# Mexico in 1827/Volume 1/Chapter 12

SECTION IV.
My object, throughout the preceding Sections, having been to avoid all theories as much as possible, and to give what has been, as the best criterion of what may again be, I shall not depart from this rule in treating so important a branch of my subject as the revenue of the country; and shall accordingly commence my view of its present state and prospects, by a succinct account of what they were before the Revolution of 1810.
For this I must, as usual, recur to Baron Humboldt, who has investigated the subject with his wonted accuracy, in Book VI. of his most valuable work.
According to his statements, the revenue of Mexico, in the beginning of the eighteenth century, (1712), did not exceed three millions of dollars:—
| | | | Dollars. |
| In | 1763 | it was | 5,705,876 |
| | 1767 | | 6,561,316 |
| | 1776 | | 12,000,000 |
| | Dollars. |
| 1780 | 15,010,974 |
| 1784 | 19,605,574 |
| 1802 | 20,200,000 |
This extraordinary increase was due, in part, to the establishment of the monopoly of tobacco, which took place in 1764; but infinitely more, to that relaxation in the Colonial Policy of the Mother country, to which I have alluded in the Fourth Section of the First Book, and to the encouragement given to the mining interests by the reduction of the price of quicksilver, from eighty-four to sixty-four dollars the quintal. The revenue rose as the price of this important article fell, and, as an impulse was given to the Colonies, by the removal of some of the earlier restrictions upon their trade. Had Spain profited by the lesson, and extended her concessions, in proportion as she found less reason to regard them as incompatible with her own interests, her position, at the present day, might have been very different from what it is.
The principal sources of the revenue of Mexico at that time were:—
| | Dollars. |
| Duties derived from the Mines, (derechos de oro y plata) profits on sale of quicksilver, Coinage | 5,500,000 |
| Monopoly of Tobacco (estanco de tabaco) | 4,500,000 |
| Alcavalas | 3,000,000 |
| Carried forward | 13,000,000 |
| | Dollars. |
| Brought forward | 13,000,000 |
| Indian Capitation tax | 1,300,000 |
| Duty on Pulque | 800,000 |
| Importation and Exportation duties | 500,000 |
| Cruzada, (sale of Bulls, &c.) | 270,000 |
| Post-office (renta de correos) | 250,000 |
| Gunpowder (estanco de polvora) | 150,000 |
| Media Anata and Mesada, (both ecclesiastical contributions) | 100,000 |
| Cards (estanco de naypes) | 120,000 |
| Stamps (papel sellado). | 80,000 |
| Licenses for Cockpits (estanco de gallos) | 45,000 |
| Snow (estanco de nieve) | 30,000 |
| Net annual produce in 1803 | 16,645,000 |
Gross amount of receipts, according to tables formed by Count Revillagigedo, in 1790, and by the Viceroy Iturrigaray, in 1803, Twenty millions of dollars: viz:
| | Dollars. |
| Produce of Alcavalas, Indian Capitation-tax, and Duties on the precious metals | 10,747,878 |
| Produce of the Monopolies of Tobacco, Cards, Powder, Quicksilver, &c. | 6,899,830 |
| Cruzada, Tithes, Medias anatas, &c. | 530,425 |
| Revenues of Lands, &c. under the inspection of the Government.—obras pias | 1,897,128 |
| Total | 20,075,261 |
1. Ten millions and a half of dollars in the interior of the country, which covered all the expences of the Colonial Administration.
2. Three millions and a half, in remittances to other Colonies, as Cuba, La Florida, Portorico, the Philippine Islands, Louisiana, Trinidad, and St. Domingo, all of which were, in some measure, supported by Mexico.
3. Six millions of dollars, in remittances to Spain, called the Sobrante liquido remisible, which was lodged annually in the Royal Treasury at Madrid.
The expense of collecting the revenue, was calculated, by Humboldt, at Eighteen per cent.
| | Dollars |
| The military establishment, and the Guarda costas upon the Eastern and Western coasts, with annual repairs of fortifications, &c., were estimated, in 1802, at | 3,800,000 |
| Sueldos de Hacienda, including salaries of Viceroy, and all inferior Government officers | 2,000,000 |
| Expences of all the Royal Monopolies, and transmission of specie from one Province to another | 3,250,000 |
| Administration of Justice, Audiencias, &c. | 250,000 |
| Pension list | 200,000 |
| Hospitals, and repairs of Royal buildings, &c. | 400,000 |
| | 9,900,000 |
This estimate I believe to have been exceedingly correct, and it may be taken as the fairest possible average for the years, which immediately preceded the Revolution of 1810, up to which period Mexico had no public debt of any kind.
The deficit in the Revenue, which the Revolution occasioned, was supplied by forced loans, (which were called voluntary,) and by the establishment of the Derechos de guerra, y convoy, (Duties of War and Convoy) the Derecho de patriotas, (a tax raised to support the Royalist volunteers, who assumed the strange appellation of Patriots), and a tax, of ten per cent., upon houses, which, as all the great towns were in possession of the Spaniards, was very productive.
The total amount of these different taxes, is supposed to have been from four to five millions of dollars, which afforded, however, but a poor compensation for the loss of the Mining duties, and the Monopoly of Tobacco; both of which were reduced to a mere fraction of their former importance, by the Civil war. ​All these War taxes were abolished by Iturbide, on the declaration of the Independence, in 1821; but the distress to which the Imperial Government was afterwards reduced, compelled him again to have recourse to the tax upon houses, which was not definitively suppressed until 1823. Forced loans were likewise resorted to during his reign, and an attempt made to bring paper money into circulation, which completely failed, as the paper only obtained a partial currency by the sacrifice of two-thirds of its nominal value.
Nothing can be more melancholy than the account given by the two first Mexican Ministers of Finance, (Don Antonio Medina, and Don Francisco Arillaga,) of the state to which the Revenue was reduced in the years 1822 and 1823. In the confusion which ensued upon the dissolution of the Viceregal Government, the Government Archives were plundered as the best mode of concealing former dilapidations; the trustees of the funds of Obras pias, and those charged with judicial deposits, left the country with whatever money they could secure: the Provinces seized upon their own revenues, of which they refused to give any account; and the Government officers, fattening upon the public distress, either would not, or could not, make the smallest remittances.
In October, 1822, Medina stated in his Report to Congress, that, "not only was the pay of the troops in arrear in the Capital, but on the point of being ​suspended altogether; and that, in the Provinces, it must be reduced from the total want of resources."
In a defence of his conduct before the Congress, (3d September, 1823,) the same Minister added: "That his orders for the collection of the necessary data for the formation of a new plan of Finance, had not been complied with; and that he regarded it as extremely difficult to enforce obedience to them, because their execution depended upon a multitude of men, some too ignorant to give the information required,—others interested in suppressing it, in order to perpetuate abuses; and all full of that languor, to which they had been accustomed by the routine of the old system."
