Part 21

90-92. [On September 4 following, a conference was held by the representatives of the commerce of Sevilla, to consider the question of the Philippine commerce in Chinese silks and the royal decree forbidding that trade; a copy of the memorial sent from Manila, and other documents bearing thereon, were submitted to that body by the consulate of Cadiz, who had already taken action thereon, and now asked for the support and coöperation of the Sevilla merchants. In a formal resolution by the latter, they express their entire concurrence with the views of Cadiz, and request the king to enforce the decree of 1720. They make light of the statement regarding the great amount of spices carried to Nueva España by Chacón's fleet, and intimate the probability that the remonstrance by Manila is really instigated by the traders of Nueva España, who, on account of the enormous profits which they make by sending money to the Philippines for investment, must be most affected by the proposed restrictions on the Manila commerce. Sevilla answers the argument of Manila that only one hundred and twenty-live toneladas of Spanish silks are sent to Nueva España, by declaring that even that small amount will soon be reduced to nothing unless the king strictly prohibit the introduction by the Filipinas ships into Nueva España of fabrics woven of silk and gold or silver; also that the silk-mills of España will be ruined and abandoned, and consequently the cities of that country will be inundated with poor people and criminals. On the day before this conference, a similar one was held by the consulate of Cadiz and representatives from the merchants of that city, who made a vigorous remonstrance against the injuries caused to Spanish commerce and industry by the Manila-Acapulco trade, and especially by the frauds and the infractions of law therein, on which they expatiated in the above conference. In the report drawn up by them they mention several of these. For instance, the merchants of the City of Mexico sent large sums of money to Acapulco for preparing the Manila galleon for its voyage; "and in the three months during which the ship was detained at that port it unloaded an enormous cargo, held its fair, and returned laden with silver, without wintering in that kingdom, on account of the easy and prompt disposal of all that it carried. This cargo was usually 10,000 or 12,000 bales, half of silken fabrics and half of linen goods, [lencería], the proceeds from which reached four millions of pesos; and all this in pesos, eight-real and four-real pieces, since in exchange for the said goods they did not desire or carry any produce, nor even doubloons, nor bars of silver, for all must be new pesos and of Mexican coinage, these being the coins which are current in Turquìa, to which country they were going, since the greater part of the said goods come thence." Reliable witnesses have told of mule-trains entering Mexico laden with Chinese stuffs, which must amount to almost the value of the goods carried by the eighteen vessels in the trading-fleet which that year came from Spain under Don Manuel de Velasco; and the market of the latter was ruined by the former. "Although the silk fabrics which the ships bring from Philipinas have not the quality or durability of those from España, and the linen goods are all of cotton, and do not last half as long as do those from France, yet as the former are sold cheap, and have a good surface, and are showy, while they last the commerce of España is checked and suspended." The merchants of Mexico send so much money to Acapulco that not enough is left to send the trading-fleets back to Spain, which are compelled to winter at Vera Cruz in order to obtain the proceeds of their cargoes and equip the vessels for the return voyage. "So sweeping and irreparable is the great injury which these goods from China, or from the Turks (which is the more certain), cause to the most important cities of España that when the said ship was not allowed to carry those goods Sevilla had more than 12,000 looms for the manufacture of silks of every kind; and with these, even without other stuffs, so great a number of people were employed on them, and so great was the opulence of that city and of all its domain, as is made evident by the great services which on all occasions Sevilla rendered to his Majesty, with sumptuous buildings--churches, hospitals, government buildings, and private houses. But without greater casualty than that of the importations in the ships from China, that city found itself in a straitened and miserable condition, not two hundred looms being left in it, on account of there being no consumption for its fabrics; and the great mass of poor people, who then supported themselves by their labor, are now miserably perishing. No less proof is afforded by what is occurring in Granada; for there more than 12,000 looms were employed only on taffetas (both double and plain), satins, plushes, and all kinds of silk-weaving; and more than 50,000 persons, men and women, were engaged in the industry and labor of making silk goods. For this reason, the amount of silk worked up each year was more than 180,000 libras, from which proceeded considerable profits to the royal exchequer, for the duty on each libra amounted to thirteen reals and three cuartillos; but, with the one but sufficient reason of the importations of Chinese goods, [that industry] has so fallen away that the amount of silk sold in that city at each gathering of silk does not reach 40,000 libras, and the number of looms operated, on coarse stuffs, is less than 2,000--a similar condition to those of Sevilla.... The same troubles are suffered by Cordova, Jaen, Ezija, Priego, and