and
which are cited in the letter on government affairs, which mentions
this point. By those acts will be seen the very opposite of what they
tell me that they have written.

_That those appointed to judicial offices be lawyers_

6. The fourth point is that they say that there are few advocates in
this royal Audiencia, as I always keep them occupied in judicial posts,
which ought to be kept for men of merit. The truth is that there
are not more than five lawyers in all the islands; and that in the
four years while I have governed here I have not occupied in judicial
offices more than two--namely, Doctor Juan Fernandez de Ledo, in the
Parian (which is an office that does not prevent him from exercising
the profession of the law, since he does that in this same city,
and already his term of office is over), and Doctor Luis Arias de
Mora (whom I have only occupied in the office at La Laguna de Bay,
which is three leguas away, and in which I maintain him because
of a petition to that effect from the provincial and religious of
St. Francis, who are the ministers in charge of those missions). They
have assured me that they have not had an alcalde-mayor for many
years who has given more satisfaction in that province. Since La
Laguna, whence are brought the timbers for the shipbuilding at Cavite,
depends greatly on the religious, and without the latter the Indians
would do nothing, and it is important to me to have there a person
of great exactness, so that the cutting and sending of wood may not
cease, and consequently, the building and repair of the ships; and
since there are so few methodical men in this country, when there
is one, I try to retain him in office all the time. In regard to
appointing lawyers to judicial offices, I have made no innovation,
for my predecessors have done the same; and such men can be not less
suitable for those offices than soldiers. Here, Sire, there is very
little for the lawyers to do, and they starve to death. Since they
are citizens and have married in the country, they must be supported,
at least so that the governors may have someone with whom to consult
in regard to the doubts which arise with the auditors. That is the
reason for the ill-will that the latter show toward them.

_Whence arises the opposition of the auditors to the concession of the
winepresses which have been granted to the seminary for orphan boys_.

7. The fifth point is that they talk of the concession of the San