This statement was fully confirmed by Mr. Arillaga, who succeeded Medina, in the Ministry, in 1823, and who characterized, as "frightful the abuses which prevailed in the administration of the Revenue; and affirmed, "that there was nothing but plunder and corruption in all its branches." As late as November, 1823, he added, in his Report of that date, that "no ordinary measures, or threats, were sufficient to awaken the inferior officers of Government from their culpable apathy: others of a more serious nature must be resorted to."
It is probable that these menaces, however strong, would have produced but little effect, had they not derived importance from the conclusion of the loan ​with the house of Goldschmidt, which gave the Government at once, the means of enforcing obedience to its orders, and of organizing anew, some of the most important branches of the Revenue. It is generally admitted, that Mr. Arillaga availed himself with great judgment of these advantages, and did much towards preparing the way for a better order of things. He, however, only retained the ministry for nine months after the date of his second Report, when he gave place to Mr. Esteva, who entered upon office the 9th of August, 1824.
In speaking of this gentleman, whose name is so identified with the new system of Finance in Mexico, that it is impossible for me to avoid introducing it frequently in the course of this Section, I shall neither allow myself to be influenced by that party spirit, which has but too much prevailed with regard to his measures in his own country, nor by those personal considerations, which my long acquaintance with him might not unnaturally inspire: I shall endeavour simply to judge him by his works, as laid before the Congress by himself, in his official Reports of 1825, 1826, and 1827, with which those interested in Mexican affairs in this country, are already partially acquainted.
The reorganization of the Revenue of Mexico, after the period of distress and confusion described in the preceding pages, may be dated from the establishment of the Federal Constitution, and the ​publication of the Decree of the 4th of August, 1824, called the law for the Classification of rents.
By this Decree:—
1. All Importation and Exportation duties of every kind, whether in the ports, or on the frontiers of the Republic; 2. The monopolies of Tobacco and Gunpowder, 3. The Post-office, 4. The Lottery, 5. The natural deposits of Salt, (Salinas.) 6. The revenues of the Territories of the Federation, 7. The produce of all National Property, (such as estates formerly belonging to the Inquisition, or to convents suppressed while Mexico was under the dominion of Spain,) 8. And all Buildings, Fortresses, Public Offices, and lands annexed to them, formerly considered as the property of the Crown, were declared to belong exclusively to the Federation, and to be consequently placed under the immediate control of the Supreme Government.
All other branches of revenue were made over to the States, which were left at liberty to regulate their own expenditure, according to their several resources.
A contribution, or Contingent of 3,136,875 dollars was established by the same Decree, to be levied in ​fixed proportions upon the States, in order to cover the deficit, which it was supposed might result, during the first years, at least, from the dilapidated state of many of the branches of the Revenue assigned to the Federation; and regular statistical returns were ordered to be made to the General Congress, from every part of the country, in order to enable the Chambers to form a new scale of Contingent, better adapted to the resources of the States, than that adopted in the first instance.
This Decree was followed by a second, dated the 21st of the same month, (September, 1824,) abolishing all the complicated offices, which, under the denomination of Intendencias, Direcciones, Contadurias, Cajas, &c. &c., had so much impeded the action of the machine under the Vice-regal government; and creating in their place a single Commissary-General in each of the principal States, who, assisted by a moderate number of clerks, and under the immediate orders of the Minister of Finance, was directed to take charge in person of every thing connected with the revenues of the Federation in his district; to receive the Contingent of the States, and the Custom-house duties; to pay the troops, and to superintend the Post-office, and all inferior departments.
This wise regulation may be considered as the first step towards the cleansing of that Augean Stable, in which the abuses of three centuries had accumulated. It simplified the whole system of Finance; ​and as, on the 17th of the following month, (October, 1824,) the States entered into possession of all their rights, as such, (in virtue of the Decree of the General Congress, No. 82,) and consequently took charge of their own revenues, the attention of the Supreme Government was thenceforward directed exclusively to the improvement of those branches, which had been set apart to cover the expenses of the Federation. Such were the circumstances under which Mr. Esteva took possession of the Ministry. In some respects, he was well qualified for the situation which he was called upon to fill; for he possessed great bodily and mental activity, and was animated by a sincere desire to introduce order, and regularity, into the chaos by which he was surrounded. But here his recommendations ceased: accustomed to business upon a small scale, he had no great or comprehensive views;—no power of appreciating the effects to be produced upon the internal resources of the country by the political change which it had undergone; or of adapting the new system of Finance to the wants which so different an order of things was calculated to create. He saw nothing at first but a Deficit, the amount of which filled him with apprehensions; and he discovered no means of avoiding this Deficit, but by a return to the old system of monopolies, high duties, and a strict limitation of trade.
A short analysis of the Report of January, 1825, ​will place Mr. Esteva's views in the clearest possible light.
The first and second parts of this Report, contained an estimate of the gross receipts of the twelve month which was about to commence, calculated upon those of the two preceding years.
These were rated at 10,690,608 dollars, from which, however, were to be deducted 1,317,543 dollars, being the available amount then remaining of Goldschmidt's Loan; so that the whole produce of the Mexican Revenue, in 1825, was not supposed to exceed 9,373,065 dollars.
Against this, an expenditure of nearly Eighteen millions of dollars, (without including the interest upon the Foreign Loans,) was set by the third part of the Report, viz.:—
| | Dollars. | | |
| Expense of collecting Revenue, Salaries, &c. | 920,235 | 7 | 9 |
| Ministry of Interior, and Foreign Affairs | 105,737 | | |
| Ministry of Justice and Ecclesiastical Affairs | 77,220 | | |
| Ministry of War | 12,000,000 | | |
| Ministry of the Navy | 2,934,533 | 4 | |
| Ministry of Finance | 1,083,143 | 1 | |
| Credits against Government, payable in 1825 | 865,804 | 7 | 8 |
| Total | 17,986,674 | 4 | 8 |
| | Dollars. | | |
| Receipts | 10,690,608 | 2 | 9 |
| Expenditure | 17,986,674 | 4 | 8 |
| Deficit | 7,296,066 | 1 | 1 |
| | or 8,613,609, | | |
if the amount to be received on the Loan account be deducted, (as it undoubtedly should be,) from the receipts.
The fourth and last part of Mr. Esteva's Report, (page 37 to 52) explains the means by which, in his opinion, this deficit might be covered. They were:—
1st. The re-establishment of the Monopoly of Tobacco on the same footing as in 1809, the Supreme Government being invested with powers similar to those exercised by the Viceroys, for the prevention of Smuggling. (Page 43.)
