they are sought in marriage from that
house. I have done that with despatch, considering only the service
of God and of your Majesty. By that means many of the laymen have been
restrained, as well as many of the ecclesiastical estate and regulars,
who likewise have caused scandal in this direction. Two men have been
punished by hanging--one for having stolen the monstrance of the most
holy sacrament; and the other for the murder of a slave girl whom he
had owned, and whom the archbishop had caused to be sold because he
was living with her in illicit relations. In order that he might not be
deprived of her, he declared that he would marry her, although he had
said the year before that he had been married in Nueva Espana. The
slave girl said that she preferred to belong to another than to
be his wife. The slave girl going carelessly behind her mistress's
carriage, that man, deliberately and very securely, approached her
by stealth; and, embracing her from behind, he stabbed and killed
her treacherously. He took refuge in the convent of St. Augustine,
where neither the master-of-camp nor the sargento-mayor could find
him. But a few days after that, when the affair had died down somewhat,
because of the reward offered to my adjutant of the camp, the latter
found him and took him from the convent. I referred the cause to the
general of artillery, as the man was his subordinate, so that he might
try it in the first instance. The general condemned him to death. He
appealed to his commander-in-chief; but the auditor-general returned
the cause, saying that it had no appeal, as he was convinced of the
man's treachery and perfidy. Thereupon the general of artillery set
about the execution of the sentence of death. The archbishop of this
church excommunicated the general of artillery; and his provisor,
one Don Pedro de Monrroy, a restless man, and a friend of revolution,
sent twice to excommunicate me. But I gave them no opportunity to
notify me at all. They declared interdicts and the cessation of divine
services. The sentence was executed, and the dead man was returned to
the door of the church. I wrote to the archbishop with all courtesy,
entreating him to be pleased to have the churches opened and not
to leave this community without mass and consolation on a day such
as the nativity of our Lady; and that, as justice was already done,
there was nothing else to do. The archbishop called a meeting of the
religious of all the orders