MINES AND COINAGE OF MEXICO.

The great wealth of Mexico, according to developments up to the present day, consists in her mines. It is true that the capital and labor, both foreign and domestic, used in that country, have been devoted to the production of the precious metals, and though under a new order of things, agriculture and manufactures will doubtless receive greater attention, still, the abundance of minerals throughout the length and breadth of the land is so great that its mines must always constitute the leading interest.

The minerals of Mexico are of silver, gold, copper, iron, zinc, lead, magistral, antimony, arsenic, sulphur, cobalt, &c., &c. The mines of gold and silver have only been worked extensively, and silver forms the principal currency of the country and the great article of export.

In treating upon Mexico, there is no subject so unsatisfactory and bewildering as that which relates to the production of her mines. Humboldt, who wrote in 1803, gives some valuable statistics of mining operations in Mexico previous to that period. He gives the total amount of silver raised from the Mexican mines, from the conquest in 1521 to 1803, as $1,767,952,000, according to the official returns, and adding one-seventh for unregistered silver, he makes the grand total $2,027,952,000. Ward gives the total coinage from 1733 to 1826, as represented by government returns, $1,433,658,611.

The ancient Mexicans, properly speaking, had no coin. The conquerors introduced it into the colony, and coining dates from the building of a mint in the city of Mexico, in 1535. For many years after the invasion, pieces of gold and silver were stamped by officials of the Crown, which constituted them a circulating medium. The coinage of money in Mexico presents two great epochs; first, from the establishment of a mint in the city of Mexico, up to the Independence; and second, from the Independence down to the present date. The first period affords three subdivisions, viz.: “Moneda Macuqina," or Irregular coins; "Moneda Columnaria," or Colonade coin; and "Moneda de Busto," or Bust coin. The first was so called, owing to its irregular form and weight, and was stamped by means of a hammer, with a cross, two Lions and two Columns on one side; and on the reverse, with the name of the reigning King. The second received the name of "Colonade," from presenting on one side the Arms of Spain, supported by the Columns of Hercules. This was the first coin struck in the mint according to the rules of art. The third or "Bust coin," is that with which we are acquainted, bearing the effigy of the last King who ruled Mexico.

The following statement of the coinage of Mexico from the conquest down to and including the year 1856, is from official data furnished by the Ministerio de Fomento.

Amount coined in each of the different mints of Mexico, from the conquest to 1856 inclusive.

The yearly coinage of the mints of Mexico, increased in steady progression from the time of the establishment of the first mint in the city of Mexico in 1535 up to the year 1805, when the highest amount was reached, being for that year $27,000,000.

The total Coinage of the Mints of Mexico since the War of Independence is as follows:

The following is the coinage of the different mints of Mexico in the years 1855 and 1856.

Coin in circulation.--The ancient tribunal of the consulate in 1805, estimated the amount of money in circulation in New Spain, at something more than seventy-eight millions, which, being compared with the population, gave an average of fourteen dollars per head. Taking this estimate as a basis, and also taking into consideration the prosperity of mining operations, even since that date, with the general improvement in the

circumstances of a class who were formerly in misery, it is not an overestimate to say that the amount in circulation, (1856-'57,) notwithstanding the great annual exportation, exceeds 100,000,000 dollars.

Although this sum is undoubtedly sufficient for all the interior wants of Mexico, considering the small trade carried on in agriculture, manufactures, and commerce, the fact that the greater portion of it is in few hands, with the want of confidence and absence of banks of issue, (whose paper in other countries advantageously supplies a circulating medium,) makes it comparatively useless, and tends to show that there is not a sufficient circulation for the wants of the Republic.

Legal exportation of Specie from all parts of the Republic for the year 1856.

From the conquest of Mexico, in 1521, to the year of independence, 1821, a period of three centuries, during which the Spaniards ruled that country, the business of mining was, in most respects, brought to such perfection that during the space of thirty-five years, in which it may be said this branch of labor has been open to the