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60 intention to close this Book. Here it will be sufficient for me to state the means adopted in order to afford immediate relief.

By a Decree of the Regency, (dated 20th February, 1822,) the Duties formerly paid under the denominations of One per cent., Royal Tenth, Seigneurage, and Bocado, were abolished, as were those exacted during the Revolution, on Plata Pasta, or Silver in a crude state; in lieu of which, a Duty of Three per cent, upon the real value of the Gold and Silver raised, was substituted. The expense of Coinage was likewise 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 Provincial 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.