Likewise another difficulty is presented, as the treasury is always straitened; and, on account of the great care which the auditors take to collect their salaries, as it cannot be so prompt as they would wish, they seek borrowed money from the citizens—­who give it to them, willingly or unwillingly, each one according to his means or designs.  From this follow difficulties, to which they pay no heed; as some of them demand these loans from persons who are parties to suits at the time, who grant these to the auditors in order to place them under obligations, and profit by them.

The difficulty which presents itself to me in this matter is that, if the Audiencia is abolished and everything left in charge of the governor, there will be but slow and poor remedy for the grievances and disorders which may occur.  For they must be taken to the Audiencia of Mexico, which is so far away that the aggrieved ones would consume both life and property before the business was settled.  Several difficulties occur to me, which are connected with this; but having informed myself fully on this point as to what has happened in the past, all say that they consider government by one person the best, when he governs justly.  These men know what the governor can do without the Audiencia, and with it; and they believe that it is better when there are not so many to command them, for they have never seen the audiencias redress illegal acts by the governors.  I therefore consider it better, before God and my conscience, that your Majesty should choose for this charge some gentleman and soldier who has proved trustworthy, and whose mode of governing and procedure has been learned and tried in other offices.  He should be a good Christian, and, above all, not greedy; for if he is affected with this last the country is ready and eager for an alteration of its condition, whereby the same losses which we have seen in other cases might be caused here.

I am likewise confronted with another difficulty, which is redress for violations of the law by the ecclesiastical judges; but these are cases which seldom happen, and it does not seem just, in order to settle an affair of this sort, that others of a different nature should be deranged, and that an opportunity should be given for so many troubles as result from the contrary—­especially as we might attend to such a case by some suitable means, referring it to trustworthy persons here, who would take it in charge.

Although there is no doubt that much of what this paper recounts occurs in other regions where there are audiencias, it must be remembered that in this country, which is the newest of all and more engaged in war than any of the others; and where the hardships of conquest and maintenance are so omnipresent; and your Majesty has little profit or advantage, except the cargo of cloth which goes to Nueva Hespana, and which is divided among all; and as the resources of the country are so scant that there it no place to