1 64 ^he DISCO FE R T and CONQUEST Book L 
Vented the Government from encouraging newDifcoveries, 
and fpread fuch a fordid Spirit through all its Subjects as 
is vifibly produdive of the worft Effedls for tho’ Mines 
may be moft beneficial to the Sovereign, and to the 
Mother Country in the firft Inftance, yet, taking all 
Things together, they are leaft fo ; of which the prefent 
State of Spanijh America is the ftrongeft Proof. 
2 7» We have now treated this Subjedtfo fullyand fo clear- 
ly, that we hope the Reader has nothing farther to expeft. 
We might indeed have confined ourfelves within narrower 
Limits, and have run through the Story of thefe great 
Events in fewer Pages *, but then the Account mull have 
been very fuperficial, and inftead of fatisfying, it would 
only have raifed the Curiofity of the ingenious Perufer •, 
whereas now we dare affure him that with refpeft to the 
Difcovery and Conqueft of Mexico and Peru^ he has feen 
as good an Account as we were able to give him, after 
perufing and comparing the beft Spanijh Writers ; and 
we have always thought that it was our Duty to execute 
Things to the full, and not leave People under the Ne- 
ceffity of confulting many other Books, in order to come 
at what they might juftly expedt from its Title to have 
found in this. 
There are fomfe fpeculative People that have taken 
Pains to depreciate the Charadler of the Conquerors of the 
new World, by pretending that the Advantages derived 
to Spain by the Countries added by them to her Dominions 
are fcarce an Equivalent for the Mifchiefs Ihe has fuftained 
by the draining away fuch incredible Multitudes as have 
tranfported themfelves to America^ fince thofe Conquefts 
were made ; but, with their Leave, this does not fo 
much concern the Condudt of thofe Conquerors, as that 
of the Spanijh Miniftry, which we never took upon us to 
vindicate, and in which we fhould moft certainly have 
failed if we had : But the great Point which deferves 
hotice, and which can alone enable our Readers to form a 
true Judgment of this Matter, is the Profits that might 
accrue to the Crown of Spain from thefe prodigious Ac- 
quifitions, if fiie had known how to have managed them 
with Skill and Prudence proportionable to that Wifdom 
and Spirit which thefe brave and active Officers difcovered 
in bringing fuch extenfive, and fuch valuable. Provinces 
under her Dominion. 
In order to give them fome Opportunity of doing 
this, it may not be amifs to inquire, as far as it is in 
our Power to do, what thefe two great Empires of Mexico 
and Peru really produce j for when this is once known, 
we may very well judge who is in the Fault, and whether, 
in refpe< 5 t to the Span^ Nation, the boundlefs Ambition 
of thofe Conquerors, or the ill Management of thofe 
who have received the Benefits that have arifen from thefe 
Conquefts, deferves the Blame. 
To begin then with Mexico : The Ecclefiaftical State 
of the Country at prefent confifts of an Archbiffiop, 
and eleven Suffragan Bifhops, whofe Revenues, com- 
puted according to their own Returns of their Tenths, 
which we may be fure do not exceed the Value of them, 
amount to one Million and a Half Sterling per Annum. 
It is farther computed, that their Revenues make about 
a Fourth of thofe belonging to the Clergy, and that the 
Eftates of the Ecclefiaftics may be reckoned a Fourth 
of the Whole Province or Viceroyalty according to 
which Computation the Total Revenues of Mexico may 
be taken at twenty-four Millions of our Money. But 
there is another Way of calculating the Wealth of Mexico., 
which I will prefent to the Reader, becaufe I am pretty 
confident he will find it nowhere elfe : There _ was 
brought into the King’s Exchequer at Mexico., in the 
Year 1730, fomewhat fctter than a Million of Marks of 
Silver. This was the King’s Duty from the Mines, 
which ought to be one Fifth of tlie Metal taken out of 
them. It is true, moft People think the King is pretty 
roundly cheated •, but becaufe this does not appear to us, 
we will fuppofe he is honeftly paid, and that this is a Fifth 
Part of what is dug out of the Mines ; the Whole therefore 
muft amount to five Millions of Marks (a Mark is equiva- 
lent toeightof ourOunces)^ fothatif we compute this Silver 
at five Shillings Ounce, then the Inhabitants Mexico 
receive annually from their Mines ten Millions in Money. 
