defend the coast against the incursion of pirates, at a period when they were much infested by them; although this had ceased long ago, the tax is still continued. There were also duties of consulate and anchorage, in order to defray the expenses of the officers employed. These duties yielded a considerable revenue to Spain, in those provinces which had been the seats of the revolution. The revenues derived from Santa Fee de Bogota, from Caraccas, La Plata, and Chili, from these sources, have been lost to Spain; their amount probably exceeded even the produce of the mines; not to speak of the deprivation of trade to these countries, a deprivation which is fast sinking Spain herself, to wretchedness and poverty, staggering as she is, under the weight of burthens which have not been diminished, in proportion to the diminution of her strength.

The king as head of the church, derives also considerable revenues from that source. The principal is the tythes, from which nothing is exempted; and their collection is so rigid, that according to the laws of the Indies, no one can change his residence without having first obtained a certificate of having discharged them. They are collected by the king's officers, but deposited in a distinct treasury. In some instances, however, they were collected by the clergy, who retained all but the king's portion. According to the ordinance of Charles V. at Madrid, 1539, they were divided in the following manner; one fourth was assigned to the bishop of the diocese, another fourth to the dean and chapter, and other officers of the cathedral. The other half to be divided into nine parts, two of which; los dos novenos, to be transmitted to

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the king. The other seven parts, were appropriated to the support of the parochial clergy, and to other pious uses. The bull de crusada, a tax upon the piety of the people is also productive. It is a papal dispensation, issued every two years, and sold to the Americans at certain prices graduated by the purses of the buyers. There are other bulls, the most re-, markable was that of composition, which enabled a thief or scoundrel to retain with a clear conscience, the property of which he had cheated his neighbor. The messada and primer annata, were revenues derived from the first fruits of civil and ecclesiastical offices. The first, was a portion of the income of the benefices, generally equal to a month's salary, but not exacted until after four month's enjoyment. The latter, is one half of the year's salary exacted before entering upon the office, civil as well as ecclesiastical. The vacantes mayores and minores were incidents of the church revenues. The proceeds of all vacant benefices which, according to the laws of the Indies, must be paid into the royal treasury. The confiscated property of the Jesuits in some parts amounted to a considerable sum.

The sale of offices was also considered a source of public revenue. With few exceptions, the colonial offices were exposed to sale; and it is not improbable, that this may have been one cause of their extraordinary multiplication. The author of Gil Blas, can hardly be accused of exaggeration, in his description of the manner in which offices are bought and sold, or intrigued for at the Spanish court.

A revenue of no trifling amount, was derived from the monopolies of tobacco, salt, and quicksilver; as

well as from excise on spirituous liquors, where circumstances do not forbid their distillation. These are generally so high, and exacted in so arbitrary a manner, as to be exceedingly oppressive. Stamped paper or papel sellado, considering its extensive uses, is also a lucrative branch. Every public act or private agreement, must be upon stamped paper; and considering the immense quantity consumed in law suits, where every thing is reduced to writing, the evidence, pleas, statements, arguments of the parties and their counsel; the decrees, interlocutory or final, of the judge; all must be on the stamped paper. Every document obtained from the government and its different branches must be written on it; the price is also enormously high; varying from twenty-five cents to a dollar for every sheet. There was also a duty on the importation of slaves, which amounted to about thirty dollars a head; although the Spaniards did not engage in the slave trade, they willingly encouraged their importation.

The worst part of the Spanish exactions, was that which fell on the Indians. In the first instance, these unfortunate people were held by the conquerors as slaves, and treated with a degree of cruelty unexampled. They were parcelled out into repartimientos,* of greater or less extent, according to the dignity of the person to whom the grant was made. The Indians were considered as belonging to the king, not as subjects but as slaves; and he thought it right to reward the conquerors, by allowing them their services for certain periods. It was not until the year 1542,

*From the word repartir, to divide, to distribute.

that through the energetic remonstrances of Las Casas, and the rapid diminution of the Indians, that the wicked and cruel oppression was compelled to give way to a substitute in theory at least, of a milder character. The incomiendas were established; by which a certain number of Indian families, were presumed to be placed under the protection of some person of virtue and humanity; thus creating as was supposed, the relation of the Roman client and patron. The Indians were declared free, and in lieu of the taxes and dues paid by other subjects, a poll tax was imposed upon all from eighteen to fifty, amounting to about five dollars each. This tax and the vexations practised by the incomenderos, who perverted their trusts, left the Indians in a situation but little better. It was not until the gradual diminution of those estates, that their situation was at all improved. Humboldt states that of late years, they have been observed to increase, which he considers as the best proof that their condition has been improving.

If the Spanish kings are entitled to credit for their endeavors to relieve the Indians from the oppressions of the great land holders, there is one species of imposition practised by themselves on these unfortunate people, which more than counterbalances their good actions in other respects. It is found that the Indian can best withstand the destructive occupation of làboring in the mines, that Europeans or negroes perish almost instantly; that unwholesome labor is, therefore, assigned to the Indians; probably the true reason is, that their loss excites less sympathy. There is an annual conscription, called the mita, to work in the royal mines. The effect of this barbarous oppression

is described in the following manner by a Spanish writer:-"Those who go by the orders of the king, to work in Patosi, abandon their country with despair in their hearts, being persuaded that the greater part of those who descend into the mines, are seized with asthma, and die in the course of a few months. The day of their departure is a day of sadness. These victims of restraint present themselves before the priest, who, clothed in his sacerdotal habits, waits for them at the door with the cross in his hand; he sprinkles them with holy water, then reads the usual prayer, and says a mass for them, which they pay for, in order to obtain a happy voyage; they then repair to the public square, accompanied by their friends and relations, whom they embrace, and then take leave in the midst of sobbings and tears; followed by their wives and children, with countenances sad and downcast, they commence their journey. This afflicting scene is still further heightened by the sound of their small drums and bells, which usually give the signal for their departure."* Such is the price at which the gold of the new world has been purchased! Who would not say, far better than the cursed metals had never been disturbed in its subterraneous caverns, if these be the only terms on which it can be procured. But the fact is not so-it is the compulsion chiefly, which excites this horror among the oppressed Indians; for there are many who voluntarily engage themselves to work in the mines, although the occupation is certainly unhealthy-but the risk is encountered, when a prospect of reward is held out-nor is

*Travels of Sobreviela.