racter
of the attorney-general's communication, and that it was entirely
directed against the reputation and equitable procedure of the supreme
tribunal and its ministers, issued a royal decree that the archbishop
should punish his attorney-general, and should be warned how much
he had derogated from his own dignity by having allowed such lack
of respect. To this the archbishop replied that the attorney-general
did not deserve punishment, because the petition had been presented
by his own order and mandate.

At this time the ecclesiastical cabildo presented themselves in
recourse to the royal Audiencia, with a paper signed by their dean,
[54] the dignitaries, the canons, and the other prebends, imploring
the royal aid against the archbishop on account of the acts of fuerza
and violence which were suffered by the cabildo, its members, and all
the clergy. [55] They declared that the worst of these were due to the
fact that the said archbishop had at his side a religious of the Order
of St. Dominic, named Fray Raymundo Verart; [56] that the archbishop
had retained him, ever since he came from Spain, under the title of
counselor [asesor] and director; that he had gained such influence
that he directed all the actions of the said archbishop; and that
his decisions were so extraordinary that he kept all minds in a state
of notable disquiet--to such a degree that he even refused recourse
from the acts of fuerza, endeavoring to render the jurisdiction of the
archbishop absolute, and to exclude his Majesty (as represented in the
Audiencia) from his highest prerogative, that of aid to his oppressed
ecclesiastical vassals. They represented that the archbishop acted as
an advocate in the very suits in which he was judge; that he lived
outside the city, in a hospital of Sangleys [57] which is in charge
of the religious of St. Dominic, from which resulted injury and delay
in the despatch of business; that he could think of nothing but his
friars, and behaved as one of them--for on the day of election of
provincial he had rendered obedience to the father who was elected,
and in the procession he walked in the fifth rank--regarding himself
as first of all a friar, although he was archbishop-elect; and that
he treated the cabildo and its members ill, showing aversion to them.

With this petition for relief the dean and cabildo presented a
mass of records in proof of their argument, asking that decrees be
issued: one for the archbishop