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,