Note 13 — Letters from Auditor Messa y Lugo to the King

Of that of Don Juan de Silva, which your Majesty also ordered me to take, I have informed your Majesty in other letters, that that order reached me jointly with that of the fiscal, and that for certain reasons of convenience I deemed it best to take that of the fiscal, and afterward to enter upon that of Don Juan de Silva. The country has been so scandalized by what occurred in that of the fiscal, Don Juan de Alvarado, because of the violent demonstrations made by the governor in favor of the fiscal, that many witnesses of those who swore, came to me to ask me not to take Don Juan de Silva’s residencia, because there was not one man who would tell anything that he knew when summoned. Some of the witnesses they tried to kill at night, and others fled the city, having been threatened, it is said, by order of the governor, after the charges against the fiscal were published, until which time he and the governor thought that there could be no witness who would dare [say anything]. On that account the demonstrations that arose were greater, and I was requested, considering the condition of the affairs of the country and the many objects of the governor, to do the same in the residencia of Don Juan de Silva. [This was desired] [205] on account not only of the many connections that it must necessarily have with many cases related to it, with which he has had connection during the time while he has been here; but of other private persons, his friends, who are involved in the residencia, especially one Josephe de Naveda Alvarado, a relative of the fiscal, who was secretary to Don Juan de Silva, and also served him in other offices of great danger. It is well known that this man, for Don Juan’s sake, has committed the most dangerous and insolent acts that one can imagine, during that time and at present. He is also secretary to this governor, whose especial favor he enjoys. Whence I am persuaded beyond all doubt that nothing good will be done, for what the governor would not do through Josephe de Naveda and the others is much more than what he would do through the fiscal. It is not many months since, because of a royal decree that your Majesty sent to the Audiencia ordering the investigation of the property of Don Juan de Silva and its sequestration, I found, on attending to it, a process where it appeared that this Naveda owed Don Juan de Silva eight thousand pesos. On taking it to the Audiencia to have justice done there and to have it paid, notwithstanding your Majesty’s decree, the governor seized the process and kept it, forbidding us, with frightful demonstrations [of anger], to discuss it longer. Consequently, I thought it best to postpone taking the residencia until I could see whether matters would mend, which God is wont to bring about by methods unthought of—notwithstanding that the governor, under pretext of service to your Majesty, told me often to take the residencia, for, in the presence of the greatest and most serious offenses, both he [206] and his associates would come out as if they were angels. This was the motive of the pressure that he brought to bear; and, even though he should have more crimes than the sea has sands, yet because of him nothing would be said against the others. That would mean not to take the residencia, and for me not to obey your Majesty’s will, with the loss of great sums, and much detriment, to the royal exchequer; for it is certain, Sire, that those who would come out as if angels—and some of them, especially Naveda, according to the report and outcry of the country—would not pay what they owe with many lives and with many hangings. For such are the devices that the governors have used here for the destruction both of the royal treasury of your Majesty and of this country. However, with the lapse of time and hoping for opportunity, I made investigations as secretly as possible with most of the notaries in this city, inasmuch as two or three others that remain are of the governor’s household—to the end, as I have told your Majesty, that they may serve his purposes. They (and if there were others, it would all be miraculous)13 and given with the greatest fear in the world; with which your Majesty will see that not even in secret and under oath do men dare to speak. Then continuing, the time came in which the governor arrested me, without considering what I had in charge at your Majesty’s command. Consequently everything is at a standstill, until God shall remedy it. Hence, Sire, as I have said, the obligation of conscience makes me give account to your Majesty; and [207] I think, for a conclusion of this matter, that I am not excused from some particulars.