The Memoirs of the Conquistador Bernal Diaz del Castillo Vol 2 Part 16

Fourthly. When Cortes, during the progress of the conquest of New Spain, despatched Montejo and Puertocarrero, cousin to the earl of Medellin, to Spain, with the sun of gold, the moon of silver, and the gold dust, with various kinds of jewels and trinkets as a present to his majesty, accompanied by despatches from Cortes and all the Conquistadores, containing a full account of our transactions in the new world, the bishop refused to give our agents an audience, and abused them in a most shameful manner, calling them traitors and the agents of a traitor, and took away from them the present we had destined for his majesty. He suppressed our despatches to the emperor, and sent his majesty an account which was the very opposite of ours, and had represented matters in such a way as though everything came from his creature Diego Velasquez. But he did not stop here; for he retained the greater part of the valuable present himself, and when Puertocarrero begged permission of the bishop to repair in person to his majesty in Flanders, he cast him into prison, where he died.

Fifthly. The bishop had forbidden the two chief harbour-masters of Seville to allow any vessels having on board troops, ammunition, or other matters for Cortes, to leave that harbour.

Sixthly. The bishop, without authority from his majesty, had wished to give the most important appointments to men who neither possessed the requisite talents nor merited to fill such offices: for instance, the government of New Spain he had conferred upon Christobal de Tapia, who could not even have been intrusted with an inferior command, and whose only claim to that office was his marriage with Dona Petronella de Fonseca, a niece of the bishop, and a near relative of Velasquez.

And lastly. The bishop lent a favorable ear to all the false statements of Velasquez's agents, while he suppressed, distorted, and garbled the true and faithful accounts which Cortes and the rest of us despatched to his majesty.

These and other complaints against the bishop, which were accompanied by undeniable proofs were properly drawn up by our agents, and with these they repaired to Saragossa, where his holiness was staying, to whom they handed over this doc.u.ment and challenged the bishop as an unfit person to be judge in these matters.

After his holiness had perused this representation of the case, and had convinced himself that there was very little truth with regard to the enormous expenses to which Velasquez pretended to have put himself, and that upon the whole he had only had the interest of his patron and the bishop at heart; but that Cortes, on the other hand, had had the interest of the emperor in view, his holiness not only declared that the bishop was unfit to preside as judge in the dispute between Cortes and Velasquez, but superseded him as president of the council of the Indies.

His holiness at the same time appointed Cortes governor of New Spain, and decreed that Velasquez was to be reimbursed for his expenses in fitting out the armament. His holiness also sent several papal bulls with a number of indulgences for the hospitallers and the churches of New Spain, and addressed a separate letter to Cortes, and the whole of us Conquistadores, in which his holiness admonished us to use our utmost endeavours to convert the Indians to Christianity; to abolish all human sacrifices and other abominations from the country, and to gain the friends.h.i.+p of the people: hereby we should merit the highest rewards from his majesty, and his holiness, as the pastor of our souls, would supplicate the Almighty in prayer to send a blessing on our endeavours in the service of Christianity. This letter was likewise accompanied by other bulls, by which absolution was granted us for all the sins we had committed during the conquest.

After this very favorable decision of his holiness, both as supreme pontiff and governor of Spain, our agents themselves wrote to his majesty, who had just arrived from Flanders,[37] and inclosed certain papers which had been drawn up by his holiness respecting the subject-matter. His majesty, after making the most minute inquiries into the affair, confirmed the decision of the pope, appointed Cortes governor of New Spain, and also ordered that Velasquez should be reimbursed the expenses of the expedition. But the emperor even went further than this, and deprived Velasquez of the government of Cuba, because he had fitted out the armament under Narvaez for New Spain without his permission, and in opposition to the commands of the royal court of audience at St. Domingo, and of the Hieronymite brotherhood; also because he had refused to obey the orders of the auditor Vasquez de Aillon, and had even had the audacity to throw him into prison, though he had been expressly despatched to Cuba by order of the royal court of audience to forbid the armament leaving this island.

When the bishop of Burgos was informed of the decision to which his holiness and his majesty had come, he fell ill from excessive vexation, quitted the court and retired to his country seat at Toro. His brother, Don Antonio de Fonseca,[38] lord of Coca and Alaexos, tried all in his power to get him reinstated into his late office, but all his endeavours proved fruitless with the emperor.

