Introduction 
213 
who has to pay them ”. 79 In connection with the third cédula it will be 
remembered that according to the contract which Velasco had made with 
Oñate, the latter was to deal directly with the Council of the Indies, 
while the viceroy and the adjacent audiencias were to have no control 
over him. This provision, it will be recalled, was modified by Monterey, 
so that Oñate lost his independence of the viceroy in war and finance 
and of the Audiencia in judicial matters. On July 8, 1602, however, 
Philip III. directed a cédula to the viceroy of New Spain advising him 
that the terms of the contract as originally drawn up should hold good in 
the above respects, proviso being made that in matters of government and 
justice appeals could be made to the Audiencia of Nueva Galicia, “ which 
is the nearest to the said province ”. 80 These important facts have not 
heretofore been presented; they, together with the granting of additional 
men to be sent to New Spain at royal expense, show the marked interest 
of Philip III. in the New Mexico enterprise and help to explain why, in 
the face of later disappointments and disturbances, that monarch obsti¬ 
nately refused to assent to the abandonment of the province. 
Before the end of the year 1602 Philip III. received the complaints filed 
against Oñate by the deserter colonists at Santa Bárbara. In view of these 
complaints the king instructed the Count of Monterey first to inform 
himself secretly as to whether Oñate and some of his associates had com¬ 
mitted “ lawless acts and crimes ... in the year 1602 ”, and then to send 
a “ person to make an investigation and administer punishment; if Don 
Juan de Oñate should be found to be so guilty and affairs in such a 
condition that it was not desirable that he should remain there, the expe¬ 
dition should be put in a state of safety so that what had been discovered 
might be preserved and the conversion of the Indians continued ”. 81 No 
record is available of any definite action relative to this matter that was 
taken by the Count of Monterey, who was soon promoted to be viceroy of 
Peru. However, on May 26, 1603, the new viceroy, the Marquis of 
Montesclaros, was instructed to ascertain from the retiring Count of 
Monterey the result of the ordered investigation concerning the offenses 
of Oñate, and, in the light of such facts as might thus be obtained, to take 
such measures as might be deemed wise, “ favoring and greatly encourag¬ 
ing the said Don Juan in case he was to continue it ”. 82 
In Spain Zaldivar, to whom permission had been given in 1602 to 
recruit forty musketeers and ship-builders for Oñate, had been unable to 
recruit these professionals by May 19, 1603. On that date Don Alonso 
de Oñate, brother of Don Juan, who seems to have superseded Zaldivar 
in this work, asked that, without prejudicing any of the terms of 
Zaldivar’s contract, more time should be given him in which to recruit 
the requisite number of men. 83 The king granted his request, and even 
79 Royal cédula to the viceroy of New Spain, San Lorenzo, July 4, 1602. This volume, 
P- 403 . 
80 Royal decree, San Lorenzo, July 8, 1602. This volume, p. 405. 
81 Royal cédula to the Marquis of Montesclaros, Madrid, June 17, 1606. This volume, 
P- 413 . 
82 Ibid. This volume, p. 415. 
83 Council of the Indies to the King, Valladolid, May 19, 1603. This volume, pp. 405-407. 
