History of Mexico (Bancroft)/Volume 3/Chapter 31

by Hubert Howe Bancroft

 

CHAPTER XXXI.

REVENUE AND FINANCE.

1500-1809.

Treasury Department Established — Royal Officers — The Department as Fully Organized — Regulations and Restrictions — Collection of Revenue — The King’s Fifth — Smelting — Tribute — Quicksilver — Customs Duties — Imports and Exports — The Manilla Trade — Royal Monopolies and Sale of Offices — Gambling License — Liquor Traffic — Taxation — Sale of Indulgences — Tithes — Cacao as Currency — Establishment of a Mint — Coinage — Income.

The treasury department of New Spain may be said to have been organized early in 1524, with Cortés as governor and captain-general, when Rodrigo de Albornoz was appointed as contador, Gonzalo de Salazar as factor, Alonso de Estrada as treasurer, and Pedro Almindez Chirinos as inspector of smelting works. The interference of these officials in gubernatorial affairs, and their assumption of prerogatives not rightly appertaining to the treasury, led to the establishment of a more thoroughly organized department which, as occupation progressed and the sources of revenue increased, became enlarged by the creation, from time to time, of different branch departments at the ports, and in all important districts. From 1528 to the end of the eighteenth century, laws in great number were passed describing the duties and curtailing the independent action of the royal officers of the treasury, providing against fraudulent practices, and protecting in every way the interests of the crown. If a cédula was issued which became inoperative, it was repeated; if an order proved ineffectual, it was revised.

The treasury department as fully organized was composed of three principal officers, the factor, auditor, and treasurer. Each of these chiefs, together with an escribano, had under him three officials who may be denominated the first, second, and third bookkeepers, and attached to the department was a number of employés, such as scriveners, who were occupied in despatching the business of the tribunal of royal officers,^[1] and that of the various outside branches responsible to it.^[2]

All the important affairs of each department were conducted by a tribunal of the royal officers who held their sessions weekly in the presence of the audiencia, or, where there was no audiencia, before the governor of the district. Their duty was to direct the management of the royal treasury; and in the collection of the revenue these courts had absolute jurisdiction, each tribunal being confined to its own district. During the sixteenth century the power of the royal officers was great. They opened in session the king's despatches to governors; could address the king conjointly or severally; viceroys and audiencias were ordered to put no impediment in their way; justices and alguaciles mayores were instructed to carry out their orders in all matters concerning the treasury, and in their court sessions their vote was final. But later the power of these courts was greatly curtailed,^[3] and controlled by the audiencia and the higher Tribunal y Audiencia de Cuentas.^[4] That the reader may form some idea of the jealousy with which the crown attempted to guard against fraud or peculation, and of the methods by which dishonest officials might appropriate funds of the treasury, I shall mention a few of the multitudinous laws issued for the protection of the revenue.

Treasury officials were strictly prohibited from engaging in commercial or business enterprises of any kind.^[5] They could not work mines, nor were their sons, brothers, or near relatives allowed to do so. All public appointments, such as those of corregidor and alcalde mayor, were closed against them and all near relatives, nor could they hold Indians in encomienda. The royal safe had three separate locks with different keys, one of which was in the keeping of each of the three chiefs of the department, while the door of the office in which the coffer was deposited was similarly fastened, so that all three officials were compelled to be present at the opening and closing of both the room and the strong-box.^[6] Restrictions followed restrictions; royal officers were even forbidden to marry the daughters or sisters of contadores de cuentas,^[7] nor were their own sons and daughters allowed to intermarry during the lifetime of their parents; and lastly, nepotism was so strictly guarded against that no relative of a treasury officer within the fourth degree of consanguinity and second degree of affinity could hold a position in the same department with himself.^[8]

Moreover the laws which regulated the duties of the royal officers were equally stringent. All bonds and securities had to be received by the officials conjointly. They had to attend, in company with an oidor, the public auctions of all goods pertaining to the crown; if their accounts were not rendered in time their salaries were withheld; drafts on the treasury drawn even by the viceroy, or president and oidores, could not be honored unless they were supported by a special order from his Majesty;^[9] the officers could not absent themselves from their posts without permission of the viceroy, nor return to Spain without that of the king. Any dereliction of duty was in most cases punishable by loss of position.

Nevertheless legislation availed not to prevent abuses; a study of the laws passed during a long period of time reveals the fact that fraudulent and irregular practices continually prevailed, and eventually the royal treasury in New Spain was placed under the absolute control of the viceroy as superintendent, no appeal being allowed against his decision except directly to the crown.^[10] But it is time to consider the various sources from which the kings of Spain derived their revenue in the Mexican provinces.

 

The earliest recorded collection of revenue in New Spain was made during the captivity of Montezuma, and several remittances were sent to the mother country during the first years of occupation except in 1523; but in 1524 the sum transmitted amounted to nearly one hundred thousand pesos. From this time remittances to Spain declined somewhat for several decades, until about the middle of the century when they gradually increased.^[11] During the first few years of the colonial period the principal source of royal revenue was tribute money, and as this was partly paid by personal services no very correct estimate of the treasury receipts at that time can be formed.^[12] But at an early date measures were adopted by the crown to ensure a better administration of this department, and an increase of revenue. Branches were established in the principal towns^[13] to facilitate collection, and instructions issued for the guidance of officials.^[14] As the revenue increased in value and importance, and the sources from which it was derived multiplied, fresh laws were repeatedly promulgated, more departments created, and a vast financial policy developed. No possible opportunity of drawing wealth into the royal exchequer was thrown away; and luxuries, industries, and vices were alike made to contribute their quota to fill the royal coffers. So numerous were the means employed that at the end of the eighteenth century the various sources from which the rental was derived numbered more than sixty, and during the period from 1522 to 1804 yielded $1,940,000,000, or an annual average of $6,830,980.^[15] The proceeds fluctuated considerably during the above named years.

The earliest impost which was paid in New Spain was the royal fifth of the net value of all gold, silver, tin, quicksilver, or other metals obtained from mines. This duty was established in the Indies royal cédula of the 5th of February, 1504, and was payable by all vassals and residents in the domains of the crown.^[16] In order to secure the collection of this tax an inspector of mines was appointed at an early date, and in 1528 royal officers were required to be present at the smelting of gold. This fifth on gold was found in some instances to be discouraging to mining enterprises, and the king caused it temporarily to be reduced to one tenth, which concession was extended from time to time.^[17] After a variety of changes the tax was reduced in the last half of the eighteenth century ta three per cent on gold, and eleven per cent on silver. This caused a considerable increase to the revenue, and in the twenty-five years from 1765 to 1789 inclusive, the amount collected was $43,041,468.^[18]

Almost contemporaneous with the establishment of the royal fifth impost was that of the Indian tribute. The surrender of Montezuma to the crown of Castile made both him and his former subjects vassals of the king of Spain, and indeed that unfortunate monarch sent valuable presents to Cárlos V. in token of his recognition of him as his sovereign. Accordingly orders were issued on the 25th of October, 1522, requiring payment of tribute to be made to the royal treasury officer. This tax was discharged either by the payment of a sum of money and contributions in kind, or by labor which was employed on public works and buildings, and in the cultivation of plantations. The amount paid was regulated by the quality of the soil cultivated by the Indians, and consequently varied in different districts, the land being appraised by the corregidores or sworn commissioners. Those towns which did not pertain directly to the crown paid the tribute to the respective encomenderos,^[19] who in turn paid to the officers of the crown the royal fifth.^[20]

At first the impost levied upon the Indians was probably the same as that paid to Montezuma, namely, one third of all produce, or an equivalent wholly or in part in the precious metals; but it soon became evident that so oppressive a tribute could not be borne, and reductions and exemptions were repeatedly made^[21] during the period from 1550 to the close of the eighteenth century, when the tax which generally prevailed was about two pesos and a quarter per annum.^[22]

Meanwhile the importance of this source of revenue was such, and the increase of business in the treasury department became so great, that in 1597 a general auditors' office for the united management of Indian tributes and the quicksilver branch was established by Viceroy Monterey. In 1651, however, the two branches were disconnected, and the contadoría de tributes became a distinct department, with an administrator general at the head whose jurisdiction extended over all New Spain.^[23]

The next productive impost introduced into New Spain was the alcabala,^[24] or excise, collected upon all salable commodities. This duty had its origin in Spain, at what date is uncertain; but in 1342, and for a long period afterward, the right of collecting it was periodically conceded by the córtes to different Spanish monarchs to defray expenses of war, till finally it became a fixed source of revenue. In 1558 Philip II. after consultation with his councillors decided to introduce the alcabala into the Indies, and in 1568 issued a royal cédula to the viceroys ordering it to be established in Peru and New Spain.^[25] Some delay, however, occurred in the formation of a tariff, and the organization of the department; nor was it before October 1574 that the viceroy Martin Enriquez issued his proclamation, specifying in detail the articles to be taxed.^[26] On the 27th of November following he appointed Gordian Casasano, secretary of the audiencia, to the office of auditor and superintendent-general of the new department,^[27] instructing him at the same time to appoint receivers in each district, and commence the collection of the duties on the 1st of January 1575.^[28]

