Page:Mexico in 1827 Vol 1.djvu/417

Rh table, are the receipts, not of a year, but of a term of ten months.

Mr. Esteva, who includes in his general statement many eventual items, which I have omitted, (Diezmos, Reintegros, Donativos, &c.) makes the net

But, in a country where the duties on foreign goods form so important a part of the revenue, it is a fallacy to take the receipts of all the months of the year as equal. Nearly the whole supply of European goods for the Mexican market, is imported during the winter months, on account of the sickness that prevails upon the coast from April to October. It is, therefore, a palpable error to suppose that the receipts of July and August, (the two months not included in the statement presented to Congtess), must be equal to those of two of the winter months; and to add to the sum total of the produce of the custom-houses (7,043,237 dollars) one fifth, (or, 1,173,872 dollars), as a fair equivalent for the omission.

This observation does not apply equally to the other branches of the revenue; nor does it affect my estimate of the probable produce of the customhouses in the year 1828: but it may serve to