Page:Mexico (1829) Volumes 1 and 2.djvu/442

 402 MEXICO. , cent, upon the real value of the gold and silver raised, was substituted. The expense of Coinage was also reduced to two reals per marc, and the charge at the Apartado, for the separation of the silver from the gold in ores containing both, to two reals, in lieu of five and a half. In addition to this, the monopoly formerly enjoyed by the Casa del Apartado was done away with, and liberty granted to the Miners to perform the process of separating the gold from the silver, where, and as, they pleased.* They were likewise allowed to dispose of their silver, (after presenting it at any of the Pro- vincial Mints to be assayed, and paying the duty of three per cent.) as a marketable commodity, for which each was to obtain the best possible price. The importation of Quicksilver was declared to be duty free, and Powder, (although it continued a Government mo- nopoly,) was ordered to be delivered to the Miners at prime cost. In making these concessions, the Government of Mexico only followed the example of the Peninsula ; most of the reductions indicated above having been sanctioned by the Cortes of Madrid, at the suggestion of the Mexican Deputies, in June and July 1821 : but the establishment of Mints in the different States, (their legal establishment, I mean,) is due to the Revolution, as is the free introduction of Quick- silver, on so many different points of the coasts of the Repub- lic. Both these are most important advantages ; for the last opens an easy access to many rich Districts, to which Quick- silver could only be conveyed at an enormous expense before ; while the newly erected Mints, when provided, as they will be in the course of time, with funds for the purchase of the Plata Pasta, as brought in by the poorer Miners, must pro- sion, on the part of the Government, to form an establishment in the Capital, in which, by a change in the process, they undertake to separate the two metals at a less expense than the Casa del Apartado.
 * The United Mexican Company has taken advantage of this conces-