which would be surely destroyed by its lack.

Of the viceroy of Nueva España, so many things are said in this
country, that if but one-tenth of them were true, it is impossible
for your Majesty to know them and fail to correct them. This is
another of the heavy afflictions that God has sent upon this land,
for even the severity which has been shown by him to those who
go from here is alone sufficient to make this land desolate. No
consideration is given to the fact that the citizens and soldiers
thereof serve your Majesty with the same hardships and loyalty with
which other men have served their king. Nevertheless, there is no
lack of persons to inform your Majesty thereof, since the loss of
temporal things is always felt more than the spiritual. I leave it
to be described by those who have felt the hurt, since it does not
concern me in any way, except the regret that I feel for the damage
done to my neighbors; for my enterprises and traffic are to remedy
the needs of the poor, and to defend and help the natives of these
islands, who have much need thereof. The complaint that I make of the
viceroy of Nueva España is that he has not allowed more than fifteen
Dominican friars to come here, although your Majesty sent to Mexico
forty of them. This is the greatest damage that the viceroy could do
to this country, as there is exceeding need of ministers of religion,
such as come now. If the fifteen were five hundred, the evils of the
country would be corrected, and the conscience of your Majesty quite
at ease. It is such men that your Majesty should order to come here,
and you should refuse to permit those to come who will do more harm
than good. Likewise your Majesty should order the generals of the
orders of St. Francis and St. Augustine to send hither visitors,
who are most necessary. Those of St. Augustine are to be preferred,
however, as the friars of St. Francis are more retired from the world.