etitioned that his
order be declared not to be a party, they maintained, as they now
maintained, that he was a legitimate party in these proceedings;
moreover that they ordered him, as they now repeated their order,
that he notify the father procurator-general of the said order to
answer to the summons within three days, and to make full return
thereto. He was also warned that if, at the expiration of said limit,
he had not done so, the royal courts would declare the proceedings
so far as taken as sufficient, and the case would be prosecuted
in them. The Dominican procurator having been cited and notified,
said that he obeyed the decree of his Highness, that he heard it,
but that there was no answer to be given, as he was not a party, as he
had already declared, and that in case that it was necessary he would
repeat the same answer of his father provincial. This occurrence took
place on November twenty-four, one thousand six hundred and ninety.

14. Thus this matter [expediente] rested until the year one thousand
seven hundred and ten, when the alferez, Nicolas Guerrero, one of the
ordinary attorneys of the royal Audiencia, presented a certificate
empowering him as the chief authorized agent of the province of San
Nicolas, to act as their attorney in the matter in hand. Thereupon,
he declared that in maintenance of the claim of the said province,
it was advisable to examine the minutes of the proceedings hitherto
conducted in the royal courts, in regard to the restitution of
their former missions of Zambales and everything pertaining to
them. Accordingly, he prayed his Highness to deign to order the
secretary to produce the said minutes, which on being given to the
said attorney, he appeared before his Highness and stated that in
accordance with the last royal order of six hundred and ninety, whereby
the other party was required to answer fully, this had not been done,
but that the party had merely referred to its former pleadings, and
that any other answer had not been made during the space of twenty
years, so that the suit had been unduly prolonged; and moreover, that
the matter having been recently investigated, his side has a paper
(which he now presents with all solemnity), namely, a private letter
from the father provincial of the Dominicans, Fray Pedro Mejorada,
[85] in reply to one from the provincial of the Recollects, Fray
Francisco de la Madre de Dios, in which he declares, that he answered
in the same manne