Henceforward this impost under the ever watchful eyes of the grasping kings of Spain increased in productiveness to the crown and added greatly to the burdens of the inhabitants of New Spain. The smallest articles of merchandise and the commonest necessaries of life, as they passed from one owner to another, were taxed over and over again. Foreign goods, home productions, the fruits of the soil, native produce of all kinds,^[29] landed property, sold or even leased, in time all came within the reach of the elastic alcabala. The two per cent first exacted was doubled and trebled. In the decade 1601 to 1610 the yield in the Mexican department alone was 2,671,190 pesos; that of the decade 1781 to 1790, 13,575,528 pesos. The total amount which this tax yielded in the whole kingdom during 1780 to 1789 was 34,022,552 pesos, giving a net profit of 31,302,941 pesos. In the single year 1798 the total amount of this impost was 2,765,217 pesos, with net proceeds of 2,352,235 pesos, or nearly ten times the mean annual receipts during the first named decade.^[30]

Nor was the alcabala the only impost to which internal trade was subject; the peage, or transit dues which were levied upon goods on their transportation from certain places to others, still further increased the price of commodities. The effect of this grievous system is obvious. Internal trade was cramped, manufacturing and agricultural industries were fettered, and inclination to undertake local enterprises was choked.^[31]

But the purchasers of imported goods paid still more highly for the satisfaction of their wants or luxuries. The almojarifazgo,^[32] or custom duty, was charged on all merchandise entering or leaving the ports of the colony. During the seven years from 1785 to 1791 the receipts at the custom-house of Vera Cruz amounted to $3,185,192; those at Acapulco, for the five years 1786 to 1790 inclusive, to $660,532; while the total receipts in all the ports for the single year 1798 were $242,968. In the early period of the colonial history the principal exports at the port of Vera Cruz were aguardiente, dyes, and gold and silver bullion. A letter of instructions to the royal officers stationed there was issued on the 12th of July, 1530. It was also provided that one of the crown officers at Mexico, under whose superintendence custom-house affairs were placed, should reside at Vera Cruz, in order to appraise merchandise.^[33] Particular directions were issued to prevent fraud and smuggling, and the penalty of death and forfeiture of goods was proclaimed against all persons illegally exporting gold or silver.^[34]

From old documents of the port of Acapulco there appears to have been stationed there a paymaster who kept the accounts in connection with the building of vessels and the payment of workmen's wages, as also those of seamen employed in voyages of discovery. The almojarifazgo, however, was not collected until 1574. In 1597 royal orders were issued relative to the management of this port, the viceroy Velasco, however, having already in 1593 given instructions to the factor. The substance of these lengthy orders was to the effect that the factor should reside at Acapulco, and make a summary of the arrival of all vessels and merchandise from the Philippines; pay into his Majesty's treasury all moneys received;^[35] attend to the proper equipment of all government vessels, and collect all duties.

Apart from these great sources of revenue, enormous profits accrued to the crown from the royal monopolies and the sale of offices. Salt, gunpowder, tobacco, and quicksilver were the most important of the monopolies. The first of these established in New Spain was that of quicksilver. For some years after the conquest, gold and silver were obtained without the necessity of quicksilver, or even a knowledge of its amalgamating properties, until, as we have seen, in 1557 Bartolomé de Medina, a miner of Pachuca, discovered the process of quicksilver amalgamation. The consequent demand was at once turned by the crown to an additional means of profit, and on the 4th of March 1559 a royal cédula was issued prohibiting the importation of quicksilver from the Peninsula and Peru into New Spain, even in the smallest quantity, except through the treasury department.^[36] The net proceeds of this branch for the years 1779 to 1789 inclusive amounted to $4,745,318.

Then followed the prohibitions on the manufacture of gunpowder^[37] and salt, stringent regulations with regard to the production and sale of which articles were enacted.^[38] The most productive of all the monopolies, however, was that of tobacco, which was established in 1765 by Visitador Galvez, and yielded to the treasury during the forty-five following years $123,808,685.^[39]

There were moreover other monopolies of greater or less values, from that of stamped paper to that of ice brought from the mountains. The regulations with regard to stamped paper were especially vexatious, as no civil business transaction, whether public or private, was legal unless written on this paper.^[40] The stamps were of four different values varying from three dollars to one sixteenth of a dollar, and every instrument, deed, judicial record, will, or contract had to be legalized by one or another according to the importance of the document.

Charles V. by cédula of August 27, 1529, absolutely prohibited gambling; but Philip II. considered that the vice could be turned to profit, and in 1552 ordered a royal monopoly on playing-cards to be established throughout his western dominions.^[41] The

retained the management of it, established a separate department with a full staff of officers and agents, and in 1798 the net proceeds of this branch amounted to 490,226 pesos. Notic. de N. Exp. in Soc. Mex. Geog., ii. 25. Fonseca and Urritia, Hist. Heal Hac., ii. 190-5. Revilla Gigedo, Instruc., MS., ii. 212-28, 483-5. success of this device to wring money from the subjects of Spain led to others of a similar kind; and as cock-fighting was a most attractive sport, in 1727 the exclusive privilege to open a public cockpit was sold to Isidro Rodriguez^[42] then followed that curse of a community, the establishment of a government lottery^[43] the profits accruing from which to the royal treasury amounted in 1798 to $109,255.

I may mention here the taxes imposed upon the sale of the native liquors, pulque and aguardiente, the first of which in the above named year produced a net profit of $779,166, and the latter $217,723.^[44] To enumerate all the complicated exactions, duties, and contributions imposed from time to time by the crown of Spain would be profitless; suffice it to say that every conceivable plan was adopted to increase the revenue. The salaries of royal and civil officials were taxed,^[45] as were later even the stipends of ecclesiastics.^[46]

There were three more sources from which a large portion of the revenue was derived, namely the bulas de la Santa cruzada, the tithes of the church, and the mint. No more iniquitous system of taxation could be designed than that which was carried out through the instrumentality of the hulas de la santa cruzada, inasmuch as it worked upon the superstition of the people, perverted public morals, and fostered crime. These bulls had their origin in the times of the crusades, and were granted by the pope allowing dispensations to Spaniards who made themselves eminent by their Christian zeal in those wars. In time they were extended only in favor of the kings of Spain to aid them in their wars against the Moors,^[47] and were ever afterward continued in recognition of their services to the church.

In 1532 or 1533 the hula de la santa cruzada was first published in New Spain,^[48] and in 1578 the virtue of the bulls was extended to a period of two years by sanction of Gregory XIII.^[49] The bulls may be divided into two general classes, the bulas de vivos, or those which conferred dispensations and indulgences upon the living, and the bulas de difuntos which friends and relatives of deceased persons purchased in order to rescue their souls from purgatory. By virtue of the first class persons could be absolved from all crimes, special bulls of composition being issued for the benefit of thieves and robbers, by virtue of which they became the owners of the goods they stole. Bulls also were provided for the clergy, granting certain gastronomic indulgences during lent. The price varied according to the rank and wealth of the purchaser; but few persons, from the viceroy to the Indian laborer, neglected to avail themselves of the privilege they conferred.^[50]

 

In order that the reader may rightly understand how the royal exchequer was enriched by the tithes of the church a few explanatory remarks are necessary. The construction of the ecclesiastical hierarchy in Spanish America was peculiar. The celebrated bull of Alexander VI., which divided the world in twain by a line drawn from pole to pole and bestowing on the Spanish sovereigns forever the dominion of the western hemisphere, was interpreted in its fullest latitude. By virtue of its infallibility the future kings of Spain claimed and maintained the right of jurisdiction in civil, political, and ecclesiastical affairs. In the earlier years of the conquest it was owing to the religious fervor of the sovereign that the first churches were erected and bishoprics established; and in recognition of work already performed, and in view of future expenses to be incurred by the monarch in the erection and endowment of cathedrals and other sacred edifices, the same pontiff, in 1501, granted to the kings of Spain the right to collect the church tithes in the Indies.^[51] At first these tithes were wholly devoted to such purposes, but during the extension of the church throughout New Spain the crown perceived that no little addition to the revenue could be obtained from so liberal a grant.

