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 remains but to die bravely defending the Garrison as best they can, and when there remains no one else to defend it, it leaves the Friars and converted Indians to the mercy of God, for it is the only help they can look to, the Forts and Castles of Flanders being so far away they would be slow to respond. If there is to be no more infantry sent I think it would be well to agree upon making this Fort a ravelin and build a good trench of defense along the coast to prevent the enemy from jumping over and in every possible way attend to the preservation of all the above mentioned regarding the Friars and converted natives. Put a stop to all these ambushes and skirmishes and other nuisances which oblige them (the natives) to leave their settlements and fortify themselves upon your domains and do great damage to vessels coming in and going out at the mouth of the Bahama channel, making it unsafe all along the coast of this part of the Indies, possessed by your Majesty and which you will possess for many years for the glory of God and the welfare of the souls of these poor natives, and may His Divine Majesty not permit these arbitrations and troubles caused by a few men who are incited by their passions and own selfish interests and with the pretext of saving you some twenty or thirty thousand dollars cause such great trouble that your expenses will be more than doubled in repairing the damage. You support and maintain the Garrisons of Havana and Porto Rico from rents and taxes of New Spain and it is not just nor proper to put difficulties in your way to prevent you from preserving and sustaining in the same way this one which should be well defended as it is a Port from whence you can pass through those same inland regions to Mexico, and, in my opinion, it is very important to preserve it for this purpose.