Thus, all in a moment, everything terminated favorably for Cortes, but the instability of good fortune soon began to show itself, for now Narvaez, Christobal de Tapia, and the soldier Cardenas brought heavy accusations against him. To all of which was added the charges preferred against our general by the pilot Umbria, whom Cortes had sentenced to have his legs cut off on the occasion when Cermenno and Escudero were hung for a conspiracy they had formed against his life.

CHAPTER CLXVIII.

_How Narvaez, Christobal de Tapia, the pilot Umbria, and the soldier Cardenas, bring heavy accusations against Cortes, at the instigation of the bishop of Burgos, and what judgment his majesty p.r.o.nounced._

After the pope and the emperor, as I have just related, had p.r.o.nounced judgment in favour of Cortes, Pamfilo de Narvaez and Christobal de Tapia arrived in Spain. They were accompanied by the soldier Cardenas and the pilot Umbria, and immediately repaired to the bishop of Burgos at Toro, and begged of him to aid in the accusations which they had determined to bring against Cortes before his majesty. As nothing could be more welcome to the bishop than this, he promised to lend them every support, and upon his advice they joined Velasquez's agents, named Bernardino Velasquez, Benito Martin, and Manuel de Rojas, and presented themselves to his majesty, before whom they preferred the following charges against Cortes:

Firstly. Diego Velasquez had sent out three several armaments for the discovery and colonization of New Spain, in which he had expended large sums of money. Of one of these expeditions he had appointed Cortes commander-in-chief, but the latter had deserted with the whole armament and had refused all further obedience to him.

Secondly. When Diego Velasquez upon this despatched Narvaez with eighteen vessels, 1300 foot, a considerable body of horse, musketeers, and crossbow-men to New Spain, Cortes not only refused to acknowledge the papers in which the president of the council of the Indies conferred the government of the country on Narvaez, but he had even attacked the latter with his troops, killed several of his officers, and then, after Narvaez had lost an eye in the battle, took him and the whole of his men prisoners.

Thirdly. When upon this the bishop of Burgos conferred the appointment of governor of New Spain upon Christobal de Tapia, and the latter repaired in person thither to enter upon the government in the name of his majesty, Cortes again refused all obedience and forced Tapia to leave the country.

Fourthly. Cortes had demanded in the name of his majesty large quant.i.ties of gold from all the towns.h.i.+ps throughout New Spain, which the inhabitants accordingly had brought him, but he had put the whole of it in his private purse.

Fifthly. Cortes had taken an equal fifth with his majesty of the booty found in Mexico, which had created great discontent among the men.

Sixthly. He had tortured Quauhtemoctzin and other caziques, in order to extort more gold from them.

Seventhly. Cortes never divided any of the gold among his troops, but kept all to himself.

Eighthly. Cortes was building himself palaces and houses with fortifications, which had the extent of whole towns.h.i.+ps; the inhabitants of the surrounding districts were compelled to labour in the construction of the edifices, and were obliged to fetch large cedar trees and enormous blocks of stone from the most distant parts.

Ninethly. He had poisoned Francisco de Garay in order that he might get possession of his vessels and of his troops.

Besides these they brought many similar charges against Cortes, so that his majesty was excessively annoyed, imagining that all they said was true, and he would not listen to any more, telling them that these accusations were quite sufficient.

During this audience, Narvaez, with his stentorian voice, was heard to express himself as follows: "Your majesty can easily imagine how matters went with me on the night that Cortes attacked and defeated me; for when his men thrust out one of my eyes, and I found my quarters all in flames, I quickly secreted the deed by which I held my appointment from your majesty, between my cuira.s.s; but one of Cortes' officers took these papers forcibly from me, nor could I obtain possession of them again.

They even spread the rumour that I had no appointment at all, but that the papers they took from me were bonds of some kind or other."

