envoy to remonstrate with the government on this subject – for this purpose choosing one of the officers who had been most prominent in the recent controversy, and thus removing from Manila a person whose presence there was regarded as dangerous. By royal order of February 1, 1836 (published in the islands on March 31, 1837), order was given that there should be compiled and published in Manila every year tables of the values of the moneys from the new provinces of America, in order that their value might, in their circulation in Manila, be properly adjusted to the Spanish peso; consequently, the recoinage of American money was stopped. A later edict ordered that from June 1, 1837, "the coin called cuarto should circulate at the rate of twenty to the real,[1] instead of seventeen as hitherto, on account of the greater size and weight of the new coins; and to this new subdivision were adjusted the prices of the measures of tobacco established therefor, and the revenues from wine. Also the circulation of cigars [tabacos] in place of money was forbidden; the Indians had introduced this on account of the scarcity of copper coin, and because the greater part of that then current was counterfeit, on which account a multitude of disputes had arisen. The governor decided, moreover, that the Spanish peseta should be accepted at thirty-two cuartos, five [pesetas], therefore, corresponding to the peso fuerte." A royal order of May 31, 1837, declared certain jurisdictions – Caraga, Samar, Iloilo, Antique, Capis, Albay, Camarines Sur, and Tayabas – to be those of governors, at once military and political, who should be mili-
- ↑ "In Filipinas the peseta is worth only 32 cuartos." (Vidal y Soler, Viajes por Jagor, p. 227; published in 1874.)
