Note 71 — Chapter IX · THE AUDIENCIA AND THE GOVERNOR: THE AD INTERIM RULE
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Royal order of September 8, 1720, A. I., 106–4–16. Testimonio of cédula of November 23, 1774, A. I., 105–2–9. Two years later, the home government showed its disapprobation of the rigorous acts of Cuesta by demoting him from his place as Archbishop of the Philippines to the minor post of Bishop of Mechoacán in New Spain (Montero y Vidal, Historia general, I, 432). The assumption of the government by Cuesta invited the suspicion that he had been a party to the murder of the governor. Seven archbishops had already ruled on various occasions in New Spain (Bolton, Guide, 469–470). It is surprising that such an attempt to solve this problem was not made earlier in the history of the Philippines.