ing account.

The quicksilver mines of Almaden are one of the sure cards of the
Spanish finance minister, and during the late war, especially, were
often a great resource to the poverty-stricken government. When other
sources of revenue failed, there were always to be found speculators
willing to treat for the quicksilver contract; and these mines, like the
tobacco and other monopolies, and the Havanna revenue, have helped many
a Spanish minister in his moment of greatest need. Of course, as the
usual demand was money down, the bargains were frequently made at great
disadvantage to the seller; and, once made, the consumer is entirely at
the mercy of the contractor--the Almaden mines producing a very large
portion of all the quicksilver known to exist in the world. Madame
Calderon de la Barca, in her _Life in Mexico_, alludes to this when
speaking of the unsuccessful mining speculations in that country, where
"heaps of silver lie abandoned, because the expense of acquiring
quicksilver renders it wholly unprofitable to extract it." That lady
further observes, that quicksilver has been paid for at one hundred and
fifty dollars per quintal in real cash, when the same quantity was given
at credit by the Spanish government for fifty dollars. Madame Calderon
is good authority; but we suspect that the cause of such a vast
difference between the price given and demanded by the contractor, must
have been the cash advances required by the Spanish government. "The
contract once made," says Captain Widdrington, "it is clear that,
excepting any qualms of conscience the lessee may be influenced by,
there is no check upon his cupidity. The temptation to charge exorbitant
prices is increased by the habit of the government requiring large sums
to be paid down. This practice, which was unavoidable during the civil
war, when it frequently produced the only ready money they could lay
their hands on, has continued, and must still do so, unless a financial
change take place."

Owing to this state of things, the profit to the government is only
about L75,000 per annum; although we are told that the price has been
raised, in a few years, from thirty-four to eighty-four dollars the
quintal--the price paid to the government we presume. The contract was
taken in 1843 by those great _accapareurs_ of good things, the
Rothschilds. Of course, as long as the civil war lasted, if the
contractors had to give money in advance, the risk they ran entitled