REFLECTIONS ON EMIGRATION—ADVANTAGES OF AMERICA—LAND AND LABOR.—MINES WROUGHT BY AZTECS—MINING DISTRICTS AND EXTENT IN MEXICO.—ERRORS AS TO EARLY SUPPLY 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 continent 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 suddenly 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