and, in addition to this, there is a reported internal debt of some $40,000,000. At the present time (1886) the aggregate national debt of Mexico has been reported as amounting to $122,891,000, and $7,891,000 arrears of interest. The obligations which this debt entails constitute a serious embarrassment to the Government, and a heavy burden upon the resources of the country. Numerous attempts have been made to fund it, with adequate provision for the payment of interest—the payment of the principal being regarded as hopeless—a scheme by President Gonzales in 1884 for a new conversion, by the issue of bonds to the amount of $86,000,000, having well-nigh occasioned a revolution; not that Mexico wanted to repudiate, but because the whole measure was believed to be tainted with fraud. During the present year (1886) however, the Mexican Government has resumed payment, in part, of the interest on the English bonded indebtedness—in pursuance of an act of Congress in 1885, which authorized the consolidation of the entire national debt without consultation with the creditors. But so long as the debt of Mexico is not arranged to the satisfaction of its holders, and the originally stipulated interest thereon is not regularly paid, the republic can expect but little credit, no sound finance, no full material development, and no thoroughly sound gov-
