[48] The entire dependence of the colony on the Chinese trade is attested by Concepción (Historia general, IV, 53). He states that: “Without the trade and commerce of the Chinese these dominions could not have subsisted.” Morga, in his Sucesos (349), further testifies: “It is true the town cannot exist without the Chinese, as they are the workers in all trades and business, and are very industrious, working for small wages.”
[49] Acuña to Felipe III, July 15, 1604, Blair and Robertson, XIII, 239–241.
[50] Fajardo described “the oppression caused by the multitude of relatives and followers (of the auditors); their appropriation of the offices and emoluments, to the injury of the meritorious; their hatred and hostility to those who unfortunately fall out with them; their trading and trafficking, although it be by an intermediary, since they, being men of influence, buy the goods at wholesale and protect their agents.” He stated that this caused him great embarrassment and made good government almost an impossibility (Fajardo to Felipe III, August 10, 1618, Blair and Robertson, XVIII, 126).
[51] “The auditors,” Fajardo wrote, “have few important matters that oblige them to close application, (and) they must apply the greater part of their time to devising petty tricks on the president in order to vex and weary him, until, [as they hope] not only will he allow them to live according to their own inclination but also their relatives and followers shall, in whatever posts they desire, be employed and profited. And since harmony has never been seen here without this expedient, one would think it easy to believe such a supposition” (Fajardo to the King, August 15, 1620, Blair and Robertson, XIX, 120–121).
[52] Recopilación, 8–20, 21, 22.
[53] Decree written on margin of letter: Fajardo to the King, August 15, 1620, Blair and Robertson, XIX, 136.
[54] Ibid., 122.
[55] Fajardo to Felipe III, August 10, 1618, Blair and Robertson, XVIII, 126.
[56] Fajardo to the King, July 21, 1621, Blair and Robertson, XX, 53.
[57] Ibid., 54. Fajardo continued as follows: “To such a point has it (the dissension) gone that if this country were not involved in the perils of war as it has been, and as they are still threatening it, I should beseech your Majesty to place it in charge of some other person, who would be more interested in documents. But may God not choose that I should be relieved from the service of your Majesty, in which from the age of fifteen years I have been engaged; ... It would be no little pleasure to me to be employed in naval and military affairs and other things in which, with my counsel and my personal aid, I might be able to help; and to know that the matter of auditors and their demands, their rivalries, and their faultfinding, should concern another.”—Ibid., 55–56.