Note 2 — FINANCIAL AFFAIRS OF THE ISLANDS, 1766

As the aforesaid report has not been despatched by this Audiencia—which is composed of two auditors, and there is only one of integrity, and zeal for the royal service—I have deemed it inseparable from my obligation to inform your Majesty2 of what the experience of about nine years as fiscal has taught me regarding the aforesaid points, and to make known the zeal with which I have labored, to the end that in this particular the laws and your Majesty’s royal decrees might be carried out. For this it is necessary to assume (in confirmation of the statements in the above-mentioned letter) that the despotism of the ministers of the doctrinas is absolute, so that they are almost the only ones who command in these islands; and that they govern at their own will the villages and provinces, without recognizing your Majesty or obeying any laws or royal decrees save those which suit their own interests and opinions. It is evident and notorious that they do not obey any of the rest, except as they please. This is proved by the fact that there is no law or decree or ordinance which is observed by the said ministers of doctrinas in questions of the royal patronage, in the administration of the sacraments to the sick, in the tanorías and other matters in which their comfort is concerned, and, above all, in the schools, for instruction in the Spanish language.