Great was the indignation of the members of the audiencia toward the prelate who thus dared place himself above the highest tribunal in the land. They were accustomed to regard the ecclesiastics as men whose presence must indeed be tolerated for appearance' sake, but whose duty it was only to conduct religious services in which the wives and children of the colonists might perhaps wish to participate, and to make such progress as they could in the conversion of the natives. That they should presume to interfere with their own schemes for self-aggrandizement was not to be tolerated. Maldonado and the oidores gave vent to their ire in such abusive language that three days later Las Casas and Valdivieso addressed a letter to the emperor, stating that neither in the days of Alvarado or Nuño de Guzman, nor during the rule of any of the former tyrants, were the ministers of the church so insulted and oppressed, nor were ever such enormous crimes committed as under the present audiencia of the Confines. The bishops, moreover, expressed their belief "that the devil had filled the oidores with ambition and covetousness when they came to the country," and declared that unless the enforcement of the new laws were intrusted to their own hands the province must go to ruin.[XVII‑26] Meanwhile Marroquin, who was in secret a bitter foe to Las Casas, also sent a despatch to the court of Spain, wherein he speaks of him as one filled with pride, envy, and hypocrisy, and denounces his assumption in daring to present so offensive a memorial to the audiencia.[XVII‑27] Las Casas waited in vain for an answer to his demands. Not discouraged, however, by the studied inactivity of the oidores he pressed his claims with untiring zeal, exasperating them by his pertinacity, and frequently exposing himself to gross insult and contumely. On one occasion, while entering the hall of the audiencia, he was greeted with shouts of "Throw out that lunatic!" At another time he was coarsely affronted by the president himself;[XVII‑28] and when, notwithstanding all rebuffs, he made a final appeal, demanding compliance with the new laws, and administering to Maldonado a public rebuke, the latter replied: "You are a knave, a bad man, a bad priest, a bad bishop, one lost to all shame and worthy of punishment!" Though stunned, for a moment, by this answer from one whose appointment was due to his own recommendation, the prelate meekly bowed his head, and with the words, "I very well deserve all that your worship says, Señor Licenciado Alonso Maldonado," quietly withdrew from his presence. [Sidenote: EXCOMMUNICATION.]