Page:Mexico (1829) Volumes 1 and 2.djvu/318

 278 MEXICO. This check was of the greatest utility both to the country, and to himself : he renounced, from that moment all idea of legislating, and confined hiipself to the organization of his Department, and to the observance of the system traced out for him by the Chambers. The activity and perseverance displayed by him in this harassing task cannot be too highly spoken of : they gave new life jto the system, and their eifects were felt in the most distant parts. By a series of regulations, very severe, but very necessary where confusion had so long prevailed, subordination was established in every branch of the Finance department : the Commissaries were made strictly responsible for the conduct of the inferior employes ; absence from their posts, even for a day, without permission, was punished by the loss of employment ; monthly, weekly, and even daily returns of receipts and expenditure, were ordered to be transmitted to the Treasury of the Capital ; and thus data were obtained for the Estimates of subsequent years, the minuteness of which is the more curious, from its contrast to the total want of authentic information before Mr. Esteva''s time. It is upon these data that I shall form a general view of the Financial resources of Mexico, commencing with an account of the principal sources of its Revenue, and ending with a comparative table of the Receipts and Expenditure during the two last years. I have already enumerated the particular branches assign- ed by the Law of the 4th of August, 1824, for the support of the Federal Government, most of which require no expla- nation. With respect to their relative importance, and to the probability of increase in each, the following observations may be of use. The Monopoly of Tobacco, from the time of its establish- ment in 1764 till the Revolution of 1810, was proved by ex- perience to be one of the most productive, and least oppres- sive taxes possible. On a term of nearly thirty years it