With refped to the Riches of PerUy we cannot give 
quite fo diftin6l an Account •, but, however^ we will give 
the Reader the beft Account we can ; and firft, as to the 
Mines of Potoji, we have a clear Relation of them for 
fifty Years, that is, from their firft Difcovery, to the 
Year 1595: Within which Space they had produced 
forty-four Millions of our Money ; but it is allowed, that 
fince that time, they have funk very much in their Va- 
lue, and it is no lefs certain that other very rich Mines 
have been fince difcovered. The Gold and precious 
Stones, brought from this Country and Chili, are of incre- 
dible Value; and, if we may truft to the Accounts that 
are given us of the City of St. Jago^ in the laft mention- 
ed Country the Wealth of the Inhabitants is fo great, 
or rather they have fuch a Plenty of Gold, that almoft all 
their Utenfils, for common Kitchen Service, are made 
of that rich Metal. After all, if we had the cleareft 
Accounts of the Produce of their feveral Mines, they 
would not go a great Way towards fatisfying us as to 
the Advantages that Spain reaps from thefe Countries, in- 
afmuch as the Spaniards fettled in America are known to 
have vaft Hoards of Plate ; fend annually prodigious 
Sums in Silver to the Eajl- Indies and employ much 
larger Quantities in a Contraband Trade with the EngUpo, 
French, and Dutch. But we have a tolerable Account, 
after all thefe Dedudlions are made, of what is annually 
returned to Spain in Time of Peace ; and therefore, upon 
this, we Ihall chiefiy infift : The Galleons bring home 
about three Millions in Gold, and theFlota one: In Silver, 
the ordinary Cargo of the Galleons is twenty Millions, 
and of the Flota ten In precious Stones, fuch as Pearls, 
Emeralds, Torquoifes, iAc. they export about half a Mil- 
lion ; in other rich Commodities, fi.K:h as Cochineal, In- 
digo, Logwood, (Ac. about three Millions and an half; 
fo that taking all thefe together, they bring home thirty- 
eight Millions, without reckoning what comes by regifter 
Ships, and in a clandeftine Way ; which thofe who are 
beft acquainted with it, have eftimated at twelve Mil- 
lions more : Upon the whole therefore, keeping our- 
felves within the ftridleft Bounds of Moderation, we may 
venture to afifert that Spain draws now from feven to ten 
Millions Sterling from thefe Countries every Year, and 
muft formerly have drawn much more. 
If fhe is able to keep very little of this, which is 
very pofitively faid, and I believe may be very true, 
it does not at all leffen the Value of thefe Acquifitions : 
She might keep every Penny of it if fhe would, by fet- 
ting up and encouraging proper Manufactures in her Do- 
minions. As file does not, it is become the common 
Intereft of all the trading Countries in Europe, that fhe 
fhould be maintained in thefe rich Pofifeffions, not for 
her Sake, but for their own ; and indeed, as things are 
now managed, Ihe waftes her unhappy Subjefls the In- 
dians, and her ftill more unhappy Negro Slaves, in dig- 
ging Gold and Silver for other People. Such, according 
to the wife Difpofitions of Providence, are the Rewards 
of Induftry, and the Punifhments of Idlenefs, Luxury, 
and a People’s want of Attention to their own Concerns. 
But if a few wife and good Princes were to rule in 
Spain, the Cafe would very focn be altered ; they would 
firft make ufe of their Treafures to ered Manufadures 
in their European Dominions, and next lay open this 
rich Trade to all their Subjeds in thofe Dominions. Such 
a Condud would, in the Space of a few Years, change 
the Face of their Affairs entirely *, and nothing could hin- 
der their becoming again what they once were, the moft 
formidable maritime Power in this Part of the World. 
It would then appear what vaft Advantages accrued 
from the Difeoveries and Conquefts of Columbus, Velaf- 
quez, Balboa, Cortes, Pizarro, Almagro, Baldivia, and all 
the other Heroes, that ftand recorded mSpaniJh Hiftories : 
Heroes, who, without doubt, merit all the Praifes that 
have been bellowed upon them ; and who, with prodi- 
gious Labours, with infinite Hazards, and at the Ex- 
pence of the Lives of many thoufands of brave Men, 
purchafed 
