CHAPTER VI. 



REFLECTIONS ON EMIGRATION ADVANTAGES OF AMERICA LAND 



AND LABOR. MINES WROUGHT BY AZTECS MINING DIS- 

 TRICTS AND EXTENT IN MEXICO. ERRORS AS TO EARLY SUP- 

 PLY OF METALS FROM AMERICA TRUE PERIOD OF ABUNDANCE 



MINES NOT EXHAUSTED CONDITION FAMILIES ENRICHED. 



EFFECT OF MINING ON AGRICULTURE. RELATIVE PRODUCT 



OF SILVER FOR TEN YEARS TABLE OF PRODUCT YIELD OF 



THE MINES SINCE THE CONQUEST. COINAGE 1844 TOTAL 



coinage 1535 to 1850. 



Mexican Mines, Mineral Wealth and Coinage. 



It is generally supposed that the mineral wealth of America was 

 one of the most powerful stimulants of the Spanish conquest and 

 subsequent emigration ; nor is the idea erroneous if we recollect 

 the manner in which the Castilian power was founded on this con- 

 tinent and the colonial policy it originated. It will be seen by the 

 tables annexed to this section, that the results have largely fulfilled 

 the hopes of the European adventurers, and that the wealth of the 

 world has been immensely augmented and sustained, by the 

 discovery of our Continent. In the order of the earth's gradual 

 development, under the intellectual enterprise or bodily labor of 

 man, we find the most beautiful system of accommodation to the 

 growing wants or capacities of our race. Space is required for the 

 crowded population of the Old World, and a new continent is sud- 

 denly opened, into which the cramped and burdened millions may 

 find room for industry and independent existence. The political 

 institutions of Europe decay in consequence of the encroachments 

 of power, the social degradation of large masses by unjust or un- 

 wise systems, or the enforced operation of oppressive laws, and a 

 virgin country is forthwith assigned to man in which the principle 

 of self government may be tried without the necessity of casting 

 off by violence the old fetters of feudalism. The increasing indus- 

 try or invention of the largely augmented populations of the earth, 

 exacts either a larger amount or a new standard of value for the 

 precious metals, and regions are discovered among the frosts and 

 forests of a far off continent, in which the fable of the golden sands 

 of Pactolus is realized. The labor of men and the flight of time 