The emperor could not help laughing at what Narvaez said, but promised that he and the others should have justice done them. His majesty then appointed a commission from the gentlemen of his court and of his privy council, in whose honesty he could place the most implicit confidence to make inquiries into the several charges, and to p.r.o.nounce judgment upon them. The names of the gentlemen who composed this commission were: Mercurio Catarinario,[39] high chancellor of Italy; senor la Chau; the doctor de la Rocha; Hernando de Vega, who was lord of Grajales and comendador-mayor of Castile; the doctor Lorenzo Galindez de Caravajal, and the licentiate Vargas, who was treasurer-general of Castile. His majesty desired these gentlemen to make the most minute investigation respecting the dispute between Velasquez and Cortes, and also into the present charges which were preferred against the latter; and particularly recommended them to have no regard to persons, but to give their decision in conformity with strict justice. These gentlemen then a.s.sembled in the house of the high chancellor, and ordered Narvaez, with his three companions and the agents of Velasquez into their presence. In the same way they cited before them Martin Cortes, the licentiate Nunez, Montejo, and Ordas. These latter gentlemen being made acquainted with the several charges which had been prepared against Cortes, replied to the following effect:

That with regard to the a.s.sertion, that Velasquez was the first discoverer of New Spain, and that he had expended large sums of money in the discovery, it was entirely false, as the whole merit of it was due to Cordoba, who had fitted out the armament at his own expense.

Velasquez, on the contrary, in many circ.u.mstances connected with this expedition, had laid himself open to the imputation of guilt, as he had tried all in his power to induce Cordoba and his companions, for certain considerations, to land at the Guanajas islands, in order to carry away forcibly from thence a great number of the inhabitants as slaves, to work his mines in Cuba; of all of which our agents produced undeniable proofs. Neither could Velasquez, they continued, claim any merit to himself when he subsequently despatched his relative Grijalva to New Spain, as he had not commissioned him to form any settlements, but he merely desired him to carry on a trade of barter with the Indians. Nor had Velasquez put himself to any great expense on this occasion, as the greater part of the expenses in fitting out the armament had been borne by the officers and soldiers themselves, one of whom, Francisco de Montejo, now stood before the honorable commission. From this expedition Grijalva had returned to Cuba with 20,000 pesos worth of gold, of which, however, Velasquez had not paid one farthing into the royal treasury, but claimed the whole amount for himself, and sent it to the bishop of Burgos, to obtain further favours from him. In the same way he had bestowed upon the bishop great numbers of Indians to work his gold mines in Cuba, without his ever so much as thinking to set any of the towns.h.i.+ps apart for the crown. Of all this they likewise produced undeniable proofs.

If Velasquez, continued our agents, did give Cortes the chief command of the armament he afterwards fitted out, his appointment was certainly by divine ordinance, and it proved most fortunate for the emperor's interest, as every other general must have succ.u.mbed to the immense bodies of the enemy which everywhere opposed his march into the interior of the country. However, Velasquez's intention in fitting out this expedition was not to make any conquests, or form any settlements, but merely to carry on a trade of barter with the Indians; in proof of which, they could produce the original papers, containing his instructions. Cortes had remained in that country, and founded a colony there, because his troops had insisted on it, and because he himself was convinced that it would be both serviceable to G.o.d and to his majesty.

Respecting all these circ.u.mstances, Cortes' troops drew up an account, which they had despatched to his majesty, with all the gold they had collected up to that moment; indeed Cortes and his men were never for a moment forgetful of the deep veneration and the dutiful obedience which they owed to their monarch. Our agents then gave a long description of the great partiality which the president of the council of the Indies had undisguisedly shown on every occasion for Velasquez; how he had taken all the gold, with our despatches, from our agents, and put half of the former into his own pocket; how he had calumniated us to his majesty, purposely omitted to mention what great services we had rendered to the crown, suppressed real facts, and altogether placed things in a false light. But this was not all; for when our agents wished to repair in person to Flanders, in order to throw themselves at his majesty's feet, and give him a faithful account of all the circ.u.mstances, the bishop cast one of those gentlemen, named Puertocarrero, a relative of the earl of Medellin, into prison, where he died. With the same hostile feeling and party spirit the bishop had issued peremptory orders that neither ammunition, troops, nor anything else destined for Cortes, should leave the port of Seville, and every obstacle was to be laid in his way to thwart his designs. He had not hesitated to term Cortes and the whole of his men a pack of traitors; and the only cause of his hatred was his own interested connexion with Velasquez, and the intended marriage of his niece with Christobal de Tapia, in consideration of which the latter was to receive the appointment of governor of New Spain.

