Note 33 — Chapter VIII · THE AUDIENCIA AND THE GOVERNOR: CONFLICTS OF JURISDICTION

This was only a prelude to the discord which existed throughout the administration of this able governor. The king was obliged to issue special cédulas on various occasions, ordering a cessation of the perpetual discord.33 Basco y Vargas formed a society for the advancement of the economic interests of the Islands,34 and in that, as well as in his successful organization of the profitable tobacco monopoly, he was opposed by the audiencia. The tribunal claimed that the governor was limiting its sphere of authority in inaugurating these reforms.35 Basco y Vargas recommended and brought about the separation of the superintendency of real hacienda from the rest of the government. This the audiencia also opposed, but in the contest over jurisdiction which ensued between the governor and the intendant, the governor and the audiencia acted in complete harmony, because this new official threatened their mutual interests and prerogatives.36