quantity of Chinese silk traded by Manila, when they themselves formed the channel for the far greater commerce therein of the other European nations, "in which the Chinese goods, made in imitation of the European goods, and folded double like them, occupy the same place." Moreover, the money returned to the Filipinas Islands did not all go, as Cadiz claimed, to foreign countries; but the greater part of it was invested in the obras pias, and in the fortunes of the citizens. It must also be noted that the Chinese champans carried home considerable cargoes of sibucao, sugar, and other products of the islands, in exchange for their stuffs. The royal officials at Manila, consulted by the governor, declared that the customs and other duties on the commerce would be greatly diminished by the prohibition of Chinese silks to the Acapulco trade--to the extent of more than 31,000 pesos a year, as was the case in the years 1719 and 1720, when the champans failed to arrive at Manila; besides which, the treasury lost 12,000 pesos, in the license-fees paid by the Chinese merchants who came to reside in the islands and sell their wares, and 6,000 more from other incomes dependent on the Chinese. The governor called together a conference of the religious superiors and the leading citizens; at which the matter was discussed pro and con; the sense of the meeting was expressed by the Dominican Fray Juan de Arrechedera, commissary of the Inquisition, who was asked to place his opinion in writing, and this was signed by those present, and attested by the governor, as president of the assembly. Arrechedera took the ground that the viceroy's notification was not a formal royal decree; that if carried out it would mean the ruin of the islands, which surely the king could not intend or mean; that the matter should properly be decided by the king himself, after Manila had opportunity to be heard before him; and the viceroy could only regulate the commerce according to the royal orders, and had no authority to change the present conditions without those orders. The Jesuit provincial did not sign this opinion, but rendered his own separately, warning the Manila merchants that the viceroy might be offended at their attitude, and confiscate their goods if they did not obey him. The royal officials advised the governor to allow the silks to be sent to Acapulco, and meanwhile to secure the good-will of the viceroy for intercession with the king in Manila's behalf. The matter was finally settled, however, by the royal decree of 1734, obtained through the efforts of the Manila agents at the court, which revoked the viceroy's orders and permitted the silk trade to continue. (Concepción. Hist. de Philipinas, x, pp. 254-303.) Cf. the sketch of the Manila-Acapulco trade by Manuel Azcarraga y Palmero in his Libertad de comercio en las islas Filipinas (Madrid, 1872), pp. 39-96. Malo de Luque outlines the subject briefly in his Establecimientos ultramarinos, v, pp. 217-234.