REVENUE. 



329 



1791 to 1800 an average of $1,900,000, brings to 

 the public treasury, since the declaration of the 

 freedom of commerce, a net sum of more than 

 $3,100,000. As the colonial government gives the 

 greatest publicity to everything concerning the col- 

 lection of revenue in Cuba, we learn by the reports 

 of the treasury department for the city and district 

 of Havana, that from 1820 to 1825, the public 

 revenue in the subordinate departments of this 

 treasury, has oscillated between $3,200,000 and 

 $3,400,000. If to this sum we add $800,000, which 

 the treasury has received from other branches of 

 revenue, as lottery, tithes, &c, and also the income 

 from the custom-houses of Trinidad, Matanzas, Bara- 

 coa, and St. Jago de Cuba, which amounted to more 

 than $600,000 previous to the year 1819, we are 

 convinced that the estimated revenue of five millions 

 of dollars for the whole island is not exaggerated. 

 A few simple comparisons will prove how large is 

 this product relatively to the actual state of the 

 colony. 



The island of Cuba has not over one forty-second 

 part of the population of France, and as about one- 

 half of its inhabitants live in a state of extreme 

 poverty, they consume but little. Its revenues 

 equal those of Colombia, and exGeed the product of 

 all the custom-houses of the United States prior to 