In proof of this and other matters, our agents produced copies of letters we had written to his majesty, besides other important doc.u.ments; so that Velasquez's party were unable to confute them on any point.

With respect to the armament of Narvaez, continued our agents, Velasquez had fully deserved punishment of death, as he had fitted it out against Cortes without any authority from his majesty, and against the wishes and express orders of the royal court of audience at St. Domingo, and of the Hieronymite brotherhood, whom the emperor had appointed viceroys of the West Indies. Diego Velasquez had, upon the whole, troubled himself very little about his majesty, but had always applied to the president of the council of the Indies. In his hatred he had forgotten the true interests of the crown, for which reason he had continually bred disturbances among the troops in New Spain, though it was so necessary towards the conquest of the country, and the conversion of the inhabitants, to maintain the strictest union among the men. Velasquez had gone so far in his refractory and disrespectful behaviour towards the authorities of St. Domingo, that he had ordered to be imprisoned and sent back to Cuba the licentiate Vasquez de Aillon, whom the royal court of audience had expressly despatched to New Spain to admonish Narvaez not to commence hostilities with Cortes. As Narvaez was now himself present, and had had the audacity to accuse Cortes and his troops of _crimen laesae majestatis_, they must retort this charge upon him, and they demanded that punishment of death might be p.r.o.nounced against him, as the moment he landed in New Spain he sent word to Motecusuma that his only object for visiting his dominions was to liberate him from prison, and to hang Cortes, with the whole of his men, as traitors. By this he had caused an insurrection throughout the whole country, which up to that moment had enjoyed perfect tranquillity. This conduct was the less excusable in him, since Cortes, immediately upon Narvaez's arrival in Vera Cruz, had written a most polite letter to him, and requested him to produce his appointment, as, if he possessed such an instrument, signed by his majesty, Cortes was ready to acknowledge his authority. To this Narvaez not only refused to reply, but had called Cortes and the whole of his men traitors, proclaimed war against them, and even declared them outlaws. Notwithstanding all this, Cortes had repeatedly offered Narvaez peace, and earnestly requested him not to create a rebellion in the country; for this was threatened by his conduct, and New Spain would certainly be lost again to the Spanish crown. Cortes had even offered to share the government of New Spain between himself and Narvaez, and to allow the latter his choice of the provinces. But even to this Narvaez had returned no answer; so that Cortes found himself compelled to pursue a more determined course, and to demand satisfaction of him for having imprisoned a royal auditor. Cortes at length proposed a personal interview with him, which Narvaez had certainly accepted, but this never took place, for his intentions were to seize Cortes during the conference. This could be proved by Duero, who now stood before the honorable commissioners, as at that time he held a command under Narvaez, and had himself warned Cortes of the latter's treacherous designs against his life.

Neither could Velasquez's agents confute any part of these statements; our agents therefore continued: With regard to the expedition of Garay, Cortes had not been the cause of its failure, but the inhabitants of Panuco, who had risen up in arms against the troops, the whole of whom, with Garay, would certainly have been cut off to a man, if the latter had not, in the imminent danger in which he was placed, begged a.s.sistance of Cortes; for which purpose Garay had repaired in person to Mexico, where he met with the kindest reception from Cortes; but that a few days after he caught a violent cold, of which he died, and not of poison, as had been imputed to Cortes, who could have had no cause whatever to adopt such a course, even if he had in any way feared Garay, as the latter did not possess the requisite talents for command, and had himself caused great discontent among his troops, who even rebelled against him, on account of his having marched them immediately upon landing to a pestilential part of the country, full of swamps and uninhabitable, on account of the vermin with which it swarmed. When his men therefore heard of the riches of Mexico and the liberality of Cortes, they dispersed of their own accord, and traversed the country like so many banditti, plundered and burned the towns.h.i.+ps, and forcibly carried off the females, until the natives rose up against them in a body. Cortes' only reason for despatching several of his officers to Garay was that they might a.s.sist him with their advice and authority; to peruse his papers, and see how far they interfered with the powers which Cortes had obtained from his majesty. When Garay found that the whole of his men had deserted, and that the greater number of his vessels were lost, he repaired in person to Mexico, to beg a.s.sistance from Cortes. On his road thither he everywhere met with the heartiest reception; in Tezcuco a splendid banquet took place in his honour, and when he had approached within a short distance of Mexico, Cortes himself came out to meet him, and quartered him in one of his own palaces. They became so friendly with each other, that the preliminaries of a marriage were settled between a daughter of Cortes and the eldest son of Garay, and in consideration of this union it was particularly stipulated that Cortes was to a.s.sist Garay in an expedition to the river Palmas. But because Garay soon after fell suddenly ill, and it pleased the Almighty in his wisdom to call him to another world, Velasquez's agents had thought proper to reproach Cortes with his death! who, however, had given sufficient proofs of the deep sorrow he felt at his untimely end, by the funeral pomp with which he honoured his last remains, and the mourning which he put on; besides which, the surgeons had stated on oath that Garay died of pleurisy.

