By the letters which I wrote to your Grace, in the aforesaid last year, you will be fully informed of the extraordinary quarrel in which I was involved by the bad counsel and selfish designs of the father of my wife Doña Maria Josepha, encouraged by the mischief-making partisans that he has. On this topic I ought to add that, soon after the galleon which carried the aforesaid letters had sailed from this place, the said Doña Maria Josepha with great eagerness made known her desire to return home with me, urgently entreating that I would enable her to do so as soon as possible. Such being the relations between us, and the lawsuit being then near its final limit [estar en terminos de concluirse] (since all the evidence [necessary] for deciding it had already been furnished), and since, to judge by what was coming out in the suit, much annoyance could be occasioned by my side to her father, in order that it might serve as a warning and correction to the malice and evil design with which he undertook this quarrel, I resolved, responding to the good-will of the said Doña Maria Josepha, to give her the satisfaction of [granting] her petition. By way of correlative [to this], I performed the feat of overlooking, in regard to that same father of hers, the injury that in every way he has tried to do me; so that, although I could, while awaiting the decision [of the lawsuit] which, as the saying goes, was already in my hands--inflict on him most grievous injury, notwithstanding all this, from that time I formed the steadfast resolve that in case Doña Maria Josepha and I were reunited, as we were expecting, not only would I do my share to secure that from it not the slightest [harm] should result therefrom to him, but that we should maintain such harmony that this matter should no longer be remembered. In pursuance of this resolve, and because it seemed to me that this was the best way in order to live in conformity to the commands of God, I spoke upon this subject to the former governor, and to the archbishop [57]--who, on account of their earnest desire, as heads of the commonwealth, that this result might be secured, were unspeakably delighted that Doña Maria Josepha and I should come to so good a resolution. Immediately they held a conference in regard to the measures that should be taken in order that this reunion might be accomplished as soon as possible; and as it seemed best to them that it should be done through a conference with her father, since she had asked me that the matter might be thus arranged, they agreed to talk with him about it; this business was attended to by the archbishop, in his own name and in that of the governor. Although that gentleman [i.e., Doña Maria's father] answered the archbishop with plausible arguments, to the effect that our union did not depend upon himself, but upon the aforesaid Doña Maria Josepha, but that he would, nevertheless, speak to her with the aim of promoting it, he acted so