it was not in the power of the admiral to absolve them from their
criminality--the capitulations treated of matters touching the royal
revenue, over which he had no control, without the intervention of the
proper officers;--lastly, Francisco Roldan and his companions, on leaving
Spain, had taken an oath to be faithful to the sovereigns, and to the
admiral in their name, which oath they had violated. For these and similar
reasons, some just, others rather sophistical, he urged the sovereigns not
to consider themselves bound to ratify the compulsory terms ceded to these
profligate men, but to inquire into their offences, and treat them
accordingly. [53]

He repeated the request made in a former letter, that a learned judge
might be sent out to administer the laws in the island, since he himself
had been charged with rigor, although conscious of having always observed
a guarded clemency. He requested also that discreet persons should be sent
out to form a council, and others for certain fiscal employments,
entreating, however, that their powers should be so limited and defined,
as not to interfere with his dignity and privileges. He bore strongly on
this point; as his prerogatives on former occasions had been grievously
invaded. It appeared to him, he said, that princes ought to show much
confidence in their governors; for without the royal favor to give them
strength and consequence, every thing went to ruin under their command; a
sound maxim, forced from the admiral by his recent experience, in which
much of his own perplexities, and the triumph of the rebels, had been
caused by the distrust of the crown, and its inattention to his
remonstrances.

Finding age and infirmity creeping upon him, and his health much impaired
by his last voyage, he began to think of his son Diego, as an active
coadjutor; who, being destined as his successor, might gain experience