Page:Mexico (1829) Volumes 1 and 2.djvu/391

MEXICO. 351 was subsequently obtained, (16th of March,) but, from the vague terms in which it was worded, another doubt arose as to whether the Import duties were to be paid on the goods being " dispatched,"" at the Custom-house on the coast, (most of them having been in Deposit three and four months,) or whether the ninety days, allowed by law for the payment of the duties, were to be reckoned from the date of the decision of the Congress respecting the valuations. Upon this point, a verbal promise had been given by Mr. Esteva, who agreed, at a very early period of the discussion, that, from the moment that the appeal against the increased valuations was entered, and admitted by the Government, the time which might intervene between the date of this appeal, and the decision of the Chambers respecting it, should not be included in the legal term of Deposit. But Mr. Esteva having quitted the ministry, his succes- sor, (Mr. Salgado,) did not, at first, conceive himself to be bound by this promise, and refused to interpret the silence of the Senate with regard to a point, upon which, as far as British interests were concerned, the whole question turned; — as, to most of the houses concerned, the immediate pay- ment of the duties, which amounted to no less a sum than Seven hundred thousand dollars, (=£^1 40,000,) would have been hardly less disadvantageous than the re-exportation of the goods. The Collectors upon the coast, left again to act upon their own responsibility, insisted, of course, upon the payment of the duties as soon as the goods were withdrawn from the Go- vernment Magazines, and, in some instances, actually pro- ceeded to enforce it. The consequence was, that new repre- sentations to the Government became necessary, and business was, once more, at a stand, until the point was referred by the Ministers to the President himself, who, immediately, de- cided it in favour of the merchants, and directed orders to be given to the Collectors upon the coast, so clear, and defini-