Note 7 — COMMERCE OF THE PHILIPPINES WITH NUEVA ESPAÑA

“In the books of the carriers7 in which is set down the silver which has been carried to the port [of Acapulco], and the merchandise which has been transported to this kingdom [of Mexico]—all money is included without any distinction, without specifying the coin which goes destined for the fair at Acapulco and that which must be sent to the islands; and this produces confusion, which it is very difficult to clear up. For if they [i.e., the merchants] are charged with this remittance of coin, they say that the money is for the fair, which is lawful and allowed; if they are obliged to admit that they are sending coin and are not receiving goods, they say that it is for the balances [due] on commissions from the citizens of Manila. As this traffic goes on under a confidence system [confiánza], in which there is neither written document which can certify the remittances, nor register in which the real owners can be declared, nor bill of lading by which the right of possession may be known—the result is, that the citizens of Manila send as their own the bales which belong to those of Mexico, and the latter send money as if it belonged to the citizens of Manila, produced from those bales which were not their own. And as this trade is carried on publicly with this dissimulation, and it will not be easy for any one to ascertain the inside of it and the agreements which are privately made, it follows from this that there will always be difficulty in proving guilt, and that the merchants will persist in trying to persuade the officials that the money which they send is intended either for the fair at the port, or for the payment of [debts to] its owners.