Official information of the misconduct of some of the Employés there has been received, and a strict inquiry instituted.

Manzanillo and Natividad.

No returns have been received of these Establishments.

Mazatlan.

At the end of the Year 1824, there was one Custom House Officer at this Port, and he was blind. In January, 1825, the Port was composed of 2 huts of mud, and 4 of straw: now a Commissary's Office has been established here, and the number of houses exceeds 200.

The produce of the years 1821 and 1822 is unknown.

In 1823 its amount was..••••

1824.....

1825(8 first months)..................

1826.

215 dols. 30,392

44,976

125,298 J

Guaymas.

The amount of the Customs in 1321 is unknown.

with nearly 16,000 dollars due upon the Cargo of the English Brig Hellespont, which are not included. The progress would have been greater had it not been impeded by the disastrous War.

Galveston.

An Establishment was formed at Galveston in October, 1825; nothing has as yet been received, but steps have been taken to prevent Smuggling.

Refugio.

No Establishment was known to exist at Refugio in August 1824, or, if known, it was regarded only as the patrimony of those who were fortunate enough to obtain a situation there. Its returns were then included in those of Soto la Marina; and the produce amounted together,

The sum in specie, reserved for the payment of the interest of our Foreign Debt, in Refugio, is at present, 68,000 dollars.

Soto la Marina.

This Port is much resorted to by Smugglers; its Customs, however, yielded for the Year, ending in June 1826, 226,702 dollars.

Tampico de Tamaulipas.

This Establishment which was unknown till the end of 1824, is now inferior only to Vera Cruz in the number of Vessels which resort to it. The produce of the Customs was, In 1825..........(8 first months).

1826...

.....

..(10 months to June)........ besides considerable sums still due....

Publeo Viejo de Tampico.

In 1821 the Customs amounted to..........

147,625 dols

} 326,640

11,917 dols.

130,659

212,900

367,680

444,445

480,195

It is, however, to be expected that there will be a falling off at Publeo Viejo, in proportion to the increase of Tampico de Tamaulipas.

Territories of the Federation.

These are considered as Inland Custom Houses, in which the Alcabala, on effects of the Country, and the duty of 3 per cent. on Foreign productions, are alone paid; which from the scantiness of the Population amount but to little.

Colima, however, produced in the

first 8 months of....1825... 4,504..............in 1826... 8,614 dols. New Mexico..... in 1825... 3,141..........in 1826...13,525 Tlaxcala............1825... 7,357..........in 1826...14,377 These data are sufficient to prove what has been done: your Excellency will recollect that, before my Administration commenced, the estimate of the total produce of the Custom Houses did not exceed 1,000,000 of dollars; I ventured to calculate their produce in my Memorial for 1825, at 2,732,995 dollars. Your Excellency since then has taken the necessary steps for placing this important branch of the Revenue upon a proper footing, and the Country has gathered the fruit of these measures, by receiving for the 10 first months of the Year 1826, from the Custom Houses on the Coast, those of the Territories (not including Californias) and that of the Federal District, the enormous sum of 6,739,767 dollars, which is equivalent to 8,387,720 dollars, for the produce of the whole Year.

Your Excellency will perceive, therefore, that the estimate contained in my Memorial of last Year, by which I calculated the Receipts at 8,040,000 dollars, was not erroneous.

Turnpikes.

The net produce of the Turnpikes in Mexico was, after deducting the expenses,.....in 1823,4...15,166.........in 1824,6...20,927 dols. Vera Cruz do,......in 1823,4...42,803..........in 1824,6...82,620.

Powder.

Produce, in the Year......1825...144,881...... in 1826...159,027 dols. Post Office.

Produce, in the Year......1825...408,106...... in 1826...368,238 dols.

Salt.

In this branch alone the want of proper information led me into an error of calculation: I estimated the produce of this Revenue for the Year 1825, at 68,382 dollars: it has only yielded, for the 12 months, 53,905 dollars, and consequently leaves a deficit of 14,477 dollars.

Sums due from Publick Creditors.

The sum of 1,208,516 dollars has been recovered from these Creditors during the Year 1825, alone, and this fact affords the best answer to the accusations against me which have been circulated. I have likewise to inform your Excellency, that I have an exact account of the sums due to the Nation, and of the Suits instituted to recover them, in the States of Puebla, Guadalaxara, Guanajuato, Oajaca, Zacatecas, Queretaro, and Potosi; and that they amount in these States alone to 805,409 dollars. I have not yet received similar Statements, from Valladolid, Yucatan, Durango, Chihuahua, and Chiapas, but they were again ordered on the 25th of last October.

