The Best of the Bureau/The_Best_of_the_Bureau_Bureau_Development_Inc._1992.iso/dp/0074/00746.txt

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$Unique_ID{bob00746}
$Pretitle{}
$Title{History Of The Conquest Of Peru
Chapter IX: Part I}
$Subtitle{}
$Author{Prescott, William H.}
$Affiliation{}
$Subject{de
pizarro
cap
viceroy
lib
los
peru
footnote
del
blasco}
$Date{1864}
$Log{}
Title:       History Of The Conquest Of Peru
Book:        Book IV: Civil Wars Of The Conquerors
Author:      Prescott, William H.
Date:        1864

Chapter IX: Part I

Measures Of Gonzalo Pizarro. - Escape Of Vaca De Castro. Reappearance Of The
Viceroy. - His Disastrous Retreat. - Defeat And Death Of The Viceroy. -
Gonzalo Pizarro Lord Of Peru.

     1544-1546.

     The first act of Gonzalo Pizarro was to cause those persons to be
apprehended who had taken the most active part against him in the late
troubles.  Several he condemned to death; but afterwards commuted the
sentence, and contented himself with driving them into banishment and
confiscating their estates. ^1 His next concern was to establish his
authority on a firm basis.  He filled the municipal government of Lima
with his own partisans.  He sent his lieutenants to take charge of the
principal cities.  He caused galleys to be built at Arequipa to secure the
command of the seas; and brought his forces into the best possible
condition, to prepare for future emergencies.

[Footnote 1: Pedro Pizarro, Descub. y Conq., Ms.

     The honest soldier, who tells us this, was more true to his king than
to his kindred.  At least, he did not attach himself to Gonzalo's party,
and was among those who barely escaped hanging on this occasion.  He seems
to have had little respect for his namesake.]

     The Royal Audience existed only in name; for its powers were speedily
absorbed by the new ruler, who desired to place the government on the same
footing as under the marquess, his brother Indeed, the Audience
necessarily fell to pieces, from the position of its several members.
Alvarez had been sent with the viceroy to Castile.  Cepeda, the most
aspiring of the court, now that he had failed in his own schemes of
ambition, was content to become a tool in the hands of the military chief
who had displaced him.  Zarate, a third judge, who had, from the first,
protested against the violent measures of his colleagues, was confined to
his house by a mortal illness; ^2 and Tepeda, the remaining magistrate,
Gonzalo now proposed to send back to Castile with such an account of the
late transactions as should vindicate his own conduct in the eyes of the
emperor.  This step was opposed by Carbajal, who bluntly told his
commander that "he had gone too far to expect favor from the Crown; and
that he had better rely for his vindication on his pikes and muskets.'" ^3

[Footnote 2: Zarate, the judge, must not be confounded with Zarate, the
historian, who went out to Peru with the Court of Audience, as contador
real, royal comptroller, - having before filled the office of secretary of
the royal council in Spain.]

[Footnote 3: Gomara, Hist. de las Ind., cap. 172. - Garcilasso, Com Real.,
Parte 2, lib. 4, cap. 21.]

     But the ship which was to transport Tepeda was found to have suddenly
disappeared from the port.  It was the same in which Vaca de Castro was
confined; and that officer, not caring to trust to the forbearance of one
whose advances, on a former occasion, he had so unceremoniously repulsed,
and convinced, moreover, that his own presence could profit nothing in a
land where he held no legitimate authority, had prevailed on the captain
to sail with him to Panama.  He then crossed the Isthmus, and embarked for
Spain.  The rumors of his coming had already preceded him, and charges
were not wanting against him from some of those whom he had offended by
his administration.  He was accused of having carried measures with a high
hand, regardless of the rights, both of the colonist and of the native;
and, above all, of having embezzled the public moneys, and of returning
with his coffers richly freighted to Castile.  This last was an
unpardonable crime.

     No sooner had the governor set foot in his own country than he was
arrested, and hurried to the fortress of Arevalo; and, though he was
afterwards removed to better quarters, where he was treated with the
indulgence due to his rank, he was still kept a prisoner of state for
twelve years, when the tardy tribunals of Castile pronounced a judgment in
his favor.  He was acquitted of every charge that had been brought against
him, and, so far from peculation, was proved to have returned home no
richer than he went.  He was released from confinement, reinstated in his
honors and dignities, took his seat anew in the royal council, and Vaca de
Castro enjoyed, during the remainder of his days, the consideration to
which he was entitled by his deserts. ^4 The best eulogium on the wisdom of
his administration was afforded by the troubles brought on the colonies by
that of his successor.  The nation became gradually sensible of the value
of his services; though the manner in which they were requited by the
government must be allowed to form a cold commentary on the gratitude of
princes.

[Footnote 4: Zarate, Conq. del Peru, lib. 5, cap. 15. - Relacion Anonima,
Ms. - Relacion de los Sucesos del Peru, Ms. - Montesinos, Annales Ms., ano
1545. - Fernandez, Hist del Peru, Parte 1, lib. 1, cap. 28]

     Gonzalo Pizarro was doomed to experience a still greater
disappointment than that caused by the escape of Vaca de Castro, in the
return of Blasco Nunez.  The vessel which bore him from the country had
hardly left the shore, when Alvarez, the judge, whether from remorse at
the part which he had taken, or apprehensive of the consequences of
carrying back the viceroy to Spain, presented himself before that
dignitary, and announced that he was no longer a prisoner.  At the same
time he excused himself for the part he had taken, by his desire to save
the life of Blasco Nunez, and extricate him from his perilous situation.
He now placed the vessel at his disposal, and assured him it should take
him wherever he chose.

     The viceroy, whatever faith he may have placed in the judge's
explanation, eagerly availed himself of his offer.  His proud spirit
revolted at the idea of returning home in disgrace, foiled, as he had
been, in every object of his mission.  He determined to try his fortune
again in the land, and his only doubt was, on what point to attempt to
rally his partisans around him.  At Panama he might remain in safety,
while he invoked assistance from Nicaragua, and other colonies at the
north.  But this would be to abandon his government at once; and such a
confession of weakness would have a bad effect on his followers in Peru.
He determined, therefore, to direct his steps towards Quito, which, while
it was within his jurisdiction, was still removed far enough from the
theatre of the late troubles to give him time to rally, and make head
against his enemies.

     In pursuance of this purpose, the viceroy and his suite disembarked
at Tumbez, about the middle of October, 1544.  On landing, he issued a
manifesto setting forth the violent proceedings of Gonzalo Pizarro and his
followers, whom he denounced as traitors to their prince, and he called on
all true subjects in the colony to support him in maintaining the royal
authority.  The call was not unheeded; and volunteers came in, though
tardily, from San Miguel, Puerto Viejo, and other places on the coast,
cheering the heart of the viceroy with the conviction that the sentiment
of loyalty was not yet extinct in the bosoms of the Spaniards.

     But, while thus occupied, he received tidings of the arrival of one
of Pizarro's captains on the coast, with a force superior to his own.
Their number was exaggerated; but Blasco Nunez, without waiting to
ascertain the truth, abandoned his position at Tumbez, and, with as much
expedition as he could make across a wild and mountainous country
half-buried in snow, he marched to Quito.  But this capital, situated at
the northern extremity of his province, was not a favorable point for the
rend