Page:Mexico (1829) Volumes 1 and 2.djvu/407

 MEXICO. 367 opinion of those whom I have had occasion to consult upon the subject in Mexico, a very inadequate allowance for the silver not included in the Mint returns. I cannot, therefore, estimate the annual addition to the circulating medium, before the Revolution, at a less sum than two millions of dollars; and I am the more inclined to con- ceive this calculation to be correct, because the exportation of specie during the last fifteen years, (from 1810 to 1825,) ap- pears so much to have exceeded the whole produce of the Mines, that the country, had it not been for the surplus which accumulated during this season of prosperity, must have been left without a circulating medium at all. This brings me to the second part of my enquiry, viz. the Average annual amount of the precious metals raised from 1810 to 1825, with the exports during the same period. I have already stated the impossibility of forming any very accurate calculation upon the last of these points, with regard to which much conjectural evidence must be admitted. As to the first, (the Produce,) although, for the reasons men- tioned in the beginning of this Section, the returns from the different Mints cannot be said to furnish a correct estimate of the Silver raised from the Mines, they, nevertheless, com- prise the only authentic data that can now be obtained, and I shall, consequently, make them the basis of my calculations. By the annexed Tables (Nos. II. to VI.) it will appear that the Coinage, from 1811 to 1825 inclusive, in the whole territory of Mexico, was as follows : — In Mexico In Guadalajara In Durango In Zacatecas In Chihuahiia Dollars 111,551,082 4,868,760 6,917,652 30,659,518 1,216,000 Forming a sum total of 155,213,012