of buying Chinese goods for the maintenance of the islands, and the increasing competition of the European nations in Eastern markets, have so raised the prices of those goods that Manila no longer can obtain the large profits which they formerly brought in Nueva España, but must now sell them at a very moderate advance over their cost (including of course therein transportation, duties, etc.). The prompt despatch of the Manila galleon from Acapulco has been caused mainly by the necessity of its sailing at certain times to secure favorable winds and weather; but this haste has been an injury to the Manila shippers, "for it hinders them from selling their goods at a higher value, so they often dispose of them, for this reason, at the prices that the Mexicans are willing to pay for them, and at other times leave them for sale on commission [en encomienda], with the danger of losing them, and with the evident arrearage which is caused to the shippers by the lack of the money [which should have been received] from their sale, for use in their investments in the following galleon." The memorial concludes with section v, in which Manila urges, in view of all the foregoing, that the permission of 1726 be continued to the islands, and consequently, that the recent orders of the viceroy of Nueva España regarding the lading of the next galleon be revoked. These orders were at least premature, as the shipments from Manila under the new permission did not begin until 1730, so that the galleon of 1734 was entitled to a cargo of the sort allowed therein; moreover, the viceroy acted against the advice of the junta which he had convened to discuss this question. Manila claims that in 1732 the galleon did not carry back to the islands even what they needed for their maintenance, the returns from its cargo (although that contained the 4,000 piezas of permission) amounting to only 1,100,000 pesos; and in the present year of 1733 the returns will be hardly one-half of what the shippers received, on the average, in the years preceding the new permission--the Acapulco fair being a poor one this year, on account of the large cargoes brought by the fleet from Cadiz, and the large amount of fabrics brought by "the English ship." Manila needs 1,200,000 pesos annually, at the least; and in order to secure that amount needs the extension of trade permitted in 1726. The returns of 1731, as has been proved, cannot be taken as the measure of its value, especially when allowance is made for the possibility of storms, shipwreck, or other disaster to the galleon. Manila also asks that if the returns should fall below 1,200,000 pesos, its annual contribution of 20,000 pesos to the royal treasury be dispensed with. The king is reminded of the great services which the people of Filipinas have always rendered to the crown, in opposing the encroachments of the Dutch and others against the Spanish power in the East, in defending the natives of the