I the King
By order of the king our sovereign:
Don Gabriel de Ocaña y Alarcon
Inspection at Acapulco
The King. To Marqués de Cadereita, my relative, member of my Council of War, and my viceroy, governor, and captain-general of the provinces of Nueva España: in a letter written to me by the royal officials of the port of Acapulco under date of last February 24, of this year, [they stated] that you sent the auditor [contador], Christoval de Medina, to that port with a salary of twenty-three ducados which was distributed among himself, the constable, and the notary, to investigate the merchandise that came from Philipinas this year in the patache that was sent from those islands; and that my royal duties scarcely amounted to four thousand ducados. Since I have three satisfactory and trustworthy officials in the said port, they have petitioned me to have the above three men removed from that place. They say that by the going of such judges they themselves serve only as witnesses of what is public, since no other thing is permitted them; and that such an action deprives them of the authority and exercise of their offices, and they are disaccredited and left without respect and reputation, as all think and believe that you did it because of some incapacity in them. The matter having been examined in my royal Council of the Yndias, together with what you wrote me in regard to it, I have considered it fitting to issue the present. By it I give you authority to send such ministers to Acapulco whenever any extraordinary causes shall arise; but that, if there are no such causes, this may be dispensed with, because of the expenses that are incurred by my royal estate, especially since Don Pedro de Quiroga was there so short a time ago. Inasmuch as the commerce of those islands has been reported to be in great distress, I charge and order you to try to encourage and aid it by all possible means. Since some change has been made in the amount permitted to them, you shall see what can be done for their greater relief, until the arrival at those kingdoms of Don Juan de Palafox y Mendoza,[2] of my royal Council of the Yndias, to whom the settlement of those matters is committed. Madrid, September 16, 1639.
[I the King]
View of harbor of Acapulco—Arnoldus Montanus (Amsterdam, 1671)
[From original in Library of Harvard University]