As for several points mentioned in the royal decree of your Majesty of the twelfth of December, one thousand six hundred and ten--by which persons who come with the viceroys, governors, presidents, captains-general, auditors, and royal officials, are prohibited and incapacitated from receiving the favors and rewards of offices, encomiendas, and other things which are usually given to those who serve and labor; and preference over other claimants is given to the sons and descendants of conquistadors, and likewise of the settlers; and it is directed that for the distribution of the said favors or rewards the new order and form should be followed which your Majesty ordains in the said decree, taking away the power from those who before held it in this matter, and giving what was held by them to the auditors and fiscals--it has seemed best to me to inform your Majesty of what presents itself to me in this regard, so that concerning all this you may provide and command what is most suitable for your royal service, and for the divine service, in behalf of which the former is conducted. This country is most distant from España of any which is known in the world and it, with the persons who inhabit and maintain it, are today the most borne down with troubles of all the Indias; for here is the force of the war which is not felt there, and between so many nations as are our neighbors, who can wage and maintain it; it seems, therefore, as if no person who is free to do what he will, and who aspires to honor and fortune, would come here to serve, without expectation of those rewards, if he were able to do it nearer the eye of your Majesty and of his fatherland. For if it is true that hitherto there have been many of this kind who have come, it has been in the hope that after three years they could leave, entering the honored or profitable occupations which they might have merited. The official persons with whom they came, or to whose land they belonged, and who were friendly, or appreciative of their abilities and qualifications, would help them, nor did it appear that favor would be extended unjustly. All the more now, when on every hand is barred any one of this class of persons who would desire to come; only those come whom some misdeed or ill-fortune drives into this land, and those who legally come to trade and live as merchants, and those whom the royal Audiencia of Mexico sends by way of condemnation, besides the people for our defense, and who are levied in companies in the markets and fairs of that city. And with these people there would come no noblemen of good parts and honored character, or many accomplished soldiers with merits acquired in war, such as the viceroys, governors, and other officers of this sort who come to serve your Majesty are accustomed to bring with them--without any suspicion that they ought not to do so, for the importance of having such men is already known, and is all the greater on account