554 ANNUAL REGISTER, 1818. 



but as gold is worth seven- 

 teen dollars the doubloon, and 

 passed by tale at that rate, 

 very little of it is exported ; 

 hence the currency of the country 

 is gold ; for they have no paper 

 money. The " Libranzas," or 

 bills of credit, issued by the 

 government, are, however, an 

 article of traffic among the mer- 

 chants, as they are received in 

 payment of one half of the duties. 

 No distinction is made in favour 

 of the trade of any nation, save 

 only that the British merchants 

 have some peculiar facilities 

 granted them in relation to their 

 letters, which are an object of 

 taxation, at least so far as ap- 

 plies to those sent out of the 

 country. 



In the official statements given 

 to us, and to v/hich I beg leave 

 generally to refer for information 

 as to the foreign relations, the 

 productions, military and naval 

 force, revenue, and population, 

 the latter is stated at 1,300,000, 

 exclusive of Indians. This is 

 understood as comprehending 

 the population of all the pro- 

 vinces ; but, as some of them are 

 not luider the government at 

 Buenos Ayres, I have thought it 

 proper to annex the several esti- 

 mates I have collected of the 

 population of each province, as 

 they may serve to give some 

 general information on that point. 

 The most immediate difficulty 

 felt by the government, whilst 

 we were in the country, seemed 

 to arise from the want of money : 

 for, although the debt was small, 

 their credit v/as low. It had not 

 been found practicable to adopt 

 a system of finance adequate to 

 the exigencies of the times, 



though it would seem, from the 

 statement given to u?, that the 

 revenue of the last year exceeded i 

 the expenses. The important \ 

 events of the present year in 

 Chili, of which you are informed, 

 will doubtless have the effect to 

 raise the credit of the country, 

 and to lessen the pressure upon 

 it, at least for a time, and will | 

 probably leave the government " 

 more at leisure to attend to its 

 internal affairs. 



When we came away, it was 

 understood that a committee of 

 the congress was engaged in 

 drafting a new constitution, the 

 power of forming and adopting 

 it being exclusively vested in the 

 congress. ^Vhether it will as- 

 sume a federal or a national cha- 

 racter, is somewhat doubtful, as 

 there are evidently two parties 

 in the country, whose views in 

 this respect are very different, 

 and it is believed that they are 

 both represented in the congress. 

 The one party is in favour of a 

 consolidated or national govern- 

 ment ; the other wishes for a 

 federal government, somewhat 

 upon the principles of that of the 

 United States. The probability 

 seems to be, that, although there 

 might be a majority of the 

 people in the provinces generally 

 in favour of the federal system, 

 it would not be adopted upon 

 the ground that it was not so 

 well calculated as a national 

 government to provide for the 

 common defence, the great ob- 

 ject now in view. The same 

 general reason may be urged, 

 perhaps, for giving to the latter, 

 should it be adopted, less of a 

 republican character than pro- "i 

 bably would have been given to 



it 