2dly. The closing of most of the ports recently opened to Foreign Trade, which are stated, "greatly to exceed in number the wants of the country, and to serve only to facilitate Smuggling." (Page 46,) And,
3dly. The raising of the Duties on gold and silver to the standard of 1799, which is recommended as expedient, both "because it would not be a great hardship to the miner to pay, in 1825, the duties which he could so well afford to pay in 1801, and because, at all events, the loss would fall, ​principally, upon Strangers, who had taken into account, in all their calculations, the late reduction of Mining duties." (Pages 46 and 49.)
Mr. Esteva calculated the produce of these branches of the Revenue upon that of the years of 1795 and 1799, and assured the Congress that, "if his suggestions were adopted, an addition of 6,649,563 dollars might be reckoned upon in the year, 1825, by which means the Deficit would be covered, and time left for the Government to reflect upon those reductions, which it so anxiously desired to effect." (Page 51.)
Fortunately for Mexico, the fallacy of this calculation, (by which the produce of the most flourishing period of the Vice-regal government was taken as the standard of that of a period of comparative disorder and distress,) and the narrow policy by which a return to the beaten path (la senda yà trillada) of the old Spanish Prohibitive System was recommended as the only road to salvation, did not escape the penetration of the Congress. The Committee appointed to analyze the Minister's Report, animadverted with great severity upon his confined and antisocial views, (proyectos mezquinos y antisociales;) they demonstrated the absurdity of supposing that the Contraband trade could be reduced by reducing the number of ports; (as if harbours did not remain harbours, whether the Government kept up an establishment there or not;) and the illiberality of recommending an increase in the Mining duties, (which ​even the Government of Spain had found it necessary to reduce,) "merely because the disadvantages of the change would fall principally upon Foreigners, who had engaged in Mining speculations, upon the faith of a public act of the Legislature." Finally, they observed upon the omission of any mention of the Public Debt, and pointed out the mode in which, by proper reductions in the Army, and a due attention to those branches of the Revenue, which were likely to reap most immediate benefit from the newborn liberty of the country, the Receipts might be made to cover the Expenditure, without crippling for ever the resources of the State, by striking, as Mr. Esteva proposed to do, at the very roots of its prosperity.
This Analysis, the argumentative parts of which Mr. Esteva in vain attempted to refute, was adopted almost in toto by the Congress. The Chambers refused to make any change in the revenue of Tobacco, or to close a single port, or to increase in any way the duties payable upon the precious metals, a proposal to which effect was brought forward by Mr. Esteva, and thrown out by a large majority, although supported by all his influence.
This check was of the greatest utility both to the country, and to himself: he renounced, from that moment, all idea of legislating, and confined himself to the organization of his Department, and to the observance of that system which was traced out for him by the Chambers. The activity and ​perseverance which he has displayed in this harassing task cannot be too highly spoken of: they gave new life to the system, and their effects were felt in the most distant parts. By a series of regulations, very severe, but very necessary where confusion had so long prevailed, subordination was established in every branch of the Finance department: the Commissaries were made strictly responsible for the conduct of all the inferior employés; absence from their posts, even for a day, without permission, was punished by the loss of employment; monthly, weekly, and even daily returns of receipts and expenditure, were ordered to be transmitted to the Treasury of the Capital; and thus data were obtained for the Estimates of subsequent years, the minuteness of which is the more curious, from its contrast to the total want of authentic information before Mr. Esteva's time.
It is upon these data that I shall form a general view of the Financial resources of Mexico, commencing with an account of the principal sources of its Revenue, and ending with a comparative table of the Receipts and Expenditure during the two last years.
I have already enumerated the particular branches assigned by the Law of the 4th of August, 1824, for the support of the Federal Government, most of which require no explanation. With respect to their relative importance, and to the probability of increase in each, the following observations may be of use. ​The Monopoly of Tobacco, from the time of its establishment in 1764 till the Revolution of 1810, was proved by experience to be one of the most productive, and least oppressive taxes possible. On a term of nearly thirty years it yielded a net annual profit of four millions of dollars; and although this was reduced to about half a million during the first part of the Civil war, the facility with which the disorder into which the establishment had fallen was remedied in 1817, and the importance which it regained in the short interval of tranquillity that afterwards occurred, (from 1818 to 1820), not unnaturally attracted the attention of the new Government after the establishment of the Independence.
After much discussion it was resolved, that the old Royal Monopoly should be kept up under certain modifications, which the change of system seemed to require. The cultivation of Tobacco was, therefore, prohibited throughout the Federation, with the exception of the district in the immediate vicinity of Orizaba and Cordova, where a certain quantity is ​raised annually, which the proprietors contract to deliver to the Government agents at three reals per pound.
The Tobacco thus purchased is remitted in leaf, (en rama) to Mexico, where there is an enormous manufactory of segars, in different shapes (puros y cigarros), on the account of the Supreme Government. The States have the option of either purchasing their supply in leaf, and working it up themselves, in which case they pay for their tobacco at eight reals (one dollar) per pound, (deducting all expenses of carriage, &c. which are defrayed by the Federation,) or of taking a stock of segars at once from the manufactory in the Capital, in which case the expense of labour and paper is added to the eight reals originally charged.
The retail price in the States is fixed at eleven reals per pound of wrought tobacco.
The profits of the Supreme Government are sufficiently evident from the preceding statement, as it sells for eight and eleven reals per pound, tobacco (wrought, or unwrought) which it purchases for three. Those of the States, which establish a segar manufactory (fabrica de tabacos) upon their own account, (purchasing tobacco in leaf of the Supreme Government at eight reals the pound,) will appear by the following table of the difference between the retail price of the box of Puros, (made up in the usual shape), and the expense of the labour and materials employed upon it.
A case of Puros de a 5
| | | | | | | | Dollars. | | | | |
| Contains 4000 papeles (little bundles of paper segars), which, at half a real each, make | | | | | | | 250 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| It requires | | | | | | | | | | | |
| 1631bs. 8oz. 15ads. 32grs. of tobacco, en rama, which, at 8 reals per lb. is | 163 | 4 | 5 | 7 | oct. | $\scriptstyle {\left.{\begin{matrix}\ \\\\\ \\\ \\\ \ \end{matrix}}\right\}\,$ | 207 | 4 | 9 | 6 | |
| A ream, six quires (manos), and 16 two-thirds sheets of paper, which, at 8 dollars the ream, is | 10 | 5 | 4 | 0 | | $\scriptstyle {\left.{\begin{matrix}\ \\\\\ \\\ \\\ \ \end{matrix}}\right\}\,$ | 207 | 4 | 9 | 6 | |
| Labour and share of general expenses | 33 | 2 | 11 | 7 | | $\scriptstyle {\left.{\begin{matrix}\ \\\\\ \\\ \\\ \ \end{matrix}}\right\}\,$ | 207 | 4 | 9 | 6 | |
| Profit | - | - | - | - | - | | 42 | 3 | 2 | 2 | oct. |
Upon the larger cases, (cajones), containing 4800, and 6000 papeles, the profits are calculated, respectively, at fifty-five dollars six reals, and seventy-seven dollars one real; so that, wherever the population is dense enough to ensure a sufficient consumption, the States derive great advantage from the establishment of a fabrica of their own, which, after the first few months, generally forms a very important item in their revenue.
