A prudent Government would have looked upon the guano monopoly as an extraordinary item in the receipts, and would have reserved it for paying off the internal and foreign debt, for public works, and improvements; but the heads of the Peruvians appear to have been turned by this wonderful increase of their revenue, and they have squandered it with ruinous and dishonest recklessness. It is true that the interest of the foreign debt has been paid,[364] but otherwise the large receipts have either been embezzled, as in General Echenique's time, or spent on immense and unnecessary armaments, and in jobbing salaries and pensions. Thousands of families now live on the public money, and, when the guano receipts fail, the ruin and suffering will be severe and widely spread. On the strength of the guano monopoly almost all the taxes have been abolished, the tribute of the Indians amongst them, and the revenue is composed mainly of three items--guano, customs, and stamps. A biennial budget, containing the receipts and disbursements, is laid before Congress every session. I have these budgets before me for several years back; but that for 1859 will suffice to show the extraordinary nature of the revenue, and the still more extraordinary way in which it is spent:-- _Receipts._ | _Disbursements._ | Dollars. | Dollars. Guano 15,875,352|Pay, &c., to members of Congress 211,084 Customs, &c. 5,079,439|Army and navy, with pensions 9,746,432 Surplus from 1858 938,389|Civil expenses, with pensions 2,129,904 |Payments to ecclesiastics 63,296 |Public works 718,124 |Education and charitable |institutions 332,471 |Police 92,807 |Compensation for slaves |and internal debt 1,576,004 |Redemption of Bonds 3,218,700 |Miscellaneous 107,146 |Interest of all kinds 2,191,777 | 20,387,745 --------- | Surplus 1,505,435 21,893,180 | 21,893,180 ---------- |