throughout the great kingdom of Nueva España, and this would be a serious injury to its citizens--"especially in an article [like this], for the lack of which there is no equivalent which can make it good; nor is its expenditure limited by the variety of uses [to which it can be put], or by the frequent inconstancy of fashions, like other merchandise, but depends on a certain and assured consumption." This compulsory spice trade would injure Manila itself not only for the reasons already cited, but because it is possible that the Dutch would refuse to sell the cinnamon to the Philippine shippers; and then, with the Chinese silks cut off from them, they would find it impossible to continue their commerce with Nueva España. In any case, the Dutch would have it in their power to demand whatever price they might choose to place on their commodities; and the interruption of that traffic for two or three years would not hurt the Dutch, for they could sell it to European traders and be sure of their profits; but the injurious effects of such proceeding would react on the Manila merchants, the people of Nueva España, and the income of the Spanish treasury. If at any time cinnamon should bring in Nueva España the enormous prices which Cadiz has previously quoted, that would not help Manila, since its returns are limited to 1,000,000 pesos; the unusual profits would only benefit the Mexican traders who had bought the spice by wholesale at Acapulco. The assertion of Cadiz that the Manila merchants gain on the cinnamon 150 per cent at Acapulco does not count, for it entirely ignores the costs and expenses which, as has been demonstrated, reduce their net gain to 50 per cent. For all these reasons, the fiscal declines to approve the proposals of Cadiz. In view of this reply, the Council agreed (November 16) to call for a summary view of the whole question, with all the documents concerned. At this point, information was received from Cadiz that the fleet which had just arrived had brought a sack of cinnamon as a specimen of that which was produced in the Philippine Islands, and that the quality of this surpassed that of the cinnamon brought from the Dutch colonies. On January 21, 1736, the deputies from Filipinas presented a new but brief memorial, refuting some arguments by Cadiz in regard to the proposed substitution of the spice trade for that in silks, and for this purpose citing a royal decree of 1638 in their favor, which Cadiz had declared not to be in the Recopilación of the laws, and proving, by duly attested declarations, that the said decree existed in the Manila archives. At the end of these appears a final paragraph by Abreu, the compiler of the Extracto: "All that is thus far set forth is what up to the present time has been done and appears in the Expediente of the important and long-standing negotiation in regard to the commerce of Philipinas with Nueva España, according to the acts, royal decrees, memorials, and other documents