Silver Mines of Mexico. 143 



tions, the difficulty of procuring a faithful administration so 

 far from home, and the obstacles to be expected from the 

 prejudices, the cupidity, or the bad faith of the Mexican pro- 

 prietors. 



Some of these appear to us to be formidable, and to de- 

 serve serious consideration, and they will be appreciated dif- 

 ferently by various persons as their minds may incline them, 

 or their information may be greater or less. 



The political question we do not intend to examine, as it 

 involves considerations foreign to the objects of our publica- 

 tion. As to the uncertainty attendant on mining, it appears 

 to us, from the authority of the highly respectable traveller be- 

 fore quoted, that it is less in Mexico than in most places; and 

 as we know that the principal miners of this country have been 

 consulted, we conceive that their advice is satisfactory on this 

 point. The distance from home, when urged as an objection, 

 has been met by the remark, that great affairs are managed 

 satisfactorily in more remote countries, such as in the East Indies, 

 and that by a judicious selection of respectable officers, with 

 a system of proper checks, what is required in this respect 

 may be accomplished. With regard to the interference of 

 Mexican influence to the detriment of the English companies, 

 supposing the desire of it to exist, it is obvious that self-interest 

 must be esteemed as the strongest motive ; and as the mines 

 will continue to exist only by the exertion of a peculiar skill 

 in the supply and management of complicated machinery, and 

 which skill must for a long time be vested in the English part 

 of the establishment only, so it will be evidently the interest 

 of the. Mexican, to support and aid those upon whom the suc- 

 cess of the mines will depend. 



As to what advantage may accrue to the shareholder in Lon- 

 don, it is of course at present not easy to form conjectures : 

 but there is evidence enough of the great profits which these 

 mines formerly made ; those who know them best speak with 

 confidence of the future; and if the chances which we have 

 alluded to do not interfere injuriously to any formidable ex- 

 tent, we do not see why the result should not be a prosperous 

 one. 



In a scientific point of view much may be expected: mining 

 establishments of such magnitude must necessarily include 

 many men capable of making observations of varied character 

 and research, and we hope that they will record and com- 

 municate them. The interests of Geology, Mineralogy, and 

 the other studies more immediately connected wth the object 

 in view, may not only be served, but, as it may be possible to 

 include in the establishment persons devoted to other branches 



of 