The opposers of monopolies in general have not failed to animadvert upon the injudicious policy of retaining that of Tobacco in Mexico, and seem to think that the country would derive more advantage from the free cultivation and exportation of the plant. I confess that I am not myself of this opinion. Mexican Tobacco, as an article of exportation, would have to contend, in the European market with that of the Island of Cuba, to ​which it is undoubtedly inferior, and with that of the United States, with which it may be supposed to be much upon a par: it would likewise have to stand a competition with the Tobacco of the whole coast of Columbia and Brazil, both of which countries are as well qualified by nature for its production as Mexico; and as the demand in Europe has never been very great, it is probable that, by throwing in so large a supply at once, the price would be so much reduced as to leave but little profit to the original cultivator. Mellish states this to be already the case in the United States, since Tobacco, which, in 1818, was worth something more than a hundred and seventeen dollars the hogshead, had fallen, in 1821, to eighty-four dollars and a half. What then would be the effect of offering to the buyers such an enormous additional mass of produce as the New States might collectively yield, and would undoubtedly yield, were the cultivation of tobacco in all of them perfectly free from restraint? I see no means by which each could derive from its exportations an equivalent to the advantages which Mexico already derives from the monopoly as at present established; nor do I know any other branch of national industry, upon which taxation, to an equal amount, could be made to bear with fewer bad effects.
The produce of the Tobacco Monopoly will never equal, in the account of the yearly receipts of the Republic, the amount given by the estimates of the ​Vice-regal Government; because the profits are now divided amongst nineteen States, instead of being concentrated, as before, in one focus: but the effect upon the general interests of the country is the same, as these profits enable the States, in part, to cover their Contingent, and thus tend, though by a more circuitous route, to increase the Public Revenue.
Some little time is required for the proper organization of so extensive a department in all its branches; but as the quantity of tobacco in the Government magazines has increased enormously during the last three years, and was valued, in January 1827, at ten millions of dollars, regular remittances to the States may henceforward be made, and regular returns expected, until the consumption of the country equals that of 1808, when the net produce was 4,447,486 dollars.
Of the revenue to be derived from Gunpowder, Salt, the Post-office, and the Lottery, it is unnecessary to say more, than that all these branches are susceptible of great improvement. The progress made by each since 1824, will be subsequently shown; but in 1827, great reforms were still requisite. For instance, the supply of Gunpowder, to my certain knowledge, bore no sort of proportion to the demand, more than half the powder consumed in the Mining districts being contraband. There were only three powder-mills in the whole territory of the Republic; two in the immediate vicinity of the Capital, (at Chapoltepec and Santa Fē,) and one at ​Zăcătēcăs; which furnished together so precarious a supply, that the registered consumption of Guanajuato, at the time of my visit, did not amount to one half of that of the mine of Valenciana alone, during its more flourishing period. Salt, likewise, produced but little, although the demand is universal, and the consumption great.
The Post-office, under a different system, might be made to produce at least double what it now yields: as it is, there is so little security, the conveyance of letters is so slow, and the postage so high, that none have recourse to it who can forward their correspondence through any other channel, and yet the awakening activity of the country has given it importance.
The produce of the Mint of Mexico, (of which alone the Supreme Government has the direction, as belonging to a Federal City,) will never be comparable to that of former times, the Mining States having acquired the right of establishing Mints of their own, in which nine-tenths of the silver, formerly transmitted to the Capital, will henceforward be coined. But there are several very important mining districts in a circle around the Capital, (Real del Monte, Chīcŏ, Zimăpān, Tĕmăscāltĕpēc, Tāscŏ, and Tlălpŭjāhuă,) the produce of which will be sent to the Mint of Mexico in preference to any other; as will the silver from the mines of Ŏăxācă, where there is no Provincial Mint; so that, as soon as these districts become again productive, the Mint of the ​Capital may be expected to average from four to five times its present produce.
The duties on the exportation of silver (two per cent.) must likewise soon become of considerable importance, unless the most moderate computation of the amount of the precious metals to be raised in, or before, the year 1830, prove entirely unfounded, which I see no reason at present to suppose.
The importation duties on foreign goods, (Aduanas maritimas,) large as the amount of their net produce has been, (in January, 1827, they had yielded in ten months 6,855,633 dollars,) may undoubtedly become infinitely more productive. Smuggling is now carried on to an immense extent on the Eastern, and Western coasts. There was hardly a custom-house officer, in 1826, to the North of Tămpīcŏ on the one side, or of Săn Blās on the other; and the consequence was, that the most valuable cargoes were sent to Refugio, (at the mouth of the Rio Bravo,) or to Măzătlān, and Gūāymăs. (on the Gulph of California.) Custom-houses are now established at all these places; but the payment of duties is still easily evaded there, as there is no check upon the conduct of the officers employed. Indeed, the only radical cure appears to me to be the modification of the present Tariff, which alone can enable the established merchant to stand a competition with the illicit trader; and which, at the same time, by reducing the prices of the more necessary articles of consumption, will bring them within the reach of a ​larger body of consumers. I shall have occasion to enter more largely into this subject in the Fifth Section of this book.—Were the improvements, which have already passed once through the Chamber of Deputies, in Mexico, adopted, I should have little hesitation in stating that the Importation duties alone in New Spain, might, as soon as the mines begin again to produce, be made to cover nearly three-fourths of the whole annual expenditure of the country, including the interest upon the Foreign Loans.
The Contingent, soon after its establishment by the law of the 4th of August, 1824, was reduced first to two-thirds, and then to one half, its original amount, or 1,573,756 dollars; it being found impossible that the States, on the first adoption of the Federal System, should pay, at once, the quota assigned to them. Each had to go through a process similar to that which the General Government had itself undergone;—to assemble their Legislatures; to ascertain the nature and amount of their revenues; to simplify, as much as possible, the old system of collecting them; to establish Mints and Tobacco manufactories, in order to obtain their share of the advantages in which the new order of things allowed them to participate; and so to regulate their expenditure, as to provide means for meeting their engagements with the Federation.
This could only be the work of time; and to those who are acquainted with the state of Mexico in 1823, it is a matter of surprise to see how much ​three years have enabled the country to effect. The whole arrears of Contingent, up to January 1827, did not exceed 538,143 dollars, and there was every prospect that, in the course of the present year, a part of this debt would be liquidated.
