commerce of Philipinas with Nueva España fails." In section ii, the deputies protest against the returns of 1731 being made the standard for the regular value of this commerce, as the gains of that year's Acapulco fair were phenomenally large. They declare that in order to maintain themselves they need not less than 1,200,000 pesos annually, especially as the number of citizens in Manila is now larger than in former years--in view of which, the amount for which they ask is very moderate, being even less in proportion than it was then. The following statements of population are interesting: in 1636-37, the number of Spaniards in Manila was 230; in 1702, there were 400; and in 1722, 882, a number which has since increased [this memorial being prepared in 1733]. What Manila asks will barely allow to each inhabitant, on the average, an investment of 800 pesos, which is hardly enough for a decent mode of living. What encouragement does this give to Spaniards to settle in such a country, and how can they thus better their fortunes? The opinions of various high officials (including viceroys of Mexico) are cited in support of this claim. Not only the Spaniards who are citizens of Manila are to be considered in this question, but the two millions of Christian natives who depend on the Spanish power, not to mention the 1,500 ecclesiastics who are occupied in maintaining the Catholic faith in the islands. In section iii, it is argued that the people of Filipinas must be allowed the trade in Chinese silks in order to secure any profit from their commerce. Manila claims that the restrictions imposed by the decree of 1720 were procured by the efforts of Cadiz, without the consent of the people of Filipinas, to whom those restrictions brought much distress; that the Acapulco trade was granted to them in the first place in order to attract Spaniards as colonists, in order that intercourse with them might be the means of entrance and extension for the Catholic faith among pagans and infidels; that España produces hardly enough silk goods for its own consumption, and imports much from foreign countries, so that there is no just reason for prohibiting this trade to Filipinas. "Since what the Sangleys chiefly trade in is the silken fabrics and ribbons, if the shipment of these goods to Nueva España is forbidden that is the same as prohibiting intercourse with the Sangleys, because the consumption of the said silks and ribbons is very small, or not any, in Philipinas." The customs duties and alcavalas on the silk trade at Manila amount to some 40,000 pesos a year, which would be lost to the royal treasury by the failure of that trade; it will also have no means with which to buy the rice produced by the Indians. No profit can be made on the linens and other common fabrics prescribed in the decree of 1720, as they are of little esteem in Nueva España, and the demand for them is small, as also is their value, "since in