Note 51 — Chapter VIII · THE AUDIENCIA AND THE GOVERNOR: CONFLICTS OF JURISDICTION

Strife and discord between the audiencia and the governor were perhaps more bitter during the administration of Fajardo than at any other time in the history of the Islands. This governor accused the magistrates of deliberately attempting in all petty and inconsequential ways to harass him into compliance with its desires. He wrote that he had done everything possible to keep peace with the oidores, even at a sacrifice of the respect of the other elements of the colony.51 This testimony is practically identical with that submitted by Governor Acuña in 1604. The influence of the tribunal in the matter of appointments, judging by this and by other statements and allegations already quoted, and by the laws themselves, must have been great.