In the course of the execution of this commission by the said Don Pedro de Acuña, the royal officials certified that the said Don Francisco Tello had paid them twenty-seven thousand two hundred pesos of common gold, which should be twenty-eight thousand one hundred and eighty-four pesos, according to your command by a royal decree dated in San Lorenco, on the thirteenth of September in the year one thousand five hundred and ninety-five. The said officials decided that the eight thousand pesos which were lost in the year one thousand six hundred in the ship "Santa Margarita" should be for your Majesty's account—because, since the debt was contracted in the Sevilla House of Trade, the payment should be there; and the said Don Francisco Tello must run the risk as far as that. They also decided that what was ordered in the aforesaid royal decree of the thirteenth of September, ninety-five, was that each year three thousand ducados should be deducted from the salary of Don Francisco Tello, which were to be sent each year; and, as he failed to pay in the years ninety-six, ninety-seven, and ninety-eight, for the rest of the time it came about that eight thousand pesos were sent each year. It was thus that the aforesaid eight thousand pesos were lost which were going in the said ship "Santa Margarita;" whereas, if the aforesaid royal decree had been followed and three thousand ducados sent, no more than that sum would have been lost.
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.
Seeing that I did not find any property of the said Don Francisco Tello with which to fulfil the aforesaid commission, and hearing that he had some property which he kept secret, I asked for and received letters of excommunication and censure against those who might know of property belonging to the said Don Francisco Tello, in order that they should make it known. They opposed this, and tried to delay it as much as possible; but nevertheless it was ordered that the three letters should be given. They appealed from this, and menaced me with the aid of fuerza [61]—with the result that until the sixth of this month the last letter could not be read, so that the examination of the depositions that were taken has been delayed. According to them, it appears that he has no property of any account in these islands, but that what he has is in Nueva España; and whatever I have been able to hear of I give notice to the viceroy of that country to attach, because the ships are about to sail, and the governor is in Cavite, and I cannot get a warrant for it. God keep the Catholic person of your Majesty, according to His power. From Manila, on the tenth of July of the year 1602.
The licentiate Hieronimo de Salazar y Salzedo
[Endorsed: "Examined on the second of July, 1604. Let it be put with another from the royal officials of Philipinas, of July 18, 1603.">[
Bibliographical Data
All documents in this volume save two are obtained from the original MSS. in the Archivo general de Indias, Sevilla; and their pressmarks therein are indicated as follows:
1. Ordinances of the Audiencia (concluded).—See Vol. X, No. 15.