leet. You petition
that in such a case property should be distrained from no one, except
the proceedings be always taken in conformity with justice. The same
[33] in the other matter which you mention, that in prosecuting the
commanders of the ships of the said fleet, process should be conducted
by written charges.

You say also that because the Order of Saint John was the heir to the
estate of the said Don Geronimo, you ordered that whatever property
might be found should be deposited in the probate treasury, and that
the landed property should be administered by the courts. You also
notified the said order, that it might decide what course to take,
and that any debts of the said Don Geronimo must first be paid. The
matter has been considered, and you and that Audiencia will take such
measures as are just, in case the estate is any further indebted.

You say also that the office of sargento-mayor was held at first by
alferezes, and afterward by captains--who drew, however, only the pay
of captains; and that sixty-five escudos of ten reals were assigned
to Don Fernando de Silva by the treasury council that was held in
that city--which sum you understood was paid everywhere to captains
ranking as sargentos-mayor--on condition of obtaining my approval,
which has not yet been presented, and you ask me to approve it because
it seems just that if captains and the master-of-camp receive what
is elsewhere received by the sargento-mayor, who has more arduous
duties, the latter should receive a salary accordingly. It has seemed
unwise to me to make any change. You will give orders, then, that the
payment of this salary shall proceed no further; and that no person
filling the said position of sargento-mayor shall receive any more
than the salary formerly paid; and you will cause the increase to
be collected from those who have obtained it, or ordered it, or from
their bondsmen, so that the amount shall be immediately deposited in
my royal exchequer. In order that this be more exactly fulfilled,
I have had decrees to this effect sent to the inspector of that
Audiencia and the officers of my royal exchequer in that city. This
must also be understood in the case of Don Juan de Quinones, whom
you appointed to this place.

In conformity with what you wrote regarding the sentence which Doctor
Don Alvaro de Mesa y Lugo issued against Captain Miguel de Villegas
(who had been a captain in the infantry, and was a substitute in
your per