Alcalà la Real, with many other places which in both the Andalucias were growing and being maintained by the said manufactures. It is not less worthy of attention that the silk-growers of the aforesaid kingdoms of Sevilla, Granada, Cordova, and Murcia are, for lack of sale for the silk that they produce, giving up the cultivation of the mulberry-trees, and abandoning their farms and the places where they dwell." Cadiz cites the action of Conde de Monclova, viceroy of Peru, who prohibited the shipment of Chinese goods from Acapulco to South America, making them contraband and confiscable, recognizing "their poor quality and lack of durability, and the great detriment which this trade caused to the merchants [of Peru], who go down to Portovelo to hold the fair [at the arrival] of the galleons, which has been the greatest in the world;" and urges the king to enforce strictly the decree of 1720. Such

## action would greatly benefit the realms of Spain, and would not cause

injury to the Philippines, because none of the said Chinese stuffs are made in the islands; "and the only ones who could grieve over it are the Turk, and other princes of Assia, Mahometans, and enemies of our holy Catholic faith." As for the complaint of Manila that the propagation of that faith depends on the silk trade, Cadiz refuses to believe this, and refers the king to a document in Manila which refutes that notion. This is "a memorial or report made by a minister of that Audiencia, N. Calderòn, in which is inserted another, written by Father Fray Victorio Ricci, [89] of the Order of Preachers, who was for many years a missionary in the empire of China, and afterward in the Philipinas Islands; it was sent by the Supreme Inquisition to its commissary in the islands, in order that he might send to his Majesty information on the points therein.... In these papers it will be clearly evident that the progress and propagation of the faith is not diminished by depriving the islands or the kingdoms adjacent to them of the commerce prohibited to them, or by the restriction which his Majesty has laid on it;" the above prohibition, therefore, is not the cause of the ruin of the citizens of Filipinas.]

93-94. [These replies by the merchants of Andalusia call forth another memorial from the Manila deputies, which occupies fourteen printed sheets. They repeat their former arguments, enforcing them by reference to the despatches from the Audiencia of Manila, the archbishop, and the various religious bodies there, and still more to the letters previously addressed to the king by the viceroys of Nueva España; and they adduce various instances from the history of the Manila-Acapulco trade to the same effect. They also undertake to refute the charges made by the merchants of Sevilla and Cadiz, and claim that the latter have misrepresented certain facts. We note here some points made by the Manila envoys, as giving new information on the matter at issue. They say that the maintenance of Filipinas, including the missions and military posts, costs the Spanish crown annually 515,568 pesos, for which sum the royal treasury of Mexico should be responsible, according to the laws of the Indias; but it sends thither only 40,000 pesos in money and some 60,000 in goods, and even this remittance comes from the duties which the Manila galleon pays at Acapulco. But in 1637 and for some years later, the situado sent to the islands amounted to more than 325,000 pesos in money, and enough goods to make up the 500,000 pesos. This, however, was largely the result of the failure of the Manila merchants to ship goods to Mexico, a proceeding caused by the undue harshness and severity of the royal visitor Pedro de Quiroga; [90] but it led to the abolition (by royal decree of September 3, 1639) of the restriction on the kinds of goods permitted to Manila, only limiting the amount of their investments. It is strange that Manila has pursued this commerce for one hundred and forty years without any protest from Andalusia until now; the decadence of the latter is due rather to lack of economy in the use of their wealth than to the competition of Filipinas; and Andalusia has always encountered trouble, since the persons interested in the greater part of the lading of the galleons and fleets have been and are foreigners--French, English, and Dutch. Andalusia claims that the galleon unlades at Acapulco more than 12,000 piezas, half of them containing silk goods; but the certificates of the royal officials show that in the ten years from 1710 to 1720 the total number of piezas (in ten galleons) was 36,895, including therein the 4,299 half-chests in which the silk goods were shipped--making the average lading of each galleon only 3,660 piezas. The detention of Velasco's fleet was not due to the arrival of the Manila galleon, but to other causes. The fleet of 1698, in charge of General Mascarùa, was sent lightly laden, and in 1699 Velasco's fleet followed it, but encountered the other at Vera Cruz; the presence of the two large fleets at one time, and the ravages of yellow fever [bomito negro, i.e., "black vomit"] at that port, rendered it impossible to sell the goods to advantage, to transport them to Mexico, or to equip the vessels for the return voyage. When Velasco could set out for Spain, he received news of the death of Carlos II, and the danger of war between Spain and other powers, which made the merchants unwilling to risk their property on the seas at that time. Finally the Spanish fleet was escorted to Spain by a French squadron of warships, but on reaching Vigo was attacked by an English and Dutch fleet, which inflicted considerable loss on the Spaniards. Moreover, the trading-fleets sent from Spain to