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 twenty years. Besides all this, I am a man of good repute. I was an advocate for the Inquisition during more than eleven years, namely, from the time when your Majesty established it in Mexico. My uncles and the relatives of Doña Maria de Sandoval, my wife, won Nueva España, as can be seen by the records of the royal Council of the Yndias; and no one is more worthy to receive the remuneration for his services than are my wife and I. By virtue of a decree ordering me to remove my entire family and household, the royal exchequer of Mexico lent me for the space of two years two thousand pesos to aid me on my voyage. This assistance was not sufficient, and, not being able to sell my estates, I was obliged to leave them deserted, because I had already sold my negroes. I shall be entirely ruined unless your Majesty release me from the payment of those two thousand pesos, or at least give me a continuance of ten years. I entreat your Majesty for this, since in order to foster decency among the women I brought here three sons and a nephew, whose exceedingly honorable and virtuous reputation is known throughout Nueva España, where I brought them up.

With the help of God, who in His infinite mercy made me pleasing and well liked, I shall endeavor to live, administer justice, and deal with others irreproachably. Since this is so, and I dwell in a land where there is so little stability and truth, I beseech your Majesty not to judge me without first hearing me. I greatly honor the president, and the authority which even a duke would maintain if he were here as your Majesty's lieutenant; for in distant regions this befits the service of your Majesty. Nevertheless, in what concerns the administration of justice, I