270 
expejtdittjee. 
The royal and municipal taxes of importation at the 
custom-house of the Havannah, in 1823, were 2 734 563 
piastres. ’ ’ 
?f the rerenue of the Havannah, in 
1824j was 3,025,300 piastres. 
In 1825 the revenue of the town and iurisdiction of the 
Havannah, was 3,350,300 piastres. 
These partial statements shew that, from 1789 to 1824, 
(he public revenue ot Cuba has been increased sevenfold. 
According to the estimates of the Cajas matrices, the public 
revenue, m 1822, was in the province of the Havminah 
alone, 4,311,862 piastres; which arose from the custom- 
ouse (3,1_7,918 piastres), Irovx^iQramos de direeta entrada, 
as lottery, tithes, &c. (601,808 piastres), and anticipations 
on the charges of the Consulndo and the Beposiio (581 978 
piastres). The expenditure in the same year, for the island ot 
Cuba, wus -,73_,738 piastres, and for the succour destined 
to mamtam the struggle with the continental colonies de- 
clared independent 1,362,029 piastres. In the first class of 
expenditure we find 1,355,798 piastres for the subsistence of 
the military forces kept up for tlie defence of the Havaiiiiab 
and the neighbouring places; and 648,908 piastres for the 
royal navy stationed in the port of the Havannah. In the 
second e ass ot_ expense foreign to the local administration, 
we iind 1 , 110 , 6/2 piastres for the pay of 4234 soldiers, who, 
after having evacuated Mexico, Columbia, and other parts of 
Me Continrat formerly Spanish possessions, passed by the 
Havannah to return to Spain; 104,000 piastres is the cost 
the defence of the ca.stle of San Juan de Ulloa. 
• ^ the Political Essay on the island of Cuba, 
m which I have traced the state of that important Spanish 
possession, as it now is. My obieet has beeu to throw li^^ht 
on tacts, and give precision to ideas, by the aid of compa- 
risons and statistical tables. That minute investigation of 
tacts IS desirable at a moment when, on the one hand enthu- 
siasm exciting to benevolent credulitv, and on tlie other, 
animosities menacing tlie security of the new republics, 
ave given rise to the most vague and erroneous statements, 
i have as far as possible abstained from all reasoning 
on future chances, and on the probability of the changes 