Nueva España are nearly twice as large in the last few years as they used to be, which overstocks the colonial markets with goods. Manila claims that the decadence of the silk industry in Andalusia is due to the pest which ravaged that province (with especial mortality in Sevilla) in the middle of the past century; and that part of the remaining population had emigrated to Murcia and Valencia, where they had cultivated mulberry-trees and built up the manufacture of silk goods. Another reason assigned by some writers for the decrease of prosperity in Andalusia was the imposition, at that time, of heavy war-taxes. As early as 1666, the city and the merchants of Sevilla had represented to the crown "their lamentable condition, and the ruin of their looms, caused by the imposition of the millones [91] and the concourse of foreigners to Cadiz to introduce their own merchandise." This led to a resolution by the royal Council that the decree of January 25, 1661, should be enforced, which provided that the custom-house and collection of duties for the Indias should be withdrawn from Cadiz, and that the galleons and fleets should take on their lading in the river of Sevilla and the port of San Lucar. As for the stuffs from foreign countries which, it is alleged, are brought to España and crowd out the manufactures of that country, these are only the fabrics which the more industrious French, English, and Dutch make with the raw material, both wool and silk, which España exports. In 1696 Sevilla complained to the king of the injury which it was experiencing from the importation of foreign goods, but did not mention the Chinese stuffs among these. "In Madrid and Valencia the manufacturers are at present complaining that the price of silk has risen very high, not because the crop [that is raised in España] is not an abundant one, so much as on account of the so great export, not only from that kingdom but from other regions, to foreign countries, that which the French alone have bought this year amounting to more than 300,000 doubloons; and if asked about this, any dealer in these goods or any official will answer with entire candor, without blaming the commerce of Manila." The foreigners bring back these silk goods to España, in order to supply with them not only that country but the Indias, through the fleets and galleons; "and this is what the consulate [of Cadiz] is defending, in order that these goods may, by not introducing into Mexico those from China, be sold [there] with a higher reputation." The highest authorities all concur in the statement that the Spanish silks sent to Nueva España do not amount to one hundred and twenty-five toneladas. The statement that the Manila galleon carries from that country 4,000,000 pesos is unwarranted; the only possible ground for it is that in 1717 the viceroy allowed the galleon to carry to Manila 2,000,000 pesos, because for three years past no money had been sent to the islands--on account of poor sales at Acapulco, a galleon forced back to the islands by storms, etc.--on condition that the king's ten per cent be paid on that amount. In other years the amount of money illegally shipped has been very small. Cadiz has alleged that money has been scarce there for some years; but Manila declares that from December, 1720 to July, 1723 over 40,000,000 pesos worth of gold and silver, in coin and bullion, has been landed at Cadiz, without including the value of the other products of the Indias. Cadiz asserts that the money obtained from Nueva España goes to the Turks, the enemies of the Catholic faith; but the Spanish merchants are continually furnishing money to other enemies of the faith, the English and Dutch. Moreover, the commodities which the Manila galleon carries are not obtained from the Turks, but (through the European factories) from Indostan, Tunquin, Lao, China, Japon, and the Philippine Islands; while Manila is not even permitted to trade with Arabia and Persia, whose products are carried to the ports of the Levant, and at those fairs the traders from all the European nations buy those goods, with money which has come from the Indias. Manila declares that the trading-fleets carry to Vera Cruz no Spanish products save wines, brandies, oil, raisins, and almonds, and the previously-mentioned small amount of silk goods; all else in their cargoes is of foreign make. The spices which the decree of 1720 allows to the islands will not suffice to pay the expenses of the voyage, especially when Manila must compete with the trading-fleets from Spain in the shipment of these products. The collection of royal duties on goods is regulated by "cubic palmos in accordance with the measurement of the bales [frangotes] and piezas which are shipped." As for the memorial by Calderòn, Manila asserts that it does not bear on the present question; that auditor, in the time of Governor Curuzalaegui (in which occurred an uprising of the Sangleys), sent a letter to the king remonstrating against the liberty given to the Chinese, and advising that they be not allowed to have intercourse with the Indian natives, or even to live in the Parián. This tolerance had been extended to them for the sake of attracting them to the Christian faith, but Calderòn regarded it as no longer necessary, since they had, even then, a number of Christian missionaries in their own country. In his letter, he cited Father Ricci in support of some of his statements. While the Spanish silks sent to Nueva España amount to only one hundred and twenty-five toneladas, those of foreign make sent thither from Spanish ports are more than a thousand toneladas. The French, English, and Dutch trade at Canton, where the main part of their commerce is in raw silk.]

