Chapter XVII: Section XVIII

_Negotiations of Cortes at the Court of Spain, in respect to the Conquest and Government of Mexico_.

In the year 1521, the holy father Adrian de Lobayana, succeeded to the papacy, he being then governor of Castille and resident in the city of Vittoria, where our agents waited upon him to kiss the foot of his holiness. About the same time a great nobleman, named M. de la Soa, arrived from Germany, who was chamberlain to our emperor, and was sent by him to congratulate the new pope on his election. When this nobleman was informed of the heroic deeds of the conquerors of Mexico, and the great things they had performed for the extension of the holy faith, by the conversion and baptism of such myriads of Indians, he became interested in our behalf, and made application to his holiness to expedite the business of our agents. This was readily acceded to, as besides the allegations of our agents, the pope had received other complaints against the bishop of Burgos from persons of quality and honour. Our chief agents on this occasion were Francisco de Montejo, Diego de Ordas, Francisco Nunez cousin to our general, and his father Martin Cortes; who were countenanced by many powerful noblemen, and chiefly by the Duke of Bejar. Thus supported, they brought forward their charges against the bishop to good purpose. These were, that Velasquez had bribed the bishop by the gift of a considerable district in Cuba, the natives of which were made to work in the gold mines for his emolument, to the manifest injury of the royal revenue. That when, in 1517, 110 of us had sailed at our own expence under the command of Hernandez de Cordova for the discovery of New Spain, the bishop had falsely informed his majesty that it was done by Velasquez. That Velasquez had transmitted 20,000 crowns in gold, which had been procured by his nephew Juan de Grijalva on our second voyage, all of which was given to the bishop, and no part of it to his majesty to whom it belonged. That when Cortes sent home a large contribution in gold to his majesty, the bishop had suppressed our letters, substituting others, and ascribed the present to Velasquez, retaining half of the treasure to his own use; and, when Puertocarrera applied to him for permission to wait upon his majesty, the bishop had thrown him into prison, where he died. That the bishop had forbidden the officers of the _Casa de contratation_ of Seville to give any assistance to Cortes, by which the public service had suffered manifest injury. That he had appointed very unfit persons to the military command in New Spain, as was particularly the case with regard to Christoval de Tapia, to whom he had given a commission as governor of New Spain, in order to bring about a marriage between his niece and Tapia. That he had given authenticity to the false accounts transmitted by the agents of Velasquez, suppressing the true relations which came from Cortes. There were many other charges against the bishop which he could not gainsay, as they were all substantiated by good evidence.

All these things being made clear to his holiness, he was pleased to order, that the bishop should have no longer any authority in regard to the affairs of New Spain, of which the government should be conferred on Cortes, and that Velasquez should be remunerated for all the expences he had incurred on account of the expedition, which he could duly substantiate. His holiness sent also to New Spain, a great number of indulgences for the hospitals and churches, and recommended to Cortes and the other conquerors to pay unremitting attention to the conversion of the Indians, and was pleased to send us his holy bulls of absolution. His majesty graciously confirmed all these orders of the pope, ordering Velasquez to be deprived of the government of Cuba, on account of having sent the expedition under Narvaez, in defiance of peremptory orders to the contrary from the royal audience of St Domingo, and the Jeronymite brethren. The bishop was so much affected by his disgrace on this occasion, that he fell dangerously ill.

