INTRODUCTION.

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obstacle to the prosperity of these mines, which does not equally present itself in the case of those in remote counties of England.

If no unforeseen circumstances arise to disturb the arrangements which are made for the conduct of the undertakings, and if I am to look to the mining risk simply, I cannot come to any other opinion, than that this is very small, or rather I should say that the expectation of profit is a large one.

The veins are of an unusual width, and have in many cases been worked on in several points for a great length, and are proved extensively; the quantity of ore which has been raised is enormous; the quality, though not (as M. de Humboldt says) in itself rich, because the mass is so great, may yet be deemed comparatively so, when reduced in bulk, as

it

may be, and when considered with relation to what English mines produce; the metals are of the highest value, while the expenses need no be greater than they would be in the same place for mines worked in veins inferior in the quantity or quality of their produce. These advantages are so great that they

may compensate for many errors and many difficulties; and if such occur at first, as in all probability they may, I cannot but indulge sanguine expectations that zeal, patience and skill will overcome them, and that finally the enterprise will be as profitable as the risks encountered may fairly require it should be.

I freely admit that I am deeply interested in the success of these adventures, that I feel an unusual degree of anxiety for their success, and that to this end I shall gladly contribute the utmost exertion of my humble efforts. I may therefore be considered a partial adviser. I have endeavoured, however, to leave the facts as I found them, standing on authority which has not been questioned. From these, judicious readers will draw their own conclu

sions.

JOHN TAYLOR.

Bedford Row, 12th March, 1824.

RECENT MEMORIAL

TO

THE SOVEREIGN CONGRESS

OF

MEXICO.

SINCE the completion of this work, I have been favoured with the following extract of a memorial presented to the Government of Mexico at a very late period, by an enlightened and liberal minister of that country, Don Lucas Alaman, and which I have the greatest pleasure in making public. It is remarkable for the justness of the views it gives of the means of encouraging their great sources of national wealth; and if such principles are acknowledged and acted upon, which there is no good reason to doubt, I will venture to predict that foreign capital will be employed with confidence, and with benefit to the country where it is employed as well as to that which may supply it, the advantage to each particular Company who may

undertake mines, being of course more or less as they may prudently and skilfully manage their affairs. J. T.

Extract from the Report of the Minister for Foreign Affairs and of the Interior to the Sovereign Constituent Congress assembled in Mexico, 1st November 1823, (received by a late arrival from Mexico.)

ARTICLE INDUSTRY.

MINES.

It is a principle admitted by all writers on political economy, that the most direct encouragement that can be given to agriculture and to industry, is to facilitate the consumption of the produce of the one, and the sale of the manufactures of the other. If the mines be considered amongst us under this point of view, it will be found that nothing contributes so much as they do to the prosperity of those essential branches of the public riches. The great number of people that are occupied in them, the animals that are employed in the working of the machinery, and in transporting the ores, the consumption that arises therefrom of grain, as well as of soap, paper, iron, &c., give a powerful impulse to agriculture, the arts, and to commerce. If practical illustration be necessary to prove those facts, which are doubted only by men whose minds are preoccupied by the paradoxical assertions of systematic economists, they may be found on a comparison of the state of our mining provinces,

MEMORIAL TO CONGRESS.

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such as Guanaxuato and Zacatecas, previous to the year 1810 and at the present period. Abundance and prosperity then reigned throughout both of them. The agriculturist found in those famous reales (districts) a ready and certain market for his produce; the smith, the carpenter, the mason, a constant employment for his industry; the merchant an extensive consumption for the goods which he introduced; and the treasures drawn from the bowels of the earth were distributed throughout and revivified the most distant provinces in payment for the soap, wood, salt, magistral, horses and mules, that were brought from all parts. The nature of our ores is also a powerful cause of these happy results; they are generally poor in metal, and most abundant in quantity, and require for their manufacture a great quantity of machinery and ingre dients; and it may therefore be said that the miner merely draws forth funds to distribute them freely among the labourers, merchants and artisans; and we must naturally conclude that the prosperity of these classes depends principally upon the impulse given to them by the mines, which in our notion are thus the acting principle of all the other branches of industry.

From this it is to be inferred that the encouragement which is given to the former revolves indirectly in favour of the latter; and if it be intended to animate the one, we must begin by giving a stimulus to the other. These principles