Page:Mexico in 1827 Vol 2.djvu/86

72 of her Mines. A war with Great Britain generally caused a reduction of nearly one-third in the Mint Returns; but then the first years of peace brought with them a corresponding increase, so that the average was never materially affected. A similar connexion may be traced between the Mining and Agricultural interests. From the enormous quantity of mules, and horses, employed in Mining operations, (14,000 were in daily use in Guănăjūātŏ alone,) a rise in the price of maize occasioned an immediate reduction in all the Mining establishments. The poorer ores were suffered to accumulate in years of scarcity, nor did they become objects of attention, until a succession of plentiful crops again afforded the Mining Proprietors the means of keeping up a sufficiency of live-stock to reduce them with profit. But, notwithstanding these unavoidable drawbacks, a surprising uniformity will be found in the general produce of the country. The failure of one Mine was compensated by the success of others; and thus, a sort of standard was established for the year, which rendered Mining in Mexico almost as sure a mode of investing Capital as any other. The average Produce, (as we have seen,) on a term of Fifteen years, was Twenty-four millions of dollars. What the exact amount of the Capital was, by the investment of which, in Mining operations, this vast sum was produced, it is impossible now to ascertain. I should be inclined, however, to estimate it, at least, at Thirty-six millions