About this time, Panfilo de Narvaez and Christoval de Tapia arrived in Spain, together with the pilot Umbria and Cardenas, who by the instigation of the bishop of Burgos, preferred many severe accusations against Cortes to his majesty, in which they were gladly joined by the agents of Velasquez. They alleged, that Velasquez had fitted out three several expeditions for New Spain at vast expence, the last of which he had confided to Cortes, who broke his engagements and converted the armament to his own advantage. That when Velasquez sent Narvaez as governor of New Spain, with his majesties commission, Cortes made war upon him, defeated him and made him a prisoner. That when the bishop of Burgos sent Tapia to take the command of New Spain in the name of his majesty, Cortes refused obedience, and compelled him to re-embark. They also accused Cortes of having embezzled a great quantity of gold which he had obtained for his majesty; of taking a fifth of all the plunder to his own use; of having tortured Guatimotzin; of defrauding the soldiers of their shares; of making the natives of Mexico construct for his use magnificent palaces and castles as large as villages; of having poisoned Francisco de Garay, in order to get possession of his ships and troops, and many other charges of a similar nature. By command of his majesty, a court of inquiry was appointed from the privy council, to hear and determine upon these allegations, before which the following answers were given in. That Cordova was the real discoverer of New Spain, which had been done by him and his companions at their own cost. That although Velasquez had sent Juan de Grijalva on an expedition to New Spain, it was only for the purpose of trade, and not of colonization. That the principal charges had been expended by the different captains, and not by Velasquez, who had received the chief part of 20,000 crowns which these captains had collected. That Velasquez gave Indians in Cuba to the bishop of Burgos to collect gold for him, which ought to have belonged to his majesty. That although it was true Velasquez had sent Cortes to New Spain, his orders were only to barter; and the establishment he had made was entirely owing to the representations of his companions for the service of God and his majesty, and in no respect due to the instructions of Velasquez. That it was well known to all, that Cortes had reported the whole of his proceedings to his majesty, to whom he and his companions sent all the gold they could procure, waiting his majesties ultimate orders in the utmost humility; whereas the bishop of Burgos suppressed his letters, and appropriated the gold to his own use, concealing our meritorious services from his majesty, preventing our agents from gaining access to the emperor, and even throwing one of them into prison, where he died; and that he prevented the royal officers from supplying us with such things as we needed, by which our enterprize had been much retarded. That all these things had been done by the bishop from corrupt motives, that he might give the government of Mexico to Velasquez or Tapia, in order that one of them might marry his _niece_ Donna Petronilla de Fonseca, being anxious to make his _son-in-law_ governor of that splendid kingdom. As for the expedition of Narvaez, our agents contended that Velasquez ought to suffer death for having sent it in direct disobedience of his majesties orders as communicated by the royal audience; and that he had behaved with high disrespect to his majesty, in making his application to the bishop of Burgos on this occasion. In support of all these accusations they offered to bring substantial proofs, and prayed the court to award punishment for these multiplied offences.

In reply to the accusations of Narvaez against Cortes, they represented, that Narvaez sent word to Montezuma on his arrival in Mexico, that he came to rescue him, by which he occasioned a dangerous war. That when Cortes desired to see his commission, and represented the necessity of an amicable junction of their forces for the good of the service, Narvaez would give no answer, but immediately declared war against Cortes and his companions, by which they were forced to defend themselves, and that Narvaez had even presumed to seize his majesties oydor, for which Cortes deemed it requisite to bring him to punishment. That when Cortes went to wait on Narvaez, that he might see his commission and remonstrate with him on his proceedings, Narvaez had attempted to make him prisoner by surprise, of which proof could be made by witnesses. As to the failure of Garay, and the ridiculous charge of having poisoned him; it was well known that the expedition under Garay had failed through his own misconduct and ignorance of the country; after which he had gladly accepted the friendly offers of Cortes, who had given him an hospitable reception in Mexico, where an alliance was agreed upon between their families, and Garay was to have been assisted in establishing a colony on the river Palmas; and finally, it was established beyond all doubt, by the oaths of the physicians who attended him, that Garay had died of a pleurisy. In regard to the charge of retaining his majesties fifth, it was proved that Cortes had fairly expended it in the public service, together with 6000 crowns of his own property. That the fifth which he had retained for himself, was according to compact with the soldiers; and as to the shares belonging to the soldiers, it was well known that very little gold was found in Mexico on its capture, as almost all the wealth of the place had fallen into the hands of our allies of Tlascala and Tezcuco. That the torture given to Guatimotzin had been done by his majesties officers, contrary to the inclination of Cortes, in order to force a discovery of where the treasures of Montezuma had been concealed. As for the buildings, though certainly sumptuous, they were intended for the use of his majesty and his successors, and that the work had been carried on by the Indians, under the order of Guatimotzin, as was always done in building houses for the great in that country. As to Alonzo de Avila having taken the commission from Narvaez by force; it appeared there was no commission among his papers, which consisted entirely of receipts for the purchase of horses and the like; and farther, that these papers had been taken without any order from Cortes, who never saw any of them. As for Tapia, it was urged, that if he had come to Mexico and produced his majesties orders, they should have been received and obeyed by Cortes with the utmost humility: But that his incapacity was so notorious to every one then in New Spain, that it was the universal advice and desire of all that Cortes should retain the command. As to the pilot Umbria, whose feet had been cut off, this had been done in the due course of justice, for having run away with his ship. That Cardenas had consented along with all the rest to give up his share of the gold, that the whole might be sent to his majesty; and that Cortes had given him 300 crowns from his own pocket, which was more than he deserved, being a person of no consideration and no soldier.

