Spain - Document - Pamplona (Reino de Navarra) - Informe reservado de reforma arancelaria y fomento industrial - - 1787

Manuscript from 1787. Confidential report on tariff reform and industrial promotion addressed to the Ministry.

GENERAL TECHNICAL DATA
• Document Type: Confidential report on tariff reform and industrial promotion.
• Date Written: January 6, 1787.
• Place of Origin: Pamplona (Kingdom of Navarre).
• Place of Receipt: Madrid (Secretariat of State and the Universal Office of Finance of Spain and the Indies).
• Material: Handmade French laid paper from the Camou family, with a watermark visible when held up to the light.

SUMMARY OF CONTENT AND HISTORICAL SIGNIFICANCE
The manuscript faithfully reflects the Enlightenment and mercantilist ideas of the late court of Charles III. This is the draft of a report sent to the Secretariat of State and the Universal Office of Finance of Spain and the Indies. It preserves the author's interlinear corrections, crossed-out words, and marginal additions, giving it unique documentary value by showing the living process of intellectual composition before the final fair copy was prepared.

In the report, the author fervently advocates industrial protectionism: criticizing the extractive model of the wool trade, the author does not limit the proposal to a single sector but instead sets out a development strategy for the resources of the entire kingdom, appealing to the Ministry to support national industrialization with a coherent and impassioned argument.

The author particularly condemns the loss of capital and profits suffered by the Crown when it exports raw wool (“in the grease”) to foreign powers, which multiply its value fivefold after processing it and reselling it to Spain as finished cloth.

The author states: “I understand that the aim of manufacturing all of Spain’s raw materials within the country is fanciful for now, but at the same time I cannot help recognizing that effective assistance from the Ministry could bring about this favorable revolution and greatly hasten the happy era for which we already long, since, if it comes to pass, we must always regard it as superior and more advantageous than those that won us and secured for us all that we possess in both Americas.”

To lend weight to this position before the Ministry in Madrid, the author cites the most brilliant economic thinkers in Spain of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, who defend precisely the same ideas: Pedro Fernández de Navarrete, Sancho de Moncada, Wielfeld, Zavala, Ulloa, Uztáriz…

AUTHORSHIP
Anonymous, identified only by a signature mark. We do not know the author's name, but their expertise points to a very specific administrative, commercial, and sociopolitical profile. It is highly probable that this is an Enlightenment-era economic reformer (arbitrista) affiliated with the regional administration of the Kingdom of Navarre or with the Royal Economic Societies of Friends of the Country, with a profound knowledge of Bourbon macroeconomics and customs trade balances.

• Knowledge of Local Administration: The author is familiar with the area's accounts and customs ledgers, citing the amount owed by Pamplona's four commercial houses in the wool trade (“very close to 300 thousand pesos”).

• Training in Economic Theory: The author is familiar with mercantilist economic thought and the monarchy's reform movements, citing classical authors of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries.

DESTINATION OF THE REPORT:
The report of January 6, 1787, was formally addressed to the Secretariat of State and the Universal Office of Finance of Spain and the Indies, headed and supervised by the minister Pedro de Lerena y Cuenca during the absolutist reign of Charles III.

Pedro de Lerena held all the powers the author calls upon in the report: Secretary of State and the Universal Office of Finance of Spain and the Indies, Governor of the Council of Finance, President of its Tribunals, and Superintendent General of revenues, factories, and mints.

THE WATERMARK: Paper Provenance Data

• Vertical watermark featuring three circles topped by a lobed cross and flanked by two “griffins,” with FIN 1787 beneath them; inside the upper circle is a cross, and inside the middle and lower circles is a heart.

• Manufacturer: Camou

• Mill location: Béarn, France. Béarn's mills (such as that of the Camou family) had a natural and direct export market in northern Spain and the Navarrese administrations because of their proximity and the Pyrenean trade routes.

• Geographic context: The historic region of Béarn (whose historic capital is Pau) lies just north of the Pyrenees, very close to the Kingdom of Navarre, which explains why a report written in Pamplona in 1787 is on this particular paper.

• Chronological dating of the paper: The watermark in the reference record bears the date FIN 1783. Since paper took a few years to be marketed, distributed, and used, this is consistent with its use in Pamplona in 1787.

CONDITION
Excellent for its age. The paper support is intact, with no text loss or biological damage (wood-boring insects). The iron gall ink is stable and highly legible.

ADDITIONAL NOTES:
• The photographs form part of the description.
• The stated dimensions and weight correspond to the secure packaging configuration, essential to ensure the document is properly protected during transport.