The regidores [treasury officals as cabildo], also called deputies and even governors, were representatives of the king as certainly as was the governor. To them he presented his commission and evidence of bond on arrival. At civil ceremonies they walked at his sides carrying the staves of office and—St. Augustine not having a royal standard bearer—one of them bore the standard of the city. One served as minister of protocol. [Note 33: Acclamation of Philip V 1/7/1702; Alonso de Leturiondo 4/29/1697] The regidores were responsible with the governor for the welfare of the land. In concert with him they must endeavor to make the earth fruitful and the idle productive. With him they were charged with the pacification, conversion, and right treatment of the natives, the construction of churches, and decent provision for divine worship. [Note 34: Cedula to the royal officials 6/18/1595; friars in chapter 12/5/1693, with comments by the fiscal of the Council 11/27/1695] They were, in short, his advisory council. If as reformados the royal officials felt entitled to give their military opinions, as sole members of the municipal council and provincial assembly they spoke even more assuredly on behalf of local interests. They regarded themselves and were called by others “the fathers of the country.” [Note 35: Ignacio de Leturiondo 10/29/1694] A cabildo considered all matters of public concern within its termino. There were three senses in which the geographical term was understood. In its largest meaning, the termino stood for the whole territory claimed by the crown, the entire space not incorporated in another Spanish municipality. The termino was also the area of pacified settlement and communication network, the hinterland known to historical geographers as “ecumene” and to Spanish Floridians as “the provinces.” [Note 36: For an exposition of the term “ecumene” and its application to Spanish Florida, see Boniface…] In its third and most limited meaning, the termino was the city and its immediate environs (market, lots, gardens, and the common woods and pastures)—the region also known as the jurisdiccion or concejo. When it came to total area claimed, St. Augustine had one of the largest terminos in the New World during the 17th century, when the nearest incorporated Spanish town by sea was Havana, and the nearest by land, Santa Fe, New Mexico. In a captaincy general like Florida, known for active war, governors were not disposed to take civilian advice about how to deal with invasions and rebellions, explorations or conquests. [Note 37: Gov. Marques Cabrera to the royal officials 2/20/1687, in report on Espiritu Santo Bay 2/28/1687] In these cases the junta de guerra superseded the civil cabildo, and the royal officials’ right to participate might be questioned. Sergeant Major Aranda y Avellaneda refused to give his opinion on a Guale border problem in 1684, saying that with the accountant and treasurer present it was no council of war. [Note 38: Act on moving the Guale villages 8/26/1684. The governor was later criticized because the junta had not included any Guale friars (act against Ex-Gov. Marques Cabrera, Havana, 8/4/1688).] AN445 …Auditor Redondo Villegas believed that the worst evil in Florida was the trouble between the royal officials and the governor. Such a view would be easy to exaggerate. There was after all no point in repeating, letter after letter, that things were going well, especially when governmental business in Florida did not operate smoothly within the law. At such times the creole royal officials and the peninsular governor were in agreement about matters of the treasury, the military, justice, and municipal and provincial government, they formed an impenetrable power block to forward their joint interests and made no report on these to the crown. From St. Augustine, official silence was tantamount to collusion. (Bushnell KC)