some idea of the result of our labours. By this it will appear that cloth. ing has been delivered to the Troops to the amount of 469,201 dols. Which, by the Contract, would have cost......... Difference in favour of the Treasury............. Dollars 545,481 76,279 In the value of the clothing, I include the materials, salaries, expences of the tools, freight, and other charges of the Establishment. The other Supplies, prepared under my inspection for the Infantry and Cavalry Regiments, amount to.... The value of which by the Contract with Barrera would have been....... Saving to the Country................... 92,447 dols. 125,265 Five new Salt Lakes, or Deposits, (Chamela, Ixtlan, Zeta, Chametla, and Higueras) have been discovered during the last 2 years. The produce of the whole branch of this Revenue is, however, small; but, on the 9th August, 1824, when my duties as Minister commenced, it was nothing: the Inhabitants of the Neighbourhood considered the Salt Lakes as their property; the estates around used to send Mules to the nearest point to load salt, without any further expence than that of removing it. At present the Commissaries General are ordered to let the Salt Lakes for the Year to the highest Bidder; and, although many are still undisposed of, some are producing from 4 to 500 dollars annually, and Peñon Blanco alone 14,000. Tithes. The portion of the Tenths which formerly belonged to the Royal Treasury is now assigned to the States, (by the Decree of Congress, No. 70,) which are accountable only to the Federation for the sums due at the time of the Establishment of the present system. The Ministry has no controul over the Offices in which these Accounts are kept, nor has it interfered with them, except in order to effect a liquidation of the balance due to the Federation. It has succeeded in ascertaining that the debt of the Bishoprick of Valladolid, for the Years 1821 to 1824, is.... 524,223 dols. 110,000, 137,147 22,000 Total, Dollars 793,370 without including other Bishopricks, whose Accounts, from the confusion of past times, it has not yet been possible to balance. Territories of the Federation. In the several Districts, which, without being Members of the Union as Independent States, are placed at their own desire under the Supreme Government, viz. Californias, Tlascala, Colima, and New Mexico, Commissaries General have been appointed, and the new system has been introduced. Californias had been supplied with arms and clothing for the Troops, tobacco and other necessaries, of which it had been deprived since the Revolution; 14 Years pay were due to the Troops there on the 21st April, 1824. Commissaries General. In conformity to the Decree of the 21st September, 1824, 15 Commissaries General have been appointed (in lieu of the old Intendencies) in Mexico, Guadalajara, Puebla, Oajaca, Guanajuato, Valladolid, Yucatan, Zacatecas, San Luis Potosi, Vera Cruz, Queretaro, Durango, Occidente, Chihuahua, and Chiapas, and two other Dependencies on the Commissaries of Vera Cruz and Occidente, in Tobasco and Californias. To receive and distribute the Revenues of the Federation; to superintend, themselves, the monopolies of powder, salt, and tobacco; to take charge of the National Property; to receive the contingents of the States, and the duties of salvage, and turnpike dues; to execute the Laws and Regulations respecting smuggling; to inspect all the Roads, Bridges, and Canals; to visit the Publick Stores and Manufactories; and to inquire into the state of the Troops, with a view to furnish the necessary supplies of clothing and rations, and to arrange for Quarters, &c., such are the duties of the Commissaries General, as recently established. A new system of making up the Accounts has been adopted, which are now received by the Treasury within 3 months after the expiration of the Year: a regularity hitherto unknown, either before or after the Independence of the Nation. My endeavours have not been as successful as I could have desired, in consequence of the want of an adequate number of efficient Employés, which has been owing, in a great measure, to my having been restricted by Congress to the service of the Cesantes, who were already entitled to Pensions from the Publick Purse. Under these disadvantages, nothing but the greatest exertions, on the part of the Commissaries, could have enabled them to establish that activity and regularity which have been already acquired in almost every branch of the Department, in consequence of the repeated Orders issued by the Ministry, and the scrupulous attention which has been paid to the execution of them. By exercising a constant superintendence, I have been enabled to regulate the Receipts and Expenditure of each Commissary's Department, and to make the surplus of the one supply the deficit of the other. Thus, the Commissary of Puebla has received from the Treasury and the Custom Houses upon the Coast, up to November of this Year, 571,061 dollars, with which, and the Revenue of the Federation in that State, he has liquidated all the demands upon the Government, as well as the immense arrears due both to the Army and to the Civil Employés in that State. During the same time, Queretaro has received....... 