims due from debtors to 
 
 the Salt Revenue, ex- 
 
 
 
 
 
 pected to be recovered . 
 
 55,579 
 
 . . 
 
 
 55,579 
 
 Foreign Loati 
 
 1,317,543 
 
 •• 
 
 •• 
 
 1,317,543 
 
 Dollars 
 
 *1 0,690,608 
 
 618,968 
 
 301,267 
 
 9,770,372 
 
 III. On the third point, it will be sufficient to give 
 a general abstract of the expenditure, which is founded 
 
 * The fractions of the dollars, which are given in the original accounts, are 
 omitted throughout. 
 
93 
 
 on the estimate of the different ministers, preceded by 
 the detailed estimates of the two great departments of 
 the Army and the Marine. 
 
 ESTIMATE OF THE EXPENSES OF THE ARMY. 
 
 Dollars. 
 
 Secretarial of State for War and Marine 23,220 
 
 Expenses of ditto 2,400 
 
 Staff 95,314 
 
 Sixteen Commandantships General 3,200 
 
 Six Principal Commandantships 900 
 
 Commissariat Office 7,770 
 
 Pay of six Generals of Division employed 36,000 
 
 Pay of six reduced ditto 24,000 
 
 Pay of ten Generals of Brigade employed 45,000 
 
 Pay of seven reduced ditto 21,000 
 
 Director of the MedicorChinirgical Body 1,800 
 
 Corps of Engineers 24,269 
 
 Artillery, three brigades 471,678 
 
 Infantry of the Line 1,885,761 
 
 Halbardiers 1,339 
 
 Garrison Companies of Cavalry 713,897 
 
 Cavalry of the Line 2,253,548 
 
 Companies of Invalids 16,631 
 
 Battalions of Active Militia of Infantry in the Interior of 
 
 the Republic , 3,442,380 
 
 Battalions and detached Companies on the South and 
 
 North Coast 1,061,169 
 
 Cavalry of ditto in the Interior of the Republic 1,612^590 
 
 Squadrons and detached Companies on the Coast 950,828 
 
 Tvi-elve Companies ditto of Artillery 246,931 
 
 Civil Department of Artillery 24,454 
 
 Manufactory of Arms and Ammunition 42,125 
 
 Depot of Officers 114,474 
 
 Detached Officers at various points 1 50,796 
 
 Retired Officers and Soldiers 325,497 
 
 Military Monte de Pieie 31,432 
 
 Rewards of Constancy 148,523 
 
 Pension to the Widow of General O'Donoju 12,000 
 
 Extraordinary Expenses 2,256,238 
 
 Total .... Dollars 16,011,990 
 
 In this estimate the maintenance of the army is cal- 
 culated on the ratio of the full force required by law; 
 but though it is calculated that before the end of 1825, 
 the army will be raised to its full complement, yet none 
 of the three arms is yet complete. The Ministers of 
 War and of Finance agree, therefore, in reducing a 
 
94 
 
 fourth part from the above estimate, and taking it at 
 12 million dollars (including the Extraordinaries), at 
 which sum, it is to be observed, it is entered in the 
 Abstract of Expenditure. 
 
 MARINE— (Detailed Account.) 
 
 Department of the South Sea 31,466 
 
 Department of the North Sea 60,467 
 
 Officers, Crews, Armingj Victualling, and ordinary Re- 
 pairs of eight Ships of burden 720,956 
 
 Ditto of two Schooners and twelve guns in battery and on 
 
 the gangway 96,349 
 
 Ditto seven armed Schooners and five small craft (balan- 
 
 dras) 292,1 28 
 
 Seven companies of Infantry and one of Artillery 133,941 
 
 Building two Frigates of forty-four guns, three Corvettes 
 
 of thirty, and two Brigs of twenty guns 1,032,097 
 
 Hospitals 117,128 
 
 Building of Arsenals^ Magazines, &c 450,000 
 
 Dollars 2,934,532 
 
 GENERAL ABSTRACT OF EXPENDITURE & BALANCE. 
 
