Note XXII‑12 — Chapter XXII · AFFAIRS IN PANAMÁ. 1551-1600.

A royal cédula of November 11, 1578, forbade the carrying of Manila dry goods. This is confirmed by cédulas of January 12, 1593, July 5, 1595, and February 13th and June 13, 1599. The object was to stop entirely all trade between the Philippines and Tierra Firme. Memorial sobre Manila, in Pacheco and Cárdenas, Col. Doc., vi. 444. The cédula of 1593 is full and explicit: 'Toleration and abuse have caused an undue increase in the trade between the West Indies and China, and a consequent decrease in that of the Castilian kingdom. To remedy this it is again ordered that neither from Tierra Firme, Peru, nor elsewhere, except New Spain, shall any vessel go to China or the Philippine Islands to trade.' Reales Cédulas, in Pacheco and Cárdenas, Col. Doc., xvii. 420. See also Decadas, Id., viii. 114. Another cédula to the same effect was issued July 25, 1609; the license being still continued to New Spain at the instance of the merchants of Seville whose interests were jeopardized. The Portuguese had established factories in China, and though selling their goods at higher rates than the Chinese, could undersell the Spanish merchants who desired the landing of Chinese products themselves, and to sell them in the colonies at their own figures. Gran. Manila, in Pacheco and Cárdenas, Col. Doc., vi. 405-6.