The usurper being hindered by warlike preparations, the gentlemen [of the Audiencia] occupied themselves in issuing orders addressed to all persons of high standing and to the military officers, [7] that they should immediately, under penalty of being considered traitors to his Majesty, proceed to the house of the Society of Jesus. When the usurper learned this, he forestalled their intentions by sending a large body of infantry, who completely surrounded the college on the outside--with the strictest orders that they should not allow any person to enter it of any class whatever, nor would he even allow their ordinary provisions to be carried in--using sophistical arguments to assure the common people that no one was required by obedience to go there, for the meeting of the auditors was of no account since they did not hold it in the accustomed place and hall.
In order to prevent disturbances, the auditors desiring peace and general tranquillity issued a royal decree in order that the usurper might become obedient [to their authority]. Therein they stated that as Don Francisco de Montemayor y Mansilla had surrendered the right of seniority that he claimed, the authority of captain-general had in the name of his Majesty been handed over, and its possession given to Don Francisco Coloma for the government of military affairs, in fulfilment of the royal will. [8] The delivery of this royal decree into the hands of the usurper was entrusted to the zeal of the Society of Jesus, which always has been steadfast in the royal service; for no layman dared do this, seeing him so carried away by the desire to rule and in possession of the military force. Some of those fathers went to the palace (Father Geronimo de Ortega, lecturer in theology, bearing the decree) and gave themselves into the power of the usurper--who, ignorant of their mission, at once received them; he answered the fathers with insolence, using offensive language toward them.
The speaker [i.e., father Ortega] explained to him that the colleges of the Society always stood and would stand with open doors to receive the king our sovereign, for its members are his loyal vassals; for that reason the religious while awaiting the decision of the usurper, patiently endured not only the epithets cast at them by the ignorant rabble, calling them "traitors" and "rebels," but also the language of even Fray Francisco Solier who spoke to them very rudely. There were also other annoyances which I must omit, and which should be imputed to Fray Francisco and his guardian and to the commissary of the Holy Office; for although each one of these ought to have been attending to his duty, ambition kept them all three at the palace, which they did not leave for a moment.