Florida -- History -- Spanish colony, 1565-1763 -- Sources; Saint Augustine (Fla.) -- History
If Gonzalo Menendez Canso were moved with the true zeal of God and a
proper desire to serve your Majesty it would have been no more than just
that when he first assumed control of this Government he should have
given you a full and detailed account of the existing state of affairs
and sought your advice and not waited until he was quite sure that his
Office was to be filled by some one else.
Again, I decided to write this to implore you to consider and look
closely into the matters upon which I have advised you and which I have
done in all truth and fidelity as I am obliged to for my King. Knowing
also that the King of glorious memory, your father, had more trouble and
combats than at present on account of economy and the abandoning of this
Garrison, he never listened to such things; on the contrary, in the time
of Governor General Pedro Menendez Marquez, my first cousin, he
increased the force to one hundred and fifty soldiers of Infantry and by
thus assigning them to this Post their aid and succor succeeded in
subjugating the Indians and in bringing and attracting them to hear the
Holy Gospel, and listen to the words of the Friars who preached. This is
a public truth. And since that time no Governor has made any conquests
or discoveries, nor gone in person to treat with the Indians nor draw
them towards civilization by gifts or other means. And if you would at
least grant us a Garrison of defense of three hundred Infantry and
thirty marines besides the Friars, Governor and Royal officials, with
orders that they proceed to ferret out the secrets of the interior of
the country, where Lieutenant Mocana entered, and in which latitude
there can no doubt be found an excellent port, particularly at Cayagua,
where any Armada could with safety enter in an altitude of thirty-three
and one-fourth degrees, and where I have myself been in the past year of
1588. Should it prove advantageous and convenient in the Bay of the
Mother of God, of Macan, at a height of thirty-seven degrees at its
mouth, and which terminates at the foot of the mountain range where I
was also, in the same year, in search of the English settlement. It is a
more sheltered harbor than this one and nearer for obtaining aid, and an
entrance could be made through the Province of Guale in the land of
Tulufino, which corresponds with that called Tama, on the skirts of the
mountain range. It might be a very advantageous move which would result
in the glory of God and your Majesty’s interest; for if we could bring
these people to honor the Governor of the garrison and when they found
that he was working for their good and not the contrary, there would
naturally result a reform among the enemies and we might aspire to carry
out your designs in a satisfactory manner. Under existing circumstances
it is impossible for this Garrison, composed of so few men, to march out
or in any way try to defend themselves against the enemy, and nothing
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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