In January, 1813, after recommendation by the committee on Ultramar, it was resolved to grant the petition of the board (mesa) of the Misericordia of Manila (which had been hanging fire in the Cortes since September 25, 1812), asking for certain reforms, among them that the number of persons voting for the electors of the board itself be reduced. [159] On January 6, 1813, the proposed ordinances for the hospice for the poor at Manila (the establishment of which was provided for by royal order of December 27, 1806), were declared unconstitutional by the committee on Ultramar, [160] and that committee's report was adopted. A minute in the records of March 11, 1813, shows that the suppression of the brandy monopoly had been decreed by the governor of the Philippines and that it could be manufactured freely in the provinces of Tondo, Cavite, Bulacan, and Pampanga.
By far the most important measure affecting the Philippines, however, was the suppression of the Acapulco galleon. [161] The discussion on the matter was lengthy and bitter, and arose over one of twelve propositions submitted by Reyes on February 11, 1813, to the effect that the determined suppression of the Acapulco galleon be published, and in its place those engaged in that commerce be allowed to fit up private vessels at their own cost to continue the trade with Nueva España, through the ports of Acapulco, San Blas, or any other, under the old terms of 500,000 pesos for the outgoing voyage and 1,000,000 for the return, and a lowering of the duties by one-half. The matter was debated in the presence of the secretaries of the Peninsula and Ultramar, and after full discussion, in which many of the delegates took part, and in which the American delegates generally favored a liberal policy for the Philippines, the decree suppressing the galleon was finally issued on September 14, 1813. [162]
The special session of the Cortes closed on the date of the decree above, and the regular session opened at Cádiz, either in the latter part of September or the first part of October. On October 4, the last meeting was held in Cádiz and opened again in the island of León because of yellow fever in the former place. On the eighth of that month, Reyes presented three plans for the benefit of the agriculture, industry, commerce, and navigation of the Philippines. On the twenty-ninth of October meetings at the island of León were suspended, and resumed again in Madrid, on January 15, 1814. Fernando VII, released by order of Napoleon, after the disastrous campaign conducted by Joseph in Spain, abolished the Cortes by his decree of May 4, 1814, and on the publication of this decree in Madrid, on the thirteenth many of the members of the Cortes were arrested, all the acts of the constitutional government were declared null and void, the Inquisition reëstablished, and absolutism was again proclaimed in Spain. On the publication of the decree in the Philippines, the Ilocans, deeming it only a ruse of the governor, revolted, sacked churches and convents, and destroyed public records. Their insurrection was directed chiefly against their own principales and their wives. [163]