Page:Vol 3 History of Mexico by H H Bancroft.djvu/673

Rh That the reader may form some idea of the jealousy with which the crown attempted to guard against fraud or peculation, and of the methods by which dishonest officials might appropriate funds of the treasury, I shall mention a few of the multitudinous laws issued for the protection of the revenue.

Treasury officials were strictly prohibited from engaging in commercial or business enterprises of any kind. They could not work mines, nor were their sons, brothers, or near relatives allowed to do so. All public appointments, such as those of corregidor and alcalde mayor, were closed against them and all near relatives, nor could they hold Indians in encomienda. The royal safe had three separate locks with different keys, one of which was in the keeping of each of the three chiefs of the department, while the door of the office in which the coffer was deposited was similarly fastened, so that all three officials were compelled to be present at the opening and closing of both the room and the strong-box. Restrictions followed restrictions; royal officers were even forbidden to marry the daughters or sisters of contadores de cuentas, nor were their own sons and daughters allowed to intermarry during the lifetime of their parents; and lastly, nepotism was so strictly guarded against that no relative of a treasury officer within