and silver were considered as commodities of a peculiar kind, having an intrinsic value of a nature quite different from that, which attaches to any other articles of commerce.

Nor were the cobwebs of these prejudices entirely brushed away, till the comparatively recent investigations of these subjects produced the new science of political economy, which has developed principles of the utmost utility, and of universal application. The commerce of the civilised world is fast settling down on a broad and permanent basis, and gradually yielding to principles, which will give it a uniform character; industry has its definite motives; and the laws, which regulate human enterprise and action, have been reduced to a science, calculated to promote the best purposes of the social union in an unlimited progression. Some of the older countries have already begun to be richly profited by this science, and it is one of the most encouraging indications of the future prosperity of the southern republics, that their prominent legislators show themselves, by their public acts, to be well acquainted with the results, at which the experience and wisdom of the best regulated governments have arrived.

Among the most enlightened statesmen of the south, may be ranked Mr Lucas Alaman, who has for the last two years been Secretary of State for the Home Department and Foreign Affairs in Mexico. He was born in the city of Guanaxuato, the capital of the rich mining district by that name, and is now thirtyfour years old. Till the age of nineteen he lived in his native city, or province, and early imbibed a taste for the sciences, particularly mineralogy. At this age he removed to the city of Mexico, where he devoted himself to his favorite studies, and became distinguished as a mathematician. To obtain a more thorough education, than his native country afforded, he went over to Europe, and after residing for a time in the schools of Madrid, he spent five years in travelling through the different countries of the continent, examining carefully the modes of government, laws, and institutions of each. At the end of seven years' absence he went back to Mexico, in 1820, prepared to take such a part in public transactions, as the exigencies of the time demanded, or as the voice of his countrymen might indicate. He was immediately chosen in the province of Guanaxuato, to be one of the Mexican deputies to the Cortes in Madrid,

for which place he and his colleagues speedily took their departure. In the Cortes he was bold, independent, and unwearied in representing and defending the claims of Mexico to the privileges of self government, and the character of a separate nation. The unsuccessful efforts of the Mexican deputies, and the succeeding events in Spain, are well known.

From Madrid, Alaman proceeded to Paris, where he endeavored to form and organise a company for working the mines in Mexico. Failing in this attempt, he revived the project in London, and a company was soon established, under the name of the United Mexican Mining Association. To encourage the undertaking, Alaman promised to assume the direction of the Company's concerns in his own country. Operations are already commenced, and thus far the anticipations of the company are fully realised. At the end of the year 1822, he returned to Mexico, just in time to witness the overthrow of Iturbide's mock imperial dynasty; and under the provisional government, which was erected in the March following, consisting of the old congress, and Bravo, Guadalupe Victoria, and Negrete, as the executive, Alaman was appointed secretary for the home department and foreign affairs, which post he has ever since held. His report, at the time of his first appointment, to the old congress then in session, and his report in January last to the congress assembled under the new constitution, are proofs sufficient of his ability to fill with dignity and wisdom the high and responsible office, to which he has been called.

It is a favorite opinion of Alaman, and unquestionably a correct one, that the mining interests are at present of greater importance to Mexico, than any other. In both his reports he has set this subject in a strong light. According to Humboldt, there are three thousand mines in New Spain, from which the precious metals have been extracted. It is remarked, also, of the Mexican mines, that the ore is poor in quality, although abundant in quantity, and hence it must require a great amount of manual labor to work them. The persons employed in the celebrated mine of Valenciana alone were upwards of two thousand. This mass of population devoted to the mines must draw its support from the products of the surrounding country, and thus give an impulse to agriculture, manufactures, and all the mechanic arts useful in the

common purposes of life. Industry will be quickened, and an active, enterprising population increased, in proportion to the demand for the results of different kinds of labor; and, moreover, these same agriculturalists and manufacturers, who supply the wants of the miners, will themselves want articles of foreign growth, which will be paid for by the produce of the mines. In this way a healthful circulation will be kept up through all the veins and arteries of the republic; external commerce, and internal trade, industry, and wealth will flourish together. This truth is confirmed by the present state of the mining districts, which enjoyed a high degree of prosperity, while the mines were worked, even under the restrictions of the old oppressive government, but which have become depopulated and miserable as the mining operations have ceased. In short, the precious metals in Mexico are to be regarded in the same light, as the great staple commodities of other countries, the cotton, tobacco, and flour of the United States, and the coffee and sugar of the West Indies. And such is the aspect in which Alaman, and the enlightened statesmen of Mexico, after conquering old prejudices, now view them, and on this principle the business of mining is beginning to be renewed with vigor, and under auspices that ensure success. By the secretary's last report it appears, that three companies have been formed in England, and one in Germany, for mining operations in Mexico. A large capital is already made effective for the purpose, and the mines of Guanaxuato, Valenciana, Del Monte, Rayas, Cata, Sirena, and Catorce, are now in action. The mine of Conception has also been drained by a steam engine, and another is set up at Temascaltepec. These machines have fully answered expectation, and, where fuel abounds, may be used to great advantage, but the secretary accounts the introduction of them generally as a question difficult to be solved. In what the difficulty consists he leaves us to conjecture.

