If the trade were transferred to Espana, those who say that the merchandise from this country would be carried to Filipinas, to be exchanged for the goods of that country, are not aware that in those regions there is no one to use Spanish goods except the Spaniards, who with four pipas of wine, and other wares of little importance, would be quite sufficiently supplied; and that, if this were so, the Portuguese and Dutch would take the merchandise away, for nothing escapes their notice. Both of these take silver, and whatever else they take is of small importance; so that it would soon be necessary, in order to maintain the trade, to carry silver from Espana and risk it again. It is less trouble to carry it from the Indias, beside the incomparably greater risk from the sea and from enemies [by the other route]; and Nueva Espana would be ruined. To the third reason, in which they say that many troops are used up, I would say that it is true that there go each year sometimes two hundred men, and other years less, and again none at all; and of these more die from their excesses than from the war, and they do not count those who return and go through India and other regions. If those islands were to be abandoned on account of this difficulty, the same reason holds in Flandes and Italia, which use up more men in one campaign than do the Filipinas in twenty years. To the fourth, that because your Majesty is so hard pressed he needs must attend to matters here, etc., we could say that it is in no wise expedient that your Majesty should abandon that country, on account of the dependence of all the Indias upon it; because if the Dutch possessed themselves of that archipelago (which they are attempting to do), they would draw from it resources sufficient to destroy the Indias--not only by the power which they have, but also through the opportunity of keeping an open port in those regions where your Majesty could not defend himself without spending much more than the profits of the Indias. For that reason it is necessary to preserve that country, as well as all the rest; for your Majesty is under expense for the same reason in preserving Habana, Puerto Rico, Santo Domingo, Jamayca, Florida, and the whole continent, without securing profit, merely on account of the damage which enemies could inflict upon the Indias. Not alone for this reason are the Filipinas important to your Majesty, but for another of no less consequence, and which these countries do not have, namely, the great profits which can be drawn from them.