Note 7 — AND ADVANTAGES WHICH THEY CAN YIELD TO HIS MAJESTY CARLOS III
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The third: The advantages and benefit which will accrue to his Majesty from the commerce and exportation of the commodities and products of those same islands are various, to wit: The more that the commodities which they need from outside can be supplied from the native products of the islands themselves, the more silver remains in the [Spanish] dominions. The more commodities or fruits are exported, so much more land will be cultivated, and many more people employed; and consequently the tributes imposed by his Majesty can be all the more easily collected, and from that time the royal exchequer will be better filled; and the vassals, by being kept busy, become more obedient and more loyal. The Spanish traders who are established there are favored [by such policy]; for they obtain their profits on both the exportation and the importation, and if one of these fail, the other will be able to supply the deficiency; but the advantage will be the greater if it can be obtained from both sources of gain. When commerce is flourishing, his Majesty will obtain greater profits from the customs duties, for which reason it is highly expedient that his Majesty encourage the cultivation of the land and the increase of its products—a thing which I do not consider difficult of accomplishment, as I have already demonstrated in another little work, which I have placed in the hands of the ministers.7