ery little, can be collected; and, even
then, it must be under the same obligation to restitution of the
sum collected or to be collected by his Majesty and encomenderos,
as well as certain royal officials, collectors, and others who
order, permit, or consent to the same. This in substance is the
content of the twenty-five conclusions of the bishop, or the greater
part of them. As I said, the bishop at the beginning spoke with me
personally in regard to these matters, and then gave his opinion to
me in writing in the letters, treatise, and conclusions which I am
sending now to your Majesty. He preaches thus to the encomenderos
from the pulpits. Inasmuch as it seems difficult for me--whose duty
it is to give orders for the collection of the tributes, and correct
the excesses in this regard, in the name of your Majesty--to put
his theories into practice, I represented to the bishop verbally,
at various times, the reasons that I had for making no innovations
until after informing your Majesty and awaiting your Majesty's order
and resolution. Setting forth many reasons, I tried to persuade
him in the letter which accompanies this; I wrote to him explaining
that, even in the never-pacified and rebellious encomiendas, your
Majesty commanded that something be paid, as a token of recognition
of authority. If there are justices and other benefits useful to
the Indians, such as instruction in the faith, teaching them to live
decently, and attracting them by kind treatment to receive instruction,
when it should be furnished, then all the tribute could be collected
except the portion due for instruction. If neglected, the Indians
would become intractable and all would be lost. If tribute is never
exacted from the infidels, they will never become Christians. This
tribute should be collected with all possible gentleness, avoiding
violence and wrongs to the Indians. The furnishing of instruction is
not delayed by the encomenderos, for they urgently ask for it; but it
is not given them because of the lack thereof. It seemed to me that,
for the said reasons and others, it is better to make no innovations
now; but that an account of everything be given to your Majesty
so that you may order the necessary provisions. In the meanwhile,
collection will be allowed of at least three-quarters of the tributes
belonging to the encomenderos. If their support is taken away, these
men would leave the land, and everything would be lost. In that case,