95-96. [The above memorial was referred by the Council to the fiscal, on October 6, 1723; and on December 22 following, a printed answer to both of those by Manila was placed before the Council by the consulate and merchants of Cadiz. They remind the king that when Filipinas was first discovered the ships brought back to España abundance of gold, pearl, amber, civet, wax, and fabrics of Ilocos; and for some time afterward these and many other valuable products were exported from Manila, which became the emporium of both Eastern and Western India. In those early times, when so much zeal and energy for the conversion of the heathen was displayed, it was not necessary to the missions to depend upon the trade in Chinese silks; but, for the sake of benefiting the natives of the islands, and to check the drain of silver to foreign nations, the Spanish government (by decrees of 1589 and 1596) authorized the barter and exchange of the products of Filipinas for those of China, under the system called pancada. But Manila has distorted this into the assumption that the Chinese trade was intended for the maintenance of the Spanish colony in Filipinas, and that it was to be without restriction, save in its amount--although, as a fact, the trade in silk fabrics of China was not introduced until many years later. The system of distributing the commerce among the citizens of Manila replaced the earlier pancada, and led to such abuses that Felipe III attempted to check them by a severe decree (1620); and later enactments placed the Acapulco commerce on such footing that it flourished greatly, to the mutual advantage of Filipinas and Nueva España, and to the enrichment of Manila and its citizens. That commerce benefited the poor citizen as well as the rich; but the trade in silks is only for the benefit of the wealthy merchant and the rich consumer, as they are articles of luxury. The earlier commerce of Manila also supported and stimulated the consumption of Spanish silks in Nueva España and Peru, and the silk industry flourished in the mother-country; but the later introduction of Chinese silks into the American colonies, and the frauds and excess connected with this trade, have ruined the silk industry on both sides of the Atlantic, and even impaired the prosperity of Manila. Cadiz claims that the merchants of Mexico have committed many frauds, and transgressed the ordinances, and prevented the execution of these, in regard to the Manila trade, and do so with the collusion and aid of the officials: for instance, the galleon "Nuestra Señora del Rosario" arrived at Acapulco on January 11, 1699, and the Manila citizens attempted to compound the duties on the cargo for 100,000 pesos; but the royal fiscal opposed this, showing that the ship had brought 6,754 piezas of lading, without counting a considerable quantity of pepper and other goods outside of the registration. It was also found that although the law restricted the entire cargo to the value of 250,000 pesos, and its ownership to the citizens of Manila, this vessel contained goods to the amount of 233,966 pesos which belonged to the citizens of Puebla alone, and it was estimated that it must contain at least a million pesos' worth of goods belonging to merchants in the City of Mexico. The Mexican government compelled the payment on these goods of duties amounting to 50,000 pesos more, and would have investigated the whole matter, to ascertain the exact amount of the illegal shipments; but the commercial interests of Mexico exerted such influence against this that the Audiencia desisted from the undertaking. Again Cadiz accuses the importation of Chinese silks into Nueva España of having ruined the silk industry in España; although those goods are so thin and poor that they are worn out even before the Manila galleon leaves Acapulco, they are so cheap and showy that they undersell the better goods from España even competing with the latter in Vera Cruz, where the Chinese goods are purchased by the traders of Habana, Puerto Rico, Cartagena, and other Spanish colonies; and all this is overlooked by the Spanish officials in high places, because they profit by this illegal traffic. If the king will prohibit the importation of silk woven with silver and gold, and "check the hand which Mexico moves at the command of Manila," the silk industry will be revived in España, its people will be kept from idleness and poverty, and foreign countries will no longer drain its resources. Cadiz desires Manila to content itself with the spice-trade, which is a staple and profitable line of commerce, and which Manila can carry on more cheaply and promptly than Spanish merchants can; the spices sent from España on Chacón's fleet were needed to supply the scarcity of them at that time, as the Manila trade had been interrupted temporarily; but if the latter be regular, such shipment from España could not occur again. From the year 1690, the indult ran from 50,000 to 74,000 pesos, on the basis of the 250,000 pesos allowed to the Manila trade; but it is evident that the duties ought now to amount to above 500,000 pesos, on the enormous quantities of Chinese silks that the galleon of 1,000 toneladas carries.]