15th.  Also the auditors claim the right of trial and jurisdiction in the lawsuits of the seamen.  That has come to such a pass that when I ordered that a sailor, one Luys Rivero, should be hanged for an atrocious murder that he had committed—­of whose trial and of what passed then I enclose a sworn statement—­they actually ordered that he be not executed.  That happened on a day when I had left this city, on account of having ordered that on that same day a retired sergeant be beheaded, who had deserted while under pay and after receiving help, and had abandoned his colors at the time of the embarcation; and in order to avoid the intercessions and importunities that they lavish in order that justice might not be done.  But this is only a pretext of mercy, since punishment, when deserved, is the greatest mercy—­especially in this country, where the punishment of offenses was so forgotten or almost never administered.  For that reason, and to lessen my grief over the execution by being farther away from it, I left the city and went up the river.  The proceedings of Doctor Don Alvaro de Mesa, in procuring the obstruction of what he and his associates had ordered, were of such nature that some clamor might have occurred, had not the people been satisfied at the justification of the case, and had they not had some confidence in me, mixed with sufficient respect not to lose it on similar occasions, even in my absence.

[Marginal note:  “Let what is provided in the preceding section be observed, and whatever pertains to your office.  Thus shall you declare in the assembly, and in like cases.  Let the Audiencia observe the decrees and ordinances given that order the captain-general to try military persons and their criminal causes, just as and in the form ruled by the said decrees.  Let the Audiencia report why it prevented the execution of the sentence against that man.”]

16th.  If for such things, and others like them, the Audiencia petition (as they are doing) for power to convoke the people, since as yet has not happened, and, God helping, will not happen what they suppose can occur—­namely, that I will hinder them from the exercise of their duties and the execution of such of their provisions as concern them—­let your Majesty determine whether their demand is well directed.  Let your Majesty also consider the evidence and rectitude that I have, other than they have, for having the greater authority in matters touching the Sangleys and their Parian; since for this they give as an argument that it would be advisable for them to have that jurisdiction, in order to expel and drive out of the country those whom it will need for its quiet and security, so that no other insurrection might happen, as in the term of Don Pedro de Acuna—­as if that did not even more concern the governor and captain-general.  They had resolved, a few days before, in the Audiencia, that my reason for ordering certain Sangleys to be expelled should be explained