The States of Dŭrāngŏ, Chĭhūāhuă, Yŭcătān, Ŏăxācă, Lă Pūēblă, Săn Luis Pŏtŏsī, Vĕrăcruz, and Zăcătēcăs, owed nothing to the Federation. The debt of several other States, (as Guănăjūātŏ, New Lĕōn, Cŏăhūilă, and Sŏnōră,) was very inconsiderable; while those whose arrears were largest, (Jălīscŏ, Mexico, Qŭerētărŏ, and Văllădŏlīd,) are precisely the States which, from the amount of their population, and the superiority of their internal resources, are best able, ultimately, to meet their engagements.
The arrears due to the Federation for Tobacco are much more considerable than those due on the account of the Contingent. By the official returns it appears, that, up to June 1826, the States had received Tobacco, wrought and unwrought, to the
| amount of | 3,950,890 |
| and had paid | 1,343,539 |
| Balance | 2,607,351 |
The repayment of which will require time. The amount of the deficit, however, proves the importance which this branch of the Revenue has already acquired, and, as all the establishments connected with it are now organized, its produce must ​henceforward increase both in regularity and amount. I do not, therefore, conceive that I estimate it too high, in giving two millions and a half as the probable gross receipt, in the year 1828.
I likewise think that the full half contingent, or 1,573,756 dollars, may be reckoned upon during the same period; and I am of opinion that, from the increasing home consumption of the country, the produce of the custom-houses will not fall short of the eight millions of dollars, at which Mr. Esteva estimates them, in his report for 1827.
Upon this supposition, I shall hazard a calculation of the probable revenue of Mexico in 1828; taking the gross receipts of the ten months ending the 1st of July, 1826, as the basis, with allowances for such moderate increase, as I conceive the general aspect of affairs to warrant; but omitting all the items included in the official returns of receipts for 1826, which originate in eventual or accidental causes, and are not included, by the law of the 4th of August, amongst the ordinary revenues of the Federation.
Estimate of Mexican Revenue in 1828.
| | Gross Receipts in 1826. | Net Produce in 1826. | Probable Produce in 1828. |
| | Dollars. | Dollars. | Dollars. |
| Importation Duties | 7,043,237 | 6,854,633 | 8,000,000 |
| Tobacco | 1,582,616 | 1,361,626 | 2,500,000 |
| Contingent | 1,368,452 | 1,368,452 | 1,573,756 |
| Gunpowder | 159,840 | 132,522 | 250,000 |
| Post-office | 224,543 | 87,462 | 320,000 |
| Lottery | 106,887 | 49,153 | 120,000 |
| Salinas | 65,813 | 44,921 | 75,000 |
| Mint | 170,670 | 15,607 | 250,000 |
| Inquisition (Property of) | 26,440 | 15,010 | 30,000 |
| Temporalidades (Convent property, &c.) | 34,456 | 21,475 | 40,000 |
| Duty on Silver exported | 48,525 | 48,525 | 75,000 |
| Stamps | 14,840 | 434 | 20,000 |
| Pulque | 29,353 | 29,353 | 35,000 |
| Assay and Apartado Duties | 21,074 | 19,128 | 21,074 |
| Fondo de Californias | 11,247 | 11,197 | 12,000 |
| Averia | 539,886 | 529,850 | 540,000 |
| Peages (Turnpikes) | 66,740 | 45,542 | 70,000 |
| | 11,514,619 | 10,634,890 | 13,931,830 |
Or, in round numbers, Fourteen millions of dollars, (allowing 68,170 dollars for arrears due, and other contingent receipts), which sum, I am convinced, that the country can only be prevented, by very great mismanagement, from producing.
Indeed, if Mr. Esteva's calculations can be depended upon, the Revenue has already very nearly equalled, my estimate for the year 1828.
The 11,514,619 dollars given in the preceding ​table, are the receipts, not of a year, but of a term of ten months.
Mr. Esteva, who includes in his general statement many eventual items, which I have omitted, (Diezmos, Reintegros, Donativos, &c.) makes the net
| produce amount to | 11,389,698 |
| To which he adds one fifth for | |
| the two remaining months | 2,277,939 |
| Thus making the sum total | 13,667,637 |
But, in a country where the duties on foreign goods form so important a part of the revenue, it is a fallacy to take the receipts of all the months of the year as equal. Nearly the whole supply of European goods for the Mexican market, is imported during the winter months, on account of the sickness that prevails upon the coast from April to October. It is, therefore, a palpable error to suppose that the receipts of July and August, (the two months not included in the statement presented to Congtess), must be equal to those of two of the winter months; and to add to the sum total of the produce of the custom-houses (7,043,237 dollars) one fifth, (or, 1,173,872 dollars), as a fair equivalent for the omission.
This observation does not apply equally to the other branches of the revenue; nor does it affect my estimate of the probable produce of the customhouses in the year 1828: but it may serve to ​explain the apparent contradiction of a surplus revenue of 304,538 dollars, as given by Mr. Esteva, in his Report of January 1827, and the difficulty in covering the actual engagements of the country, which certainly has been experienced.
To take a fair view of this subject, it will be necessary to consider the expenditure of Mexico, as compared with its receipts, according to the estimates for the present year, to which it seems neither necessary, nor probable, that any great addition will be made.
| | Dollars. |
| Ministry of Relaciones: (Home and Foreign Department) | 264,082 |
| Department of Justice and Ecclesiastical Affairs, including Supreme Tribunal | 226,098 |
| The Army | 9,073,932 |
| The Navy | 1,309,045 |
| The Congress, (salaries of Deputies and Senators; clerks, office expenses, &c.) | 402,064 |
| Interest on Goldschmidt's loan at five per cent | 973,600 |
| Interest on Barclay's Loan at six per cent | 1,136,000 |
| Finance Department, including salaries of President and Ministers, and all Federal officers, and charges of Tobacco, Gunpowder, &c. | 2,574,021 |
| Total | 15,958,842 |
| | Dollars. |
| Total expenditure | 15,958,842 |
| Reduction in War department | 2,595,744 |
| Remain | 13,363,098 |
| | Dollars. |
| Receipts, according to estimate given in Mr. Esteva's Report | 13,667,637 |
| Expenditure, as above | 13,363,098 |
| Balance, or Surplus Revenue | 304,539 |
Such is the result given by Mr. Esteva's official Report, of January 1827, and repeated in the Manifesto published by him, at the President's desire, on quitting the Ministry shortly afterwards.
It is unfortunately but too evident that this result is incorrect; for how, (it will be asked,) can Mexico, with a balance, however small, in her favour, have allowed her credit to be destroyed in Europe, as it has been during the present summer, by the non-remittance of the funds required for the payment of the dividends due upon her loans?
It is by no means easy to answer this question, ​unless by supposing, (as I have done,) that some miscalculation must have been made, both with regard to the actual receipts of the ten months, (although upon that subject there is less room for doubt,) and in the estimate of the contemplated produce of the other two. It was generally stated in Mexico, in 1826, that great exertions had been made in every branch of the Revenue department, as the time for making up the accounts approached, in order to give the most favourable view possible of the Finances of the country, by including in the receipts every thing that could in any way be comprehended in the term, which was to be submitted to Congress, as the basis of the Minister's calculations.
