Note 11 — Commerce between the Philippines and Nueva España

Second: because the silk that is produced in Nueva España (both woven and in skeins)11 was exported to Perù, since it was the principal commodity included in this permission, and in order to [help meet] the expenses of the country; and Nueva España, not being as rich as Perù, prefers the fabrics from China, which remain at a lower price, so that all those that come from Philipinas find consumption. If, then, the market that they formerly had fails, it is necessary that this [home-grown silk] remain in Nueva España, as being their own product. It follows that so much less will be the use of the silks from China, which were substituted in the place of the Mexican goods when those went out of the country with the trade permitted to Perù. On this account, the commerce of Philipinas has been and is steadily diminishing—to how great an extent may be easily understood by finding the country full of silks and its own fabrics, which are no longer consumed except within it, although foreign goods are brought in. Even if these last are cheaper, they are a hindrance and obstacle to those which are or can be called original [in the country]—an injury which has been already experienced with the last ships from the islands, which as they failed to come in the preceding year, did not find an outlet for their wares; nor could they sell even enough to pay the freight charges and the duties, as is stated in letters from Nueva España, where your illustrious Lordship can learn the facts in the case.