Capitulations with Oñate, 1595 
269 
Modification. That the power to name royal officials with a salary 
shall be with the condition that was placed upon Urdiñola, namely, that 
it shall not exceed the salary of the officials of Mexico. 
Advantages of article 2. To his Majesty it matters very little whether 
he has the power to name the first royal officials or whether the governor 
shall have authority to do it. It is to be expected that married men of 
fortune, with children and families, will go on the expedition in confi¬ 
dence and that he [the governor] will have the means with which to 
reward them and honor them, and since they hold settled offices that they 
will remain permanently in the country, which is what most concerns his 
Majesty, and with this the kingdoms will be augmented and will not have 
the fears and burdens which, when they occur so near the beginnings, 
serve for nothing but to alarm [the people]. In this way each one will be 
in his own home, and after the country is won and pacified the way will 
be left open for his Majesty to name at his will the royal officials in case 
those named by the governor shall fail. 
Disadvantages of modification 2. His Majesty has not at present any 
rents in those provinces, and therefore the Count makes the modification 
that the salaries of the officials shall not exceed those of Mexico. But he 
does not take notice that those provinces are 350 leagues further inland 
than Mexico, where the prices of things must be three times as high. If 
the land is richer it will be right that the salaries shall be greater, since 
they are to be paid from the fruits and products of it; if there are none 
they will not be paid, nor is there any reason for reducing them, especially 
for those who are to be the chief ones in the conquest and in winning the 
land for their king and natural lord. 
3. Article. Item: That I and my said heirs and successors in the said 
government and jurisdiction must be and shall be under the immediate 
control of the royal Council of the Indies, so that none of the viceroys of 
this New Spain or of the neighboring audiencias shall have the power to 
interfere in the administration of the said government—as is provided in 
article 69 of the ordinances. 
Ordinance 69. He and his son or heir or successor in the government 
and jurisdiction shall deal directly with the Council of the Indies, in such 
a manner that none of the viceroys or neighboring audiencias shall have 
the power to interfere in the administration of his province, either officially 
or on petition of a litigant or by writ of appeal, nor to provide commis¬ 
sioned judges. The Council of the Indies shall have the power to try the 
cases of the government officially or on petition of a litigant or by writ of 
appeal; in case of litigation between parties it shall try by writ of appeal 
civil cases of six thousand pesos up, and criminal cases in which the 
sentences impose pain of death or mutilation of members. 
Modification. That the independence that he asks for of the viceroy 
and Audiencia of Mexico shall be renounced, and he shall formally con¬ 
sent to be subordinated to them respectively, to the viceroy in everything 
and for everything in all that has to do with war and finances, and to the 
Audiencia in what touches upon grievances of justice, this even to the 
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