under obligation to the persons of ability and services,
who are charged with matters which are important. And if beside this,
and besides employing them in dangerous affairs and commissions (liable
to result in an unfortunate end and the loss of life and reputation
through the mutations of fortune which they encounter), if, when they
have carried these out well, the governor cannot be satisfied with
this for them, nor with good will, being under obligation to reward
them, if they do not hold from him the other said offices which
belong to the Audiencia (which is almost always ill-disposed toward
the governor), it will bring about great trouble, not only for those
who seek to toil and win merit, but likewise for the governors, who,
without the aid of such men, could not fulfil their obligations. And
as these services and merits are for the most part acquired in war,
almost always most of these men are counting on rewards, and upon
binding in this manner their captain-general, without having recourse
to submissions or other negotiations. It will be seldom that there
is not some ill-feeling in the Audiencia--now for having proceeded
in the said manner, and again for not having complied with the claims
of every leader and proprietor--but only to the governor. If, on the
one hand, there is this annoyance, and the familiar entrance into his
house in order to seek the offices and rewards; and, on the other,
the entrance into those of the auditors and other persons mentioned
in the said decree--it would necessarily be here, where there is not
much from which to choose, that we would have to give assistance to
those who, on account of their low condition or incapacity, are not
esteemed or well known.

Besides the above arguments, I wish to furnish the latest example
of the difficulty which was experienced here is the previous year
of 617, as there were so many who had to decide the allotment of
offices. This was when Don Joan Ronquillo, with that great fleet,
went out and fought the one that the enemy maintained along these
coasts. As each one of them [_i.e._, the auditors and fiscal] sought
the best galleon and the most prominent post for his relative or
favorite, the galleons were divided among these, ignoring persons
who could manage them better than some of those who were chosen. No
admiral was appointed for the fleet, from which resulted no advantage,
but rather injury--and there might have been more if the commander
of