s familiar, was told in Mexico that he would come
to kiss the hand of a certain citizen distinguished for his wealth
and rank. But he, being a man of great courage and spirit, who knew
how to hold every one in his own position, without permitting him
to rise to greater, immediately upon his arrival in these islands
ordered that man in the king's name to perform a certain necessary
and useful service. As he, trusting in his favor among the citizens,
did not obey the order, the governor condemned him to be beheaded. For
that purpose he tore him from the church in which he had sought refuge,
and would have executed the sentence, had not the ecclesiastical estate
interposed all its influence by pointing out several disadvantages,
upon which his punishment was lessened and the penalty commuted. Thus
did he hold each one to his post, and all praised his rectitude,
disinterestedness, and magnanimity; and he left his government with
great honor and reputation.

These islands need disinterested military governors, not merchants;
and men of resolution and character, not students, who are more fit to
govern monasteries than communities of heroes. They should be men who
can make themselves feared and respected by the enemies who surround
us on all sides, and who can go in person to punish their opponents
(as did the former ones, with so great glory to God and credit to the
Spanish arms), so that in that way the islands may be conserved in
peace and be respected and feared by the Moro and Indian chiefs--and
those who are called kings or sultans of Jolo and Mindanao, who go
with feet and legs bare, and have to go to sea to cast their fishing
nets in order to live, are that and nothing more. But if a governor
comes to these islands with the intention of escaping his natural
poverty by humoring the rich and powerful, and even obeying them,
the wrongs accruing to the community are incredible, as well as those
to Christianity, and to the country--which is at times on the point
of being lost because of this reason--and especially since appeal is
so distant, as was seen and experienced in the year of 1719. [96]

The governors of these islands are almost absolute, and like private
masters of them. They exercise supreme authority by reason of their
charge, for receiving and sending embassies to the neighboring kings
and tyrants, for sending them gifts and presents in the name of their
king, and for accepting those which those kings and tyra