In 1537 Viceroy Mendoza was directed to impose tithes upon the natives; and should there be any surplus after the payment of expenses for public worship and for the support of the prelates, it was ordered to be paid into the royal treasury, since according to papal concession such tithes belonged to the crown.^[52] The collection of these ecclesiastical rents was not seldom a cause of dispute between the church and the state,^[53] as well as between prelates.^[54] Yet it cannot be denied that the king frequently devoted to religious purposes that portion of the tithes which accrued to himself.^[55]

In June 1539 a royal cédula was passed, assigning to the bishops of Tlascala, Oajaca, and Michoacan one fourth of the tithes collected in their respective dioceses, and ordering that if their stipends could not be paid from that source the deficiency should be made good from other funds of the royal treasury; but in October of the same year a more permanent division was made. The crown ordered that one half of the tithes accruing to each cathedral should be devoted to the use of the prelate; and the other half divided into nine equal parts, called novenos, two of which were set apart for the crown, three for the building of the cathedral and hospital, and the remaining four ninths appropriated to the payment of the salaries of the curas.^[56] Various modifications were made from time to time according to the requirements of circumstances, but the kings of Spain ever maintained their right to the two ninths. These novenos were not unfrequently farmed out, but at the auctions at which they were sold frauds were as repeatedly committed as at the sales of other royalties.^[57]

In conclusion, with respect to tithes I may add that almost every article of produce or consumption from silk and cacao to lentils and pot-herbs was thus taxed, and that the Spanish colonists frequently endeavored to avoid the payment on certain productions, but, under the pressure of the united interests of church and state, their attempts were generally defeated.^[58] Nor did the religious orders escape. In 1655 and 1657 the society of Jesus were condemned to pay tithes on all crops and productions of their estates.^[59]

 

No sooner had the conquest of Mexico been accomplished than the necessity of a numismatic system of exchange became apparent. Previous to the arrival of the Spaniards trade had been mostly carried on by barter, and cacao beans and other articles were used as currency, specie being unknown.^[60] The comparatively small amount of coined money introduced by the conquerors was principally of the higher denominations, and the scarcity of small coin even for domestic purposes caused great inconvenience. To obviate this, the cabildo of the city of Mexico passed a resolution on the 6th of April 1526 to the effect that the citizens might have their tepuzque gold converted at the smelting works into pieces of one, two, and four tomines, and of one, two, and four pesos de oro.^[61]

As trade and commerce increased, however, the necessity of a mint became urgent, and in January 1531 the oidor Salmeron in his letter to the council of the Indies strongly advised the establishment of one in the city of Mexico,^[62] but it was not till May 1535 that a royal cédula was issued to that effect.^[63] A portion of the house of Cortés was assigned by the viceroy for the new establishment; and in order to defray first expenses the crown granted one thousand marks of silver to be taken from the king's fifth, tribute, and other sources, to be coined^[64] It was furthermore ordered that to meet future current expenses one real out of every mark of silver should be retained for that purpose.^[65] Laws were also passed to the effect that the officials of the mint should be appointed every two years, and by the viceroy only;^[66] that civil suits against employés in the mint be adjudged by the alcaldes of the mint, and by no other judicial authority;^[67] and that no silver should be received unless it bore the stamp which certified that the royal fifth had been satisfied. Persons who contravened this law were to suffer death and confiscation of property. The silver thus presented was to be seized.^[68] No official could buy or sell bullion.

It must not be supposed that the appointment of the mint officials by the king or viceroy constituted them royal officers. From its first establishment the mint was leased to private individuals,^[69] and the officials were as yet in the service of the lessees and not of the crown, which, however, retained the right of their appointment. The work of improving the specie system of exchange was at once begun. In 1536 the tepuzque coinage, the value of which had been arbitrary, fluctuating, and above par, was ordered to be called in and recoined into pieces of oro de minas.^[70] A large quantity of silver coin^[71] was struck off the same year, and copper money introduced. This latter innovation was almost ludicrous in its operation. The new pieces of despised copper were held in contempt by the natives,^[72] and they refused to receive them. They would sell their small articles of manufacture or a measure of maize for a few cacao beans, but not for an ill-shaped bit of copper with a mark on it. The circulation of the coin was, however, enforced by the viceroy. But though by stringent measures the Indian could be compelled to take in trade the objectionable medium, he could not be made to keep such a symbol of poverty,^[73] and he cast it from him. He threw it into the gutters and hurled it into the lake that it might never more be seen, and in a year or two the natives succeeded in getting rid of more than one hundred thousand pesos' worth of the offensive trash.^[74]

During the decade 1541 to 1550, more suitable denominations were put into circulation, but the amount coined does not appear to have been sufficient to meet the requirements of the increase in trade and commerce, and both Spaniards and Indians purchased goods with unstamped bullion and gold dust. This practice was prohibited by royal cédula of the 16th of April, 1550; in 1591 Philip II. repeated the prohibition and adopted measures for the purpose of making the supply of coin adequate to the demands of trade.^[75]

By an act of 1552 the chief smelter and the assay master were made royal officials. This step appears to have been the first instance of the crown withdrawing any part of the management from the control of the lessees. The principal officials were the treasurer, smelter, marker, weigher, blancher, engraver, and secretary. By cédula of August 21, 1565, these positions were declared vendible and instructions were issued ordering the sale of them to the highest bidders, provided that they were duly qualified to fill them.^[76]

From this time until the year 1731 no affair of great importance, with one exception, occurred in connection with the mint. A few events caused temporary excitement, it is true, and occasionally disturbed its management. About the middle of the seventeenth century three hundred thousand pesos of Peruvian money were imported into the country, and were so violently objected to that it required a special order from the king to enforce its circulation.^[77] In 1663 the viceroy imprisoned Juan Vazquez Medina, the treasurer, and confiscated his property for refusing to pay into the royal treasury two hundred thousand pesos which he had demanded of him a demand in contravention of the contract by which the office had been sold to Medina.^[78] Permission was granted by cédula of February 1675 to issue gold coins similar in all respects to those coined in Spain. Accordingly in 1676 by order of the viceroy the standard was declared to be twenty-two carats, and the mark of pure gold ordered to be coined into sixty-eight escudos after the deduction of two and a half tomines for brassage.^[79] On the 23d of May this privilege was publicly proclaimed, and received with much rejoicing. Bands of music played in different parts of the city, and all the officers of state issued from the mint on horseback, and marched in procession under arches of flowers which spanned the crowded streets. There is no mention, however, of any gold having been coined before the 23d of December 1679, on which day the viceroy and audiencia visited the mint to witness the coinage of doubloons.^[80]

The original building in which the operations of the mint were conducted was soon found to be inadequate to requirements, and to the safe keeping of the large sums that were accumulated in it. Indeed the king had issued orders for a mint to be erected at his own expense; but these instructions were not carried out until, owing to the representations of the treasurer, Gabriel Diaz, he again in January 1569 ordered the erection of a proper building on a site selected and assigned for that purpose.^[81] With the progressive increase in coinage this building became too small, and in 1731 Viceroy Casafuerte began the erection of the one which, enlarged and embellished, has developed into the fine mint which exists to-day in the city of Mexico.^[82]

During this same year the king by cédula of the 26th of January ordered the establishment of a tribunal whose particular office was the suppression of counterfeiting. From the first introduction of a coined medium into the country false money began to be fabricated, at which illegal craft the natives showed themselves no less skilful than the Spaniards.^[83]

This court was composed of six ministers, including the president, one fiscal, and a secretary.^[84] There was besides a number of subaltern officers of different grades. The office of president was vested perpetually in the secretary of state for the treasury, who was made judge and superintendent-general of all mints. Two at least of the ministers, as well as the fiscal, were required to be graduates of law. His Majesty conferred upon this court absolute jurisdiction in all matters pertaining to it, without appeal, and free from all interference of the audiencia, other tribunals, or councils.^[85]

From the year when the smelter and assayer were made royal officials, other officers from time to time were removed from the service of the lessees to that of the crown, till eventually, in 1732, the mint was incorporated, by royal cédula of the 14th of July, with the royal treasury, under the direction of a superintendent.^[86]

When Humboldt was in Mexico this establishment gave employment to between three hundred and sixty and four hundred employés, and its machinery was such that without any extraordinary activity $30,000,000 could be struck off yearly.^[87] With regard to the amount coined previous to 1690 nothing can be stated with any degree of accuracy, but since that time the annual coinage is known. Its progressive increase, and the enormous sums eventually struck off, are shown by the following figures: In 1690 the amount of silver coined was $5,285,581; one century later it reached $17,435,644. In the year 1796 $24,346,833, and in 1797 $24,041,182 were coined. In 1733 gold was coined to the amount of $151,702; in 1796 the coinage of the same metal reached $1,297,794, and in 1797 $1,038,856. From 1690 to 1803 inclusive the total amount of silver coined was $1,329,119,173, and of gold $44,819,830; in all $1,373,939,003.^[88] The net profit which accrued to the crown in the year 1798, after the payment of over $388,000 for expenses, was $1,280,746.^[89]

 

Despite the numerous and lucrative sources from which the revenue was derived, the treasury department in New Spain cannot be regarded as an exhibition of successful financiering and organization. What with the demands of the king upon it, the peculation of officials, and the fraudulent practices of the public, the royal treasury could rarely show a credit,able balance-sheet. Previous to 1644 statistics are so meagre that only a vague idea of the income and its gradual increase can be arrived at.^[90] According to certificates of the royal treasury the average receipts during the period from 1644 to 1673 was $1,266,519, and the payments $1,363,677, leaving an annual deficit of $97,158. Viceroy Mancera who found the exchequer bankrupt on his arrival devoted himself assiduously to the correction of abuses, and succeeded in bringinof about a more healthy condition of the royal treasury, which in 1673 was free from debt. Mancera during his rule increased the revenue $213,000 a year.^[91] But this improved state of affairs did not last long. Viceroy Linares in 1716 thus describes the condition of the exchequer and his own position: "The royal treasury is administered like a bankrupt merchant's estate, and the viceroys, playing the part corresponding to that of the assignees, only liquidate the most urgent debts."^[92]

In 1765 the revenue amounted to $6,130,314, and in 1790 to $19,400,213; yet with this ever increasing income proportionately increasing demands were made, and Mexico had to bear the burden of wars and the support of sister colonies.^[93] But it was during the wars with the English and French that the greatest strain was put upon her. Not only had the colonists to pay increased taxes, but their patriotism was appealed to, loans were raised, and voluntary contributions solicited.^[94]

