[At this point the writer indulges in various half-anxious reflections on the uncertainty of his future, the delay in obtaining the benefits of a governorship even if he secure the appointment to one, and the possibility that all this delay may be time wasted; but he endeavors to bear these things in patience. He states that he has also written to one Patiño [65] on these matters, and he hopes that these representations will lead to measures by the home government that will check the arrogance of the Manila auditors; and he urges his cousin to push his claims to a better post than he now has.] I kiss your Grace's hands, as your cousin and sincere servant and friend, who earnestly desires to see you again, Manuel de Santistevan [Addressed: "To my cousin Señor Don Lorenso de San Tistevan."] [On the margins of pp. 28 and 29 of the MS. appears the following, evidently a postscript to the letter:] Cousin and Sir: When your Grace may write to the relatives [Spanish, Pa--, the rest blotted; the context would indicate parientes], I trust that you will grant me the favor of explaining that, for the reason which I have already stated, lack of time, it is not possible for me to write until another opportunity (which I will try to do); and will your Grace please say the same to the mother of Doña Rafaela (whom may God keep), and convey to all of them, in my behalf, my affectionate remembrances. This packet--of which I will send another copy by the galleon, being uncertain whether this may be lost on the way--is going by way of one of the colonies which in this part of Asia belong to the foreign nations, such as Francia, Inglaterra, Olanda, and Portugal. By this route letters usually go very expeditiously to that kingdom [of España], as also those come here which are sent thence by these routes, employing the method which I described in detail to your Grace in the years 723 and 24--a fact which many persons here have learned by experience, in the case of the letters which by these lines are sent to them from the court there, by the correspondents whom they have in it; for one, the governor obtained this satisfaction soon after his arrival in these islands, in receiving various letters, among which was the commission as warden of the castle of Santiago in this city, for a nephew whom he had brought, who in España had been an alférez of the Guards.