"To our most excellent Governor:—
"Blessed and praised be the holy sacrament! God our Lord grant you a long life and health on earth, and happiness hereafter in heaven. So we pray him,—we, the Corregidor, Cabildo, and Caciques of the people of the Holy Martyrs,—who, casting ourselves with all humility at your feet, give praises to God and to our King, and to you, Señor Governor, for having come by his command, as his deputy, amongst us.
"Holding you in the highest reverence, we make known to you that all this people are perfectly obedient to the orders of our Catholic King, trying to esteem and respect the spiritual pastors sent to us, in nothing failing in our duties towards them, with all due respect, as they are the ministers of God.
"But, although this is our behaviour, they are not satisfied with us:—for two or three days they were pleased with our humility, and no longer.
"It has happened that the Corregidor, wishing to execute the orders of the Governor, the Curate has said,—'This man wrongs you:—in what light do you look upon his authority compared with that of your priests? The King himself is only a superior governor, and shall be food for the worms, and nothing more:—I fear no one.' Saying so he ordered fifty stripes to be given to an Indian; and a poor woman he ordered to be tied to a post, and flogged. He goes about with a stick in his hand to beat us, and a few days past he punished an Indian with blows in the church itself, before all the people:—another he beat in the square, saying,—'If I kill him I shall do no great harm.'
"The Administrator alone sometimes protects us from these punishments, saying to him, with proper respect,—'Father, you have no business to interfere in temporal matters,'—and for this he is not well with him. This officer endeavours to observe the commands of God and of the King for the good of this people, and in nothing have we to complain of him. He helps us on all occasions, and much we stand in need of it, Señor Governor.
"But God and the King have appointed you for our comfort, and so we make known to you our difficulties. We are fearful lest the people should lose their obedience and respect for the King's orders, when they hear the priests call the mandates of the King, and of his Governor, words of no consequence:—and so for your guidance we tell you the truth, which God knows, and is testified to by all this people. Santos Martires, 16th April, 1768."
(Signed by the Cabildo, &c.)
Bucareli, on receipt of the first of these simple documents, sent it to Spain, with the ridiculous announcement that he considered it as the forerunner of a rising in favour of the Jesuits, and had, in consequence, ordered a chosen body of troops to proceed immediately from Paraguay and Corrientes to the neighbourhood of the Missions to be in readiness to put down the expected insurrection: thither too he proceeded himself to take the field in person against the rebels.