Another transaction, of a singular nature, developes the character of the government's negotiations, and can only be accounted for by the receipt of some advantages which the act itself does not disclose to the public.
The mint at Guanajuato, or the right to coin at that place, was contracted for, in 1842, by a most respectable foreign house in Mexico, for $71,000 cash, for the term of fourteen years, at the same time that another offer was before the government, stipulating for the payment of $400,000 for the same period, payable in annual instalments of $25,000 each. The $71,000 in hand, were, however, deemed of more value than the prospective four hundred thousand. This mint yielded a net annual income of $60,000.
These are a few examples presented in illustration of the spendthrift abandonment of the real resources of the country; and the character of the transactions at once discloses the true origin and continuance of national discredit. The demand of the hour was irresistible, and if the minister or the president was unable to comply with it, his political fate was sealed, perhaps forever. The isolated good or evil measures adopted by financiers, have only tended to augment the confusion. Each government, of the thirty or more which have swayed Mexico since her independence, has been forced to contend not only with its own errors but with those of its predecessors; and hence the public has naturally lost faith and hope in politicians as soon as they assumed the helm of state. No matter what the personal character, or what the financial talents of ministers might be, the people believed them to be immediately compromised or paralized by circumstances and political necessity.
We will present the reader a view of Mexican national expenses, according to ministerial estimates during a series of years between the establishment of the federal constitution in 1824 and the war with the United States. This statement, in regard to a country which has been stationary in population and industry, with an augmenting outlay of money, is somewhat remarkable:
| 1825 | the national expenses were | $17,100,000 |
| 1826 | """ | 16,666,463 |
| 1827 to 1828 | """ | 13,363,098 |
| 1828 to 1829 | """ | 15,604,000 |
| 1830 to 1831 | """ | 17,438,000 |
| 1832 to 1833 | """ | 22,392,000 |
| According to report of commissioners to Chamber of Deputies in 1846, | 21,254,134 | |
| Period of Santa Anna's administration, | 25,222,304 | |
These dates, it will be observed comprehend epochs in which the country has been governed by the federal system as well as those in which extraordinary powers were conferred on national magistrates. In the preceding yearly amounts, it should be recollected, that a few of them comprise occasional sums paid on account of the foreign and domestic debt; but, on an average, thirteen millions of dollars may be considered as the annual outlay.
In consequence of this costly government of so small a nation, a large foreign and domestic debt has been created, in addition to the liabilities of New Spain prior to independence, which are calculated at nearly forty-two millions.
In considering this interesting subject we have taken pains to obtain the best authorities from Mexico, and, from the reports of the ministers of finance, we reach the following results in regard to that republic's financial condition in the year 1850. Her foreign debt amounts to $58,889,487; her home-debt to $48,934,610; and her debt, prior to independence, to $41,983,096, making a total of pecuniary liabilities, with interest, to the 1st of July, 1849, of one hundred and forty-nine millions, eight hundred and seven thousand, one hundred and ninety-three dollars;—the annual interest on which, alone, amounts to nearly nine millions of dollars.
Inasmuch as the clear income of Mexico in 1849, was not calculated at more than five millions five hundred and forty thousand one hundred and twelve dollars, while the expenses were rated at thirteen millions seven hundred and sixty-five thousand four hundred and thirty-five dollars, there would necessarily be an annual deficit, in the mere current finances, of eight millions two hundred and twenty-five thousand three hundred and twenty-three dollars. This sum, added to the actual interest on the national debt, shows the total yearly deficit in Mexico, of seventeen millions two hundred and thirteen thousand seven hundred and fifty-four dollars;—a sum larger than the present yield of all the mints in the republic.