It is by no means improbable, therefore, that some of the inferior officers may, (intentionally, or inadvertently,) have augmented the receipts of the first ten months, by adding to them a part of the sums known to be due in the two last; in which case, the fifth added afterwards as the produce of these same months, would give a result doubly erroneous as the total produce of the year.
But even allowing 11,389,698 dollars, to have been the net boná fide receipts of ten months, still the fifth, which Mr. Esteva adds for the remaining two months, is, if not supposititious, at least not borne out by any positive data. Yet it is upon this supposition, that the fact of Mexico having ever yet had a surplus revenue, of one single dollar depends. ​Take for instance the actual expenditure, as given
| by the Finance Report: | 13,363,098 |
| And the actual Net Receipts | 11,389,698 |
| There will be a deficit of | 1,973,400 |
Add to the receipts one tenth, in lieu of one fifth, (as assumed by Mr. Esteva,) and there will still be a deficit of nearly one million, viz.:
| | | | Dollars. |
| | Expenditure | Expenditure | 13,363,098 |
| Receipts | 11,389,698 | $\scriptstyle {\left.{\begin{matrix}\ \\\ \end{matrix}}\right\}\,$ | 12,528,675 |
| One tenth | 1,138,969 | $\scriptstyle {\left.{\begin{matrix}\ \\\ \end{matrix}}\right\}\,$ | 12,528,675 |
| | Deficit | Deficit | 834,423 |
Add a seventh even, and still there is a deficit of 346,296 dollars. It is, therefore, upon the fact of the produce of the last two months having been equal, or very nearly so, to that of the other ten, that Mr. Esteva's whole calculation turns; and this, from all that I have stated, must, I fear, appear very doubtful.
Besides, it must not be forgotten, that while the receipts (upon paper) have been carried as high as possible, in order to produce the favourable result given by Mr. Esteva's Report, the estimates of the War Department were reduced considerably below the lowest estimate given for the year by the Minister of War, in the Report of which the Third Section of this Book contains an analysis.
The expenses of the Army and Navy, were there ​calculated at 10,378,678 dollars; while Mr. Esteva gives only 7,787,233 dollars; thus assuming as effective in 1827, the reductions which are pointed out as probable in 1828, and for which the expense of the squadron under Commodore Porter, and the reinforcements sent to Texas, can have left but little room in the present year.
It is, therefore, strongly to be presumed, that if the Receipts have been less, the Expences of the present twelvemonth have been considerably more, than was foreseen at its commencement; and if to this circumstance we add the amount of bills drawn upon the loan account, and protested here, which it was necessary to provide for in Mexico, although they were not included in the Estimates of either 1826 or 1827, and the total loss of 1,458,496 dollars, which still remain of the second loan, but of which the late embarrassments of the house of Barclay, have deprived the Mexican Government,—it will become evident, that a temporary embarrassment may have occurred, without there being any reason to consider it as likely, seriously to affect the credit, or resources of the country.
As the amount of the assistance which Mexico has received from foreign capitalists, is of some importance in considering the capability of the country to cover its own expenses, I shall conclude this Section with a short account of the Loans contracted in England, with the houses of Goldschmidt and ​Barclay, and a statement of their nominal value, and real produce.
The first Loan which was concluded with the house of Goldschmidt in 1823, for the sum of 3,200,000l. sterling, produced at 50, (at which price it was disposed of, though brought out at 58,) £1,600,000 or Eight millions of dollars, of which the Firm reserved for commission, payment of interest, &c. &c. 419,936l., which reduced the net produce of the loan to 1,180,064l. or 5,900,323 dollars; this being the whole amount received by Mexico, in return for having pledged her credit for Sixteen millions of dollars, bearing interest at five per cent.
The terms, it must be admitted, are usurious enough.
The second loan which was taken by the house of Barclay, in 1824, was for the same amount as the first, viz. 3,200,000l. sterling, bearing interest at six per cent.
| | | | | | £. | s. | d. |
| It was sold by commission, and produced at 86¾ | | | | | 2,776,000 | 0 | 0 |
| Deduct | £. | s. | d. | | | | |
| Commission | 166,560 | 0 | 0 | $\scriptstyle {\left.{\begin{matrix}\ \\\\\ \\\ \\\ \ \end{matrix}}\right\}\,$ | 1,405,502 | 9 | 3 |
| Interest on first eighteen months retained | 288,000 | 0 | 0 | $\scriptstyle {\left.{\begin{matrix}\ \\\\\ \\\ \\\ \ \end{matrix}}\right\}\,$ | 1,405,502 | 9 | 3 |
| Sinking Fund | 48,000 | 0 | 0 | $\scriptstyle {\left.{\begin{matrix}\ \\\\\ \\\ \\\ \ \end{matrix}}\right\}\,$ | 1,405,502 | 9 | 3 |
| Ditto for first loan | 694,000 | 0 | 0 | $\scriptstyle {\left.{\begin{matrix}\ \\\\\ \\\ \\\ \ \end{matrix}}\right\}\,$ | 1,405,502 | 9 | 3 |
| Contingent Expenses | 8,942 | 9 | 3 | $\scriptstyle {\left.{\begin{matrix}\ \\\\\ \\\ \\\ \ \end{matrix}}\right\}\,$ | 1,405,502 | 9 | 3 |
| Money previously advanced with interest | 200,000 | 0 | 0 | $\scriptstyle {\left.{\begin{matrix}\ \\\\\ \\\ \\\ \ \end{matrix}}\right\}\,$ | 1,405,502 | 9 | 3 |
| | | | Net Produce | | 1370,497 | 10 | 9 |
| | | | Or dollars | | 6,852,487 | | |
| | £. | | s. | | d. |
| It appears farther, that from this net produce of | 1,370,497 | : | 10 | : | 9 |
| We must deduct | 291,699 | : | 5 | : | 8 |
| which the house of Barclay has not been able to make good, so that | 1,078,792 | : | 5 | : | 8 |
or 5,393,991 dollars, will be in reality, found to be the only portion of the second loan, that has been applied to the internal wants of Mexico, during the last three years.
Of the mode in which this has been expended, nothing certain can be known, until the accounts of the last two years are laid in detail before the Congress: much has been said of injudicious expenditure; and it is by no means improbable, that in this respect, a sudden command of money may have produced its usual effects; but some good has at all events been mingled with the evil. By the statements which Mr. Esteva has already published, it appears that a considerable part of the proceeds of the loans has been employed in the following manner.
| | Dollars. |
| Purchase of Tobacco and paper for Fabrica, with arrears due on preceding years | 1,616,256 |
| Old Credits paid | 439,287 |
| Arms, Shipping, Clothing for troops, &c. | 917,549 |
| Foreign Missions | 108,995 |
| Remittances to California, and for defence of frontiers | 400,000 |
| In all | 3,482,087 |
It now only remains for me to recapitulate the leading facts contained in the preceding pages.
