representatives to this conference. On February 9 the Council agreed to send to the deputies of Filipinas a copy of the Cadiz memorial, with a statement of the arguments advanced by General Pintado (but suppressing the name of the author), in order that they might answer it.] 223-224. [The Filipinas deputies made answer to this attack by Cadiz, in a long memorial dated March 30, 1735. Manila claims to have enjoyed the possession of the silk trade with China from the discovery of the islands, and that these goods were never excluded from its trade with Nueva España--to which country that trade was not confined until the decrees of 1587-93--until 1720, when, at the instance of Andalusia, a prohibition of the Chinese silks was made, although it lasted only four years. The charges by Cadiz of frauds in the lading of the Manila galleon have no foundation in fact; the cited statement by Don Francisco Fagoaga does not appear among the documents on the subject, and is "a fanciful supposition;" and the valuations are made by appraisers appointed by the governor of Filipinas, under their solemn oath to fulfil their duties faithfully and well, while the royal fiscal acts as superintendent of both the valuations and the lading. Manila's former assertions refuting in detail, and with citations from the official records of Manila and Acapulco, the accusations of infractions and excess of the permission, are repeated here, as also the statements regarding the Mexican junta of 1732 and the concessions made to the Company of Philipinas, formed among the Cadiz shippers. The overstocking of the markets in Nueva España is caused, not by the silk goods shipped from Manila, but by the enormous quantities of cloth and stuffs (largely manufactured outside of España) sent to that country by the Cadiz merchants; they have sent eighteen or twenty ships [14] in each fleet, although formerly there were but ten or twelve--"on account of which excess his Majesty has finally resolved that only eight shall go in the next armada, without doubt because of the great outcry regarding this by the commerce of Mexico." Moreover, those same traders of Cadiz have secured the concession of fifty toneladas of Chinese silks for each ship that they may send out, to be sold in America; the little that is shipped from Manila ought not to be considered in comparison with that traffic, and is intended, besides, for the poorer classes, who cannot afford to buy the more expensive fabrics. If the Western Indias have been inundated with Chinese silks, it is caused not by the shipments from Manila, but by the great trade in these goods which is carried on by the English and Dutch, who have factories and warehouses in Jamayca and Curazau [i.e., Curaçao], which they supply from China and other Oriental countries with fleets of more than forty ships, and trade those goods in the American islands (as Cadiz is well aware). As for the offer of Cadiz