Page:Mexico (1829) Volumes 1 and 2.djvu/485

M EX I CO. 445 to the Mining interests, has been withdrawn from the coun- try, or diverted into other channels. The outlay of the Companies is not, by any means, an equivalent for that capi- tal ; and many years must elapse before that equivalent be found : I mean, before a system can be re-organised, that will give to every class of Mining adventurers the facilities, and advantages, which they enjoyed before 1810. A great proportion of the expenditure of the Companies consists, at present, in dead works, — Amalgamation works, — roads, and stock, — all indispensable as preparations, and highly beneficial to the country in general, but not to the interest of the miners, (I mean, those not employed in the Companies,) to whom Avios, or advances in money, are essential, which they can no longer obtain. Besides, the mining population itself has decreased, and there are many districts in which a want of hands is severely felt. I do not, therefore, think it pro- bable that, even under the most favourable circumstances, the produce of the country can, for some time, exceed the amount of the present coinage, added to that given by my calculation of the probable produce of the Companies, which would make a total of about twenty millions of dollars. To this I think it may rise in the year 1830 ; and should it do so, the increase afterwards will be gradual, but pro- gressive; new mines will be brought into activity as the present scarcity of capital diminishes ; and, provided public tranquillity be not disturbed, there is reason to believe that the produce of the mines of Mexico, in five years after that time (1835) will be nearly equal to the annual average amount derived from them before the Revolution. In taking this view of the subject, I feel myself bound to state that I have been thought too sanguine by many persons to whom I have communicated it, and, amongst others, by some, for whose general knowledge of Mexico I have the highest respect ; but at the same time I must add, that the apprehensions, which I have heard expressed, originate