ratify it from there; and I trust in the Lord that everything will
be done as desired by your Grandeur, whom I wish to serve and please
as the friend of my king and our own. In order to do so, I should
have been glad if I had some curious things from Castilla, to send
as presents to your Grandeur; but I cannot do it now, and will send
them later, when they come. Should your Grandeur wish that as friends
we send each other men of rank and station so that our intercourse
might be more friendly and informal--not that the religious who have
gone are not among us here respected and highly esteemed as servants
of God, and are not sufficiently high in station--but from now on a
layman could be sent of higher rank than that of those who have gone
heretofore. Should your Grandeur desire to send someone to visit the
court of my king and see its splendor and the power and dominion of his
Majesty, he will be sent on from here, and will be well received and
highly favored by my king, because he is very fond of receiving and
entertaining foreigners, and especially such as might come from your
Grandeur, who would receive especial favor. Your Grandeur can advise
me of your decision in regard to this as well as the other matters;
and may the Lord keep you and enlighten you with His divine light.

Then the governor said that because of the duty which, as a Christian,
he owed to the Lord, and because of his duty to the king as his servant
and subject, and because of the strict account which he must render
sooner or later, he thought this a very serious case which could not
be ignored or passed by. He said that it required just such an answer
as the one he had decided to send; and that he would have answered
the emperor with more decision and heat, were it not for the danger
incurred by the fathers and the Christians residing in that kingdom,
and the danger to these islands, if the emperor were to be openly
provoked and displeased to the extent of declaring war. Because of the