ngly come here to serve your
Majesty, if they could know that they would be supported and paid;
and thus your royal conscience would be relieved. It certainly seems
cruelty to compel these men to serve without pay, and to die of
hunger. We beseech your Majesty that, if this remedy be expedient,
you will have the kindness to order its application, and will have
money sent from the royal exchequer of Mexico, so that these wretched
people can at least be fed and clothed.

_Expenses which have been incurred in war_. Section 2. By your
Majesty's decree, the offices of clerk of the exchequer and of the
governor's office were sold, for some five thousand odd pesos; and,
although this sum was to have been sent on a separate account to the
officials in Nueva Espana, and thence to the House of Trade at Sevilla,
it was absolutely necessary to spend it on a fleet to operate against
the Japanese pirates, who are in the habit of plundering the coasts
of these islands; and also on a ship, which is being built for this
navigation [between New Spain and the Philippines], in order that
traffic should not be stopped; for the despatch of your Majesty's
fleet to Nueva Spana; and for various other matters. This could not
be avoided, because there is no more money in the royal exchequer
with which to relieve these distresses, as your Majesty will see by
the accounts which the royal officials are sending.

_Concerning the twenty-two thousand pesos in salaries for the
Audiencia_. Section 3. Your Majesty has ordered that from the
repartimientos of Indians that are now or shall become vacant, twelve
thousand pesos de minas shall be assigned to the royal crown, to pay
the salaries of the Audiencia. We have informed your Majesty, in our
letters, of the great difficulties that would arise from the execution
of this order. For the soldiers, expecting to receive encomiendas,
and that some day good fortune would come to them, have for many
years served your Majesty, and are now serving, in war at their
own cost. Now the fruit of their labors is taken away from the men
who have conquered and maintained this land, while they are without
the hope that they may be rewarded in any other manner; and, seeing
themselves thus deprived, they become disheartened, desert service,
and abandon the land, thus depopulating it beyond all remedy. It seems
to us that, if such should be your Majesty's pleasure, it would be
best that you command money to be sent from Mex