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annual produce in the beginning of the century may be placed at 23,000,000 pesos.^[1]

The revenue derived by the crown from this flood of wealth amounted to about sixteen per cent on silver, and nineteen on gold admixtures.^[2] During a term of twenty-five years, comprising part of the most flourishing mining period, from 1765 to 1789, the total revenue, according to official statements, amounted to $43,641,469.^[3] The district of Guanajuato alone paid from 1760 till 1780, more than $13,000,000, and during the whole eighteenth century about $41,000,000. There is no doubt, however, that a wiser policy on the part of the crown, especially if initiated at an earlier period, would have produced a still better result. Before reformations were firmly established, political convulsions came to neutralize their influence, and reluctant admission had to be given to foreign capital to effect that for which Mexico felt herself unequal, as I shall have occasion to explain in a later volume.

 

Numerous as are the authorities consulted by me for this chapter, not one among them affords a complete view of the development of the mining industry, although the voluminous matter in Humboldt and other writers might lead one to expect a more thorough result. Here, as in many other places, I have had literally to grope my way in search of long-hidden material ere I could apply the refining process. One of the most valuable aids for the task which covers not only a special subject, but between lines gives many items of mining history, is the compilation of laws, published in 1783, and repeatedly quoted, the Reales Ordenonzas. . . de la Minería, Madrid, 1783, pp. 214, of which I possess an official copy with the rúbrica of the minister Josef de Galvez, besides such modern editions as that of Paris, 1870, pp. 335, xlviii. It is indeed remarkable not only for contents, but for style, differing as it does from the verboseness so common to Spanish writings. The language in the petition of the mining body has a clear business ring, and conveys the impression of men animated by stanch energy, patriotism, and

1. Revilla Gigedo asserts that but a small amount of metal failed to pass through the mint, but he would hardly have cared to disclose a high figure had it been known to him. Instruc., 118.
2. Besides the tenth, one per cent was charged, and the derecho de monedage y señoreage, of 3 2-5 reales for every mark of silver. The duty on pure gold was reduced to 3 per cent by royal cédula of March 1, 1777. Fonseca and Urrutía, Hist. Real Hac., i. 39.
3. In 1777 alone it was $1,636,577. Vireyes, Instruc., MS., série i. pt. iv.