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25, 1661, should be enforced, which provided that the custom-house and collection of duties for the Indias should be withdrawn from Cadiz, and that the galleons and fleets should take on their lading in the river of Sevilla and the port of San Lucar.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,