tained." Gardoqui's last days were embittered, and his end hastened, by the treacherous act of one of his secretaries, who, by substituting a false report for the one which Gardoqui had dictated in favor of retaining the naval bureau, procured the governor's unwitting signature to the former and thus made him appear to report adversely to the bureau; as a result, the bureau was suppressed by a royal decree of March 23, 1815. His disappointment and wounded honor so grieved him that his death soon resulted (December 9, 1816).
The command ad interim was again assumed by Folgueras, who held it during nearly six years. On December 17, 1819, he reëstablished the "Royal Economic Society of Filipinas," as a result of royal orders to that effect issued in 1811 and 1813; and five days later its first session was held, the governor presiding, only two members of the original society being still alive.[1] A month later, it met again, with sixty new members, and Manuel Bernáldez was chosen director of the association; and its new ordi-
- ↑ "In 1797, when on account of the decadence of the Society and the opposition of Aguilar it practically ceased its functions, its president at that time, the auditor Don Francisco Javier Moreno, placed on deposit in the Consulate [of commerce] 6,000 pesos, which at that period constituted all its funds. At the time of its reëstablishment, the capital of the Society consisted of 34,224 pesos, two reals, one grano in ready cash; a debt owed by the convent of San Juan de Dios, of 7,525 pesos – the remainder of the sum of 15,890 pesos, four reals, one grano, which by decree of the government dated April 1, 1805, were ordered to be paid for the rebuilding of that convent's edifice; and twelve gold medals and 241 of silver. It was agreed to invest these funds in commerce by sea or land, according to circumstances." (Pamphlet cited by Montero y Vidal.)
