*795' The neareft filver mine to St. Jago is at April. . . . . the diftance o f about {even — ^ j leagues, and the neareft gold mine is to the north-eaft of the city, at the
diftance of about thirty leagues.
The value and importance o f this rich country to Old Spain is fully
exhibited in the feveral ordinances, rules and directions, which, from
time to time, have been iffued to the Intendants of the provinces, and
enforced by the fupreme council o f the Indies, at the exprefs command o f
His Catholic Majefty. Thefe are comprehended under diftinft titles, or
heads, as they have reference, or apply to, the ecclefiaftical or civil government
o f the kingdom. The principal obfervances are thole re-
fpeéling the tenths and contributions for the endowment of the churches,
and the fupport of the religious orders ; the collection o f the public
revenues, the appropriation of the royal eftates, the adminiftration o f
juftice, the regulation o f the internal police, and the delegation o f powers
and authority in the event of foreign wars or domeftic infur-
re&ions.
I was fo fortunate as to obtain a tranflation of moft of thefe rules
by which the archbifhops and chief officers of ftate regulate their
conduft ; and as it does not appear to me, that I can Ihew the rigid
attention which is, and has ever been, paid by the Spaniffi court to the ■
interefts of thefe wealthy eftabliffiments, fo well, as by quoting fome few
of the royal commands, I have extrafted three for this purpofe.
, “ Number 150.
“ By the Bull of Alexander the Vlth, dated the 16th of november,
1501 , and confirmed fince by fucCeffive fupreme pontiffs, the T e n t h s
o f t h e ' I n d i e s belong to my royal crown, and half o f a year’s falary
on the benefices conferred by me ; with full dominion, abfolute and irrevocable,
to affift the churches with a fufficient film annually, for the
decorous maintenance of the divine law, and for a competent falary to
the prelates and other minifters of the holy gofpel, who ferve at the altar.
In virtue of which, the fundamental difpofition of the ritual has
been promulgated, that thefe objects may be duly fulfilled. My crown
remains under the obligation of fupplying, at the expence of the reft of
the rents of its patrimony, the fum deficient to which thefe, annually, may
2 not
not amount, for the endowments and other holy purpofes; and therefore,
it is incumbent upon all thofe afling under my royal authority to t
be watchful over, to have good difcretion in the adminiftration of the
decimal produffions, and to divide them amongft the parties interefted,
with due exaftnefs and integrity, that the holy churches, pariffies, and
hofpitals, under the immediate fovereign proteftion, may not feel any
injury or wrong, nor my royal exchequer be called upon for its pledged
refponfibility. I therefore command, that the royal officers do affift at
all the public fales and accounts of the tenths, and that they likewife
attend to the ereflions and repairs of the churches, and duly examine
the expence of each, and that they ultimately prevent all frauds and
impofitions, to the end that the participants may have their right, and
that my royal eftates may not be charged with any refponfibility for deficiencies.
Having coniidered that the new eftablilhment and fyftem of
intendancies may offer doubts, on the method propofed for carrying the
feveral regulations into effeft, I have thought proper, conformably to
the true fpirit of the laws already in being, to annex the following commands,
for the purpofe o f facilitating the new arrangement, and to in-
fure the moft exaft execution of all the matters it contains.”
Here follow directions for the calling of meetings, and a lift o f the
officers commanded to attend them, with a great number of rules for fe-
■ curing to the government a due adminiftration of their feveral funftions.-
And it will be feen, by the following extrafts, that the happinefs of the
people, the prefervation of good order, and the improvement of the country,
are objefts not Ids regarded by the Spaniffi monarchy, than the efta-
bliffiment of its religious perfuafion, or profiting by the immenfe wealth
which South America is capable of yielding.'
“ Confiding in the care and attention which has been manifefted by
the Intendants of provinces, I command that they, do, by means of them-
felves, or fubaltern judges, gain a thorough knowledge of the lives, inclinations,
and cuftoms of the people fubjeft to their government; that
they chaftife the lazy, and thofe of bad intentions, who, far from fup-
porting the good order and police of their refpective towns, caule inquietudes
and fcandal, disfiguring, with their vices and lazinels, the good
3 M 2 * face