180 The Philippine Journal of Science im 



He had planned to leave for China, when he was sentenced to 

 eig-ht years' imprisonment in Misamis and deprivation of civil 

 rights for libeling the audiencia, Blanco, however, was an 

 exception to the rule that the ordinary individual to whom money 

 was lent generally punctually repaid both capital and interest.*' 

 After the suppression of the "nao," ^^ and the partial opening 

 of Manila as a free port, marine risks were still preferred,^" 

 although they were intermitted while the insurgent fleets of 

 the newly born republics were patrolling the eastern coast of 

 southern America.^' They were still made on ships trading to 

 Acapulco, and at the same rate of interest. Local vessels, as 

 before, were not allowed to participate in the advantages of the 

 fund.^2 After 1820, the rate of interest was slightly reduced, 

 varying from 25 to 30 per cent to New Spain, the variation 

 depending on whether the loan was for one or two years, and 

 from 15 to 18 per cent to India. As commerce developed, it 

 became a not unusual practice to lend money on the cargo of 

 a vessel trading between Manila and European ports, if the risk 

 had been accepted at Lloyds, and bills of lading were taken as 

 well as silver in repayment. After 1862, consequent on the 

 depreciation of silver in South America, gold was substituted for 

 silver.^^ The decision to leave the field of marine insurance and 

 make investments only on land was not taken until 1850, and 

 was arrived at as a result of the total loss of the barkantine 

 Quid Pro Quo in 1847.^* The possibility of land investment had 

 been mooted as early as 1770, when a suggestion had been placed 

 before the municipal board that it would be profitable to acquire 

 certain lands recently vacated by the expulsion of the Jesuits. 

 This, however, came to nothing, and it is not until 1819 that 



"Actas de Manila (1806), 88-89. 147-148; (1807), passim; (1809), 

 174, 198-199, 219-220, 222-223, 300-301; Audiencia de Manila. Reales 

 sentencias (December 2, 1809). 



" Bourne, Historical Introduction to Blair and Robertson, The Phil- 

 ippine Islands (1903), 1, 66; Remarks on the Philippine Islands by an 

 Englishman, ibid. (1907), 51, 149. 



"Actas de Manila (1818), 228-230; (1819), 41, 63, 78-79. 



"Ibid. (1818), 192. 



"Ibid. (1834), 22. 



""Oro grueso Americano," Actas de Manila (1862), 155. In the old 

 ledgers of the Banco Espanol-Filipino de Isabel II (established in 1851), 

 the accounts are kept in ounces of gold. 



" The last marine risk was taken on the barkantine Mundaquez and 

 the frigate Magnolia in 1850. Actas de Manila (1850), 154; (1851), 

 82-89, 112; (1852), 29, 40-41. For the loss of the Quid Pro Quo, see ibid. 

 (1847), 58-59. 