Foreign Loans.

The Loans contracted for in England by the several New American States, have all suffered extraordinary depreciation: but I will proceed at once to the two Mexican Loans :

In the Year 1823, Mexico contracted a Loan with the House of Goldschmidt at 5 per cent. interest, for the sum of £3,200,000, which was brought out at 58.

In the Year 1824, a second Loan for a similar amount (3,200,000) at 6 per cent. interest, was taken by the house of Barelay, Herring, and Co., which was brought out, in the beginning of 1825, at 894.

The actions of the first Loan were at 76 in the beginning of the Year 1824, They rose to 84 in January, 1825, and after various fluctuations, fell, in June, 1826, to 41, and in September, 1826, to 40.

The Bonds of the second Loan, at 6 per cent., after selling at 931 in February, 1825, fell gradually to 56, in June, 1826, and were as low as 42 in September.

The failure of Goldschmidts' House, the consequent embarrassment of the firm of Barclay, and the return of bills protested, which had been drawn by the Government on account of the Loan, gave a blow to the credit of the Republick, which nothing but the extraordinary activity of Sr. Rocafuerte, and the timely remittances of large sums in specie, could have prevented from proving fatal.

It is principally through these remittances that Sr. Rocafuerte has been enabled to induce the House of Baring to undertake the agency of the Republick. The Government, on its part, has done all that honor required; since, on this day, January the 10th, there are in the Port of Vera Cruz 5,000 dollars, which will be conveyed to England by His Majesty's Frigate Tweed, for the payment of the interest on both Loans, due in January, 1827; and it is to this exactness in fulfilling its engagements that we must attribute the fact, that, notwithstanding the return of Government Bills protested, Mexican Credit has been so far from suffering, that, by the last accounts, of 18th September, the Mexican Funds have risen from 40 to 634, and that there was every probability that they would rise still higher upon the arrival of the Hussar Frigate, with the money on board for the payment of the Dividends then due.

The First Mexican Loan produced, at 50, (at which price it was contracted for) £1,600,000, or 8,000,000 of dollars, of which the Firm interested reserved, according to the contract, for commission, payment of interest, &c. &c. £419,936, which reduced the net produce of the Loan to £1,180,064, or 5,900,323 dollars.

Of this Sum, before the 9th August, 1824, (the day on which I took possession of my Office) a part had been disposed of by my Predecessor; so that little more than 3,500,000 of dollars were left to me, viz. (3,629,160 dollars.)

社

The Second Loan, which was contracted for at 861, produced

26

win

£1,405,502

Net produce,..£1,370,497

Dollars,..£6,852,487

The 3,692,160 dollars which remained of the First Loan, were disposed of by the Government, in 336 Bills of Exchange, negotiated upon London, the value of which, in English money, was £621,614 19s. 6d. Of these Bills, the House of Goldschmidt alone paid 160, the amount of which was £360,124 11s. 8d., the House having previously made remittances in gold, (coined and uncoined) to the amount of £327,208 15s. 7d., and paid the interest due in January, which, with commission, amounted to £36,540; other charges appear on the books of the Firm to the amount of £4,868 7s. 5d., which leave, nevertheless, a final Balance in favour of the Government of £15,234 7s. 9d.

The produce of the Bills drawn upon the First Loan, was applied to the objects mentioned in the annexed Statement, by which it will appear that only 1,074,868 dollars entered the Treasury for the ordinary expenses of the State; the remainder was sunk in the payment of Tobacco Credits, (due since the years 1820 and 1821) without which this branch of the Revenue could never have been re-established; in the part payment of other National obligations; and the purchase of arms and other Naval Stores in The United States of North America.

I come now to the Second Loan, and annex an Account of the manner in which its net produce (6,852,487 dollars) has been applied; by which it will appear that a Balance of £291,699 5s. 8d. still exists in favour of the Government, to which must be added the value of remittances by the Pyramus, the amount of bills not paid, (£22,646 12s, 4d.) two sums of £31,000 and £47,000, now in the hands of Sr. Rocafuerte and the House of Barclay, which, altogether, make the Balance which ought to exist in favour of the Government, £449,033 6s. Od.

The whole of the second Loan was applied, (as was the first) to extraordinary expences, (as is demonstrated by the accompanying Statement,) with the exception of 1,409,180 dollars, which entered the Treasury of the Federation. Thus it appears, that the only parts of the two Loans which have been applied to the ordinary expences of the States, have been:

The credit of the Nation has been pledged, in all, for 32,000,000 of dollars.

This debt might be redeemed, at the present price of the Mexican