ble increase, and, of itself,
has become an object of some consequence to the state.

[Profit from tobacco monopoly and foreign trade.] Among the various
causes which have contributed to produce so favorable an alteration,
the chief one have been the establishment of the tobacco monopoly,
on behalf of the crown, and the opening of the port of Manila to the
flag of other nations, at peace with Spain. The first has considerably
increased the entries into the public treasury, and the second
has tended to multiply the general mass of mercantile operations,
independent of the other beneficial effects this last measure must
have produced in a country, whose resources, trade and consumption
had, from the time of the conquest, experienced the fatal shackles
imposed by jealousy and ignorance.

[Improvement in public finances.] The improved aspect the colony
soon assumed, by the introduction of this new system, as was natural,
awakened the attention of ministers, and induced them more easily to
consent to the measures subsequently proposed to them, principally
intended to place those distant dominions on a footing of permanent
security, so as to enable them to repel any fresh attempts on the part
of an enemy. As, however, the productions of the country increased,
the public expenses also became greater, although always in a much
smaller proportion, with the exception of the interval between the
years 1797 and 1802, when the government, fearful of a second invasion,
was compelled, at its own expense, to provide against the danger with
which these Islands were then threatened. If, therefore, as appears
from the official reports of the treasurer-general, Larzabal, in my
possession, the receipts at the treasury, in 1780, amounted only to
$700,000 including the situado, or annual allowance for the expenses
of government sent from New Spain, and after the ordinary charges of
administration had been paid, a surplus of $170,000 remained in the
hands of the treasurer; at present we have the satisfaction to find
that the revenue is equal to $2,625,176.50 and the expenses do not
exceed $2,179,731.87 by which means an annual surplus of $445,444.62
is left, applicable to the payment of the debt contracted during the
extraordinary period above mentioned, now reduced to about $900,000 and
afterwards transferable to the general funds belonging to the crown.

[Economy over Spanish-American colonial administration.] With regard
to the administr