When Viceroy Branciforte entered upon his administration in 1794 he found the treasury exhausted and the sources of supply apparently stopped. But he immediately effected a loan from the commercial and mining tribunals of $2,000,000, and others from the merchants and public, not bearing interest, so that in less than three years he despatched $32,000,000 to different parts for the king's account.^[95] His successor Azanza almost despaired of raising another loan on similar terms though instructed by the king to do so.^[96] By judicious financiering and squeezing, however, he managed to send to Spain and different colonies, during his short administration of less than two years, $26,600,000, besides paying government debts to the amount of nearly half a million, and leaving more than $6,100,000 in the treasury. But as the clouds gathered round the Spanish throne the needs of the monarch became greater and more pressing. In 1801 a war tax was imposed upon bequeathed property,^[97] and in 1805 Cárlos IV. levied an annual income upon the revenues of the church, which between 1805 and 1809 amounted to $12,080,291.^[98]

Meanwhile loans and more loans were asked for, and responded to with patriotic readiness and liberality; but when at last in 1809 one of $20,000,000 was called for immediately after a contribution of over $3,000,000,^[99] the people murmured, and the money could not be raised.^[100]

The receipts of the treasury from ordinary sources in 1809 amounted to $20,462,307; after payment of the government expenses in New Spain, and remissions to the colonies and the mother country, there barely remained $2,000,000 in the treasury, while the public debt amounted to $29,929,695.^[101] With regard to the shipments of treasure from New Spain to the royal treasury and the colonies on account of the king, the drain upon the country is prominently set forth by the fact that, during the period from 1690 to 1807 inclusive, $1,052,579,000 of coined gold and silver were shipped, $767,000,000 of which found its way into the royal treasury of Spain.^[102]

 

The bases which have been used in the preceding chapter have naturally been derived from volumes which contain royal ordinances and official documents on a great variety of subjects. Among such works are included the Recop. de Ind.; Reales Ordenes; Reales Cédulas; Ordenes de la Corona; Montemayor, Sumario, and a number of others containing laws and regulations for the administration of the treasury; laws which occasionally remitted some impost for the benefit of the Indians or even the colonists generally, but yet continually imposed fresh taxes and duties as time passed on. But in addition to such authorities a large number of others have been consulted. Prominent among these is the Biblioteca de Legislacion Ultramarina, of José María Zamora y Coronada, published in 1844-6. This work contains, besides royal cédulas and regulations bearing upon every branch of the government, a large collection of acts of the audiencia, proclamations, and orders issued from the year 1680. A clear conception of the wide difference between the old and new commercial systems is obtained from a comparison of the different tariffs of the custom-house which prevailed during the two epochs. Vetancurt in his Tratado de la Ciudad de Mexico treats casually and briefly of several branches of the revenue, such as the introduction of the alcabala, p. 10; demand upon the Indians for a loan, p. 1 1; the constitution of the tribunals of the exchequer, p. 28; the founding of the mint, and other matters connected with finance in early days. Villa-Señor gives a more extended account of these matters in Theatro Americano, i. 38-50, yet it is but a sketch of the numerous ramifications of the revenue office. Alaman, in his Disert., and Hist. Mex., gives some reliable and valuable information relative to both the revenue and the mint, but it is neither copious nor connected.

An extremely valuable work on this subject is the Historia General de Real Hacienda, compiled by Fabian de Fonseca and Cárlos de Urrutia, by order of the viceroy Conde de Revilla Gigedo. The six printed volumes which compose the work cost great research, and the authors, having had access to all necessary public documents, have produced as complete and accurate a history of the real hacienda and statistics connected with the government of Mexico under Spanish rule, as can well be found. The manuscript was not originally intended for publication, but upon its being found in the archives after the declaration of independence, it was printed by permission of the Mexican government. To the financier of the time when it was written it was an invaluable work; to the modern historian it is equally useful, as exposing the incessant drain made by the Spanish government, generation after generation, upon the American colonies. The volumes contain copies of numerous royal cédulas relative to every branch of the revenue, as well as the history of each one's origin and development. Statistical tables abound; and it rarely occurs that a fair estimate of the proceeds of every department cannot be formed from them. Nevertheless the work is not without its faults. The bad chronological arrangement of cédulas is confusing, and typographical errors in dates have been allowed to creep into the text. The oppressive burdens imposed upon the Mexicans were taxing their endurance beyond limit; of this Fonseca and Urrutia, however, saw nothing, and every new exaction imposed upon colonist or Indian was regarded as affectionate zeal on the part of the king to legislate for the welfare and prosperity of his subjects.

With regard to the mint and coinage I find the work of Fausto de Elhuyar, entitled Indagaciones sobre La Amonedacion en Nueva España, Madrid, 1818, to be extremely useful. His researches were conducted with great care, and supply a concise and correct history of the mint from its establishment down to the 10th of August 1814, when he laid before the mining tribunal of Mexico, of which he was director, the result of his labors. In this book, which consists of 142 pages, he gives an account of the different coins struck off and the modifications which they experienced at various periods, also of the new system when the administration was assumed by the government. He moreover considers with attention the causes by which the interests of the mining industry suffered and suggests remedies. Being a highly scientific man he did not fail to gain the appreciation of Humboldt, who describes him as 'le savant d'Elhuyar,' and 'Le savant directeur du tribunal de Mineria de Mexico.' Essai Polit, i. 118, 293.

 

