f any of the back years. I have kept the infantry on ships
for the space of eight months, in order to save the succor and actual
cash that would have to be given them if they were ashore. Yet at the
end of the year the treasury has been found pledged to the extent of
the said 150,000 pesos. Since at least 80,000 pesos in reals are to be
expended from the treasury this year in relief expeditions, and since
we can not fail to have the expenses of last year, I find that in the
coming July of 629, when the ships which I am now despatching arrive
(if God be pleased to bring them back safely), we will owe 250,000
pesos in loans and food. That will be all the succor that I can count
upon as being ordered to be sent me. Neither of those can I get here in
this country, for the loan is a grievous burden on the inhabitants. My
rigor cannot be greater than that of the present year. And, even did
I secure these supplies, we shall be ruined none the less on that
account in the following year, since at the time of the arrival of
the succor, we shall be owing it all. [_In the margin_: "Seen."]

The ordinary expense of these islands, if the infantry are given
the full amount of their pay, is seven hundred and fifty thousand
pesos per year, at appears from the reports of accounts that I am now
sending. The unavoidable expense of necessary aid, factories, salaries,
and stipends, amounts to 550,000 pesos. What these islands produce
from year to year, in money which can be deposited in the treasury,
as an aid to the ordinary expenses, amounts to 150,000 pesos. That
leaves 400,000 pesos, which must be sent in reals every year from
Nueva Espana. That should be by way of a gift or consignment (as your
Majesty does in other places of less importance and danger than these);
and it should not remain at the will of the viceroys of Nueva Espana
whether they will send the money or not--even if they have to get it by
loans. And even if this be ordered in the manner in which I request,
the treasury will still remain under the obligations and shortage in
which it will have been involved all these current years. With good
administration and better intelligence--and every day I am trying
to further the increase of the royal possessions--I hope that this
will be retrieved. For if we have the means necessary to maintain the
fleets in activity, we shall endeavor therewith to retrieve most of our
arrears. But if the necessary funds be not given, we must neces