This year it will be very necessary to appropriate a considerable loan of money from what comes from Nueva Spaña—because the viceroy of Mexico has not sent the usual aid, and it is impossible to get along without obtaining it from private persons—that the land may not go to ruin; for I can assure you that it has come to this extremity.
Last year I advised you of the many offices which the governor had granted, and in this he has continued—going so far that, observing the general complaint of all the meritorious persons, I have tried to restrain him. At this he showed little inclination to favor my efforts, and offered me some affronts—which I shall not mention, as they were of such a nature as to affect only me personally and not my office or its authority. But, because it appears to me expedient to inform you concerning one such case, I shall do so, as it is a matter which touches the preëminence of the officers whom your Majesty maintains here, so that your Majesty, if you please, may order it to be set right. [On the margin of this paragraph: "Concerning the offices which the governor has filled; join this relation which Don Antonio de Ribera sends to that which the governor writes concerning the offices, and have it all brought.">[
By the ordinance of this royal Audiencia it is directed that an Audiencia building be erected in which the president and auditors shall live; and by a later decree it is ordered that there shall be a royal building, very imposing, so that these infidels may see the authority with which your Majesty is served and which the officers who serve in these offices must possess. I, as the senior auditor, lived in the royal building, whence, on the occasion when your Majesty directed the treasury of the royal exchequer to be established in the royal building, the governor ordered me to move, in order to make room for the treasury. As this wrong was done to me, I laid it before the Audiencia, saying that he was exceeding the commission given by the royal decree; and that, in accordance therewith, it was not the will of your Majesty that my place of abode should be taken from me, as it had been occupied from the time when it was built by the president and auditors. This was shown to the governor by the [Audiencia's] record of proceedings; and it was decreed in the Audiencia that in the royal building where I was two main apartments should be cleared out, in which the treasury and the books of the royal exchequer should be accommodated. The governor, in spite of this action, took all my apartments from me and lodged therein a royal official; whereupon, as there is a great lack of houses in this city, I was obliged to move into a house of wood and thatch, which was unsuitable to the last degree, and attended by much danger because of the frequent fires which occur in this city. Accordingly, in the two fires which have occurred this year I have been obliged to go with my effects and books from one place to another, until at last I rented for them and my papers an apartment outside of my house in a building of stone belonging to a citizen, where I keep them. Besides experiencing so great inconvenience, this country is so warm that I assure your Majesty, with all due regard for truth, that my health is failing; and I fear that I shall lose my life, through the poor appointments of the house and on account of the intemperate heat from which I suffer in going to the Audiencia. But so great is the dislike which the governor has taken toward me, that neither the injustice and wrong, nor the danger of fire, nor the failure of my health has moved him to give me a lodging; nor is one to be found at any cost. I beg your Majesty that, even if it may not be necessary for me, you may command what is to be done in regard to the other auditors, for he has depreciated my authority and maltreated me in such manner that I would consider it a great neglect of duty to your Majesty if I did not advise you of it, and this has led me to give so detailed an account. [In the margin: "No answer to be given.">[
In the letter of last year which will accompany this, I communicated an expedient which has occurred to me whereby this land might be maintained in abundance, with only the property which the royal treasury has in these islands, without there being any need of aiding it from the royal exchequer of Mexico; and the paid soldiers could be increased, and other good results might be achieved. I beseech your Majesty to have it examined, as it appears desirable to both the archbishop and the bishop of Nueva Segovia, to whom I have communicated it, and who thought it very good. [In the margin of this paragraph is an order which says: "Let the governor and the Audiencia inform us concerning this plan, sending them a copy thereof without issuing any decree; and let them send an account of the advantages and difficulties which may have occurred to them, with their opinion.">[
