them was a secular named Don Francisco Montero,
who had been expelled from the religious estate--a restless man,
who had been deprived some few months before of the chaplaincy of
the seminary of Santa Potenciana, as he was not suitable for that
post and served it ill. There was also a Recollect Franciscan friar,
named Fray Nicolas de Tolentino, who was angered because his order had
not elected him provincial, as he wished; and there was also a friar
of St. Dominic. They are said to be about to go to Espana, with the
intention of complaining of me to the supreme Inquisition. But the
road followed is apt to take them into the hands of the Dutch, or to
shipwreck. But in case any such complaint should be carried to Espana,
I am informing your Majesty of everything. I also do so that your
Majesty may see to what lengths these friars go, and how necessary it
is to check them, so that they may not cause similar desertions--which
appear outrages, and which are so, to the disservice of your Majesty,
as it takes from us the men who should attend to the royal service
in the royal fleet.

While affairs were in this condition, and the archbishop refused
to give me the protest or libel which was asked from him, and the
judge-conservator would not desist from requesting it, as I judged
that it was of service to our Lord and to your Majesty for me to
interpose my authority and settle affairs, I called a meeting of
the four best lawyers in Manila, among whom was the fiscal of this
royal Audiencia. To that meeting I summoned the father provincial and
father rector of the Society, and the judge-conservator himself. The
lawyers read the opinions, over which they had studied for several
days. All agreed that the judge-conservator could remove a suspension
that he had imposed on the archbishop as a means of getting the
said protest or libel from him; as they said that such suspension
was condemnatory. [18] For the same reason they said that he could
moderate or completely abrogate the pecuniary fines. The fathers
of the Society, although they were the ones offended, charitably
took the archbishop's part, and favored the opinion of the lawyers,
and desired that the archbishop come safely out of the affair. The
judge-conservator alone was somewhat harsh, and appeared to agree to
nothing of this. But I asked, entreated, and persuaded him, so that he
had to agree to it and absolve the archbishop from everything. Thus
was the affair completely