The Revenue, for twenty years before the Revolution, (from 1790 to 1810,) averaged, according to the most authentic returns, twenty millions of dollars annually.
Two of the principal sources of this revenue, the Duties on gold and silver, and the Indian Capitation
| tax, which produced, the first | 5,500,000 dollars |
| and the second | 1,300,000 |
| In all | 6,800,000 |
have been abolished under the present System, (the one temporarily, the other for ever;) but their place is supplied by the Importation and Exportation duties, which, from the importance that the trade of the country has already acquired, have actually produced, as we have seen, 7,043,237 dollars in one year, in lieu of the 500,000 dollars, at which they were estimated under the Viceregal Government.
The Monopolies of Tobacco and Gunpowder, the Post-office, the Lottery, and the duty upon Pulque, (in the Federal City,) remain unchanged; the monopoly of Salt has been added. The confiscated ​property of Convents, and the Inquisition, may be set against the Media Anata and Mesada; and although the Alcavalas, (which alone produced 3,000,000 dollars,) together with the minor branches of Cards, Stamps, Licenses for cockpits, and a portion of the Tithes, have been made over to the States, the Contingent to be paid by them in return, (3,136,875 dollars), will more than cover the deficiency.
There is, therefore, no reason to suppose that the revenue of the Federal Government will be less, ultimately, than that formerly derived from the country by Spain. But time and tranquillity are necessary in order to repair the devastation occasioned by the late struggle, and even if the mines prosper in no ordinary degree early in the ensuing year, I should think that 1835 would be the earliest period at which it may reasonably be expected that the receipts of the Mexican Treasury can again equal those of 1803.
In the mean time, however, some progress has been made.
Of the produce of the Revenue from 1810 to 1821, nothing certain is known; it is, however, generally supposed not to have exceeded fourteen millions of dollars.
| | Dollars. |
| After the overthrow of the Spanish Government by Iturbide, the receipts fell, in 1823, to | 5,409,722 |
| in 1824, they did not certainly exceed | 8,452,828 |
| | Dollars. |
| in 1825, they may be taken, as a minimum, at | 11,500,000 |
| and in 1826, at | 13,000,000 |
adding something less than one seventh to the actual receipts of the ten months, included in Mr. Esteva's memoir of 1827, in lieu of the fifth, which is there given as the produce of the two months, the accounts for which had not been made up.
| During the same period, the estimates of expenditure have been reduced, from | 17,986,674 dollars |
| or, with the interest on the foreign loans, not included above, | 2,109,600 |
| | 20,096,274 |
to 13,363,098 dollars: so that even allowing one million of dollars over and above Mr. Esteva's estimate, for expenses in the War Department, still, a saving of nearly six millions of dollars will have been effected in the course of four years: viz.
| | Dollars. |
| Estimates for 1827, including interest on loans | 13,363,098 |
| Add one million for War Department | 14,363,098 |
| Estimates for 1825, With Dividends on loan | 20,096,274 |
| Saving in 1827 | 5,733,176 |
This is a result, which ought to afford more satisfaction to those whose interests have been affected ​by the late want of remittances from Mexico, than the most specious attempt to demonstrate, upon paper, the existence of a Surplus Revenue, from which no practical benefit can be derived. It proves that the resources of the country are unimpaired; that, with very limited assistance from foreign capitalists, the Revenue department has been re-organized, the complicated machinery of former times simplified; and a system established, which has already produced, in ten months, eleven millions and a half of dollars; and that, although the Receipts do not yet quite cover the Expenditure, there is every prospect that they will do so in 1828, since that expenditure can hardly exceed the Estimates of the present year, while a lamentable change indeed must take place, in order to prevent the Revenue from producing the fourteen millions of dollars, at which, upon the most careful, and dispassionate computation, I have estimated it in the preceding pages.
For the information of those who may wish to see, more in detail, the various items of the Public Expenditure in the different Departments, I annex a Table of the Estimates of each, as given in the Finance Report of 1827.
Of the Revenues of the States, which consist, in general, of
1. Mint duties. 2. Alcavalas. 3. Three per cent, duty on foreign goods consumed in the territory of each State, (Granted by General Congress.) Profits on sale of tobacco.
4. Three per cent, on silver exported. 5. Stamps. 6. Income tax, (where established by State Congress) and such Municipal Duties, 7. On Pulque, Theatres, Bull-fights, Cock-pits, &c., as each State may think fit to enact,
I shall have occasion to speak more at large, in Books V. and VI., which contain an account of my journey into the Interior. Here, they are only of importance inasmuch as they do, or do not, enable the States to cover their engagements with the Federation, on which the Public Revenue, and, consequently, the Public Credit, in part depends. This point has been already considered.
GENERAL TABLE OF EXPENDITURE IN 1827.
Department of Home and Foreign Affairs.
| | Dollars. |
| Office Expences, and Clerks | 35,295 |
| Mission to Pănămā | 31,987 |
| Mission to the United States | 17,200 |
| Mission to Columbia | 19,000 |
| Mission to England | 27,040 |
| Special Mission of Mr. Camacho, in all, | 28,000 |
| Mission to Holland | 17,640 |
| General Archive Office | 10,724 |
| Commission of Boundaries to the North | 15,000 |
| Survey of the Guăsăcūalcŏ | 4,500 |
| Botanical Garden | 2,849 |
| Chăpūltĕpēc | 5,470 |
| National School of Surgery | 1,500 |
| Mexican Antiquities (Museum) | 4,282 |
| Huĕhuĕtōcă Commission | 2,350 |
| Governor of Federal District | 4,000 |
| Expences of his Office | 5,060 |
| Nightly Watch in Mexico | 53,512 |
| Gefe Politico of Alta California | 5,000 |
| Gefe Politico of Baja California | 5,000 |
| Gefe Politico of Tlăscălă | 2,220 |
| Gefe Politico of New Mexico | 850 |
| | Dollars. |
| Cesantes | 4,520 |
| Academy of San Carlos | 10,992 |
| College of San Juan de Lĕtrān | 1,378 |
| Pension to Madame Iturbide | 8,000 |
| Pension to Iturbide's Sister | 3,000 |
| Repairs in Palace, &c. | 6,348 |
| Government Printing Establishment | 24,556 |
| Total | 317,273 |
Note. The amount assigned to the Home and Foreign Department considerably exceeds the amount authorized by Congress before 1827, but includes the additions proposed by Government for the present year. The authorized estimates are 264,082 dollars.
