in support of some of his statements. While the Spanish silks sent to Nueva España amount to only one hundred and twenty-five toneladas, those of foreign make sent thither from Spanish ports are more than a thousand toneladas. The French, English, and Dutch trade at Canton, where the main part of their commerce is in raw silk.] 95-96. [The above memorial was referred by the Council to the fiscal, on October 6, 1723; and on December 22 following, a printed answer to both of those by Manila was placed before the Council by the consulate and merchants of Cadiz. They remind the king that when Filipinas was first discovered the ships brought back to España abundance of gold, pearl, amber, civet, wax, and fabrics of Ilocos; and for some time afterward these and many other valuable products were exported from Manila, which became the emporium of both Eastern and Western India. In those early times, when so much zeal and energy for the conversion of the heathen was displayed, it was not necessary to the missions to depend upon the trade in Chinese silks; but, for the sake of benefiting the natives of the islands, and to check the drain of silver to foreign nations, the Spanish government (by decrees of 1589 and 1596) authorized the barter and exchange of the products of Filipinas for those of China, under the system called pancada. But Manila has distorted this into the assumption that the Chinese trade was intended for the maintenance of the Spanish colony in Filipinas, and that it was to be without restriction, save in its amount--although, as a fact, the trade in silk fabrics of China was not introduced until many years later. The system of distributing the commerce among the citizens of Manila replaced the earlier pancada, and led to such abuses that Felipe III attempted to check them by a severe decree (1620); and later enactments placed the Acapulco commerce on such footing that it flourished greatly, to the mutual advantage of Filipinas and Nueva España, and to the enrichment of Manila and its citizens. That commerce benefited the poor citizen as well as the rich; but the trade in silks is only for the benefit of the wealthy merchant and the rich consumer, as they are articles of luxury. The earlier commerce of Manila also supported and stimulated the consumption of Spanish silks in Nueva España and Peru, and the silk industry flourished in the mother-country; but the later introduction of Chinese silks into the American colonies, and the frauds and excess connected with this trade, have ruined the silk industry on both sides of the Atlantic, and even impaired the prosperity of Manila. Cadiz claims that the merchants of Mexico have committed many frauds, and transgressed the ordinances, and prevented the execution of these, in regard to the Manila trade, and do so with the collusion and aid of the officials: for instance, the galleon "Nuestra Señora del Rosario" arrived at Acapulco on January