Second, he declares "that this new imposition of licenses has caused universal harm and injury to the general welfare and the public good, in whose conservation and advancement his Majesty is so much interested, as one who is the father and shepherd of these poor sheep, so distant from the care of their master. For although it was a fact that fifty almudes of rice (the equivalent of two fanegas) were furnished for four reals in the year 639, now one fanega is worth two pesos, and at retail much more. The reason for that is, that since the principal farmers of these islands are the Sangleys, and the latter cannot go out freely to work and cultivate the land without paying a contribution so great as ten pesos for their license, it proves impossible for them to go out [for this work], as the mass of the farmers are always a poor and humble people. On that account the land is deprived of its principal and universal support, namely, that of rice--although the laws so liberally dispense benefits and privileges to the farmers, so that they may be contented, and be encouraged to serve the community with the provisions and abundance that the land, grateful for its working and cultivation, offers. The same is true in the fisheries and in other necessary occupations, for the Sangleys are the feet and hands of this land, as far as its sustenance is concerned, and this new imposition has cut them off." 22. It is clearly inferred from the above that although the Sangleys are burdened by this new kind of license, that for fortification, those who in reality and in fact have to pay it are the seventy citizens who, according to the appraisement, live in this city of Manila. For if the Sangley who comes from China to these islands to work does not bring a single real from that country, and has to pay ten pesos for the general license and ten for that of fortification, besides the secretary's fees, it is necessary that his labor and the fruits of it be sold for a double price. Thus it is being experienced that, although the ordinary pay of a workman--a carpenter, or mason, or others--was formerly two reals, they are now paid four or five, and the workmen are not willing to work for that. It is necessary to beg them, and to pay them what they ask, for there are no others who can perform these services. Where shoes were worth two reals before, they are now worth four. It now costs four or five pesos to have a garment made where before it cost two. The same thing is true in everything else, and it all originated and proceeded from the year of 639, with the increase of their burden for the general license and the new imposition of the fortification license of ten pesos apiece. That is so heavy a burden that I believe that no equally grievous a personal assessment has ever been imposed throughout the kingdoms subject to the monarchy of España.