Department of Justice and Ecclesiastical Affairs.
| | Dollars. |
| Office expences. Clerks, &c. | 24,520 |
| Supreme Tribunal of Justice | 72,300 |
| Tribunals of Districts | 32,000 |
| Inferior Courts | 42,000 |
| Courts of Federal District | 17,168 |
| Mission to Rome | 15,520 |
| Ecclesiastical Missions (amongst the Indians) | 7,590 |
| Extraordinaries, in all | 15,000 |
| Total | 226,098 |
War Department.
| | Dollars. |
| Office expences. Clerks, &c. | 30,120 |
| Estado Mayor | 79,969 |
| Inspector-General of Militia | 300 |
| Commissary-General's Office | 8,242 |
| Two General Commandants of Eastern and Western Internal States | 8,000 |
| Five Sub-inspectors in id. | 15,000 |
| Office expences of all the Military Comandancias, Postage, &c. | 13,040 |
| Eight Generals of Division, employed | 48,000 |
| Two ditto, on half pay | 8,000 |
| Fourteen Generals of Brigade, employed | 63,000 |
| Two ditto, on half pay | 6,000 |
| Ten ditto, unattached | 23,989 |
| Medical Department | 58,706 |
| Engineers and College | 24,877 |
| Three Brigades of Artillery (line) | 492,253 |
| Twelve Battalions of Infantry (line) | 1,760,541 |
| Twelve Regiments of Cavalry (line) | 1,830,060 |
| Five Companies of Cavalry (line) in California | 114,767 |
| Twenty-nine Companies of ditto in Eastern and Western Internal States | 829,366 |
| Eleven Companies of Infantry and Cavalry (Coasts) | 200,442 |
| Twelve Companies of Invalids | 18,688 |
| | Dollars. |
| Four Battalions of Militia under arms, (Interior) | 654,761 |
| Ditto on the Coast | 350,492 |
| Three Squadrons and three Companies (Sueltas) Coast | 298,459 |
| Fifteen Companies of Cavalry (Militia) under arms in the North | 420,360 |
| Captains, Sergeants, &c. of the Twelve Companies of Artillery (Militia) | 28,460 |
| Captains, Sergeants, &c. (Planas mayores) of the Battalions of Militia (Sixteen) not under arms | 130,340 |
| Ordnance Department | 31,594 |
| Officers attached to different Corps | 293,965 |
| Officers on half pay, pensions, &c. | 1,005,795 |
| Widow of General O'Donoju | 12,000 |
| Extraordinary Expences | 100,951 |
| Repairs of Barracks, &c. | 60,000 |
| Expence of moving different Corps | 52,993 |
| Total | 9,073,531 |
The Navy.
| | Dollars. |
| Offices in the Departments | 23593 |
| Engineers and School | 6212 |
| Offices of Accounts and Repairs | 24,522 |
| Carried forward | 52,373 |
| | Dollars. |
| Brought forward | 52,373 |
| Chaplains | 1,233 |
| Surgeons and Hospital of San Blas | 7,177 |
| Officers on half pay | 3,302 |
| Widows' Pensions, &c. | 1,564 |
| Officers of Launches, &c. Port's. | 14,438 |
| Rondines (Watchmen) | 6,289 |
| Criminals sentenced to labour | 2,555 |
| The Ship of the Line, Congress | 272,771 |
| Frigates, Lĭbĕrtād and Tĕpĕyāc | 268,444 |
| Corvette, Morelos | 54,740 |
| Brig, Guerrero | 99,396 |
| Brig, Victoria | 52,836 |
| Brig, Bravo | 44,516 |
| Brig, Constante | 37,285 |
| Goleta, Hermon | 28,139 |
| Four Gun-boats | 87,765 |
| Four Goletas | 67,263 |
| Two California Packets | 11,782 |
| Naval Artillery | 30,196 |
| Repairs of Storehouses, &c. | 19,638 |
| Repairs of Dockyard | 143,442 |
| Total | 1,309,045 |
FINANCE DEPARTMENT.
General Congress.
| | Dollars. |
| Salaries of Deputies | 218,000 |
| Salaries of Senators | 109,000 |
| Clerks in Secretaries' Office | 12,900 |
| Expences | 1,440 |
| Office of Secretaries of Senate | 7,900 |
| Expences | 1,063 |
| Office of Drawing-out Decrees (de Redaccion) | 7,861 |
| Clerks in the Audit Office, and in Department of Public Credit | 43,400 |
| Expences | 500 |
| Total | 402,064 |
Other Finance Departments.
| Salaries of President and Vice-President | 46,000 |
| Clerks of Department | 28,120 |
| Receiver-General's Office (Cuenta y Razon) | 38,200 |
| Audit Office (de Rezagos) | 12,074 |
| Expences of preceding Offices | 3,000 |
| The Treasury | 44,623 |
| Storekeepers, &c. | 3,000 |
| Offices of Commissaries-General | 150,000 |
| Carried forward | 325,017 |
| | Dollars. |
| Brought forward | 325,017 |
| Farther Expences required | 20,000 |
| General Finance Expences | 140,000 |
| Clerks of other Offices | 98,000 |
| Cesantes (half pay) | 145,000 |
| Pensions | 18,415 |
| Pensions (on Church) | 9,436 |
| Pensions (on Finance) | 81,632 |
| Pensions (on Revenue) | 11,525 |
| Twenty thousand Tercios of Tobacco | 1,075,000 |
| Tobacco Manufactory | 355,546 |
| Powder Mills | 173,150 |
| Pensions of Montepios | 31,300 |
| Extraordinary Expences | 100,000 |
| Total | 2,574,021 |
| Interest on First Loan | 973,600 |
| Interest on Second Loan | 1,136,000 |
| General Congress (as stated) | 402,064 |
| Total Expences of Department of Hacienda (Finance) | 5,085,685 |
General View.
| | Dollars. |
| Ministry of Relaciones | 264,082 |
| The Army and Navy, with reduction of one-fourth of Estimate | 7,787,233 |
| Ministry of Justice | 226,098 |
| Ministry of Finance | 5,085,685 |
| Total | 13,363,098 |
Note. To this I should, for the reasons stated in the preceding Section, add, at least, one million of dollars, in order to cover the expences in the Departments of War and Foreign Affairs, not included in Mr. Estera's estimate; so that Fourteen millions and a half of dollars may be taken as the lowest (boná fide) Expenditure in the year. In 1829, when the War expences are brought down to the Minimum of Seven millions. Thirteen millions and a half will cover all the ordinary charges.
I have already expressed my opinion as to the probability of this sum being realized.
* ↑ Vide Decree of Congress, No. 70.—"Clasificacion de Rentas."—Guia de Hacienda, p. 1.
* ↑ Humboldt gives the annexed table for the years 1801 and 1802:—   Tobacco made up 1801. 1802. Value of Tobacco made up at retail price 7,825,913 7,686,834 Expenses 1,299,411 1,285,199 Pensions and Salaries 798,482 794,580 Price of Tobacco 626,319 592,229 Net profit 3,993,834 4,092,629