be included, there is every reason to believe that the total sum exceeded thirty-nine millions. The subject may be more fully illustrated by the following table:- Annual Produce of the Mines in Spanish America, at the beginning of the Nineteenth Century. BOOK XG. Thus the produce of the mines in Peru and the other provinces is less than that of Mexico. Humboldt believes that the great height of the Peruvian mines renders not only the working of them more difficult, but that they contain a less quantity of the precious metals than has been generally supposed. To strengthen his opinion, he compares the annual produce of the mines in the two countries. Mr. Helm thinks that the small produce of the Peruvian mines may be attributed to other causes. The population of Mexico is comparatively greater than that of the other provinces, and the credit of the miners is more extensive. No royal or even private bank was established in Peru until the late revolution. The precious metals cannot be so easily transported by Vera Cruz and the Havannah, as by the river Plate. If Peru had better means of extending its commerce; if the navigation of the Amazons were opened; then, (says Mr. Helm,) four times more gold and silver might be obtained from the mines in that kingdom than from all the rest in Spanish America. The produce of the mines has of late years diminished; not more than a half or even a third part of the sum formerly exported from America has Civil for some time past been brought into Europe. wars between the Spaniards, insurrections amongst the Indians, want of mercury, and accidents occasioned by inundations rendered it necessary to abandon the working of the most important mines in southern Peru, Mexico, Revenue of and New Granada. The gross revenue of Peru was calculated at five millions of piastres; three hundred thousand were sent to Panama, fifteen thousand to Chiloe, and a considerable portion to Valdivia. If to these sums we add the expenses of the military and civil administration of Peru, it will be found that the net revenue, which his Catholic majesty obtained from that part of his dominions, the Spanish colonies. XC. was not more than 500,000 piastres.* The revenue of Po- BOOK tosi amounted to one million two hundred thousand piastres; but two hundred thousand were annually exported to Buenos Ayres. The provinces of Rio de la Plata, Chili, Caraccas, and Santa Fe, contributed little to the Spanish treasury. The yearly expenses of the governments of Cuba, PortoRico, Hispaniola, the Floridas, Louisiana, and Truxillo, were not less than three millions four hundred thousand piastres, but the viceroy of Mexico paid this sum and sent besides five millions to Madrid. The duties levied in Spain on the colonial commerce were about two millions five hundred thousand piastres. Thus the net annual revenue which the king of Spain received from his American possessions might be estimated at eight millions of piastres, or £1,600,000 sterling. tle to her American If South America has been beneficial to Europe, as a colony of Spain, it must be still more so as an independent state. The industry and commerce of a great nation enjoying the blessings of a free constitution and a free trade, are not to be compared, with the feeble efforts of men fettered by restrictions and harassed by oppression. The Indies became an appendage to the crown of Spain's tiCastile in the year 1519. If superior force joined to the South formality of a legal decree, and all the solemnities of a pa- colonies. pal grant be sufficient to transfer dominion, then the right of Spain to these territories cannot be disputed. To diminish the chances of a revolt, a bloody war was waged against defenceless natives, and it was thought better to retain the property of a desert, than to rule over men, whose habits could not accord with the interests of their invaders. To encourage emigration, the country was styled a separate kingdom, and the Spanish monarch took the title of king of the Indies. The emperor Charles the Fifth, by an edict, dated Barcelona, 14th September, 1519, bestowed additional privileges on his subjects in America. The conclusion of this decree is remarkable: "Con * Mercurio Peruviano, III. 40. XC. BOOK sidering the fidelity of our vassals, and the hardships which the discoverers and settlers experienced in making their discoveries and their settlements, and in order that they may possess, with more certainty and confidence, the right of being forever united to our royal crown; we promise and pledge our faith and royal word in behalf of ourselves, and the kings, our successors, that their cities and settlements shall on no pretext be alienated or separated, wholly or in part, in favour of any prince, potentate, or private person; that if we or our successors shall make any gift or alienation contrary to this our express declaration, the same shall be held as null and void." Had the whole of this decree been literally interpreted, the Spanish branch of the house of Bourbon had long since forfeited every claim to its American possessions. Oppression of the colonies. If a person traded with foreigners in any part of these vast regions, he was punished with death. It was unlawful to cultivate the olive or the vine, in a country admirably adapted for them by nature. The inhabitants were not only obliged to receive the luxuries, but even some of the necessaries of life from the mother country. A tenth part of the produce of cultivated lands could not satisfy the demands of a priesthood and defray the costs of an inquisition. The system of taxation was carried to its height; marine alcabala, corso, and consulado formed some of the oppressive restrictions on exports, imports, and the tonnage, clearance, and entrance of ships. The venality of offices and letters of nobility were hurtful to the morals of the people, and corrupted at its source the administration of justice. To maintain more effectually the authority of Spain among all ranks of the community, every office of importance or emolument was conferred on Spaniards. By following this plan, it was thought that the taxes might be better levied, and the colonists kept in greater subjection. The inhabitants, aware that they were excluded from preferment, submitted patiently to the government of strangers, from the period of the conquest to the time of their independence. They were eligible according XC. to the colonial regulations, to all places of trust; but BOOK. this privilege was merely nominal, for out of four hundred viceroys that governed Spanish America, not more than four were Americans. All the captains general, with the exception of fourteen, were chosen from the Spaniards. This system was not confined to the higher commissions in the state, for we are assured that there were few Americans even among the common clerks of public offices.* By such a policy, Spain was enabled to retain her American provinces for a greater length of time than she would otherwise have done. It was well calculated to degrade the colonists, to enrich a few Spaniards and to impoverish the people. But these were not the only grievances of which the Spanish Americans complained. In order that the colonists might more readily adhere to the mother country and the church of Rome, every system of liberal education was strictly prohibited. Some individuals were imprisoned for instructing the poor; others for being desirous to acquire knowledge. A learned education was confined to the study of scholastic divinity and the laws of Spain. One viceroy‡ gave great offence by establishing a naval school at Buenos Ayres, and that seminary was abolished in conformity to a mandate from Madrid. Chemistry was not taught in any of the provinces, lest the inhabitants should apply the principles of that science to the improvement of the arts. The increase of population was checked in the infant state by arbitrary enactments against the admission of forcigners into these vast and fertile regions, which, at a later period, were ill and scantily peopled by convicts and criminals from the prisons of Spain. The traveller passes over extensive districts of rich but uncultivated land. Tribes of Indians have perished in working the mines, or dragged out a wretched existence in an atmos *Rodney's Report on the State of South America. + Manifesto of the Congress of the United Provinces in South America. Joacquin Pinto. |