audiencia and its satellites.[1] Proceedings now were short and decisive. Some of the minor delinquents were fortunate enough to escape with removal from office; others were heavily fined and punished, while several of the chief culprits were hanged. Men of proverbial probity were then appointed to fill the vacancies, and thus by the fearless and energetic rule of this remarkable man, order and justice soon reigned. The immediate effect of this procedure against the officials was that in 1585 Moya was enabled to replenish the royal coffers by shipping to Spain three million three hundred thousand ducats in coined silver, and eleven hundred marks of gold in bars, together with valuable cargoes of the products of the country.
Feeling his great responsibility, his zeal was mcessant, no less in temporal than in spiritual matters. At the solicitation of the priest Juan de la Plaza, he founded a seminary intended exclusively for Indians, in which they were instructed in the elementary branches. The college was under the direction of the Jesuits, and soon became noted for the wonderful progress of its students. In his other efforts to benefit the natives he was only partially successful.
The government of the archbishop was too severe to be of long duration. While the people would have looked with favor on the prolongation of his power, he had been the terror of certain persons, who resorted to intrigue so common at the time to effect his removal. The long list of charges preferred against him, however, found little credence in Spain.[2]
Scarcely thirteen months after Moya took charge of the government, and while he was actively engaged
- ↑ 'Hablaba, y obraba, como Poderoso en todo, y todos callaban, y sufrian como rendidos, y alebestrados.' Torquemada, 1. 649.
- ↑ Under date of July 1, 1586, a series of 181 charges against Moya were forwarded to the India Council, by Cristébal Martin of Mexico, concerning 'los eçesos é otras cosas que don Pedro Moya de Contreras . . . hizo é cometió en desseruiçio de Dios Nuestro Señor é de su magestad, é mal exemplo y escándalo de la república, assi españoles como naturales della.' Peralta, Not. Hist., 348-9. In this document he is accused of incapacity to govern, the
