the Mexicans will long remember with gratitude the Count de Revillagigedo, and the Chevalier d'Asanza, two statesmen equally distinguished for their private and their public virtues, whose administration would have been productive of still more good, if their exterior position had allowed them freely to follow the career which they had marked out. II. Three millions and a half of piastres, nearly a sixth part of the whole revenue of Mexico, annually pass to the other Spanish Colonies, as an indispensable supply for their interior administration. These situados, according to averages drawn from the years between 1788 and 1792, were distributed in the following manner: Piastres. 1. Island of Cuba - - 1,826,000 Piastres. a. Attencion de tierra, aid to the internal govern ment of the island - 436,000 N. B. 146,000 piastres for Santiago de Cuba, and 290,000 piastres for the Havannah. b. Attencion maritima, ma rine expences - 740,000 Carried forward - 1,176,000 Piastres. Brought over - 1,176,000 N. B. 700,000 piastres for the port and dock yards of the Havannah, and 40,000 piastres for the vessels stationed off the coasts of the Mosquitos. c. Expence of keeping up the fortifications of the Havannah - - 150,000 d. Purchase money of tobacco from the Island of Cuba, which goes into Spain - - - 500,000 1,826,000 2. Florida - - - - 151,000 3. Porto Rico - - - 377,000 4. The Philippine Islands - - 250,000 5. Louisiana - - - - 557,000 6. The Island of Trinidad - 200,000 7. The Spanish part of St. Domingo 274,000 3,635,000 Although, since the period when this table was drawn up, Spain has lost Louisiana, and the Islands of Trinidad and Saint Domingo, the situados have not been diminished to the amount of 1,031,000 piastres, as might be sup Islands, Cuba, and Porto Rico, has been so expensive during the last war, especially from the squadrons stationed there under admirals Alava and Aristizabal, that the sum sent to the eastern and western Colonies, has never been less than three millions of piastres. We cannot help being surprised to see that the Havannah requires an assistance of 1,400,000 piastres, when we recollect that the receivers of royal duties pay into the treasury of the Colony, more than two millions of piastres per annum. Although, in the Philippine Islands, the tribute on the natives amounts to 573,000 piastres, and the excise on tobacco, to 600,000 piastres, the royal treasuries of Manilla have constantly required of late, a situado of 500,000 piastres. III. The net revenue (sobrante, liquido remisible), drawn by the Mother Country from Mexico, scarcely amounted to a million of piastres before the introduction of the tobacco farm. At present it amounts to five or six millions of piastres, according as greater or smaller situados are required by the other Colonies. This liquido or sobrante is composed of the net produce of the tobacco and powder farms, which pretty uniformly amounts to three millions and a half of piastres, and the variable surplus of the masa commun. I must observe, that in the posed. The administration of the Philippine | Spanish Colonies, little or no money remains in the treasury, after the accounts of the year have been closed. Those who govern, are aware that the surest means of supporting their creditat court, and preserving their places, is to send as much money as possible to the royal treasury at Madrid. ' As the greater part of the population of New Spain is concentrated in the five intendancies of Mexico, Guanaxuato, Puebla, Walladolid, and Guadalaxara, these provinces bear the greatest part of the burdens of the state. The provincias internas may be considered as Colonies of Mexico, properly so called; but these colonies, far from supplying funds to the treasury of the capital, are a drawback on that treasury. The receipts of the provincial treasury (cara real) of Guanaxuato, were, on an average of the five years preceding 1793, Piastres. Duty” on gold and silver, and alcavala - - - 850,000 Produce of tobacco, powder, and stamps - - - 312,000 Total 1,162,000 * Nothing more is meant here than the duty itself; for the quantity of silver which passes through the provincial treasury of Guanaxuato, is more than from six to seven millions of piastres, the whole produce of the mines flowing through that channel to the mint at Mexico. The annual expences are: Salary of the intendant - - 6,000 Total 39,600 From the table of the expences of Guanaxuato, we may form some idea of the situation of the finances in the twelve other intendancies of which the kingdom of NewSpain is composed. At Walladolid the revenues at present amount to 773,000 piastres, and this account is probably more accurate than that of the revenue of the intendancy of Guanaxuato, which appears somewhat too low. The profit derived by the government of Spain from Mexico, amounts to more than two thirds of the net produce of the Spanish Colonies, in America and Asia. The greatest part of the authors on political economy, who have treated of the finances of the peninsula, the liquidation of the vales, and of the bank of Saint Charles, found their calculations on the falsest data, by exaggerating the treasures which the court of Spain annually derives from its American possessions. These trea |