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Montiano took Moral's residencia
Source: The Governorship of Spanish Florida #122
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In the Indies investigations had already begun. The governor of Cuba had appointed a three-man commission to probe Moral’s rule in Florida—a judge (oidor) and a lawyer (fiscal) from the Audiencia of Santo Domingo and an accountant from Havana. [Note: gov of Cuba to king 5/24/1737. It appears that this commission never set foot in Florida. The case against Moral stemmed principally from the residencia testimony taken by Governor Manuel de Montiano.] AN392 In Saint Augustine Manuel de Montiano, Moral’s permanent replacement, was taking the former governor’s residencia, based on 39 questions concerning Moral’s administration. Like those drawn up for Zuniga, the queries covered all of Moral’s activities as a governor—Indian affairs, trade, the subsidy, the poor and needy, defense, administration of justice, and the clergy. Other questions involved Moral’s personal life and the charges made by various Floridians in their letters to the king. [Note: king to gov of Cuba 5/27/1737] As Moral’s residenciado Montiano chose the former governor’s nephew, Romulado Ruiz del Moral, who obtained 21 testimonies favorable to his uncle and made an estimable defense in a seemingly hopeless case. [Note: Prueba del defensor. This 816-page document is contained in the Autos de residencia tomada en virtud de reales ordenes por el senor coronel don Manuel de Montiano. Gobernador y Capitan General de esta Plaza de San Agustin de la Florida y sus provincias a Don Francisco del Moral Sanchez del tiempo que la governo.] In the end, Moral had to face elven charges. Surprisingly none of them seemed as serious as the accusations level at him during his tenure as governor. 1. Moral had mitigated fines levied by his predecessor, Antonio de Benavides. 2. He had used 1,693 pesos in fines for other ends than those set down by the king. 3. He had allowed the English to trade illicitly in Florida and permitted English merchants to sell their wares on the streets of Saint Augustine. 4. In collusion with these heretical traders, he had stored supplies in his own residence, intending to sell them later for personal profit. 5. He had arrested colonial officials without sufficient evidence and had shown favoritism by conferring the captaincy of a small brigantine on an undeserving friend. 6. He had misappropriated 5,851 pesos from the situados and improperly abused the clerical privileges of Auxiliary Bishop Buenaventura. 7. Moral had neglected 488 muskets under his care and had not handed the governorship over to Justis as the king had instructed. 8. He had also permitted the Englishman Carlos Densi (Charles Dempsey) to travel through Florida without restraint. [Note: An English translation of these charges appears in John Tate Lanning, “The Legend that Governor Moral Sanchez was Hanged.”] The case was much too serious, however, for Montiano to pass sentence. It was now a cause celebre, too weighty for a man in his position to decide. Probably, too, he did not want to risk being refuted or chastised by the Council of the Indies. It was far easier to let the Council review the documents and pass sentence, especially in view of the special report being prepared by the three-man committee appointed by the governor of Cuba. By mid-1739, therefore, most of the documents had reached Spain, leaving the key to Moral’s fate with the king and the Council of the Indies. (Tepaske GSF)
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