 Expenses of Administration of the Taxes 61 8,968 
 
 Pay of the Officers 301,267 
 
 Estimate of the Ministry of Foreign and Internal Affairs . . 1 05>737 
 
 Ditto of the Ministry of Justice and Ecclesiastical Affairs 77,220 
 
 Ditto of War for the Land Force 12,000,000 
 
 Ditto for the Marine 2,934,535 
 
 Ditto of Finance . . * 1,083,143 
 
 Arrears to be paid in 1825 865,804 
 
 17,986,674 
 Gross Produce of the Revenue. . 10,690,608 
 
 Deficit 7,296,066 
 
 IV. And last point. — Under this head the Minister 
 considers the means of supplying the large deficit exhi- 
 bited by the preceding accounts. Nothing, he says^ 
 would be more easy than to resort to the obvious ex- 
 pedient of new taxes to raise the receipts to the level of 
 the expenditure. The condition of the contributors, 
 their impoverishment after the struggle which they 
 have for many years sustained, prevent him, however^ 
 from proposing any expedient of this sort. The re- 
 
95 
 
 sources which can be derived from the present branches 
 of the revenue, and reviving some of the old ones, with- 
 out changing the system, or incommoding the honest 
 and peaceful citizen, will be sufficient. The first object 
 to which he turns his attention, is the monopoly of 
 Tobacco ; and he confesses that he is disgusted in con- 
 sidering in its decline and abandonment one of the 
 richest branches of the revenue, which might have de- 
 livered the government from many of its difficulties. 
 He proposes a zealous union of the different States in 
 pi'eventing frauds which have nearly annihilated a 
 branch of revenue which formerly produced 4,44<7,000 
 dollars. 
 
 He proposes that the provinces shall altogether give 
 up their interference in the manufacture and taxing of 
 Tobacco, as the only mode of assisting the necessities 
 of the Treasury. He observes that in the five years 
 from 1795 to 1799, the gross receipts of the Treasury 
 were 20,4S2,317 dollars.—" How fortunate," he ob- 
 serves, " should we call ourselves, if we could get the 
 net amount of those receipts j which was 15,325,065 
 dollars. It appears to me to be easy to do so, if we 
 abandon unknown roads to travel over those already 
 trodden, sure of reaching the point to which we direct 
 our steps. In the epoch of which I spoke. Tobacco 
 produced 3,927,898 dollars net, the coinage of gold and 
 silver 1,258,338. The duties on both metals, in ingots, 
 2,111,474 dollars. The three together amounted to 
 7,297,710, and it will be seen that we can collect, in the 
 year 1825, 6,649,563 dollars, if the revenue of Tobacco^ 
 the coinage, and the duty of Quintos* were supported 
 by the legislative power, at the height at which they 
 might be maintained now that the population of con^ 
 
 * Quintos — A duty which was paid on all silver extracted from the 
 mines. It was so called, because it was originally a Jifth, or 20 per 
 Cent, but subsequently reduced to 3 per Cent. — Translator. 
 
96 
 
 sumers is increased by the entrance of foreigners, and 
 now that the mines are worked at the expense of the 
 latter. 
 
 " If the duty of Quintos be supposed to be derived 
 from conquest, let it lose its name, like that of New 
 Spain, converted into the Federal Republic of the Mexi- 
 can States. If a laudable attempt to encourage mining 
 sufficed to strike the coinage out of the branches of the 
 revenue, we painfully acknowledge the null effects of so 
 benevolent an endeavour, and that in the end, the riches 
 buried in the bowels of the earth remain there even after 
 yjears of protection." 
 
 The Minister concludes, after anticipating some ob- 
 jections which might be raised on account of the se- 
 parate rights of the (States of the Federation, by stating 
 that he had performed the duty which was imposed 
 upon him by the fourth division of his subject, by point- 
 ing out the possibility of covering the deficit which the 
 expos6 demonstrated without odious direct contributions, 
 or the imposition of unknown indirect ones — '* The 
 re-establishment of the ancient monopoly of Tobacco 
 on its ancient level," says the Minister, " that of the 
 duties on gold and silver in ingots, and of those on 
 coinage, and the suppression of some of the maritime 
 customs, which, as they are part of the general revenue, 
 cannot be opposed to the interests of the States, suffice 
 to fulfil that object." 
 
 The statement of Finances was followed by a few 
 sfeneral recommendations to economy on all branches 
 of the State. 
 
 (Signed) JOSE IGNACIO ESTEVA. 
 
 Mexico, \st of Januarxj, 1825. 
 
 R. Clay, Frinttr, Devonshjrestieet, Bishopsgate. 
 
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