Cortes had likewise been reproached for subtracting an equal fifth with the emperor from all the gold that was collected; but to this the answer was, that the troops had unanimously agreed to allow him such a share of the gold when they elected him captain-general and chief justice of New Spain, with the proviso, however, that this should only remain in force until his majesty should otherwise dispose. For the rest, Cortes was in every way ent.i.tled to this portion, as he had embarked his whole fortune in the service of his majesty, and on different occasions had paid large sums out of his own private purse, as, for instance, in the expedition against Panuco alone he had expended above 60,000 pesos; moreover, it would have been impossible for Cortes to have sent those valuable presents for his majesty to Spain unless the troops had allowed him this fifth.

Against this justification of Cortes' conduct, Velasquez's agents were also unable to bring in a word, and our agents continued:

Cortes had likewise been reproached for giving his men so trifling a share of the gold; but how was it possible for him to give more than he possessed; for the conquest of the city of Mexico had produced very little gold, as the Tlascallans and other auxiliaries had carried off the greater part of the booty. It was likewise a false accusation against Cortes to say he had put Quauhtemoctzin and other caziques to the torture, in order to extort more gold from them. Cortes indeed had been quite averse to this inhuman act, but the officers of the crown had insisted on it, in order to force from them a confession as to where they had concealed Motecusuma's treasure.

It was certainly true, continued our agents, that Cortes was building extensive and splendid mansions, but in this he had the emperor's interest entirely at heart, for they were all built in his majesty's name. It was, however, altogether false that he ordered the wood and stone to be brought to Mexico from distant parts, for the wood grew near to the city, and was conveyed thither by water; and as for the stones, they had, in all truth, a sufficient supply in the place itself, from the numerous temples which had been pulled down. Velasquez's agents had altogether misrepresented things, with regard to the system of building in Mexico. Cortes had certainly one great advantage with regard to labourers, for he had only to say the word, and Quauhtemoctzin readily furnished him with the necessary workmen from the surrounding towns.h.i.+ps; but this was quite in accordance with the custom of the country, where the subjects are always obliged to build the houses for their chiefs.

Narvaez's accusation, said our agents, is equally unfounded, when he says that Alonso de Avila took the papers from him containing his appointment, and had refused to return them, or that he had said these papers were nothing but bonds. Cortes never saw Narvaez's appointment, or gave any one orders to demand it of him; though it is a fact that all the papers which were found upon Narvaez were three bonds or securities for some horses which he had sold upon trust.

The complaints of the pilot Umbria and of the soldier Cardenas were mere fabrications, continued our agents. The first had not had his feet cut off without cause, but conformably to a just sentence, for having, with two of his companions, who had suffered death for it, deserted his general, and seized one of the vessels, with the intention of running off with her to Cuba.

Cardenas, who complains that he had no share of the first gold we collected, which was sent to his majesty, had himself, with several others, signed his name to a certain doc.u.ment, by which he yielded up all claim to his share, in order that the whole of the gold might be forwarded as a present to the emperor. Nevertheless, Cortes had given him 300 pesos from his own private purse, in order to induce him to return with his wife and family to New Spain. With this sum of money he had been richly renumerated, for he was quite unfit for military service, and besides this was not altogether right in his head.

