Introduction 
197 
At the very time, however, that this contract was entered into between 
Viceroy Velasco and Oñate, a new viceroy, the Count of Monterey, who 
had arrived at Vera Cruz on September 18, was en route to Mexico City 
from that port, where he was to relieve Velasco, who had been named 
viceroy of Peru. Three weeks later, on October 14, Velasco, in a letter 
to the king, made a brief and what was the first announcement of the con¬ 
tract which he had made with Oñate and the reasons for his having 
done so. 14 
As soon as the Count of Monterey arrived in Mexico City the retiring 
viceroy, Velasco, took up with him the proposed entrada of Oñate into 
New Mexico and urged him to approve it. But the new viceroy was un¬ 
willing to do this; in a letter to the king, dated December 20, 1595, he 
stated that he had been unwilling to sanction the expedition without 
further deliberation on the matter. 15 The reason for this is not clear, but 
at the outset the Count of Monterey did nothing whatsoever to favor 
Oñate. In fact an official of the Council of the Indies even reported that 
“ everything that the count has done has been to diminish and cut down 
the powers and dignity of Don Juan, always addressing him as ‘ you ’, 
with the result that many who were inclined to go did not get ready ”. 16 
When the Count of Monterey did consider the contract which his prede¬ 
cessor had made with Oñate, he decided, in spite of the fact that Don 
Juan had small means and many debts, to allow him, because of his wealthy 
relatives, to make the expedition, after certain provisions which he re¬ 
garded as far too liberal were modified. Accordingly the contract was 
further modified in the following important particulars: (1) Oñate’s 
right to raise men and to appoint officers of war was limited to this one 
occasion, special permit being necessary thereafter; (2) the right to name 
royal officials was on condition that their salaries should not exceed those 
of officials of Mexico; (3) independence of the viceroy in matters of war 
and finance, and of the Audiencia of New Spain in matters of justice, was 
annulled; (4) the right to bring vessels direct to his jurisdiction was on 
condition that special permission for so doing should first be secured from 
the viceroy of New Spain; (5) the Indians of New Mexico were, if pos¬ 
sible, to be persuaded to give voluntarily the tributes, the appraisement to 
be fixed by royal officials instead of by Oñate and his successors; (6) ac¬ 
count of the apportionment of the Indians was to be confirmed by the 
king within three years after the apportionment was made, instead of 
Oñate and his successors having this sole right; (7) certain prerogatives 
and privileges were to be enjoyed only by those who remained in the un¬ 
dertaking as long as five years. 17 
Having finally modified the contract the Count of Monterey instructed 
Oñate to collect provisions and ammunition in the shortest time possible; 
14 Letter from Velasco to the king, Mexico, Oct. 14, 1595, this volume, pp. 255-257; 
letter from the Count of Monterey to the king, Mexico, Dec. 20, 1595, this volume, 
pp. 257-259. 
15 Ibid,.; the Council of the Indies to the king, Apr. 7, 1596, this volume, p, 295. 
16 Articles of agreement of the viceroy Velasco with Juan de Oñate, together with 
the ... ordinances and modifications of the viceroy, the Count of Monterey, etc., this 
volume, pp. 265-279. 
« Ibid. 