The authorities consulted for this chapter are: Reales Cédulas, MS., i. 8-9, 92-7; ii. 1-3, 10-11, 43, 70, 104-5, 209-24, 238; Providencias Reales, MS., 13 et seq.; Ordenes de la Corona, MS., i. 133, 211-12; iii. 75-6, 111-12, 140-1; Azama, Ynstruc., MS., passim; Cedulario, MS., i. 99, 135-43; iii. 64, 78-80, 129-32, 230-2, 247-53; iv. 82-99, 202-24; Linares, Instruc., MS., 3-28; Vireyes de Mex., Ynstruc., MS., 1-5; Reales Ordenes, i. 111-231, 314, 340-461; iv. 367-72, 405-6, 436-59; v. 173-8, 291-324; Revilla Gigedo, Instruc., MS., ii. passim; Id., Bandos, 17 et seq.; Villa-Señor, Theatro, i. 33-61: Torquemada, i. 614; iii. 260-1; Gogolludo, Hist. Yuc., 101, 541, 617; Vetancurt, Trat. Mex., 30-2; Calle, Mem. y Not., 42-50, 60, 92, 112, 118, 183; Puga, Cedulario, 27 et seq.; Florida, Col. Doc., 126-8; Doc. Ecles. Mex., MS., v. 1-2; Pacheco and Cárdenas, Col. Doc., ii. 191; iii. 534; vi. 166-74; 447-8, 499, 512-13; vii. 208-9; xiii. 193-5, 200, 217-18; Cartas de Indias, 659-60; Certificacion de las Mercedes, MS., 96-209; Nueva España, Acuerdos, MS., 4-6, 12, 73-4; Doc. Hist. Mex., série i. tom. i. 4, 121-8, 297, 328, 470-8, 50822, 536-9; tom. ii. 74-8, 207, 217, 294; tom. iv. 62, 91, 168-9, 175, 190-8; Col. Doc. Ined., xxi. 523-52; Durango, Doc. Hist., MS., 110; Montemayor, Sumarios, 49-50, 112-13, 152-63, 237-76; Disposiciones Varias, i. 59 et seq.; ii. 3-15; iii. 18, 25-39, 56-63; Recop. de Indias, i. ii., passim;Monumentos Domin. Esp., MS., 30-2, 81, 123, 165-6; Id., Hist, y Pot., MS., 373-46, 501-89; Guijo, Diario, passim; Guatemala, Autos de Parte, MS., 1-41; Samaniego, Relacion, passim; America, Descrip., MS., 122-3; Zurita, Relacion, MS., 18-21, 44-75; Alaman, Disert, ii. 102-5, 310-16; Id., Hist. Mej., i. 4 et seq.; Leyes Varias Anot., MS., 53-5, 353-7; Robles, Diario, 74-8, 207, 217, 294; Lerdo de Tejada, Apunt. Hist., 301-9, 388; Id., Comerc. Estad., 21-3; Diezmos de Indias, passim; Monte Pio de Oficinas, Prontuario, 1-50; Beleña, Recop., i. 38-78, 123-5, 166-7; Mayorga, Dererhos,-passim-, Arce y Echeagaray, Instruc., 1-96; Mexico, Contestácion d los Observ., 71, 100-102; Id., Derechos, 1-14; Id., Estado de Real Hac., 94; Id., Exposicion al Sob. Cong., 30; Id., Memoria Agric. MS, 2-4; Id., Memoria Hac. 1844, 3-7; Id., 1849, 4-18, 56; Id., 1870, 38, 61-5; Id., Memoria Presentada, 1-60; Id., Memoria Rel. 1852, 6; Id., Not. Ciud. Mex., 132-3, 298-9, 307-28, 337-60; Id., Reales Aranzeles, 1-112; Id., Rel. Estado, 4—5; Id., Reglamento, passim; Sguier's MSS., ii. 18-21, 44—75; Guerra, Modo, 1-80; Willie, Not. Hoc., 1-6, 20-2; Estalla, xxvi. 284, 344; xxvii. 11-15, 217-46; Intendentes Real Ord., 202-62; Orozco y Berra, Mem. Ciud. Mex., 168-71; Cavo, Tres Siglos, pp. xiii.-xxiii. 121, 131; ii. 16-17, 147-60, 182-4; iii. 1.5, 26.5-71; Manifesto de su Justicia, 1-58; Fonseca y Urrutia, Real Hac., i.-vi., passim; Soc. Mex. Geog., Boletin, ii. 7, 17-40; v. 336; viii. 556-7; x. 505-11; xi. 320-1; Id., 2da ep. i. 297, 330, 348, 376, 404-22; iii. 9.3-4, 179-81, 201-2; Zamora, Bib. Leg. Ult., i. 25-8, 31; ii. 533-40; iii. 35-63, 209-12, 432-59; vi. 81-96; Ternaux-Compans, Voy., série i. tom. x. 243-56, 451-3; série ii. tom. v. 85, 124-5, 170-2, 191,' 246-74; Zuniga y O., Calend., 72-5, 88-98, 119, 146-8; Rivera, Gobernantes Mex., i. 30, 99-100, 132 et seq.; Museo Mex., i. 353-8, 393-402; iii. 407-8; iv. 94, 259-60; Elhuyar, Indagaciones, passim; Laharpe, Abrégé, x. 251-3; Ordenanzas para el Gobierno, 1-59; Id., Real Renta Polvora, 1-73; Id., Real Rente. Naypes, 1-35; Id., Labor Monedas, 1-59; Mayer's Mex. Azt., i. 141, 248, 274-5; ii. 92, 96, 107-8; Cancelada, Tel. Mex., 32-6, 47-51, 166-9, 285-97; Id., Ruina de la N. Esp., 37-8; Denis, Arte Plumaria, 8; Tributos, Reglamento, 1-14; Id., Reglamento y Ordenanzas, 1-66; Arancel derechos, 1-39; Hernandez, Estad. Mej., 1.33; Nouv. Annales des Voy., iv. 254-5; Humboldt, Essai Pol., i. 279; ii. 578-82, 675-81, 7.34, 803; Id., New Spain, iv. 205-81; Id., Tobias Estad., MS., 46-54; Id., Versuch, 1-29, 55, 120-21; Gaceta Mex., i.-x., passim; Alzate, Gacetas, i. 82, 106-7; Guia de Hac., i. 72-3; ii. 59-68, 116-28, 141-4; San Milian, Juez Ofical, 1-19; Cortes, Diario, iv. 106-8; v. 220; Ward's Mex., i. 55; ii. 12, 15, 31-2, 49, 58; Chevalier, Le Mexique, 533-43; Fabrica y Estampa de Naypes, 1-16; Domenech, Hist. Mex., i. 250-51, 278; Tributos, Reglamento de, 1-14; Guerra, Rev. de N. Esp., i. 175-6, 299-301; ii. 630-31; Arrillaya, Recop., 1830, 453-523; Id., Informe que dieron, 12; Galvez, Informe Marquis Son., passim; Diario Mex., ii. 151-2; iii. 8, 36, 410-11; v. 194, 222, 285; vii. 120; ix. 1.58; xi., passim; xii. 56 et seq.; xiii., passim; Zamacois, Hist. Mej., iv. 599-631; v. 408-9, 420-4, 468, 476-9, 546-58, 571-91, 612 et seq.; vi. 19, 23, 40-96, 128-36, 182, 3.38-9, 561; vii. 149, 178, 380-1; x. 1318-19, 1334-5, 1390-2; El Tiempo, 1834, 199; 1849, 92; Pap. Var., v. 52-4; xvi. 132-48, 164; xxxv. 1-26; liv. 27, 67; lxxx. 1-27; cxlii. 39-40; cl. 23; clxi. 3; cxxxix. 39-40; ccxv. 37-8; Zavala, Rev. Mex., ii. 2.3-6; Condiciones del Real Assiento, 1-25; Yucatan, Estad., 7-12; Salmon's Modern Hist., iii. 215; Niles, Register, xxiii. 133, 155; xxvii. 245; Mofras, Explor., i. 39-86; Arroniz, Hist, y Cron., 153; Juicio de un Americano, 5; Alvarez, Estudios Hist., iii. 262, 424; Instruccion de los Comisionados, 1-30; Reglamento para el Gobierno, 1-63; Pradt, Hist. Rev. Esp., 39-40; Instituto Geog. Estad., 23; Aguardiente, Reglamento, 1-26; Breves Reflex. Pulque, 6; Modo Aument. Donero, 3; Queipo, Col. Doc., 132-64; Brasseur de Bourbourg, Nat. Civ., iv. 775; Abeja Poblana, 1-76; Dicc. Univ., i. 52-3; ix. 265-7; x. 917; Torrente, Revol. Hispan, i. 13-18, 23; Media Anata, Real Ced., 1-3; Thompson's Recollections, 191-6; Querétaro, Not. Est., 73-4; Pelaez, Mem. Hist. Guat., i. 251-56; ii. 184-206; Rivera, Hist. Jalapa, i. 59, 112, 144, 164, 198-9.

 

 

