any one should make bold
to put the bell on the cat, as the adage says, who would make him
comply with it? By no means the royal Audiencia. At one time when I
was petitioning for the execution of a royal decree of your Majesty
there, an auditor, a friend of mine, said: "You should not do this;
for, besides not accomplishing anything by it, you will get yourself
into difficulty with him."

With this in view, it is very important to forbid these offices to
persons who are under obligations, which induce an insatiable greed
and presumption; and, to fill that yawning void, the wealth of all
the Indias is insignificant. The worst is, that they pervert a man,
and lead him astray by their influence. If I were to recount here
in detail all the difficulties which they occasion, I should have
to take twice the space. In short, everyone there is lamenting; and
these people come in smiles, and even negotiating for the honors
which belong to others, with crass insolence; and, worse yet, it
seems to the governor that his own people alone deserve all there is,
and the rest are of no account. To give color to their impudence,
one of them has dared to write to your Majesty that there was not a
person in all your kingdom who could in the least be trusted. The
mistakes of these people are never punished, nor is there any one
who dares to demand an investigation against them, even when they
have done a thousand injuries. In short, he must be such a one as
the emperor Theodosius spoke of to St. Ambrose, when he sent him to
govern Milan: "Go; and, look you, I send you not to act as governor,
but as bishop." Such must be the governors of the Filipinas, if your
Majesty would have them succeed.

And on this account I have no fault to find with Don Alonso Faxardo,
whom your Majesty has sent at present to govern. On the contrary, I
believe that he will conduct himself there as befits the service of
your Majesty and the welfare of your kingdom. For I recognized such
desires in him in the little intercourse that I had with him in Mexico,
where I was acquainted with him. I am therefore very thankful to God
to see him so desirous of serving you, and may He give him grace to
succeed. As for the persons who are sent to that Audiencia, they should
be in a degree like the governors; for your Majesty places as much
confidence in them--although I think it would be more to the purpose
to discontinue it, for the reasons which are given by most people in