Note 12 — V. The Nineteenth Century and Economic Development

Even before the coming of Basco, the taking of Manila by the English in 1762 had a good economic effect, for it acquainted England with the natural resources of the Philippines, and the possibilities for material development.12 Perhaps as a result of the information thus gained, we find an English commercial house obtaining permission to establish itself in Manila in 1809. And in 1814, probably due to the liberalizing influence of the war of independence just closed in Spain, it was stipulated that all colonial ports still restricted should be opened to foreign traffic, and that foreigners should be allowed to enter, and engage in commercial activities; thus was swept away the restrictive colonial policy, which had prevailed among the European nations, and which Spain was the very last to abandon. In the beginning, however, there was need of special royal permission for each foreign house established. Later on the permission of the Governor General only sufficed.13 An earlier edict of the Philippine government, repeated in 1828 and again in 1840, forbade foreigners to sell at retail or to enter the provinces to carry on business of any kind.14 In 1842 there were in Manila thirty-nine Spanish shipping and commercial houses, and about a dozen foreign houses, of which seven or eight were English, two were Americans, one was French, and another Danish, while consuls of France, the United States, Denmark, Sweden, and Belgium resided there.15 By about 1859, according to Bowring, there were in Manila seven English, three American, two French, two Swiss, and one German commercial establishments; and in the other ports, there was no European business house, except one in Iloilo, where there was an English firm of which the British vice-consul was the directing partner.16