Our agents further continued to say, that they were quite surprised accusations should be preferred against Cortes and his troops for having marched against Narvaez, defeated his army, taken his officers prisoners, and burnt his quarters to the ground! They had sufficiently explained above what Narvaez's conduct had been in New Spain, and no person could deny that he had compelled Cortes to take up arms against him: and it appeared like a judgment from heaven that Cortes, with only 266 men, without cavalry, or cannon, or muskets, should have overthrown Narvaez, with a body of 1300 men, who were fully equipped for war, besides having a fine park of artillery. New Spain would undoubtedly have been lost again to the Spanish crown, if Narvaez had entered upon the government of that vast territory. It would have been the same case if Christobal de Tapia had been allowed to a.s.sume that dignity, who, however, had had sufficient common sense to see the difficulty of his position, and had considered himself very fortunate in selling off to Cortes the horses and negroes which he brought over with him for a good price, and to return from whence he came. However, if he had repaired to Mexico, and had shown his appointment to Cortes, the latter would certainly have obeyed him; but the cavaliers and the authorities of the different towns would never have consented to the chief command of New Spain pa.s.sing from the hands of Cortes into those of an individual, whom every one at the first sight could see had not the requisite talents to fill an office of so much importance. Those cavaliers and distinguished personages had even drawn up pet.i.tions to his majesty, in which they humbly supplicated him to withdraw the appointment of Tapia.

Here our agents closed the defence; and as the complainants had nothing further to say, and the pleadings of both parties had lasted five days, the commission closed the court, and retired to deliberate on their verdict, which ran as follows:

The commissioners were of opinion that Cortes and the other true and only Conquistadores of New Spain had on every occasion proved themselves loyal and faithful servants of his majesty. Great good fortune had certainly attended all their undertakings, but the courage and intrepidity which they had displayed in the terrible and b.l.o.o.d.y battles with the Indians, the victory which they gained over the large body of troops under Narvaez with a handful of men, fully merited this good fortune. The commissioners declared that Velasquez was not justified in commencing his suit respecting the government of New Spain; but that he was at liberty to sue Cortes in the proper law courts for the monies he had expended in fitting out the armament.

They confirmed the pope's appointment of Cortes as governor of New Spain; every division of land which he had made should stand good, and further power should be granted to him to distribute the lands in future, according to the best of his judgment; as it was quite evident that in everything he had done up to the present moment he had strove to promote the service of G.o.d, and the best interests of his majesty; and it was therefore to be supposed he would continue to do so in future.

With respect to the accusations brought against Cortes concerning Garay's death, the commissioners could not p.r.o.nounce judgment at present, but would thoroughly investigate this matter on some future occasion: neither could they at present come to any decision with regard to Narvaez's charge that his papers had been taken away from him, as the defendant Alonso de Avila was then a prisoner in France; but they would apply to the French king for his release in order to examine him. With respect to the pilot Umbria and the soldier Cardenas, the commissioners would pet.i.tion his majesty to grant them each a commendary in New Spain that would produce them an annual rent of 1000 pesos.

With regard to the Conquistadores themselves, they would propose that lucrative commendaries should be bestowed upon them all, and that they should take precedence in the churches and in all other places.

These several decisions were then drawn up in proper form, and despatched to the royal court at Valladolid to receive his majesty's confirmation.

His majesty not only confirmed the decision to which the commissioners had come, but issued other royal letters by which Cortes was empowered to banish from New Spain all deserters and those Spaniards who strolled about the country like vagabonds, as they obstructed the conversion of the Indians to Christianity. Further, all lawyers were forbidden to settle in New Spain for a certain number of years to come, for they only created lawsuits, quarrels, and dissensions among the inhabitants.

These royal letters were given at the court of Valladolid on the 17th of May, in the year one thousand five hundred and so many years,[40]

countersigned by the above commissioners, by Don Garcia de Padilla, and by the royal secretary Don Francisco de los Cobos, who subsequently became comendador-mayor of Leon. Besides all this, his majesty wrote letters to Cortes and all of us the veteran Conquistadores, in which he expressed his unqualified satisfaction with the great and excellent services we had rendered the crown.