a remedy as you can provide; and I therefore charge
you to “decide in this what appears to you to
accord with the judgment of the bishop.”
This does not mean to commit the affair to him alone;
but, after hearing his opinion, and having examined
his discussion and treatment of the matter with me,
I am to resolve upon what measures are best for the
remedy thereof, and then in the name of your Majesty
provide and carry out that remedy, and have it observed
most punctiliously. Further, I told him that two-thirds
of the number of religious are of this opinion and
sentiment, contrary to that of the bishop; moreover
that the bishop himself and all the theologians were
lately of one mind in this matter, but that now the
bishop alone disagrees; and that I think I make no
mistake in being guided by so many learned opinions
in a matter which I find to be of service to God and
my king. Furthermore, I replied to various inquiries
that he made of me, such as the remedy which had been
brought to bear in these things, and the resulting
benefit. My answer is so long, that in order
not to be detailed here, I refer your Majesty to the
aforesaid reply, as well as to the result obtained,
which I show there, and to the orders now in force.
I see no other remedy than to take the matter as I
find it. I see that for lack of justice nothing
can be collected, as the Indian receives no benefit.
I wish to establish justice for administration and
government, and for dealings with and good management
of the Indians, that both your Majesty and the encomenderos
should receive profit; and that the royal estate should
not suffer, nor the encomendero starve, abandon everything,
and go away. For your Majesty’s share alone
there would necessarily be more than a hundred and
fifty thousand pesos of restitution, not to count
thirty thousand pesos of income which would be lost
from the present tributes (for all the encomiendas
belong to your Majesty); and these islands would be
left alone without a single soldier, and with only
the bishop and the religious, so that within one week
there would be neither the one nor the other.
I assured him, in fact, that without express order
from your Majesty I could not curtail or diminish the
royal income or alter the encomiendas from their first
establishment, which they have had for twenty-six
years. I answered him fully in respect to the
establishment of justice where there is none, and the
great good that would result therefrom. I urged
him to appoint laymen of good life and example, who,
while there are no religious there, may instruct and
bring them up in the holy faith, as your Majesty commands
in the royal charge regarding presentations—to
which the bishop never has given me an answer.
I told him that finally, in these two ways, it will
be brought about that they will not be left alone
and intractable, and thus ready to rebel and rise in
two days’ time. It were well that these
laymen of good life, when religious are lacking, not
only be not appointed by the bishop, but that they