It was possible for a governor to force his will on the cabildo by controlling the public and governmental notary who was their recording agent. He would say that the regidores were troublemakers trying to provoke lawsuits and would order the notary to stop proliferating their papers under pain of a heavy fine. It was a crude but effective method of getting on with government business. [Note 78: Gov. Trevino Guillamas to the royal officials 1/27/1617] When a governor wanted to ride roughshod over the rights of the citizens or the cabildo he had every means to do so, for his adjutants were the only police power in town. A genuinely political governor, however, simply placed the notary with his own attaché, after which he did not need to attend either treasury or cabildo councils to know everything that happened. AN470 When all else failed, a governor who found the existence of a cabildo inimical to his intentions announced that it was invalid in a town of soldiers and dissolved it. [Note 79: Juan Nunez de los Rios 1/19/1600; Bartolome de Arguelles 2/20/1600] In such a case the royal officials simply waited him out. His term was limited and his residencia was coming, whereas they had been appointed for life. The governor understood that if he dissolved the cabildo the treasury officials would report his mismanagements in detail throughout his stay. A common letter of complaint began: “The governors pay little heed to the royal officials and we have no preeminences nor rights of intervention, nor are we allowed our authority as regidores.” At this point the officials filled in their specific grievance “The governor is consenting to trade in this city with Portuguese and Frenchmen,” or “The governor is forcing us to sign prepared libranzas.” Then they attached the standard conclusion: “In all the cases that arise, whether in matters of the exchequer, the city or conversions, he takes action apart from us, and if we present the objects that occur to us he says that we have no intervention whatsoever, and if we ask for this in writing he refuses it, abusing us and speaking disrespectfully to us and threatening us if we do not go along with his opinions.” [Note 80: Juan Menendez Marquez 4/13/1601; Bartolome de Arguelles, Francisco Ramirez, Francisco Menendez Marquez, and Juan de Cueva, 6/2/1627, with reply to the fiscal of the Council 1/12/1628] AN471 Perfunctorily the Council would warn the governor to treat the royal officials well and not to place hindrances in the way of their work, then would file the regidores’ letter with the other complaints awaiting his residencia. (Bushnell KC)