An attempt to Colonize Mindanao.--In the year 1596, the Captain Rodriguez de Figueroa received the title of governor of Mindanao, with exclusive right to colonize the island for "the space of two lives." He left Iloilo in April with 214 Spaniards, two Jesuit priests, and many natives. They landed in the Rio Grande of Mindanao, where the defiant dato, Silonga, fortified himself and resisted them. Almost immediately Figueroa rashly ventured on shore and was killed by Moros. Reinforcements were sent under Don Juan Ronquillo, who, after nearly bringing the datos to submission, abandoned all he had gained. The Spaniards burned their forts on the Rio Grande and retired to Caldera, near Zamboanga, where they built a presidio. Death of Franciscans in Japan.--The new governor, Don Francisco Tello de Guzman, arrived on June 1, 1596. He had previously been treasurer of the Casa de Contratacion in Seville. Soon after his arrival an important and serious tragedy occurred in Japan. The ship for Acapulco went ashore on the Japanese coast and its rich cargo was seized by the feudal prince where the vessel sought assistance. The Franciscans had already missions in these islands, and a quarrel existed between them and the Portuguese Jesuits over this missionary field. The latter succeeded in prejudicing the Japanese court against the Franciscans, and when they injudiciously pressed for the return of the property of the wrecked galleon, "San Felipe," the emperor, greedy for the rich plunder, and exasperated by their preaching, met their petitions with the sentence of death. They were horribly crucified at the port of Nagasaki, February 5, 1597. This emperor was the proud and cruel ruler, Taycosama. He was planning the conquest of the Philippines themselves, when death ended his plans. The First Archbishop in the Philippines.--Meanwhile the efforts of Salazar at the Spanish court had effected further important changes for the Islands. The reëstablishment of the Royal Audiencia was ordered, and his own position was elevated to that of archbishop, with the three episcopal sees of Ilocos, Cebu, and the Camarines. He did not live to assume this office, and the first archbishop of the Philippines was Ignacio Santibañez, who also died three months after his arrival, on May 28, 1598. Reëstablishment of the Audiencia.--The Audiencia was reëstablished with great pomp and ceremony. The royal seal was borne on a magnificently caparisoned horse to the cathedral, where a Te Deum was chanted, and then to the Casas Reales, where was inaugurated the famous court that continued without interruption down to the end of Spanish rule. Dr. Morga was one of the first oidores, and the earliest judicial record which can now be found in the archives of this court is a sentence bearing his signature.