236
DECLINE IN PRODUCE
CHAP. XXV.
rated from it, partly owing to there being noestablishment for that purpose near the mines, butchiefly from the despatch which the domestic stateof affairs rendered indispensable, in issuing thecoined money. Many millions of these last dol-lars in the course of circulation found their wayto Europe, when the refiners in London and Paris ,to their great gain, soon separated the gold fromthe silver. The dollars of that description haveat length almost wholly disappeared, but theirmelting has added considerably to the stock ofgold in Europe .
Mr. Ward has traced with much inquiry andapparent accuracy the effect which the melancholypolitical events of Mexico have had on the pro-duct of the chief commodities of the territory,gold and silver. He very properly has judged thequantity of coin fabricated 1 as the best scale bywhich to form a judgment, and has corrected hisestimate by what information he could obtain re-specting the actual produce of the mines, and bytbe number of dollars which were exported toother parts of the world.
He has made a different division of the seriesof years from the one here adopted, having framedtables of fifteen years each,—one from 1796 to1810 inclusive, the other from 1811 to 1825;