this royal Audiencia is prosecuting, by which they order me
to give bonds that I will furnish residencia of the said offices and
pay the sum to which I shall be adjudged and sentenced in it, as I am
about to go to Nueva Espana. It was declared in the said act that the
said your governor and captain-general was a competent judge to try
the said cause. That said act, only as far as the said declaration
is concerned (and speaking with due respect), must be revoked as a
general rule, and because I am, by having exercised the said offices
of president, governor, and captain-general, immediately subordinate
to your royal person and to your supreme Council of the Indias; and no
other judge or tribunal can take it upon themselves to try anything
pertaining to the residencia of the said offices or to security for
residencia. Thus, until the present time, the said bonds have not been
required in this city for this royal Audiencia or for your governors,
my predecessors in the government, or for your auditors when they
leave these islands to go to Nueva Espana or to other parts (who ought
also to give residencia for their offices at the will of your royal
Council); they have gone without giving the said bonds. Moreover,
as is proved by this royal decree, of which I present an authorized
copy, attested by three royal notaries, your royal person was pleased
to give me permission authorizing me to make the said voyage, without
condition or obligation of giving the said bonds. The obligation that
your Majesty did not impose in the said permit cannot be imposed
by any of the judges or ministers inferior to the said your royal
Council of the Indias. And accordingly, although the question of the
said bonds might have been discussed with other persons, that cannot
be understood as applying to me; but I must be allowed to make my
voyage freely, without any obstacle being offered, as his Majesty [6]
orders, notwithstanding the contents of my writing of the twenty-third
of this month. For that writing was without prejudice to my right,
and did hot attribute any jurisdiction to the said your governor. I
presented the said writing before receiving the said permission from
his Majesty. Consequently, I petition and beseech your Highness to be
pleased to have the said act revoked, in so far as it concerns the
said declaration, by ordering that it be understood without having
the cause returned to the said your governor and captain-general;
for what