Page:The Philippine Islands, 1493-1803 (Volume 51).djvu/44

38 ." 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. A month later, it met again, with sixty new members, and Manuel Bernáldez was chosen director of the association; and its new