In order to discuss your Majesty's commands regarding the commerce between the Philipinas Islands and Nueva España, Don Cristobal Mora and I met yesterday and examined a long report which Ledesma had drawn up from many papers which have been sent from both sides, together with a certain clause of a letter to your Majesty by the viceroy, Don Martin Enriquez, written on the twentieth of March of the past year, eighty [-five]. [54] In this letter he says that the merchants of that country are greatly disappointed that trade with the Philipinas Islands should be taken away from them; for, although the satins, damasks, and other silken goods, even the finest of them, contain very little silk, and others are woven with grass (all of which is quite worthless), the people mainly resort to this cheap market, and the prices of silks brought from Spain are lowered. Of these latter, taffetas had come to be worth no more than eight reals, while satins and damasks had become very cheap. He feared that, if this went further, it would not be needful to import silks from España. He says, moreover, that all goods carried from the said islands are mere trifles, from which the land derives no profit--such as porcelains, escritoires, caskets, fans, and parasols, all flimsy and very unprofitable. We can trade with the Chinese only with gold and silver, since they have more than enough of everything else. The letter written to your Majesty by the commander of the fleet which is in Nueva España was also examined. He states therein that the trade in thin fabrics imported from these kingdoms to that land is steadily decreasing, on account of the trade which is carried on there with the Philipinas Islands. This letter was the occasion for issuing a decree, to which your Majesty was pleased to set your royal hand, calling for a report from the viceroy of Nueva España. This is an affair which requires a much more expeditious remedy. We have investigated the state of affairs in those regions, of which a detailed report was made to us. Besides the little value of those wares, a large amount of silver and coin is carried thither in exchange for them. Although a portion of this money remains in those islands, all the rest is carried away by the Chinese who go thither from the mainland to sell these wares.