en after the
port of Manilla was thrown open to ships of all nations, the vessels
belonging to that port itself were not allowed to trade with Europe,
or to proceed beyond the Cape of Good Hope; and Government yet further
limited their intercourse with the only ports of China and India
which were open to them, by issuing passes to all colonial ships,
the conditions of which were perfectly incompatible with the usual
course of commerce, as they were required to return home directly
from the port to which they were destined from Manilla, and were not
at liberty to touch at, or have any intercourse with, other places
than those specified in their passport.

These absurd restrictions of course prevented a ship from profiting
by any freight she might be offered at the port of her destination
from Manilla, because the terms of her pass made it compulsory for
her to return there before she could accept any new engagement such as
might be offered her, and of course, in such a case, frequently forced
them to decline most profitable business; consequently, the colonial
shipowners found that they had to sail their vessels at a great
disadvantage with all others who were free from such interference.

Neither was the trade with Spain open to them, for the Trading Company
numbered among their many other privileges, that of having the sole
right of placing ships on the berth for the Peninsula.

This state of things actually remained in force till 1820, when a
royal order confirmed a decree of the Cortes exempting from all duties
whatever any products of the Philippines which might be imported into
Spain during the ensuing ten years; and this step may be considered
as the first evidence of a desire shown by that Government to give
an impulse to their colonial agriculture or to the manufactures and
commerce of these splendid islands.

This good work, having once begun, was followed up by the
enlightened and benevolent government of Don Pascual Enrile, who was
Captain-General of the Philippines from 1831 to 1835, and whose entire
administration has left behind it the happiest results for the people
he governed.

Commencing his reform of the laws relating to navigation by giving
passes to ships, for the period of two years, without requiring them
to declare to what place or places they were bound, or might touch
at during their absence from the port to which they belonged, he
had an opportunity of satisfying himself of the good resu