Smith*, who has displayed the greatest accuracy in his researches, estimates the produce of the gold and silver mines of Spanish America, in 1802, at 159 millions of livres tournois, or 30,285,000 piastres; a sum which approaches nearer to the truth than all the calculations to be found in other works on Political Economy. Robertson estimates, in his History of America, the amount of the precious metals imported into Spain, between 1492 and 1775, at the enormous sum of two thousand millions sterling, or 8800 millions of piastres; and what is more singular, this justly celebrated author considers his calculation as founded on very moderate suppositions, though he estimates the annual produce of the mines, during 283 consecutive years, at four millions sterling, and the amount of the contraband, during that period, at 968 millions.t When we compare these data with those of the work of Ustariz, we observe that the sums of the Spanish author are lower by one half. In the Recherches sur le Commerce, published at Amsterdam in 1778, the amount of gold and silver exported from Spanish * T. V. p. 137. + History of America, Vol. iv. p. 62. Liv. i. chap. x. (T. i. P. ii. p. 124.) America, between 1674 and 1723, is estimated at 672 millions of piastres. Reckoning at the same rate the 283 years between 1492 and 1775, and adding a third for the contraband, we find the total of all the metals imported into Spain 5072 millions of piastres. The same author estimates the gold imported from Brazil, since the discovery of that country, at 1350 millions; a sum which appears nearly double too much, as we shall prove in the sequel of the discussion. Mr. Necker*, in his researches respecting the existing specie in France, estimates the gold and silver received at Cadiz and Lisbon, from 1763 to 1777, at 1600 millions of livres tournois, or 304,800,000 piastres. According to this hypothesis, the total exportation of precious metals from the two Americas would have amounted only to 21 millions of piastres per annum; while that to Spain alone, according to authentic information, was more than 30 millions. t On the other hand, M. Gerboux, in his Discussions sur les effets de la démonétisation de l'or ‡, estimates the importation of * Sur le commerce des grains, Liv. ii. chap. v. Del'administration des finances. T. iii. chap. viii. p. 71. + Encyl. méthod. Economie polit. T. ii. p. 324. Pag. 36, 66, 69, 70. gold and silver into Europe in livres tournois, as follows: From 1724 to 1766-4000 millions. 1766-1800-4000 1789-1803-1500 From whence it would follow that the annual importation, from 1724 to 1803, amounted to 21 millions of piastres. Uniting in one point of view the results of all these calculations, which are founded on nothing but mere conjectures, we find that the mass of registered precious metals imported into Europe, is according to To avoid as much as possible in these researches the causes of error, which are but too 1492-1775 5072 numerous, I shall follow a different course from that adopted by the writers above mentioned. I shall first state the quantity of gold and silver, which, according to the records of the mints and the royal treasury, we know to have been extracted from the mines of Mexico and Potosi; I shall add, from the historical knowledge which I acquired respecting the state of the Mexican mining operations, the amount furnished by each metalliferous region of, Peru, Buenos Ayres, and New Grenada; and I shall distinguish what has been registered from what has been fraudulently introduced. Instead of estimating, as has hitherto been done, the total produce of this contraband trade, at a third or a fourth of the whole of the registered metals, I shall make partial estimates, according to the position of each colony and its relations with the neighbouring countries. When we wish to judge of a distance which we cannot measure with precision, we are sure of committing errors of less consequence if we divide the whole extent into several parts, and if we compare each of these with objects of a known greatness. 1. Quantity of Registered Gold and Silver extracted from the mines of America between the years of 1492 and 1803. A. SPANISH COLONIES. Piastres. - 1,353,452,000 The kingdom of New Spain has 40,500,000 Carried over 1,393,952,000 |