well aware of the necessity of extending to them protection, he advised the repeal of the laws.[1] The excessive difficulties encountered in legislating for the benefit of the natives are aptly represented by Mendoza, who considered that the numerous experiments tried were enough to drive them to insanity.[2]
Apart from the administration of political affairs the viceroy was occupied in carrying out improvements in the city of Mexico, and providing means of defence against outside and inside attack. The second audiencia had already executed certain works beneficial to the comfort of the inhabitants, such as the introduction of water into different parts of the capital, and the substitution of stone bridges for wooden ones.[3] The aqueduct from Chapultepec to the city had also been begun by order of the oidores.[4] The continuance of these improvements under a viceroy, and the prospects for the future of stability in the government, had naturally an effect upon the value of city real estate; and Mendoza informs the king, on the 10th of December, 1537, that rents and property had doubled in value since his arrival.[5] The defensive
- ↑ The general outcry against these laws impelled Mendoza to act contrary to his feelings. 'Tengo harto escrupulo,' he writes to the king, 'de dar parescer que V. M. los quite de su cabeza;' and he goes on to state that on one occasion when in 1537 he had transferred certain Indians to the care of the royal treasurer they wept for joy. Pacheco and Cárdenas, Col. Doc., ii. 205-6.
- ↑ 'Y en lo de los indios, son tantas las mudanzas, que algunas veces he dicho que los hemos de volver locos con tantos ensayos.' Mendoza, in Id., Vi. 510. Oue of Mendoza's first actions was to induce certain prominent encomenderos to exchange towns which it was important that the crown should control — such as Cholula and Huexotzinco — for encomiendas in the interior. The principal incentive to the assignees was the expectation that much gold existed in the new districts assigned to them. 'The encomenderos, however, soon repented of their bargain and reclaimed the towns they had surrendered, but in vain. Torquemada, 1. 613-14.
- ↑ Fuenleal, writing in September 1532, stated that these improvements would be finished during the next month. Pacheco and Cárdenas, Col. Doc., xiii. 235.
- ↑ The queen, by cédula of November 13, 1535, ordered the viceroy to complete it, as being most necessary for the convenience of the inhabitants, Puga, Cedulario, 109. Its completion, however, was not the result of a limited number of years, and indeed work at this aqueduct has been going on, from time to time, ever since its commencement.
- ↑ Ternaux-Compans, Voy., série ii. tom. v. 260; Pacheco and Cárdenas, Col. Doc., ii. 200. Arrangements were made with the different religious orders that the construction of their buildings should be conducted on proper plans so as to insure the erection of good edifices. Id., vi. 513.
