o much money is sent thither from
Mexico, apparently by speculators interested in the Chinese trade;
and request is made that the export trade of the islands with Mexico
be confined entirely to citizens of the former. It is asked that
all future cargoes of goods from China be purchased at wholesale, by
Spanish officers appointed for that purpose, and "afterward apportioned
to the Spanish citizens, the Chinese, and the Indians, by a just and
fair distribution," at cost price; that Chinese hucksters in Manila
be suppressed; and that no Chinese be allowed even to remain outside
of that city, save the Christian converts and those who are farmers
or artisans, or who trade in food supplies. The Audiencia has become
a burden; and it should be abolished, or its expenses be paid by
the Mexican treasury. As the country has no agricultural industries,
the king is asked to send farmers, with their families, as colonists;
to exempt these from taxes, for a time, and from military or other
personal service; and to forbid them to change their occupation. The
Indians should be taught European methods of agriculture; cattle and
horses should be imported into the islands and the native buffalo be
domesticated and bred. The cultivation of lands granted to encomenderos
should be enforced. Women should be brought from Spain, and provided
with dowries, in order to become the wives of soldiers and workmen;
and dowries should be provided for some native women, that they may
marry poor Spaniards. Offices should not be sold; and encomiendas
should be made large enough to pay their necessary taxes and other
expenses. The Indians should not be obliged to pay the royal share
of their gold; and their lawsuits should be despatched in the courts
with simplicity and promptness. Tribute should not be collected from
them by force, and without giving them religious instruction; and
the boundaries of some encomiendas should be changed. A "protector
of the Indians" should be appointed, who should not be also the royal
fiscal; he should, besides, have charge of the Chinese. The soldiers
are compelled to serve, yet are allowed no pay, from which many evils
ensue; the troops have become demoralized; and the very existence of
the colony is thus endangered. A regular paid force, of about three
hundred and fifty men, should therefore be maintained; they should
not engage in trade, or serve the officials; the officers should be
clothed with suitable authority; and t