1. The tribunal de los oficiales reales of the city of Mexico was composed of five members, namely, the three chiefs of the treasury mentioned in the text and the contador de tributes y alcabalas. Villa-Señior, Theatro, i. .39.
2. Early in the 17th century there was a royal coffer and branch department at each of the following places, namely: the city of Mexico, Vera Cruz, Acapulco, San Luis de Potosí, Guanajuato, Pachuca, Guadalajara, Durango, and Merida in Yucatan. Recop. de Ind., ii. 451. The first two treasury departments were those of the city of Mexico and Vera Cruz.
3. Recop. de Ind., ii. 419-25.
4. This court was established by Felipe III. in 1605, as a further check upon the officials of the treasury department. Recop. de Ind., ii. 385. At first it was composed of three auditors of accounts, two auditors of balance-sheets—contadores de resultas—and two royal officers 'para que ordenen las cuentas, que se hubieren de tomar.' Ibid. At a later date this court was enlarged and comprised the three contadores, an alguacil mayor, six contadores de resultas, four ordenadores. twelve contadores supernumerarios, and an escribano real.-The accounts of all the branches of the treasury department were passed through this tribunal. Vetancurt informs us that at its sessions the three contadores were seated with the royal audiencia 'y en su Tribunal gozan tie Señoria.' Trat. Ciud. Mex., 30. In Villa-Señor's time further changes had been made. Theatro Amer., i. 38.
5. Montemayor, Sumario, 248. This prohibition was frequently ignored. The officials of the royal treasury at San Luis Potosí committed so many irregularities by employing the king's money in mercantile transactions that his Majesty in 1650 ordered it to be closed for a time. Rivera, Gob. de Mex., i. 181-2.
6. No one of the officials could surrender his key to either of his colleagues unless illness or other justifiable cause prevented him acting in person. Recop. de Ind., ii. 431, 452. See Hist. Cent. Am., vol. i. this series.
7. Members of the tribunal y audiencia de cuentas.
8. Reales Cédulas, MS., ii. 1.33, 134; Ordenes de la Corona, MS., i. 133.
9. By cédula of 1539 the viceroy's drafts on the treasury were ordered to be paid, the officers advising the king of the same. But in 1569 this was countermanded. Montemayor, Sumario, 249, 230.
10. Reales Cédulas, MS., ii. 221-2; Disposiciones Varias, i. f. 53.
11. Albornoz, Carta, in Icazbalceta, Col. Doc., i. 501-2; Pacheco and Cardenas, Col. Doc., xii. 352-62; Ternaux-Compans, série i. tom. x. 451.
12. Cháves, Respuesta, MS., in Squier's MSS., xviii. 3-6.
13. In April 1528 the king established the following towns as cabeceras: the city of Mexico, Tezcuco, Zamachula, Zacatula, Zempoalla, Tehuantepec, Tututepec, Tlascala, Vibtzilan in Michoacan, Acapulco, and Cuilapan. Puga, Cedulario, 27.
14. A decree was issued May 16, 1527, enjoining officials not to compel any person to pay twice an indebtedness to the treasury. The duties of the contador and treasurer were then defined. Another decree of June 5, 1528, prescribed that payments made into the royal treasury should neither be to the prejudice of the person paying nor to that of the king. Recop. de Ind., ii. 465-9. Nor were the royal officers permitted to farm land or engage in any business contract under penalty of a fine of 10,000 maravedis. Montemayor, Sumarios, 248.
15. Notic. de Esp., in Soc. Mex. Geog., ii. 30.
16. The royal fifth was also paid on all treasures and treasure trove. On June 19, 1540, a royal cédula was issued, enjoining the strict collection of it on all treasure captured in war, discovered in graves or elsewhere, or received as ransom. Pacheco and Cárdenas, Col. Doc., xix. 59-03. Cortés in 1552 appointed officers to collect this revenue. Fonseca and Urrutia, Real Hac., i. 1-5.
17. In 1572 the duty on silver was reduced to one tenth for six years. Id., i. 16. During the next two centuries a great number of cédulas were issued relative to this duty, and for the encouragement of mining.
18. Id., i. 43. In the single year of 1798 the yield amounted to $2,230,945. Notic. N. Exp., in Soc. Mex. Geog; ii. 25. Connected with this branch of the revenue were the assay offices, which were established in the Indies by royal cédula of September 14, 1519, Recop. de Ind., ii. 75-7, and in 1522 were made vendible. The proceeds of these offices thus depended on the conditions of sale, and regulations enacted. For melting, assaying, and stamping, one and a half per cent was ordered to be charged by royal cédula of June 5, 1552, which was renewed in 1619. Id., 79. The system of selling this source of revenue proved unprofitable owing to fraud, and in 1783 it was incorporated with the crown administration; during the following seven years it yielded the small net amount of $27,375. Fonseca and Urrutia, Hist. Real. Hac., i. 45-51. In the year 1798, however, the net proceeds amounted to 47,944 pesos. Soc. Mex. Geog., ii. 25.
19. The encomenderos, however, were in the habit of exacting a higher tribute than that at which the land was assessed, and on the 30th of May, 1535, the king ordered the viceroy not to permit such exactions. Torquemada, iii. 260-1. This cédula was confirmed in 1540 and 1551.
20. The viceroy in 1537 writing to the king says that there had been much neglect in compelling the encomenderos to pay the king's fifth on tribute paid in gold, and that it was his intention to enforce the payment. Pacheco and Cárdenas Col. Doc., ii. 207-8. In 1569 there were in New Spain 155 alcaldias mayores, the tribute of which to the crown alone amounted in 1570 to 326,403 pesos; and in the following year that of the crown pueblos produced 83,553 pesos, besides 37,776 fanegas of maize and a large number of loads of cochineal, cacao, wheat, fish, honey, clothing, and poultry. Fonseca and Urrutia, Hist. Real Hac., i. 416. This produce was sold at auction in the respective towns before an oidor and the fiscal of the audiencia. In 1536 orders were issued forbidding these officers to send deputies to represent them. Puga, Cedulario, 102, 111.
21. Consult Hist. Mex., vol. i. 153-4, this series.
22. Humboldt, Essai Pol., i. 104-5. This tribute as regards Indians, negroes, mulattoes, and others was abolished in 1810. Disposic. Var., ii. f. 6.
23. Villa-Señor, Teatro Amer., i. 45; Fonseca and Urrutia, Hist. Real. Amer., i. 419, 424. The proceeds of this tribute in all New Spain paid into the royal treasury during the years 1765 to 1778 inclusive amounted to $11,345,224, and for the years 1779-1789, $8,438,704. Id., 451. In 1798 the net amount was $1,214,217. Notic. de N. Esp. in Soc. Mex. Geog., 25.
24. Different opinions exist concerning the origin of the word alcabala. The Arabian al-cabâla, much used among the Arabs, meaning adjudication of certain land, or any other object, through a tax or tribute which it was obligatory to pay to the royal treasury; later it became the name of the tax itself. Glosario, in Cartas de Indias, 873-4. From the Arabic cabala or cabele, signifying to receive, to collect, to deliver. Moreri and Miravel y Casadevante, i. 292. From the Hebrew verb caval, to receive, or perhaps from the Latin gabella, by which the Romans understood duties on sales. Escriche, Dicc. Regis. Juris., 118. In our own language gabel, tax, custom, duty, from the Anglo-Saxon gafel, and Gothic giban, to give; the German Abgabe. A prevalent Spanish notion is that the word is derived by corruption from al que vala; that is, algo que valga, something of import; the expression being used when the cortés were requested to provide necessary funds for the royal treasury.
25. Consult Recop. de Ind., ii. 498.
26. 'Desde luego quedaron por entonces exentos los indios, las iglesias y las personas eclesiasticás, en lo que no vendiesen ni cambiasen por vía de négociacion.' Fonseca and Urrutia, Hint. Real. Hac., ii. 7.
27. Casasano gave bonds in the sum of 30,000 ducados de Castilla, equivalent to 41,250 pesos. His salary was fixed at 1,875 pesos per annum. Id., 8.
28. The duty first imposed was two per cent on all articles bought and sold, until the king ordered otherwise. Montemayor, Sumarios de Cédulas, 237.
29. By a cédula of September 23, 1588, the tax was imposed upon the Indians who were made to pay alcabala on fruits, produce, and merchandise of the country. Fonseca and Urrutia, Hist. Real. Hac., in. 176.
30. Fonseca and Urrutia, Hist. Real. Hac., ii. 93-4; Notic. de N. Esp., in Soc. Mex. Geog., ii. 25.
31. Rules and regulations affecting the management of the excise department were incessantly issued. From among the numerous laws passed I select a few. Colored people, though paying tribute, were not exempt from alcabala. This order was passed in 1653. Montemayor, Ordenanzas, f. 1, with Montemayor, Sumarios de Cédulas. The tax was not to be collected on sales, the proceeds of which were to be devoted to religious purposes, a. d. 1722; nor upon property sold for division among heirs, a. d. 1735. Providencias Reales, MS., 144-5, 223-5. In some districts the alcabala used to be farmed out; in 1776 this system was discontinued and the collection made on the king's account. Disposic. Varias, i. f. 53. In 1777 an order was passed prohibiting leases of 10 years or upward, unless the same alcabala was paid as if the property were sold. Town lots sold for building purposes were subject to half the alcaba'a duty. Real Cédula, Aug. 21, 1777, pp. 1-3. Tax suits could only be admitted on appeal when they related to money returnable. Royal cédula of May 22, 1760. Providencias Reales, MS., 27-34. Indians to be exempted when suffering from epidemics. Id., 107-0. Royal magnanimity was also extended to paupers and ti'avelling poor who sold 'maiz, granos, y semillas. . . para provision de los Pueblos.' Recop de Ind., ii. 502. Churches, monasteries, prelates, and ecclesiastics were also exempt from alcabala 'de las ventas que hicieren de sus bienes;' but if any other article was sold the tax had to be paid. Ib. In 1796 a tax of 15 percent was ordered to be paid on all property transferred. Cedulario, MS., iii. f. 129-32. San Ildefonso, Aug. 21, 1777. The king this day forbids in his dominions leases of 10 years or upward unless they pay the alkabala the same as if the property were sold. Town lots sold for building dwelling-houses or other edifices adorning towns to pay half the alcabala duty. Real Cédula, Aug. 1-21, 1777, pp. 1-3.
