The Philippine Islands, 1493-1803; explorations by early navigators, descriptions of the islands and their peoples, their history and records of the Catholic missions, as related in contemporaneous books and manuscripts, showing the political, economic, commericial and religious conditions of those islands from their earliest relations with European nations to the beginning of the nineteenth century; [Vol. 1, no. 24]

I63o0-I634]

CABILDO TO FELIPE IV

259

choice that your Majesty has made in sending Licentiate Don Francisco de Rojas y Ofiate as visitor; for,
as long experience and the histories teach us, and
even in the present times we have seen the disputes,
the confusion, the unrest, and anxiety caused in a
kingdom by any visitor; while in this city we have
seen quite the contrary with the said visitor. And
he has not been at all lacking in his duty, exercising
rigor and severity with kindness. He has calmed
troubles without drawing blood, and has obtained
the observance of your royal decrees so equitably
that those who were most opposed to him confessed
that he was just. Lastly, Sire, he is completing his
visit this year, without having inflicted extortion or
wrong on a single person. He has attended to the
service of your Majesty with continual and incessant labor-which, although he has not had at all
good health, he has not spared by day or night, on
feast days, or in holiday seasons, times in which
others rest. In short, he has been a father to this
republic, and a person worthy of being occupied by
your Majesty in things of greater importance in your
service; for God has given him talent for great
things, a Christian spirit, and the fear of God. That
he showed because, as soon as he entered this city, he
went to confession and communed often. He chose
as confessor father Fray Domingo Gonqales, one of
the most holy and learned men of the Order of St.
Dominic. So great and so illustrious is his learning
that often, when the orders have come together to
argue, they have confessed that, upon asking him his
opinion in very knotty questions, their problems have
been solved by his tolerance, forbearance, and patience; for he did not cause disputes and scandals