CHAP. XXV. OF VARIOUS MINES. / C 23J 



whilst, in pursuance of our general plan, the view 

 we now take must be of twenty years, from 1810 

 to 1829, both years inclusive. Mr. Ward's re- 

 turns come down no lower than the end of the 

 year 1825, and there are consequently the four 

 years from that time to the end of 1829 in which 

 we must rely on information from other and un- 

 certain sources, though analogy will be a sufficient 

 guide to prevent any error of consequence. Di- 

 rections have been sent to our diplomatic residents 

 in the several mining countries, in consequence of 

 a motion made by the Marquis of Lansdowne in 

 the House of Lords in 1830, to transmit accurate 

 accounts of the gold and silver they have recently 

 yielded, but the returns to those orders have not 

 yet arrived. The inspection of them would have 

 been beneficial to this inquiry, but though their 

 details must be dispensed with, they cannot be of 

 much effect on our calculation of the whole period 

 of twenty years which we are now reviewing. 



Accounts are continually received of the ad- 

 vances made in mining operations. The writers 

 are, for the most part, men engaged in various 

 employments for the benefit of the companies of 

 Europeans who have embarked capitals in the 

 Mexican mines. Such persons are necessarily san- 

 guine in their expectations, and are not likely to 

 form calculations of the future produce of the 

 mines below what may be realised : they are more 



