ordered by an act that the auditor of accounts could make additions to
and draw up results [_resultas_] from the accounts concluded by the
royal officials, provided he do it in a separate blankbook without
making notes in the royal books.
The fourth instance of litigation was in regard to the question
whether he was to be entitled "auditor of accounts" [_contador de
cuentas_] or "auditor-arranger of accounts" [_contador ordenador de
cuentas_]. The royal officials claimed that it should be the second,
saying that the name "auditor of accounts" belongs only to those of
the three tribunals of Lima, Santa Fe, and Mexico, according to the
provision of August 24, 605, and the ordinances therein cited. The
auditor of accounts claimed that this name belongs to him by virtue of
his office, and because he has always been so called. The ordinances
give him that name, as appears by ordinance forty-two given above,
and in the warrants despatched by the governors. The Audiencia
decreed an act February 14, 626, ordering that he shall not be called
"auditor of accounts," but "auditor-arranger of accounts of the royal
treasury;" since the auditing of the accounts does not belong to him,
but only the arranging of them, so that the president and auditors,
the judges of the accounts, may audit them, and conclude and remit
them, as is ordained. Thus was he styled until the visitor altered it.
The last and most acrimonious lawsuit was in regard to the form of
the sworn relation which the royal officials must give to the auditor
of accounts, in order that he may audit the general accounts of each
year. Upon this point arose the charge in the visit, the examination
of which was the cause of my being ordered to compile this paper. In
that contention, the royal officials have claimed that they do not need
to give a sworn statement of the amounts that ought to be collected;
but that the auditor of accounts must charge himself with that duty
in the general account of each year. In case that the royal officials
have to give a sworn statement, [they claim] that it is to be only
of the debts incurred during their time; and that they do not need
to give a general sworn statement, but only a statement of those
kinds of royal revenue which are received into that treasury, and are
current through their administration--and not of other things which,
although they belong to his Majesty, do not enter into that treasury;
and which are disbursed before they enter it, and pass through other
hands. They allege that in these islands a very different account of
the royal revenue is usual from that furnished in other provinces. They
availed themselves, for all three points of this claim, of the same
sections of the ordinances on which the charge was founded, namely, the
sections 14 and 22 of "tribunals of accounts, the decree of the year
605," and section 20 of the decree of the year 60 [_sic_] explanatory
of the tribunals--which, copied word for word, are as follows:
"Book 7, folio 5, section 14. _Item_: We ordain and command that at
the time and when the said accounts are to be audited and completed,
and before anything else, both the said our royal officials and other
persons--of whatever estate, rank, and condition they may be--who
may have received, and have had or have, the duty of receiving and
collecting our revenue, must deliver--and they shall deliver--to the
said our auditors of accounts, sworn statements, signed with their
names, of all that they have received, and all that has been delivered
to them, as well as what they have disbursed and distributed. They
shall take oath, in the form required by law, at the foot of the
said sworn statements, that everything therein contained is accurate,
faithful, and true; and that they have not received more maravedis than
those entered in their accounts, and that they have [actually] paid out
all that which is entered therein as spent and disbursed. They shall
bind themselves, with their persons and possessions, that if at any
time it appear and be found that they have failed to enter anything of
what they have received, or have entered as disbursed any sum in excess
of what they have honestly and truly paid out, they shall pay such sum,
together with a fine of a sum three times as large--to which we declare
them immediately condemned, and order that the penalty be executed on
their persons and possessions. One-third part shall be given to the
denouncer, one shall be placed in our exchequer, and the remaining
third shall be given to the judges who sentence and decide the matter."
"Section 22. Furthermore, the said our auditors of accounts
shall audit and conclude the final account of the said our royal
officials of the said our Indias for the year preceding, in the year
immediately following, without delaying or extending the time, under
any consideration whatever--except that of our royal officials of the
province of Chile, and of the persons in whose possession enters the
money that we order to be supplied from Piru for the expenses which
shall be incurred there; and the accounts of the Filipinas Islands,
which, as those islands are so remote and out of the way, shall be
audited every two years. All the said our officials of the said our
royal treasuries which we possess in the said our Western Indias,
shall be obliged to go, or to send persons with their powers and
sufficient authority, to render their accounts before the said our
auditors of accounts, except those who shall audit the accounts of
our royal officials of the imperial city of Potosi, which shall be
done as will be declared hereafter. And in the said accounts that
shall be audited and concluded for all, entry shall be made of all
the said our incomes and duties, which pertain and ought to pertain
to us in any manner, in the said year as abovesaid, notwithstanding
that they may say and allege that they have not collected nor can
collect it; and the balances of their total shall be struck. If
they shall present sufficient evidence from which it appears that
they made the efforts necessary at the time when they were obliged,
and that they were unable to collect it, they shall be given a brief
respite from paying such balance, which, as above said, shall have
been struck against them, which time shall be long enough for them
to collect it or place it in the said our treasury. And should they,
upon the expiration of that time, not have executed it or presented
sufficient evidence that they have made the efforts necessary for
its collection, they and their bondsmen shall be proceeded against
by the full rigor of law, in order that they may place and deposit
the amount due in the said our royal treasury. In regard to this
action, the necessary executions and investigations shall be made,
and by maravedis of our treasury. If it shall appear from the evidence
that they shall present, that they have made the necessary efforts,
and have been unable to collect, and that they have discharged their
duty in this regard, the amount of their accounts shall be received
on account, and the said our auditors of accounts shall make the new
efforts that appear expedient for its collection, until it shall have
been paid into the said our treasury."
"Section 20 of the explanatory decree. Book 7, folio 16. By section
22 of the ordinances of the said auditors of accounts, and by other
royal decrees, is ordained the manner in which my royal officials
of my royal revenues, and of the rest of my estate which is in their
charge, with obligation to collect those revenues, or show sufficient
efforts, shall be held responsible. I have been informed that the said
auditors of accounts undertake, when they audit the accounts of the
said my royal officials, to proceed according to this order; but that
the said my royal officials are generally accustomed to appeal from
some things, and bring a suit. That causes delay and other troubles,
for the correction of which I ordain and command the said auditors
of accounts to audit the accounts of the said my royal officials,
charging them with all my incomes and the other property which must
enter into their possession with obligation of collecting it, or
else proving [that they have made] sufficient efforts for what shall
not have been collected, in accordance with what has been enacted by
the said ordinances for auditors [_contadores_] and other decrees;
and in no manner shall the said my royal officials be allowed to
appeal to the law until what has been ordained regarding this matter
be observed and executed."