160,671 dols. 299,130 130,000 71,760 18,000 And in like manner, by your Excellency's Orders, Chihuahua and Coahuila receive a monthly remittance from Zacatecas; Bejar, and the Presidial Companies upon the Frontiers, from the Port of Tampico; and Saltillo, from that of Refugio. Federal District. The City of Mexico, and the District for 2 leagues around, were declared to belong to the Federation on the 13th of last April, when I received possession of the Custom House and other Publick Establishments; for the proper regulation of which I immediately formed the necessary plans. The result of the new Regulations has been that, in 6 months, the Custom House alone has produced an increase of 85,231 dollars, as compared with the Receipts of the 6 same months in the preceding Year: and that too at a time when, owing to the intended changes in the Tarif, scarcely any importations of Foreign goods, upon which a duty of 3 per cent. is payable, took place. The increase in the duties on Pulque amounted, during the same period, to 14,663 dollars, and I do not hesitate to assure your Excellency that, at the close of the Year, the total increase of the Revenue in Mexico will exceed 200,000 dollars, while, if the plans be sanctioned by Congress, there will be a reduction in the expense of its collection of 22,729 dollars, as compared with that under the system at present established. Tobacco. It is difficult to conceive the state of distress to which this branch of the Revenue was reduced during the years 1822, 1823, and 1824. It might almost be said not to exist; yet, in consequence of the measures taken by your Excellency's Orders, in the first 8 months of 1825, it produced 634,416 dollars, which makes the annual produce appear to be 951,624 dollars. At the present moment, I have not the necessary data to estimate the whole produce of the Year 1826, but your Excellency will find the most flattering hopes warranted by the fact, that, without including the consumption of the State of Vera Cruz, and of the City of Mexico, from the 1st of January to the 1st of November, 7,293 tercios of tobacco in leaf and 6,614 boxes of segars, have been remitted to the different States of the Federation. In Vera Cruz alone the sales amount to between 120 and 130,000 dollars annually. Maritime Custom Houses. Fifteen Custom Houses were open to Foreign Trade upon the Coast on the 9th August, 1824; and five more have since been opened to it. I commenced my Report for the Year 1826, with an account of them, and stated the measures which had been taken for introducing a proper organization, and suppressing abuses: if those measures have not been productive of all the effect which I could have desired, it must be attributed in part to the want of efficient Employés, from my being forced to confine myself, in selecting them, to the class of Cesantes, (old Government Officers unemployed, but entitled to Pensions,) and from the difficulty of inducing those Persons to brave the climate upon the Coast, by accepting employment there. If these obstacles have been, in part, surmounted, it is owing entirely to the increasing exertions of the Ministry: hopes of reward have been held out; delays foreseen, and prevented; Orders circulated upon every point; commissions of enquiry instituted, and visits unexpectedly made; daily, weekly, and monthly accounts of Receipts and Expenditure required. In a word, nothing has been omitted, on my part, nor on that of the Officers employed in the Finance Department here, of whose labours the number of Orders issued, and Cases decided, afford ample proof. Where doubts have occurred, a reference to the Congress has been made, and I believe that the strictest enquiry will prove, that I have not neglected any thing which can be said to belong to the duties of a Minister of Finance. Various other financial and economical arrangements have been recently made; and I shall now pass in review the different Custom Houses, and point out, succinctly, the difference between their present situation and that in which I found them in 1824. Vera Cruz. Your Excellency had an opportunity of observing personally the state of this Establishment in 1824. One Officer, and one confidential Clerk managed the whole business of the Custom House; and such was the scarcity of Specie, that, even including the assistance received from Alvarado, money could not be obtained to pay the Garrison during the siege of the Castle. The net produce of the Customs of Vera Cruz amounted : 697,244 dols. The Existencias (sums to be received before the close of the Year 1826,) were on the 25th of last November, Duties (positively due).. Internation (do.) Cargoes of 5 Vessels in August, 5 in September, 4 in 278,978 dols. 105,666 October, and 9 in November, without including 2. Foreign Loans.... 300,000 Total, Dollars...1,084,644. Alvarado. The momentary importance which this Custom House acquired during the Siege of the Castle, has ceased: no Vessels now enter the River, and the Establishment is reduced to a few Officers for the prevention of Smuggling. In 1822 the produce of the Customs was........ 1823...... 1824...... 1825....(8 months to August)...... 1826.....(10 months to June)...... 7,052 dols. 231,600 1,648,494 2,594,580 2,590,543 Goazacoalcos. This Establishment has been formed, but no Vessels have yet entered the Port. Neither here, nor in Campeche, did any sort of order exist upon my taking possession of the Ministry; the greatest abuses prevailed, and, up to the Year 1823, I have been unable to obtain any account |