ause of the long distance from the
court, and their proximity to so many kingdoms and nations, some of
them civilized but others barbaric. Consequently those assigned to
this government should be well tested and picked men; for, because
of the difficulty of appeal, as so many seas and lands have to be
passed, where shipwrecks are continually suffered, there are great
setbacks. Therefore it is very difficult and at times impossible
to remedy quickly the disadvantages which may arise (and which have
been experienced) from an absolute and selfish governor--who has no
one to oppose him in his cupidity, cruelty, headlong disposition,
or other vices to which the disordered condition of these so
distant lands inclines one. Father Alonso Sanchez of the Society
of Jesus, ambassador of this community at the two courts [_i.e._,
Spain and Rome], presented to his Majesty Don Felipe II a standard
or description of the qualities which should adorn the person who
should be appointed governor of Filipinas. That most judicious monarch
thought it so difficult to find a man of so many and such gifts, that
he bargained with the father, and arranged that the latter himself
should seek and select the man. Those same gifts and qualities must
be found in those appointed as governors, especially in these times,
[95] when it seems as-if cupidity, ambition, pride, and haughtiness
have fortified themselves in these lands. For it often happens that
the governor is so facile, that he allows himself to be governed
by one whom he should not [allow to do so]. Consequently it is very
advisable that he should have great courage, in addition to goodness
and disinterestedness, so that he may act and judge in his government
without subjecting himself to any private person--whether he need such
for his temporal advancement, or, through friendship or relationship,
incurs that disadvantage by undue intimacy.

Thus it happened to Governor Don Diego Fajardo during his term, as
is read in various provincial histories; but the experience that he
continued to gain daily opened his eyes to the recognition of his
error. Seeing certain disadvantages arising from his protection of
certain individuals, he dismissed them from his favor to the prison
in the redoubt of Santiago, and confiscated their property, without
respect to, or fear of, the influence that they had acquired in the
community because of their wealth and support. A governor, whom I knew
and with whom I wa