86. All the papers and reports which have been mentioned in this "Period vii" having been received in the Council, and the deputies from Philipinas, Don Francisco Diaz Romero and Don Antonio de Echandía--who deposited their credentials and letters in the office of the secretary--having presented themselves in it, they set forth their claims and stated, in a printed memorial (which they handed in on June 14, 1723) the injuries which the islands were receiving from the practice of the decree of October 27, 1720. They entreated that its execution be suspended, and orders given that the commerce be continued with the yearly galleon in the same manner, so far as the lading was concerned, as was in use at the time when the aforesaid despatch was received there [at Manila]. The memorial, in eight leaves, is as follows:
87. [This memorial by the city and merchants of Manila presents in detail the amount of their annual commerce in the various kinds of merchandise that are permitted in the decree. The gold exported from Filipinas to Nueva España amounts to less than 12,000 pesos, and is sent not as bullion or coin, but in the form of the slender chains [bejuquillos] wrought by the Malay natives for personal adornment; for in no other form could it compete with the abundance of gold mined in Mexico. The Chinese porcelain is shipped in small quantity, being mainly an article of luxury, like the gold ornaments; moreover, it is bulky and fragile. As for spices, Manila complains that the market for these in Nueva España is already appropriated by the merchants of España who send spices in the trading-fleets to Vera Cruz; in the fleet (of seventeen vessels) commanded by Don Fernando Chacón was carried the enormous amount of 170,737 libras of cinnamon, and more than 70,986 of pepper and cloves, besides various bags and chests of all these kinds of spice the weight of which was not noted. The only products of the islands which have commercial value in Nueva España are wax, lampotes, Ilocos blankets, and cordage; and the value of all that is exported of these, even counting with them the previously mentioned gold chains, does not go beyond 30,000 pesos. The linen goods have hitherto been shipped from Manila to Acapulco only to fill in empty spaces in the allotments of lading, and have amounted to hardly 60,000 pesos, on which very little profit was obtained. If the main part of the galleon's cargo has to be composed of these linens, the Acapulco market will be overstocked with them, and the prices there will be so low that Manila cannot afford to send another cargo of this sort. Moreover, as these goods are procured from the foreign factories at Batavia, Madrasta, Patàn, Punticheri, and Vengala, as soon as the traders at those posts understand that the Manila galleons must carry most of their lading in goods to be procured at those factories they will advance their prices enormously, and the galleon will be compelled to sail in ballast, and then only to procure the situado. The floss and raw silk which is the only form of that product permitted to Manila is so bulky a commodity, and the consumption of it in Nueva España is so small, that it too has been shipped only to fill up space; moreover, "for several years it has been increasing in cost, on account of the great amount of it which the Dutch, English, and French obtain from China for the fabrics which are manufactured in Europe." The deputies, to substantiate their statements, refer to the official reports of the viceroys of Nueva España, and offer to bring forward evidence in their favor from various persons at Madrid who have resided in Filipinas. They claim that the Manila trade in silken fabrics has not harmed the merchants of España, since the silk which is produced in that country is hardly sufficient to supply the home demand, and it is necessary to bring to it foreign silks--exporting to Nueva España some goods which have little demand in España; but even these do not occupy one hundred and twenty-five toneladas of space. The greater part of the silk goods woven in España are silks and velvets, and if the value of these has fallen, it is not the importation of Chinese goods which has caused this, but the change in the style of magistrates' robes, [88] in which those goods are used, and the small amount of them that is used in the military service.