more immediately under consideration, viz.: the comparative Produce and Exports of the Precious Metals in Mexico:—they appear to be,
1st. That the annual average Produce of the Mines of Mexico, before the Revolution, amounted to twenty-four millions of dollars, and the average Exports to twenty-two millions; and,
2ndly. That, since the Revolution, the Produce has been reduced to eleven millions of dollars, while the Exports in specie have averaged 13,587,052 dollars in each year.
To this I may add that the produce has decreased latterly, in consequence of the sudden abstraction of that portion of the Spanish capital, that still remained in the country, after the declaration of Independence in 1821.
The Old Spaniards, who had survived the first years of the Revolutionary War, (in the course of which many transferred the whole bulk of their convertible property to Europe,) retained a sufficient portion of their funds in circulation to give a certain activity to trade, and to the mines, in which most of them were, directly, or indirectly, engaged.
The Produce rose in consequence, (as tranquillity and confidence were restored,) from Four millions and a half of dollars (to which it had fallen in 1812) to Six, Nine, Eleven, and Twelve millions, which was the amount of the Coinage, in 1819, in the Capital alone.
In 1820, the Revolution in Spain, and the ap-