32. Almojarife, or almoxarife, was the name anciently applied to the collector of the king's revenue. It is derived from the Arabic word al-mochrif, meaning inspector, an officer who collected the duties levied by the Moors at the ports of Andalusia. In New Spain this custom duty was ordered to be collected as early as 1522, under the name of almojarifazgo. The duty first charged upon imported articles of commerce was seven and a half per cent. At a later date it was fixed at two and a half, three, five, seven, and fifteen per cent, according to the quality of goods and the place whence they were shipped. Glosario, in Cartas de Indias, 874. In 1566, Philip II. confirmed former royal cédulas, and made the impost on merchandise imported from Spain ten per cent on the market value in New Spain. Two and a half per cent was ordered to be paid on exports, ad valorem, at place of shipment. On reshipments of Spanish goods to other parts of America, no duty was charged, but if they were again similarly reshipped, five per cent had to be paid upon the difference between their market value in Spain and at the place of destination. All such duties were only payable in specie. This cédula was reiterated in November 1591, and in August 1613. Montemayor, Sumarios de las Cédulas, ff. 251-4. At the close of the eighteenth century, the rate of duties levied at Vera Cruz on different classes of merchandise varied from two and a half per cent to twenty percent. Fonseca and Urrutia, Hist. Real Hac., v. 59.
33. The queen regent in April 1533 ordered the audiencia to investigate the practice of royal officials taking merchandise from importers at appraisement rates. This was defrauding the royal treasury, and the oidores were instructed to report on the matter. Puga, Cedulario, 87. In 1536 the treasury officials were ordered to provide a strong box with three keys, at Vera Cruz, for the money derived from the custom duties, as we have elsewhere seen. Id., 111.
34. Fonseca and Urrutia, Hist. Real. Hac., iv. 547.
35. The duty on gold was at the rate of one and a half per cent, at this time, a mark of 18 carat gold being equal to 70 pesos de oro, and one of 23 carats to 80 pesos de oro. The same rules were applicable to vessels arriving from Guatemalan, Nicaraguan, and other ports. Neither money nor horses could be shipped to the Philippines without royal permission; nor could any ecclesiastical or secular person proceed thither without leave. The purveyor and auditor at Acapulco was to obey all mandates of the viceroy, provision the fleets, and collect duty on merchandise sent to Mexico, which had hitherto been collected at the capital. But the most important item in the royal order of 1597 was to the effect that the valuation of the average duties was to be made by the viceroy and the treasury officials at Mexico. Id., iv. 451-68.
36. At this time the value of the commodity ranged from 55 to 58 ducados the quintal. At the end of the 18th century the price varied at different mines according to the expense of transportation. For instance at San Luis de Potosí the charge per quintal was 80 marcos de plata; at the mines in Michoacan and Oajaca, 90 ditto; at those of Guanajuato, 125 ditto. Id., i. 298-9, 383.
37. The first notice of the restrictions placed on gunpowder in New Spain occurs in 1571. Recop. de Ind., i. 573. In 1600 the factory of Chapultepec was completed by the crown and concessions granted to private individuals to manufacture powder. The privilege was purchased by the Ortega family during the period from 1606 to 1887, the periodical prices paid gradually increasing, being based upon pólvora de gracia, which was a quantity of powder annually presented to the government by the contractors. In 1700 the cost to the contractor was 24,000 pesos yearly, and in 1771 it amounted to 112,800 pesos. Thus the value of the monopoly became so great that the government in 1776
38. The monopoly on salt was established in 1580. The principal saltworks were at Santa María de Peñol Blanco. They were like most other monopolies at first rented out. In 1778 the administration of this branch was assumed by the crown, and in 1798 the net proceeds were 123,350 pesos. Soc. Mex. Geog., ii. 25. The salt works in Jalisco during the four years 1792-95 produced gross proceeds amounting to $49,517. In 1828 they were farmed out for six years at $7,000 a year, and in 1834 for $14,000 a year. Id., 2da ep. iii. 201-2.
39. Mex. Dict., in Pap. Var., xii. 27; Hex. Anal., in Id., clxv. no. 7. Tabular statement. Miguel Urrea's estimates differ considerably from those given in the text. He states that the net yield to the treasury down to the year 1802 was $144,693,581, or a mean annual gain of $3,018,251. Soc. Mex. Geog., ii. 29. The tobacco estanco prohibited the cultivation of the plant, except under contract with the government. Seed was imported from Habana. Fonseca and Urrutia, Hist. Real Hac., ii. 353-438. Large sums of money from the proceeds of this rent were sent to Cuba and Louisiana annually for the purchase of tobacco for the Peninsula. Ibid.
40. This duty was established in 1638. Recop. de Ind., ii. 573-7. See also Cedulario, MS., i. 135-43; ii. 247-53.
41. All cards were to be stamped with the royal arms. The monopoly of the manufacture and sale of them was sold in 1578 to Hernando de Caseres who paid a royalty of one real for each pack. The value of the privilege gradually increased as well as the price of cards paid by the public. In 1035 the monopoly sold for $150,000 per annum, and the price of a pack was raised to 'un peso de plata,' which caused a corresponding increase to the royal coffers of $45,000, making the annual value $195,000. Owing to failures of contractors, the administration of the branch was assumed by the crown several times from 1673 to 1800, and the net proceeds gradually declined. Those for the quinquennium 1785 to 1789 amounted annually to $97,835, but in 1798 they reached the sum of $160,781. Fonseca and Urrutia, Hist. Real Hac., ii. 295-318, passim; Guatemala, Autos de Parte, MS., 1—41; Villa-Señor y Sanchez, Teatro, i. 40; Providencias Reales, MS., 236-8.
42. In 1730 the right was sold at auction for the first time, and brought in $1,600 a year for a period of nine years. The total proceeds from 1727 to 1791 amounted to $1,473,928. Fonseca and Urrutia, Hist. Real Hac., iii. 1-23.
43. By decree of December 20, 1769. Id., ii. 120.
44. Soc. Mex. Geog., ii. 25-6.
45. The media anata tax had its origin in the retention of one month's salary of all appointees of the crown. It was first established in 1625, but was soon modified, and amounted virtually to payment of the tax in advance, the amount collected varying according to the value and term of office. 'Que de los oficios annales. . . se cobrase tambien la décima parte de lo que tuvieran de salario y emolumentos, de los bienales la octava, de los trienales la cuarta parte.' Fonseca and Urrutia, Hist. Real. Hac., ii. 489. The salaries of governors were subject to it, but not the pay of other officers and of the soldiers of the garrisons. Reales Cédulas, MS., iii. f. 43. Copy of different laws can be found in Recop. de Ind., ii. 542-8.
46. Under the name of mesadasy medias anatas eclesiásticas. The exaction was established in 1636.
47. In 1457 Calisto III. in the time of Henry IV. of Castille who was at war with the Moors sent Alonso de Espina to proclaim the bula cruzada for four years, and dispensations were sold during that period to the amount of 400,000 ducados. Later Sextus IV. ordered the church to pay Fernando the Catholic 'una vez para siempre' 100,000 ducados, and also granted him the privilege of proclaiming for three years this bull as a further aid in the war with Granada. After that time the popes renewed the bull every three years in favor of the kings of Spain. Moreri and Miravel y Casadevante, Gran Dicc., iii. 554.
48. Beaumont, Cron. Mich., iii. 455.
49. In Spain these bulls were efficacious as dispensations for only one year, and according to Solórzano their efficacy was extended to two years in New Spain 'por la gran distaucia de los lugares,' which would cause their virtue to be destroyed before they were received by the people. Polit. Ind., ii. 220
50. The price was fixed by the commissary of the department. The amount received into the treasury during the 25 years from 1765 to 1789 was $5,272,433. Fonseca and Urrutia, Hist. Real Hac., iii. 336. In 1798 the proceeds amounted to $340,897. Soc. Mex. Geog., ii. 26. Consult also Recop. de Ind., i. 179-81, and Solórzano, Polit. Ind., ii. 218-25.
51. A copy of the translation of this concession written in Latin is given in Solórzano, Polit. Ind., ii. 2-3. The bula also conferred the right and imposed the responsibility 'de predicar, y propagar la Fé, fundar Iglesias, y poner en ellas Ministros Eclesiásticos, dotarlas, y sustentarlos competentemente.' Ibid.
52. Pacheco and Cárdenas, Col. Doc., ii. 203. In 1539 a cédula provided that the comendadores of the order of Santiago should not be exempt from paying ecclesiastical tithes, and furthermore made the payment retrospective. Puga, Cedulario, 167-8.
53. The bishop of Tlascala in 1537 claimed the tithes on wool, saffron, and silk. The viceroy, however, refused to let him have them, as the yield would be large and ought to go into the king's treasury. Pacheco and Cárdenas, Col. Doc., ii. 202-3.
54. In 1539 the bishops of Mexico and Michoacan disagreed on this subject, and the king ordered the latter prelate to submit to the decision of the viceroy and oidores without appeal. Puga, Cedulario. 118.
55. Fonseca and Urrutia, Hist. Real Hac., iii. 175-6. For a number of laws relating to tithes see Zamora, Leg. Ult., iii. 35-63; Herrera, iii. v. ii. and iii.; Recop. de Ind., i. and ii. passim.
56. Puga, Cédalario, 118-19; Fonseca and Urrutia, Hist. Real. Hac., iii. 146-70.
57. Instructions were issued directing the audiencia to investigate the nature of these transactions. Puga, Cédulario, 75, 79. The disorders in the administration of this and other revenues continued for many years. In 1070 Viceroy Mancera caused so strict an investigation to be made that a repetition of them was in a great measure prevented. Instruc. Vireyes, 298-9; Revilla Gigedo, Bandos, ii. no. xix. 1-3. In March 1728 the royal novenos were leased out for nine years at $19,000 annually. When the lease expired they were again let for a similar period at $20,000 a year. Pattronatto, etc., f. 129-30, 135, in Doc. Ecles. Mex., MS., ii. no. 1.
58. In Fonseca and Urrutia, Hist. Peal Hac., iii. 139-45, will be found copy of a decree specifying the articles on which tithes and first-fruits were paid. There are some few exceptions, noticeable among which are pine-nuts and acorns 'de queno se ha de pagar diezmo,' p. 141. On a few articles a low'er percentage than one tenth was exacted. The total amount of tithes paid into the treasury collected in the archbishopric of Mexico during the decennary 1780 to 1789 was $6,972,923, one ninth of which sum would pertain to the crown. Id., 260, tabular form.
