measures are there necessary, as he is expected to do. As for the
Japanese and other nations that are there, let him decree what shall
seem most expedient to him for the service of God and his Majesty, and
the good of the commonwealth, as well as its guard and preservation."]

As we have to carry on the war in this way, so that the expense and
labor may bring the best results, I beg your Majesty that while it
shall last you may be pleased to discontinue the Audiencia here, as
it is this that most hinders and opposes the administration and the
government, as will appear by several depositions which accompany
this. This is the enemy which most afflicts this commonwealth, and
most causes dissensions, parties, factions, and hatreds between the
citizens--each auditor persecuting those citizens who are not wholly of
his own faction, especially those who extend aid and good-will toward
the governor, against whom, as it seems, they show themselves always
in league. They always make declarations of grievances [against him],
because they are not each one given, as used to be and is the custom
here, whatever they may ask for their sons, relatives, and servants;
and they habitually discredit the governor by launching through secret
channels false and malicious reports, and afterward securing witnesses
of their publicity. They even, as I have written to your Majesty,
manage to have religious and preachers publish these reports--to which
end, and for his own security, each one of the auditors has formed an
alliance with the religious order which receives him best. As I have
given your Majesty an account of this matter and of the actions of
the said auditors--which in God and my conscience I know to be true,
and which will be evident by the depositions and papers which I have
sent and am today sending with a letter and relation giving particulars
regarding this matter--I shall not go more into detail thereon in this
letter; I refer you for its substantiation to the said documents, and