33. That the master of each ship must make a book containing the freight list, and present it with the aforesaid documents at Acapulco to the castellan who governs that port and the royal officials, for the discharge of cargo. At the same time he must carry a duplicate of all these documents, to be sent to the viceroy as soon as they arrived, in order that he might examine them and communicate with the tribunal of accounts, in which a copy of it must be made to send to the Council.
34. As soon as the ships should anchor in Acapulco the castellan and royal officials of that port should station the guards necessary to avoid the concealment of goods or their clandestine introduction, causing the ship to be lightened and its cargo landed with the utmost promptness, and collecting the established duties or securing them by the goods themselves, according to the usage up to that time.
35. That when the goods had been landed and the amounts registered had been ascertained, the ships should be inspected; and whatever else was found therein should be regarded as confiscated, without allowing therein any claim or remonstrance. Half of the goods confiscated should be applied to the royal treasury, and the rest in two parts to the judge and the informer—excepting in the case when the value of confiscated goods should reach 50,000 pesos; for then the viceroy and the royal court of Mexico must allot to the judge and the informer such quantity as should be proper, leaving to the decision of the judges other penalties in accordance with the guilt of the offenders.
36. His Majesty having agreed to the proposals made by the Council, they issued on August 12, 1702, despatches in accordance therewith, to the governments of Nueva España and Philipinas, informing them of the regulation herein explained, and commanding them both to observe it strictly and inviolably. In consequence of this, the governor of Philipinas, in letters of June 21, 1705, and May 24, 1708 (in which he acknowledged the receipt of the despatch sent to him), reported that he had carried the decree into execution, and had made it known to the merchants in the city of Manila, who had offered to make good the burdens of expense which would ensue if the two ships of 500 toneladas each were immediately built according to this command—in view of the fact that there were two galleons and one patache in the ports there; of these one might serve eight years, and the other a little less, and the patache four. For this reason the governor had commanded that the building of the two ships should be suspended until those which were then in use should be worn out.
37. That also it had been regarded as impracticable that the valuation of the cloth and wares which were to be traded should be made through the actual examination of the bales and their other goods, and that this should be carried out in the royal storehouses—considering that the crowded condition of those buildings, and the risk of thefts, fires, and other accidents, did not permit this method to be practiced, as was commanded by the decree that has been cited.
38. That to this was added that, as the Chinese do not gather at the fair [at Manila] until the end of May in each year, and the ships sail from those islands toward the end of the following June, the royal officials were unable in so short a time as one month to attend to the aforesaid examination, and to undertake the despatch and registration of the ships, on account of the great amount of work that they had to do in this. For these reasons it had been decided that, in the invoices that were brought forward, an itemized account should be given of the stuffs, their quantity, quality, numbers and marks, and the names of the consignees; and that the consignors should furnish samples of each article; and some bales here and there could be opened to ascertain if there were any fraud and punish it. And that, the aforesaid city and merchants having agreed to and accepted all the rest that was contained in the above despatch, the galleons had accordingly sailed for Nueva España in the years 1705 and 1706.
39. The Council, being informed of this memorial, agreed that the strictest orders should be repeated (as was done by decrees of December 12, 1712) for the exact observance and punctual fulfilment of those given on August 12, 1702, excepting that which concerned the opening of the bundles in the royal storehouses for the valuations. It was permitted that these should be made by means of invoices, which each one must present, swearing that the goods were his and that the bales contained no more than was set down on the invoices. The Council also decided that the traffic and commerce of those islands should be continued by the two ships already in existence, until they should become unseaworthy; in that case they must be laid aside, and the building of the two ships of 500 toneladas burden each should be undertaken, according to their former decision.
40. Inasmuch as in the year 1706 the galleon named “Rosario” had been despatched from Philipinas under the regulations made by the cited decree of 1702, and modifications in this had been proposed by the city and merchants of Manila, the viceroy Alburquerque[6] had commanded (with the opinion of a junta which he formed for the reception and unlading of the galleon) that this cargo should not be admitted to the adjustment of the 100,000 pesos, which the above regulation provided; and that consequently the declaration of goods should be accepted, by the rules of valuation and of the payment of duties which had been observed on other occasions. The Council, after the statement of the fiscal and consultation with his Majesty, severely censured the viceroy, and the officials of the junta who had agreed with his opinion; and they returned thanks to those who were of the opposite opinion, who thought that the adjustment of the 100,000 pesos should be paid, as that was the most exact and accurate meaning of the royal orders issued in the year 1702.