The governor gave me authority to follow up the matter, and I asked from him an order of execution for the whole sum, with the assurance that I would receive on account whatever seemed lawfully to have been paid; it was given to me on the person and goods of the aforesaid Don Francisco Tello, but property was not found to the value of four hundred pesos.  He opposed the execution, saying that he had paid in Sevilla with the income of his family estate, together with what he had paid here, all the balance that was due.  I replied to this that this did not appear, from the aforesaid royal decree of January, one thousand six hundred, and that a forced sale would have to be made for the amount that was therein ordered—­not taking account of the payments that had been made here until they should arrive at Sevilla, as the official judges of these islands have decided—­and that what was lost must be at the risk of the said Don Francisco Tello.

This was proper, since at the time when the said royal officials gave the said money to the masters of the ships to be delivered to the treasury of Mexico, the aforesaid Don Francisco Tello, by the authority of his position, gave orders that the said masters should give him the money; and he invested it in merchandise, which, if it had arrived in Mexico, would have gained a great deal.  It was right that, since he was to have the profit, he should bear what risk there was—­which was greater than if he had allowed the royal officials to send the money as it suited them.  Since each year a great quantity of money is sent from the treasury of Mexico to the one here, they would have given orders that, instead of sending the money from here, it should be deducted from what was to be sent from Mexico, in order that that quantity might be sent to Sevilla.  In this way the risk of going and coming would have been avoided; and, even if there had not been any opportunity for this, they might have sent the said money in gold—­which is a less risk, because it is of less bulk and weight than reals—­and thirty per cent would have been gained in Mexico.

Both sides brought evidence, but that for the opposition was of no importance; so the governor gave judgment according to the opinion of the licentiate Luis Ortis de Padilla, reporter of the aforesaid royal Chancilleria, ordering that his property be sold to the highest bidder, in order to recover the amount for which the execution had been granted—­deducting from it all which the royal officials certify to have been paid here, and also, eight thousand pesos for what he says he has paid in Sevilla.  I consented to the judgment as far as concerned what was favorable, and I appealed from what was in opposition, to what I had asked to have received as evidence.  The opposing side has denied this, and made a declaration of nullity against the aforesaid royal decree of the year six hundred, saying that, according to it, it was ordered that the accountants of the royal Council of the Indias should make a record of this matter, which they did not do; so that everything that was done by its authority is void.  Thus the suit remains in this position.