Page:Vol 6 History of Mexico by H H Bancroft.djvu/516

496 few years, financial matters appear to have gone more smoothly, but from 1858 to 1862 dividends were again delinquent, and bonds remained unredeemed. The French intervention was the ultimate result.

Maximilian, before occupying a throne in Mexico, contracted enormous debts in Europe. During his ephemeral game at king-craft supported by foreign bayonets, he augmented the liabilities of the nation to $187,000,000. At the end of 1866 the liability of the empire was over $200,000,000. It is not strange that on his downfall Mexico would not recognize the debts contracted by him in Europe. In October 1880, the total public debt was $144,953,785, of which $40,241,215 represented the internal debt, and $104,712,570 the foreign one. There was, besides, a very large floating indebtedness.

To enter into details of the changes and counterchanges which have been made by successive ministers who have directed the financial policy of the federal government, in the innumerable vicissitudes through which the Mexican nation has passed during this century, would require a volume, and the result would be interesting only to the financier. But one fact stands, that whether Mexico had a foreign war, or indulged in the pastime of intestine strife, the balance-sheet in the treasurer's office always exhibited an increase in the national debt.

The Texan war, followed by that with the United