404 MEXICO. have been committed in this respect, and the consequences to which they have led, it will be necessary to state the num- ber of the Companies actually in existence, the amount of the capital invested in them, and the States and Districts in which it is embarked. Without reckoning any of those Associations which started up, during the general mania for Mining, in England, and threw up their engagements in Mexico as soon as the feeling in favour of such undertakings subsided, there are, at the present moment. Seven great English Companies, besides One German, and Two American Companies, employed in working Mines in different parts of the Federation. Of the names of these Companies, the nominal capital of each,* the capital actually invested, and the States, in which their labours are carrying on, a succinct account will be found in the following sketch.
- I use the epithet nominal, because great reluctance seems to have
been shown latterly, on the part of the Shareholders of some Companies, to complete the advances for which they have rendered themselves lia- ble ; as if, had it been possible to restore the Mines to activity without a real, and bond Jide investment to a much larger amount than they could themselves supply, the Mexicans would ever have consented to allow Foreigners to participate in those advantages, of which, during three centuries, their mines have been the source.
