A very few days later, the gentlemen of the royal Audiencia with the fiscal of his Majesty went at day-break to take refuge in the house of the Society of Jesus in this city—availing themselves of the sacred house for the greater peace and quiet of the community. There, seating themselves in a suitable apartment, they held a session [of the Audiencia]; and for this purpose had made arrangements to carry with them the small seal which the chancellor, Don Tomas de Castro, had procured. From that place the Audiencia summoned the city [council], who immediately went thither in obedience to this call—the two alcaldes and the regidors—as also did the sargento-mayor and master-of-camp of the garrison. This being learned by the usurper—because not all went, as would doubtless happen—he immediately commanded that the soldiers be assembled; and he issued a proclamation that all under penalty of death and being considered traitors to his Majesty, should resort to the palace where he was, and not to the house of the Society of Jesus where the auditors were. This was promptly obeyed, because Don Juan was found to be the commander of the troops. Herein the people did not sin through evil intentions, for they are very loyal to his Majesty, but through ignorance, not knowing whom they ought to obey, or what was most to his Majesty’s service; and as they heard proclamations summoning them all to the palace, under penalty of incurring treason to the king, they quickly obeyed.
The usurper being hindered by warlike preparations, the gentlemen [of the Audiencia] occupied themselves in issuing orders addressed to all persons of high standing and to the military officers,[7] that they should immediately, under penalty of being considered traitors to his Majesty, proceed to the house of the Society of Jesus. When the usurper learned this, he forestalled their intentions by sending a large body of infantry, who completely surrounded the college on the outside—with the strictest orders that they should not allow any person to enter it of any class whatever, nor would he even allow their ordinary provisions to be carried in—using sophistical arguments to assure the common people that no one was required by obedience to go there, for the meeting of the auditors was of no account since they did not hold it in the accustomed place and hall.
In order to prevent disturbances, the auditors desiring peace and general tranquillity issued a royal decree in order that the usurper might become obedient [to their authority]. Therein they stated that as Don Francisco de Montemayor y Mansilla had surrendered the right of seniority that he claimed, the authority of captain-general had in the name of his Majesty been handed over, and its possession given to Don Francisco Coloma for the government of military affairs, in fulfilment of the royal will.[8] The delivery of this royal decree into the hands of the usurper was entrusted to the zeal of the Society of Jesus, which always has been steadfast in the royal service; for no layman dared do this, seeing him so carried away by the desire to rule and in possession of the military force. Some of those fathers went to the palace (Father Geronimo de Ortega, lecturer in theology, bearing the decree) and gave themselves into the power of the usurper—who, ignorant of their mission, at once received them; he answered the fathers with insolence, using offensive language toward them.
The speaker [i.e., father Ortega] explained to him that the colleges of the Society always stood and would stand with open doors to receive the king our sovereign, for its members are his loyal vassals; for that reason the religious while awaiting the decision of the usurper, patiently endured not only the epithets cast at them by the ignorant rabble, calling them “traitors” and “rebels,” but also the language of even Fray Francisco Solier who spoke to them very rudely. There were also other annoyances which I must omit, and which should be imputed to Fray Francisco and his guardian and to the commissary of the Holy Office; for although each one of these ought to have been attending to his duty, ambition kept them all three at the palace, which they did not leave for a moment.
The usurper, carefully seeking arguments for a reply to the auditors in order to justify his purpose—and on one side being stimulated by conscience to the blind obedience which he ought, as a vassal of his Majesty, to give to the royal decree; and on the other, being dominated by self-love and the ambition to gain power and riches, which distracted his mind—tried to obtain from some of his mercenary confidants those arguments which were best suited to his desires, as among those who surrounded him there were not lacking some in whom depraved purposes had the ascendant. Don Juan preferred the advice of his special confidant, Don Francisco de Figueroa, who counseled the usurper to notify the people that the royal Audiencia which was at the house of the Society because the auditors had gone there to organize it, had sent to the palace to summon him under penalty of treason to his Majesty if he did not at once render obedience; that accordingly all should consider whether or not it was expedient for him to go. [He advised him], as is proper in a community, to go about but a little while waiting for those persons of highest station who form its head. Figueroa showed his cunning by notifying some of his intimates to reply (as they actually did) that it was not expedient for the usurper to go to the Society’s house; but that the auditors should come to hold their sessions in their customary and proper place, the hall [of the Audiencia], and that then he was under obligations to obey [the summons]. Thereupon the rest agreed with this opinion of the first speaker; and, in order to justify his evil conduct and impute it to the people, he caused them all to assemble together—although some recognizing the mistake avoided this by going out without being noticed, being overlooked among those who were discussing the affair; and with the above decision they sent away the religious.
The usurper tried in various ways to break up the assembly of the auditors and the city officials, who were at the Society’s house. The first was a plan to beguile with promises Captain Don Nicolas de Pamplona, one of the two alcaldes-in-ordinary, to induce him to leave the house; and this succeeded, on account of his lack of sense. For, carried away by those promises, he asked the auditors’ permission to go to his house and visit his wife—who, as they informed him, was in the pains of childbirth—protesting that he would return; but as soon as he went out, he went to see the usurper, who ordered him not to go back under penalty of being a traitor to his Majesty—without heeding that Don Nicolas was an alcalde-in-ordinary and could not be subordinated to him, even if he were legitimately the military governor, but only to the auditors, who directed the civil government.
It was not so easy to persuade his companion, General Sebastian Rayo, who, as a man of ability in these matters, knew that the royal person resided in his court and not in the usurper. The latter, in order to trample on any opposition to his plans, committed the greatest iniquity than man’s imagination can conceive; this was to avail himself of his intimate friend the commissary of the Holy Office, to take General Rayo under pretext of The city council being thus broken up, the royal court still remained entire, which gave the usurper no little anxiety in plotting the means most suitable for securing the object of his longing. For this purpose he sent a message to the auditors that they must within a very limited time hold their sessions at the palace, under penalty of death if they did not obey, since they were causing disturbances and were violating the peace; and he declared that he would aim the artillery at the college of the fathers. In these and other unheard-of evil acts the usurper and his counselors continued; and the auditors went on issuing writs to the more prominent citizens commanding that they should, under penalties of death and being considered traitors to his Majesty, render obedience to the auditors, since the royal person resided only in his court. These efforts were useless, for the guards posted by the usurper permitted no person to leave or enter the house; but the auditors spent two days and a night in these occupations without descending from their tribunal for a moment—with courage enough to render up their souls in the service of his Catholic Majesty. The usurper was surprised to see his designs frustrated, and, knowing the great love that Don Francisco de Coloma had for his wife, made arrangements, availing himself of the cunning and subtlety of his counselor General Don Francisco de Figueroa, that the latter should go in company with General Francisco Garcia del Fresno in his name to talk with the wife of Señor Coloma, giving her to understand that if the auditors did not depart [from the Society’s house] within the limit of three hours, he had already resolved to end the affair in blood. The unhappy lady, as soon as she heard this decision from the envoys, entered her sedan-chair and went to the Society’s church; she sent some one to call her husband, and they remained alone in conversation. The result of this meeting was, that Don Francisco without being seen by any one entered his wife’s chair, leaving her in the church, and went to his own house. Thus the wickedness of General Figueroa, the usurper’s counselor, succeeded in breaking up the royal court, since the only persons remaining were Señor Mansilla and his Majesty’s fiscal.