rich lodes of San Luis Potosí, and of Zacatecas, in 1548.[1]
From the first, the development of mines had met with the favor of the crown; and franchises and privileges contributed to swell the number of adventurers, who strove to acquire immediate wealth. The great conqueror, Cortés himself, had set the example, by separating for his own share valuable tracts of metalliferous land, and many were eager to secure a similar chance of prosperity. Contrary to the usual policy, the government generously refrained from appropriating to itself the exploitation.[2] Nominally the mines belonged to the crown, but since 152G they were practically made common property, in so far as with (certain formalities all free inhabitants, indiscriminately, whether Spaniards or natives, were entitled to work them.[3] Only certain officials were excluded to prevent abuses, and friars and priests were not allowed to be interested in mining schemes. In later years, rewards were fixed for the discovery of new mines, and orders issued to the viceroys to foster exploitations in every possible way.[4] Mining implements, supplies, and slaves of the proprietors of mines could not be attached unless for debts to the crown, and executions could be levied only against the prod-
- ↑ The latter date is given in Beaumont, Crón. Mich., iv. 580, 582; v. 98; Berghes, Descrip. Zacatecas, 3; Humholdt, Essai Pol., ii. 499, 534. Alaman, however, followed by Prescott, Mex., iii. 332, asserts that documents in the archives of the family of Cortés prove that the latter worked mines in Zacatecas during his lifetime, and consequently before 1548. Esposicion, 25, 01. The site of Zacatecas had not been discovered till 1546. See Hist. Mex., ii. 761, this series. In his Hist. Méj., i. 100, Alaman intimates that the mines of Zacatecas were not worked until 1550. Cavo, Tres Siglos, i. 105, followed by Zamacois, Hist. Méj., iv. 560, gives the date as 1531.
- ↑ In the early time, however, it seems that the government began the exploitation of certain mines, for a law of 1573, later reiterated, authorizes the viceroys to alienate crown mines, except those of sulphur, if such an operation be of benefit to the royal treasury. Recop. de Ind., ii. 49.3-4.
- ↑ The law, dated November 9, 1526, is given in full in Puga, Cedulario, 12, 21. It was repeated and reformed in 1551, 1563, 1568, and 1575. Recop. Ind., ii. 08, 71; Montemayor, Sumarios, 203.
- ↑ Robertson, Hist. Am., ii. 391-2, censures the policy of Spain in favoring the development of mines, as against agriculture and industries. But it was too much to expect of royalty in those days, that it should study the permanent interest of the colony instead of its own immediate desires.
