minister or the president was unable to comply with it, his political fate was sealed, perhaps forever. The isolated good or evil measures adopted by financiers, have only tended to augment the confusion. Each government, of the thirty or more which have swayed Mexico since her independence, has been forced to contend not only with its own errors but with those of its predecessors; and hence the public has naturally lost faith and hope in politicians as soon as they assumed the helm of state. No matter what the personal character, or what the financial talents of ministers might be, the people believed them to be immediately compromised or paralized by circumstances and political necessity.
We will present the reader a view of Mexican national expenses, according to ministerial estimates during a series of years between the establishment of the federal constitution in 1824 and the war with the United States. This statement, in regard to a country which has been stationary in population and industry, with an augmenting outlay of money, is somewhat remarkable:
| 1825 | the national expenses were | $17,100,000 |
|---|---|---|
| 1826 | " " " | 16,666,463 |
| 1827 to 1828 | " " " | 13,363,098 |
| 1828 to 1829 | " " " | 15,604,000 |
| 1830 to 1831 | " " " | 17,438,000 |
| 1832 to 1833 | " " " | 22,392,000 |
| According to report of commissioners to Chamber of Deputies in 1846, | 21,254,134 | |
| Period of Santa Anna's administration, | 25,222,304 |
These dates, it will be observed comprehend epochs in which the country has been governed by the federal system as well as those in which