362 MEXICO. Fifth, have disappeared; and their loss is the more to be regretted, as they would have furnished data, upon which the total produce might have been easily, and correctly computed. The Coinage, therefore, is the only standard that can now be adopted ; and although this, from its nature, cannot com- prehend the whole amount of the precious metals raised, (some portion of which, in each year, was not converted into dollars,) yet, if about one million of dollars be added to the average of the Mint returns, for Silver not registered at all, and registered Silver worked up into plate, (the abundance of which, in Mexico, was, at one time, proverbial,) there will not, I believe, be any reason to suppose that the actual pro- duce of the country, during the fifteen years preceding the Revolution, much exceeded the estimate thus formed. With regard to the Second Period, which commences with the Civil War, the difficulty of forming any correct calcula- tion of the annual produce of the country, is much increased. The returns of the Mint of Mexico are of no avail, as, during the years 1810, 1811, and 1812, Mints were estabhsh- ed at Guanajuato, Zacatecas, Guadalajara, andDurango, with which the Mint of the Capital had no connexion, and over which it exercised no control. Nor do the returns of all these establishments combined, lead to a more satisfactory result ; for there are many ob- vious reasons why they cannot be regarded as affording a correct estimate of the produce : 1st. Because a large proportion of the silver sent to the Mints was not silver then extracted from the mines, but plate belonging to Churches and private families, the Avhole of which was melted down during the Revolution, in order to supply the rapid decrease of the circulating medium. 2ndly. Because the Coinage in the Provincial Mints was so bad,* and the quantity of base metal used as alloy so
- The dollars which have survived this period of disorder, are now
only taken at a discount of from fifteen to twenty per cent.