It is more than eight years since your Majesty was pleased to do me the favor of giving me a post as auditor of Mexico, with an order to establish the Audiencia in these islands. I sat therein four years, and I am now advised by way of Nueva España that the place in that Audiencia which was occupied by the licentiate Francisco Alonso de Villagra, who passed on to the royal Council of the Yndias, has been given to me. Although the time for which I was to serve here is already past, I have not dared to leave these islands this year, as I have no order expressing the wish of your Majesty; and likewise because the governor, Don Pedro de Acuña, is obliged to go on the expedition to Maluco, and, if I go to Nueva España, only three auditors will remain. The eldest of these, who, according to the ordinance, must take up the duties of the captain-general, is so burdened and his health so poor that he cannot attend to the affairs of war. On this account, and because I understand that your Majesty would be better pleased to have me in this country, I have not gone to enjoy the favor which has been extended to me in Mexico—which is very great, and a notable promotion—although the greatest favor that I can receive is to let me serve in this Audiencia at a time when important affairs may occur, whereby I may show my desire. I beseech your Majesty that what I am doing in staying here to further serve your Majesty be permitted and approved. [In the margin is this order: "Let him go immediately, in accordance with the decree which was sent him." [45]
During the whole time since I have been favored with this post in Mexico, I have been occupied in your Majesty's service, and with sitting in this royal Audiencia. I beseech your Majesty that, since in similar offices of justice all the privileges are enjoyed from the day of the nomination, as if the office were being exercised, the favor may be done me that I may not lose my seniority, from the day when your Majesty was pleased to appoint me auditor in Mexico (especially as I have been occupied in what I was commanded to do), as was done with Doctor Francisco Alonso de Villagra when he went to fill the same post at Mexico; he was detained by an official visit at Santo Domingo, and did not lose his seniority, [In the margin: "What he asks is unreasonable.">[
Last year two ships were despatched somewhat late, and the flagship arrived in a dismantled condition at the end of four or five months of sailing, with little damage; but the other was lost on the opposite coast of these islands, without any person or any part of her cargo being saved. This was a great pity, and especially so after so many wrecks as we have had in years past. God was pleased to bring hither in safety two other ships, which go out this year, which has been some relief to the citizens and merchants of this city. [In the margin: "No answer to be given.">[
The licentiate Geronimo de Salazar y Salcedo, fiscal of this royal Audiencia, is dead. He leaves his wife in very poor circumstances and a daughter who is without any resources, which is a great pity.
In a letter of last year I told your Majesty how the sargento-mayor went to La Laguna, which is about fifteen leguas from this city, in pursuit of the Sangley rebels. As they were in two bodies of at least two thousand each, unarmed, wounded, and fatigued, and without any means of defense; and the sargento-mayor had two hundred Spanish arquebusiers, and three hundred others from Pampanga who are natives of these islands, armed with arquebuses and muskets, and eight hundred well-armed Japonese, besides five or six thousand natives with lances, pikes, halberds, partizans, javelins, and bows and arrows, their strength was so great that, without the Sangleys facing them, the natives killed them—attacking first one troop and then the other, with perfect safety and not the slightest danger. In this affair twelve or fifteen days were spent in the going, the work, and the return, and for this he claims more remuneration than if he had pacified the states of Flandes; and he is not even contented with the governor having given him an excellent encomienda in the vicinity of this city, besides another good one which he possesses in Pangasinan. At present he is enjoying both of them contrary to the instructions of your Majesty, and they are among the best in the islands. I advise you of this so that the service which he has rendered, the time spent, the danger of the expedition, and the risk that he personally ran, may be known, so that the reward may be conformable to that and not to the favor which the governor extends to him and the claim which he makes. For he dares not ask to have investigations made in the Audiencia, nor should an opinion be given in it as your Majesty orders by the royal decrees; for it is not known in the royal Council how little he did, that it was not a service of such importance as to demand more reward than what he held in the first encomienda.
All the welfare of this land, for its maintenance and the prosperity of those who reside in it, lies in the cargoes of the ships which are despatched to Nueva España, with which your Majesty favors the citizens of this city and the settlers. I assure your Majesty with the truth that I desire to employ, that much wrong is done them, and that the ships are laded for the dependents and connections of the governor, by which they are benefited with great riches; and the same thing is done by the commanders and admirals who come from Mexico, who, as they are persons from the household of the viceroy, are the ones who get the benefit. The governor will not allow the Audiencia to interfere in this; and thus the persons to whom this favor was extended suffer, and those enjoy it who were prohibited from doing so, and counted undeserving. I communicate this, that your Majesty may be pleased to order it corrected; for it is a matter which affects all with much grief and resentment. [In the margin: "No answer to be given, for suitable provision has already been made.">[