But it is time for us to return to the report of the committee on finance and mines, with which we set out. We have given way to these remarks on the labors of Mr Alaman, because we believe him to have been chiefly instrumental in establishing, among his countrymen, the liberal and sound policy, on which the report is founded, and because he has been a zealous promoter of the projects for improving the

mining interest. As above stated, it was proposed in the congress to fix a higher duty than three and a half per cent, on the exportation of silver and gold, and to the expediency of this measure the attention of the committee was called.

Two objects only could be arrived at in imposing such a duty; first, an increase of the revenue; and, secondly, the retention of a larger amount of the precious metals in the country. The subject is to be examined with reference to each of these particulars.

First, in regard to the revenue, it is important to keep in mind a very definite and obvious principle, which is, that in raising a tax of this nature, the simplest machinery should be put in action, with which the end can be attained. By a fundamental axiom in political economy it will appear, that whatever amount of imports are brought into a country, the same amount of the products of that country in exchangeable value must be sent out. Mercantile intercourse can be kept up only where this equilibrium exists. Since this is the case, the effects of a duty on the price of articles, or the means of the community to pay it, are the same, whether it be wholly levied on imports, or divided between articles imported and those produced in the country to be exported. If a duty of ten per cent be laid on a foreign article, when brought into port, and the article of home production given in exchange for it be allowed to go free, it will be the same thing, in regard to the amount of the revenue, as if five per cent were levied on each. But in tracing the operations attending the collection, we shall find a very essential difference between the two modes. An impost on the articles of home production becomes odious, from its being more immediately felt by the people, and from the means necessarily used in ascertaining and collecting it. Besides, there must be the expense of two sets of officers, one for the internal, and one for the impost, or customhouse duties, and these expenses will diminish the revenue in proportion to their amount. On general principles, therefore, it would seem that a tax on the exportation of gold and silver would be injudicious.

It is moreover to be considered, that coin cannot be exported at all, except in exchange for goods of equal value imported from other countries; but the duties on these goods have already been raised so high, in the various shapes of

tonnage, importation, and inland duties, as to leave but a moderate profit to the importers, at the present price of the precious metals; and if this price were raised ten per cent or more by a duty, as proposed, it would be necessary to reduce the duty on imported goods in the same ratio, or else the regular course of commerce must stop. The value of gold and silver in Mexico must be regulated by their value in other parts of the world, and if, by any forced measures, the price there be raised above this level, no purchasers will appear to take them away. Hence, in the present commercial state of Mexico, such a duty would derange rather than benefit the revenue. The usual commerce could only be carried on, either by reducing the tariff on imported commodities, or by raising the price of them to a level with the new duty on the articles received in exchange. In either case nothing would be gained.

The encouragement to smuggling, and frauds on the revenue, by an excessive duty, are not to be forgotten. This is worthy of particular notice, when we take into view the long habits of colonial commerce under the ancient oppression, and the facilities of sending out of the country, in a secret manner, articles of so little bulk compared with their value, as the precious metals. There is such a thing as raising a tariff, till the revenue disappears; and when such a temptation is held out to a violation of the laws, the loss sustained in the public finances is not the worst evil; the morals of a portion of the community are vitiated, and the exertions of honest merchants are deprived of a just reward by the competition of illegal trafficers.

On grounds like these the committee decided, that it was not expedient to fix a duty on the exportation of gold and silver, with the view of aiding the revenue.

The second branch of the subject, namely, the expediency of a duty for the purpose of retaining the gold and silver in the country, may be considered under various aspects. In examining this topic, the precious metals are to be taken either as coin for circulation, or as a product of the soil to be exchanged as such for other commodities. Silver and gold, in the character of money, are valuable only as a medium of exchange; they cannot be consumed, nor appropriated to gratify, by their own use, any personal want or desire. The