dy this insignificant evil, we should run
the risk of ruining and depopulating all the islands. I, my Lord,
have not the slightest inclination to go to hell merely because the
encomendero collects one or two thousand. After all, whatever your
Lordship may consent to, and whatever we resolve to do, must be carried
out, and I must order it to be executed, with the utmost promptness;
for I understand this to be a matter which concerns the welfare of
my conscience, wherein his Majesty unburdens his. But at present,
I am thinking only of the difficulties involved in the execution of
this act, which must be so hard for the encomenderos. When, in the
establishment and accomplishment of a thing which in itself may be holy
and good, there exist such obstacles that by means of them the whole
is exposed to risk and danger, and the principal [_illegible in MS._],
as your Lordship may discern in the case of the religious fathers,
who, because they attempted to place the Indians in charge of justice,
desired them to give up all, and thus there was constraint. Yet they
had charity and love for them, for otherwise all would be lost. The
same injury will be inflicted on the encomendero, if we oblige him to
relinquish the tribute, and give him no other means of support. This
the king can do, by the decree which is expected.

It is certain that the very success of the affair admits of no other
outcome than this. For, assuming that his Majesty, to unburden his
own conscience, should commit to your Lordship and to myself the
conduct and decision of what should be done in this matter, and should
order me to execute what we both might determine, and agree upon,
provided your Lordship should decide that what you have set down in
your opinion and in your conclusions, ought in conscience to be done;
and if I should find that, although such action is just and right
according to law, yet in attempting to carry it out it would be in
no wise proper to run the risk of ruining these islands--in this case
your Lordship and I do not hold the same opinions, and we should report
this to his Majesty. In the meantime matters will remain as they now
are; and, if resolutions must be adopted, it is much better that we
should propose them conjointly to his Majesty, with complete harmony
and satisfaction on our part, in order that he may give such orders
as shall seem best to him. In the meantime we should not undertake
[_illegible in MS._] all the more because,