The Best of the Bureau/The_Best_of_the_Bureau_Bureau_Development_Inc._1992.iso/dp/0072/00728.txt

Text File | 1992-08-07 | 32KB | 516 lines

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$Title{History Of The Conquest Of Peru
Chapter VII: Part II}
$Subtitle{}
$Author{Prescott, William H.}
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$Subject{pizarro
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$Date{1864}
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Title:       History Of The Conquest Of Peru
Book:        Book III: Conquest Of Peru
Author:      Prescott, William H.
Date:        1864

Chapter VII: Part II

     To these dark suggestions Pizarro turned - or seemed to turn - an
unwilling ear, showing visible reluctance to proceed to extreme measures with
his prisoner. ^23 There were some few, and among others Hernando de Soto, who
supported him in these views, and who regarded such measures as not at all
justified by the evidence of Atahuallpa's guilt.  In this state of things, the
Spanish commander determined to send a small detachment to Guamachucho, to
reconnoitre the country and ascertain what ground there was for the rumors of
an insurrection.  De Soto was placed at the head of the expedition, which, as
the distance was not great, would occupy but a few days.

[Footnote 23: "Aunque contra voluntad del dicho Gobernador, que nunca estubo
bien en ello." Relacion del Primer. Descub., Ms. - So also Pedro Pizarro,
Descub. y Conq., Ms. - Ped. Sancho, Rel., ap Ramusio, ubi supra.]

     After that cavalier's departure, the agitation among the soldiers,
instead of diminishing, increased to such a degree, that Pizarro, unable to
resist their importunities, consented to bring Atahuallpa to instant trial.
It was but decent, and certainly safer, to have the forms of a trial.  A
court was organized, over which the two captains, Pizarro and Almagro, were
to preside as judges.  An attorney-general was named to prosecute for the
Crown, and counsel was assigned to the prisoner.

     The charges preferred against the Inca, drawn up in the form of
interrogatories, were twelve in number.  The most important were, that he had
usurped the crown and assassinated his brother Huascar; that he had squandered
the public revenues since the conquest of the country by the Spaniards, and
lavished them on his kindred and his minions, that he was guilty of idolatry,
and of adulterous practices, indulging openly in a plurality of wives;
finally, that he had attempted to excite an insurrection against the
Spaniards. ^24

[Footnote 24: The specification of the charges against the Inca is given by
Garcilasso de la Vega.  (Com. Real., Parte 2, lib. 1, cap. 37.) One could
have wished to find them specified by some of the actors in the tragedy.  But
Garcilasso had access to the best sources of information, and where there was
no motive for falsehood, as in the present instance, his word may probably
be taken. - The fact of a process being formally instituted against the
Indian monarch is explicitly recognized by several contemporary writers, by
Gomara, Oviedo, and Pedro Sancho.  Oviedo characterizes it as "a badly
contrived and worse written document, devised by a factious and unprincipled
priest, a clumsy notary without conscience, and others of the like stamp, who
were all concerned in this villany." (Hist. de las Indias, Ms., Parte 3, lib.
8, cap. 22.) Most authorities agree in the two principal charges, - the
assassination of Huascar, and the conspiracy against the Spaniards.]

     These charges, most of which had reference to national usages, or to the
personal relations of the Inca, over which the Spanish conquerors had clearly
no jurisdiction, are so absurd, that they might well provoke a smile, did
they not excite a deeper feeling.  The last of the charges was the only one
of moment in such a trial; and the weakness of this may be inferred from the
care taken to bolster it up with the others.  The mere specification of the
articles must have been sufficient to show that the doom of the Inca was
already sealed.

     A number of Indian witnesses were examined, and their testimony,
filtrated through the interpretation of Felipillo, received, it is said, when
necessary, a very different coloring from that of the original.  The
examination was soon ended, and "a warm discussion," as we are assured by one
of Pizarro's own secretaries, "took place in respect to the probable good or
evil that would result from the death of Atahuallpa." ^25 It was a question
of expediency He was found guilty, - whether of all the crime alleged we are
not informed, - and he was sentenced to be burnt alive in the great square
of Caxamalca.  The sentence was to be carried into execution that very night.
They were not even to wait for the return of De Soto, when the information
he would bring would go far to establish the truth or the falsehood of the
reports respecting the insurrection of the natives.  It was desirable to
obtain the countenance of Father Valverde to these proceedings, and a copy
of the judgment was submitted to the friar for his signature, which he gave
without hesitation, declaring, that, "in his opinion, the Inca, at all
events, deserved death." ^26

[Footnote 25: "Doppo l'essersi molto disputato, et ragionato del danno et
vtile che saria potuto auuenire per il viuere o morire di Atabalipa, fu
risoluto che si facesse giustitia di lui." (Ped. Sancho, Rel., ap. Ramusio,
tom. III. fol. 400.) It is the language of a writer who may be taken as the
mouthpiece of Pizarro himself.  According to him, the conclave, which
agitated this "question of expediency," consisted of the "officers of the
Crown and those of the army, a certain doctor learned in the law, that
chanced to be with them, and the reverend Father Vicente de Valverde."]

[Footnote 26: "Respondio, que firmaria, que era bastante, para que el Inga
fuese condenado a muerte, porque aun en lo exterior quisieron justificar su
intento." Herrera, Hist. General, dec. 5, lib. 3, cap. 4]

     Yet there were some few in that martial conclave who resisted these
high-handed measures.  They considered them as a poor requital of all the
favors bestowed on them by the Inca, who hitherto had received at their hands
nothing but wrong.  They objected to the evidence as wholly insufficient; and
they denied the authority of such a tribunal to sit in judgment on a
sovereign prince in the heart of his own dominions.  If he were to be tried,
he should be sent to Spain, and his cause brought before the Emperor, who
alone had power to determine it.

     But the great majority - and they were ten to one - overruled these
objections, by declaring there was no doubt of Atahuallpa's guilt, and they
were willing to assume the responsibility of his punishment.  A full account
of the proceedings would be sent to Castile, and the Emperor should be
informed who were the loyal servants of the Crown, and who were its enemies.
The dispute ran so high, that for a time it menaced an open and violent
rupture; till, at length, convinced that resistance was fruivless, the weaker
party, silenced, but not satisfied, contented themselves with entering a
written protest against these proceedings, which would leave an indelible
stain on the names of all concerned in them. ^27

[Footnote 27: Garcilasso has preserved the names of some of those who so
courageously, though ineffectually, resisted the popular cry for the Inca s
blood.  (Com. Real., Parte 2, lib. 1, cap. 37.) They were doubtless correct
in denying the right of such a tribunal to sit in judgment on an independent
prince, like the Inca of Peru; but not so correct in supposing that their
master, the Emperor, had a better right.  Vattel (Book II. ch. 4.) especially
animadverts on this pretended trial of Atahuallpa, as a manifest outrage on
the law of nations.]

     When the sentence was communicated to the Inca, he was greatly overcome
by it.  He had, indeed, for some time, looked to such an issue as probable,
and had been heard to intimate as much to those about him.  But the
probability of such an event is very different from its certainty, - and
that, too, so sudden and speedy.  For a moment, the overwhelming conviction
of it unmanned him, and he exclaimed, with tears in his ey