it. Because of the satisfaction that the Council found in his person,
they proposed him to your Majesty for the government of the province
of Cartagena, to which your Majesty was pleased to appoint him; but as
he did not choose to accept it, your Majesty gave it to another person.

Don Geronimo de Silva, knight of the Order of St. John--to whom after
having served on various occasions, the king our sovereign who is in
heaven, your Majesty's grandfather, granted him title as captain in
the year 89. He raised two hundred and fifty men for the defense of
Portugal. In the year 92, Don Alonso de Bargas gave him a company in
the Aragon expedition, where his Majesty ordered him to go to serve
with twenty-five ducados pay per month. Having gone to Flandes,
he continued with his company in the assaults of Durlans, and in
the captures of Chatelet and Cambray, always acting as a valiant and
respected gentleman. There he was grievously wounded. In the year 96
the duke of Medina-Sidonia appointed him captain and sargento-mayor
of the infantry that he was sending to Portugal. That same year, his
Majesty granted him one of the ordinary companies of light cavalry of
the state of Milan. In consideration of that, in the year 609 he was
given the place of commandant of the forces of Terrenate, and governor
of the soldiers of that presidio, which he served until the year 616,
when he was promoted to the post of master-of-camp of the military
forces of the Filipinas Islands, which he is serving, notwithstanding
that the Council has received certain letters condemning his actions.

Will your Majesty appoint one or other of these, according to your
pleasure. Madrid, March 7, 1625.