ANNO DOM. 1690.
The Administration of Don Fausto Cruzat y Gongora.
Don Fausto Cruzat y Gongora, of a distinguished family in Pampeluna,
took possession of his government in 1690, with the accustomed pomp on
these occasions. On his arrival, he found that the royal establishments
were very badly administered, the superintending officers paying
more attention to their own individual interests than to those of
his Majesty, whose control was too remote to produce any salutary
check on their proceedings. He set immediately about collecting the
arrears of the annual tribute remaining due to the King, with which
he re-built the Governor's palace, enlarged the hall of the Royal
Audience, and the offices of the auditors. Under these he established
the respective prisons, and begun the royal store-houses.
In the year 1692, the ship Santo Christo de Burgos arrived, sailed the
following year, and was never more heard of. In 1694, the galleon San
Joseph, richly laden, was wrecked on the island of Luban in a severe
storm, in which the ship, cargo, and four hundred people were lost.
In the Marianas, the Indians, with the soldiers of the fort, and
the galley-slaves which came in the admiral's ship which was wrecked
there, all rose in rebellion. They had determined to murder all the
Spaniards that were in the islands, and take possession of them; and
which they would have executed, had not one of their party discovered
the conspiracy, when a stop was effectually put to it by the valour
and conduct of the Spaniards and friars. The Indians were compelled
to confine themselves to the islands of Guajan, Rota, and Saypan,
all of which have been since deserted.
From 1690 to 1701, ecclesiastical disputes solely occupied the public
attention.