[115] He had witnessed personally at Acapulco the careless, disorderly, and even fraudulent manner in which this trade was carried on by the Mexican merchants, who contrived to secure the advantage in every way over those of Manila. He therefore imposed severe penalties on all who on either side should practice frauds. He also appointed four of the most distinguished of the citizens of Manila to register, apportion, and appraise the goods sent thence; but the only result was that these men took the best for themselves, and consulted their own profit; he therefore revoked their commissions and sharply rebuked them. Arandía also made many reforms in the management of the Acapulco ship, its supplies, and its men, both on the sea and in port. (Concepción, xiv, pp. 171-183.) [116] Le Gentil and Marquina are cited by Montero y Vidal (Hist. de Filipinas, ii, p. 14) to show that Arandia died by poison or other violent means. [117] His full name was Manuel Antonio Rojo del Río y Vieyra. [118] At this point properly should come the documents which relate the invasion of the islands by the English, their capture of Manila, the consequent disturbances in the provinces, etc.; but the great length of this episode, and the desirability of bringing all this material together in one volume, induce us to place it all in VOL. XLIX, completing this present volume with the noted memorial by the royal fiscal Viana, written nearly a year after the evacuation of Manila by the English. [119] The title-page of this valuable MS. reads as follows: "Demonstration of the deplorably wretched state of the Philipinas Islands; the necessity of [either] abandoning them or maintaining them with respectable forces, with the disadvantages of the first and the advantages of the second; what the islands can produce for the royal exchequer; the navigation practiced in their commerce, and the extension and profits of the latter. With reflections, which demonstrate the benefit of forming a company, under the royal protection, in order to render the Spanish monarchy prosperous and glorious, and to deprive its enemies of the gains by which they are ruining it in both peace and war. By Don Francisco Leandro de Viana, a student in the old college of San Bartholome el Maior of the university of Salamanca; former rector of the same college; graduated by the chapter of Santa Barbara in the aforesaid university; a member of the Council of his Majesty; and his fiscal in this royal Audiencia of Manila." It is followed by a letter addressed to the governor of the islands, Francisco de la Torre, with the date of March 20, 1765; this occupies eleven closely-written pages, and serves the double purpose of an introduction to Viana's memorial and of the official delivery of the document to the governor-general, as the representative of his Majesty. This preface rehearses the needy condition of the islands since the English invasion, entreats