The court having duly weighed all the charges and answers, the whole proceedings were reported to his majesty, together with their opinion and sentence, which were entirely in favour of Cortes, whose merit and valour, and that of all the veteran conquerors of Mexico, were highly praised. Velasquez was enjoined silence in respect to his complaints against Cortes, and was told that he might seek for the remuneration of his expences by a legal process. Cortes was declared governor-general of New Spain, pursuant to the orders of the pope, and the court approved of the arrangements which he had made in the country, authorizing him to distribute and appoint the districts or _repartimientos_ in the way he thought proper. Narvaez was referred for redress to France, where Avila was still a prisoner. The pilots Umbria and Cardenas obtained royal grants of property in New Spain, to the extent of a thousand crowns in annual rent. And it was ordained that all the veterans of Cortes should have immediate and ample gratifications in lands and Indians, with such precedency in rank as their valour and services had deserved. This sentence was confirmed by the emperor at Valladolid, who was then on his road to Flanders; and he gave orders likewise for the banishment of all relapsed converts in New Spain, and that no _Scholars_[1] should be admitted into that country for a certain term of years. His majesty, and his brother the king of Hungary, were graciously pleaded to write letters to Cortes, and to us the conquerors, thanking us for the good service we had performed.

This affair being decided in our favour, the necessary documents were entrusted to two relations of Cortes, Roderigo de Paz and Francisco de las Casas, who carried them in the first place to St Jago in the island of Cuba, where Velasquez resided. On the sentence being made known to him, and proclaimed by sound of trumpet, he fell ill from vexation, and died soon afterwards poor and miserable. Francisco de Montejo had the government of Yucutan and Cozumel from his majesty, with the title of Don. Diego de Ordas was ennobled, getting for his coat of arms the volcano of Guaxocingo, and was confirmed in all his possessions in New Spain. He went back to Spain two years afterwards to solicit permission to conquer the province of Maranion, in which enterprize he lost his life and all his property. On the arrival of Las Casas and De Paz in Mexico with the appointment of Cortes to the government, there were great rejoicings everywhere. Las Casas was made a captain, and got the _encomienda_ of a good district called Anquitlan; and De Paz was appointed major-domo and secretary to Cortes, getting likewise valuable possessions. Cortes liberally rewarded the captain of the vessel which brought out this pleasing information, and provided handsomely for all who came out to New Spain from his native country of Medellin. All the proceedings of our agents in Spain were regularly conveyed to us the conquerors; but it seemed to me that they agented solely for Cortes and themselves, as we who had raised Cortes to his greatness, were continually encountering dangers and hardships, without any reward. May God protect us, and inspire our great emperor to cause his just intentions towards us to be carried into effect. To us, the ancient, wise, and brave conquerors of Mexico, it appeared that Cortes ought to have duly considered his true friends, who had supported him from the first through all his difficulties and dangers, and ought to have rewarded us according to our respective merits, and his majesties orders, by giving us good and profitable situations, instead of leaving us poor and miserable. By his majesties orders, and by his duty, Cortes was bound to have given to us and our children all the good offices in the kingdom of New Spain; but be thought only of himself and his favourites. In our opinion, who were the conquerors, the whole country ought to have been divided into five equal parts, allotting one to the crown, another for the holy church, and the remaining three parts to Cortes and the rest of us, who were the true original conquerors, giving each a share in perpetuity in proportion to our rank and merits, considering that we had not only served his majesty in gratuity, but without his knowledge, and, almost against his will. This arrangement would have placed us at our ease; instead of which, many of us are wandering about, almost without a morsel to eat, and God only knows what may become of our children.

To the veedor Pedro Alonzo Chirinos, Gonzalo Salazar the factor, Rodrigo Albornos the contador, and many others who came now from Spain, and to the dependents of great men, who flattered him and told him fine tales, Cortes refused nothing; but he treated us the true conquerors like vassals, forgetting us entirely in the distribution of property, yet never failing to call upon us when he wanted our assistance, as if we had been fit only for expeditions and battles. I do not blame him for being generous, as there was enough for all; but he ought in the first place to have considered those who had served his majesty in the conquest of this noble kingdom, and to whose blood and valour he was indebted for his own elevation. Long afterwards, when Luis Ponce de Leon came out to supersede Cortes, we the veteran conquerors represented to our general that he ought to give us that property which he had been ordered by his majesty to resign. He expressed his sorrow for having so long neglected us, and promised even with an oath, that he would provide for us all, if he returned to his government, thinking to satisfy us with smooth words and empty promises.

[1] This probably alludes to _lawyers_, as on a former occasion, Diaz
mentions a request from the Spaniards that none of that fraternity
might be sent over to New Spain, probably to avoid the introduction of
litigious law suits.--E.