Moral was also active in his own defense. In his correspondence with the king and the Council of the Indies, he described a nepotistical chain of fathers, sons, brothers, uncles, and nephews combining with the auxiliary bishop and a scheming band of Spanish friars in a conspiracy against him. He had also been beset by problems over which he had no control. Surely, he claimed with some justice, the colonists could not blame him personally for the non-arrival of the subsidy ship in 1735, the cause of most of his troubles. If he had obtained supplies from English traders, he had done so because it was absolutely essential to keep his people from starving. Why, cried Moral, were individuals and circumstances unfairly conspiring to bring him down? [Note: gov to king 1/7/1737] His pleas for understanding and the adulatory letters of his few supporters failed to save the unfortunate governor. Arredondo’s damning reports, the seizure of Iturrieta, and the stream of letters from discontented Floridians had built too strong a case against Moral. By February, 1737... (Tepaske GSF)