Fourthly, that among the ordinances of this Audiencia is one (to which I referred above) ordering the president to try the criminal causes of the auditors With that the governor has endeavored to make a pretext for my imprisonment.  As I do not see the original signed by your Majesty, I doubt the truth of that decree, as occasion for it was given by people who pay little heed to conscience.  With that decree, if the governor wished to destroy [39] the country, and if the auditor did not agree with him, he could move a question in regard to its being cloudy and there being no sun.  If an auditor should say that he thought the sun was shining, the governor would say that the auditor meant to call him a liar, as he said to me.  By that means, and by similar methods used toward the others, he would, destroy them, and would keep them imprisoned three or four years, until relief came from your Majesty; and sometimes it would be impossible to send that relief for the damages that this country thus receives.  Consequently, Sire, it is very necessary for your Majesty to revoke that decree, and to give the Audiencia the authority and the superiority that it has enjoyed in other times; for by doing otherwise the Audiencia can be very well dispensed with, as it amounts to no Audiencia.  This is truer, since it is six thousand leguas’ distance to your Majesty, and since it might happen that relief may not arrive in three years—­especially since, in strictness of law, your Majesty does not give them the authority that they arrogate to themselves; and, to him who cherishes malice, a slight occasion is sufficient.

Fifthly, that although it is true that it was decided to be advisable for your Majesty to send aid to this country, as I understand that it has been petitioned in the manner and form of reenforcement, I greatly doubt whether it is more suitable for your Majesty to send ships by way of the cape of Buena Esperanza; for the artillery founded here is the best in the world, as are the ships built here, as I have been well informed.  Besides, the artillery and ships of the quality and size necessary here cannot be sent from that country, for it has been found that war is made more securely here and the enemy frightened more by the very large galleons (much larger than those sent from there), which will withstand heavy artillery, such as those built by Don Juan de Silva.  Further, the woods [used here] resist the balls better; and the ships are built with special strength and by the best master in the world, as I have been told.  With money and care, the rapidity with which those ships can be built is remarkable.  Consequently, I think that if what is spent on the fleet be sent in money, and soldiers, and sailors, by way of Nueva Espana in trading fleets, and by way of India in the ships that sail from Lisboa, it would be more expedient—­notwithstanding that it is said that the infantry that come by way of Nueva Espana desert at their arrival there; for with good judgment and care that difficulty would be remedied.  Will your Majesty decide what is most advisable.