59. Discurso Legal, in Diezmos de Indias, no. vii. The tenacity with which the crown asserted its rights to the tithes of the church is frequently displayed. Although a papal bull granted to Cortés immunity from tithes, the king ignored the pontiff's authority in the matter, and ordered Cortés to pay. Puga, Cédulario, 84; Montemayor, Sumarios, 49. Were the tithes insufficient to pay church stipends, it was ordered that they should be paid into the treasury under a separate account, and the clergy sustained from other funds of the exchequer. Discurso Legal, in Diezmos de Indias, viii. 12-13. About the middle of the 17th century the bishops in New Spain claimed exclusive right to the tithes, grounded on the fact that Fernando and his daughter Juana had made a grant in 1512 to the prelates and clergy of Santo. Domingo and Puerto Rico of the tithes in those islands; but it was maintained that such grant in no way indicated that they had abandoned their claim to them in other parts of the Indies. Id., 7.
60. For the nearest approach to coined money and the different kinds of currency used in Mexico, see Native Races, ii. 381-2, this series.
61. Libro del Cabildo, MS., 114. The tomin was the eighth of a peso de oro. On the 17th of August of the same year an order was given by the cabildo for the payment of 157 pesos de oro to two silversmiths for coining 2,951 pesos de oro. Id., 152-3. For two years oro tepuzque was exclusively used, and the intrinsic value fluctuated so much that a standard was demanded. In September 1528 the cabildo adopted the resolution that all such money should be examined and stamped. The silversmith, Pedro Espinosa, was instrusted with the work. Id., 237.
62. Pachero and Cárdenas, Col. Doc., xiii. 193-4. The president Fuenleal reiterated this recommendation in April 1532. Id., 217-18. As early as 1525 Luis Ponce de Leon, commissioned to go to New Spain as juez de residencia, had been instructed to investigate the convenience of establishing a mint. Herrera, dec. iii. lib. vii. cap. xv.
63. Recop. de Ind., ii. 88. The cédula ordered it be governed by the laws regarding mints in Spain. By cédula of May 31, 1535, it was ordered that Spanish money circulated in the Indies should have the value of 34 maravedis per real, and no more. Puga, Cedulario, 107.
64. Fonseca and Urrutia, Hist. Real Hac., i. 111, 120. This was the first money coined at the mint.
65. This amount was found to be insufficient, and later in the same year a cédula was passed which provided that three reales should be deducted; two of which were to be devoted to the payment of expenses, and one paid to the king as royalty. Recop. de Ind., ii. 89.
66. Viceroy Mendoza in his letter to the king of December 10, 1537, complains that though he Had been authorized to make these appointments, assayers, engravers, and other employés holding royal appointments had arrived from Spain. This had been the cause of ill-feeling. Carta al Rey, in Florida, Col. Doc., 126-8.
67. This did not apply, however, to matters touching the king's fifth or other tributes. Such cases were to be tried by the justicias ordinarias. Id., ii. 92. The alcaldes of the mint were officers who attended daily to adjudicate on business connected therewith. Puga, Cedulario, 131. The viceroy was instructed to appoint jueces de residencia of the alcaldes and mint officials every two years. Recop. de Ind., ii. 90.
68. Viceroy Mendoza in his letter to the king of December 10, 1537, urges the abrogation of this severe law, and suggests that all bullion should be sent to the mint before being quintada, and that it should be taxed the royal fifth at the establishment. Pacheco and Cárdenas, Col. Doc., ii. 191. Yet this law was restricted in 1565, 1620, and 1646. Fonseca and Urrutia, Hist. Real Hac., i. 113.
69. Mex. Guia de Hac., ii. 59; Humboldt, Essai Pol., ii. 675-6.
70. The further coinage of gold, however, was prohibited.
71. These coins were not circular, but of irregular polygonal form, and called macuquina. They were called in to be reduced to bullion in 1774. Disposic, Varias, i. 39. A royal order of November 1537 provided that silver pieces of eight, four, two, one, and one half reales should be coined in the same manner as in Spain. Recop. de Ind., ii. 88. In 1538 the value of the real de plata was fixed at 34 maravedis, the standard of the Spanish coin, Recop. de Ind., ii. 94, and in 1544 it was ordered that all silver pieces should contain the same alloy, have the same value, weight, size, and impression as those coined in Spain. Id., ii. 89. Money coined in any part of the Indies was made current in other parts of Spain. Id., 94.
72. Hacian burla de tan baxa cosa.' Torquemada, i. 614.
73. Diciendo que hera muestra de mucha pobresa.' Panes, Vireyes, in Mon. Dom. Esp., MS., 81.
74. Ibid. Torquemada says, 'y se perdieron, segun se dixo, mas de docientos mil Pesos de valor. . . en esta Laguna de Mexico, porque jamàs pareciese.' i. 614. Fuenleal had foreseen that the introduction of copper coin would meet with opposition, and in his letter of April, 1532, to the king, offered the advice that no moneda de vellon should be coined. Pacheco and Cárdenas, Col. Doc., xiii. 217-18. About the year 1540 or 1541, the circulation of copper coinage had entirely ceased, Cavo, Tres Siglos, i. 131, and an attempt was made to supply its place by that of the silver cuartillo, or fourth oart of a real. The insignificant size of these coins made them as objectionable as their more bulky predecessors. But instead of being all thrown away, quantities of them were collected, melted, and cast into bars. Torquemada, i. 614. They were again coined in 1794. Disposic. Varias, i. 86.
75. In some districts there was a deficiency of the circulating medium, in the larger cities a superabundance. The viceroy and governors of provinces were instructed to purchase the bullion and gold dust of the former with the surplus coin of the latter. Recop. de Ind., ii. 93-4.
76. Recop. de Ind., ii. 90. The minor offices also were made salable in 1625. Fonseca and Urrutia, Hist. Real Hac., i. 122.
77. Rivera, Gob. de Mex., i. 189; Fonseca and Urrutia, Hist. Real Hac., i. 125.
78. Guijo, Diario, in Doc. Hist. Mex., 1st ser. i. 508. In 1064 restitution was made by the king ordering that whatever sums had been paid by Medina into the royal treasury should be restored to his son. Id., 538-9. From this it may be inferred that Medina had died in the mean time.
79. The escudo was the eighth part of a doubloon, and the tomin was equal to twelve grains.
80. Robles, Diario, in Doc. Hist. Mex., 1st ser. ii. 217, 294; Elhuyar, Indagac. Amoned., 3.
81. Fonseca and Urrutia, Hist. Real Hac., i. 120.
82. The original structure was completed in December 1734, and cost with only a small portion of the machinery $449,893. Panes, in Mon. Doc. Esp., Ms., 165; Alaman, Disert., iii. ap. 102.
83. Viceroy Mendoza in 1537 stated to the king that the Indians displayed extraordinary skill in counterfeiting money. Even the cacao beans which were used as currency were counterfeited by them. Florida, Col. Dic., 128.
84. 'Con ejercicio y refrendata.' Fonseca and Urrutia, Hist. Real. Hac., i. 131.
85. Previously counterfeiters were tried by the audiencia, or any competent court of justice. Id., i. 114. The members of this court were instructed to inform themselves thoroughly about all business connected with coining, and the operations of all silversmiths and workers in gold and silver. Id., i. 131-2.
86. Beleña, Recop., i. pt. iii. 123. The superintendent was made subordinate to the viceroy in 1735. Reales Cédulas, MS., ii. f. 70. The viceroy had supreme jurisdiction over all the ministers and officers connected with the department, 'bien que el conocimiento en primera Instancia de las causas civiles y criminales corresponde al Superintendente, y de sus sentencias se apela al Superior Govierno.' Galvez, Informe del Marquez, 15.
87. Essai Pol., ii. 676.
88. Zamora, Legis. Ult., i. 25-8. The figures are somewhat in excess of those of Humboldt, who gives the sum total of both gold and silver coined during the same period as $1,353,452. Essai Pol., ii. 578, 676-7.
89. Notic., N. Esp. in Soc. Mex. Geog., ii. 25.
90. According to a statement of the Franciscan comisario-general Fray Buenaventura de Salinas the crown spent more than $10,000,000 on churches and hospitals from the conquest until 1647. Cogolludo, Hist. Yuc., 101.
91. He moreover remitted to the king during his term $4,376,312. Mancera, Instruc., in Doc. Inéd., xxi. 523-52.
92. Linares, Instruc., MS., 54. The king required the viceroy to remit him annually $1,000,000, and Linares explains to his successor how impossible it had been for him to do so. Id., 52-6.
93. The appropriations—situados—disbursed by the treasury for the payment of military and civil salaries and the maintenance of garrisons, etc., abroad, during the period 1770 to 181 1, amounted to $3,837,700 annually. Soc. Mex. Geog., 2da ep. i. 421-2. Remittances to Habana, Pensacola, and Cartagena during the five years 1755 to 1759 amounted to $7,884,176. Certif. Merced, MS., 124-31. According to Humboldt, during the years 1788 to 1792 $1,826,000 was sent to the island of Cuba. Essai Pol., ii. 803.
94. Loans were effected in 1748 at three per cent interest. In 1758 the interest was fixed at five per cent. Providencias Reales, MS., 11-12, 153-5. The merchants with great willingness loaned the government $2,800,000 in 1771 sin premio. Cavo, Tres Siglos, iii. 15. Conspicuous among those ready to lend their aid was Antonio Bassoco, who in 1778 loaned the government the sums of $100,000 and $200,000 without interest. At the same time he made presents to the amount of $115,000 in different sums. Zamacois, Hist. Méj., vi. 561.
95. Branciforte, in Linares, Instruc., 8-9.
96. Me desalentaba el recuerdo de las repetidas contribuciones de la misma clase que habian hecho en los ultimos tiempos.' Azanza, Instruc., 110-11.
97. The tax varied from two per cent on the amount left to one half of one year's income, according to the amount and kind of property bequeathed. Disposic. Varias, i. 116-19.
98. Soc. Mex. Geog., 2da ep. i. 488-95.
99. In 1809, Andrew Cochrane was sent by the English government 'con una letra de la junta Central de 3 millones de duros' to negotiate a loan for that amount. The call was responded to with great readiness, and in a short time the sum of $3,210,435 was raised. Cancelada, Tel. Mex., 32-6. A list of the subscribers is given. Consult Alaman, Hist. Mex., i. 304-5. In the previous year $2,100,000 had been raised, and shortly afterward the resident Europeans contributed $2,700,000. Cancelada, Ruina de la N. Esp., 80-1.
100. Alaman, Hist. Mex., i. 306-7. A second attempt was again made in 1810. Disposic. Varias, ii. 3, 4, 15; Gaz. Gob. Mex., 1810, i. 797-801. The national constituent congress recognized by decree 'debts contracted by the government of the viceroys till September 17, 1810.' Mex. Mem. Minist. Rel., iii. doc. vii. no. 4, p. 6.
101. Cancelada, Tel. Mex., 285-92.
102. Cancelada, Ruina de la N. Esp., 37-8.