The Best of the Bureau/The_Best_of_the_Bureau_Bureau_Development_Inc._1992.iso/dp/0074/00749.txt

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$Unique_ID{bob00749}
$Pretitle{}
$Title{History Of The Conquest Of Peru
Chapter I: Part I}
$Subtitle{}
$Author{Prescott, William H.}
$Affiliation{}
$Subject{de
gasca
que
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pedro
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$Date{1864}
$Log{}
Title:       History Of The Conquest Of Peru
Book:        Book V: Settlement Of The Country
Author:      Prescott, William H.
Date:        1864

Chapter I: Part I

Great Sensation In Spain. - Pedro De La Gasca. - His Early Life. - His Mission
To Peru. - His Politic Conduct. - His Offers To Pizarro. - Gains The Fleet.

     1545-1547.

     While the important revolution detailed in the preceding pages was
going forward in Peru, rumors of it, from time to time, found their way to
the mother-country; but the distance was so great, and opportunities for
communication so rare, that the tidings were usually very long behind the
occurrence of the events to which they related.  The government heard with
dismay of the troubles caused by the ordinances and the intemperate
conduct of the viceroy; and it was not long before it learned that this
functionary was deposed and driven from his capital, while the whole
country, under Gonzalo Pizarro, was arrayed in arms against him.  All
classes were filled with consternation at this alarming intelligence; and
many that had before approved the ordinances now loudly condemned the
ministers, who, without considering the inflammable temper of the people,
had thus rashly fired a train which menaced a general explosion throughout
the colonies. ^1 No such rebellion, within the memory of man, had occurred
in the Spanish empire.  It was compared with the famous war of the
comunidades, in the beginning of Charles the Fifth's reign.  But the
Peruvian insurrection seemed the more formidable of the two.  The troubles
of Castile, being under the eye of the Court, might be the more easily
managed; while it was difficult to make the same power felt on the remote
shores of the Indies.  Lying along the distant Pacific, the principle of
attraction which held Peru to the parent country was so feeble, that this
colony might, at any time, with a less impulse than that now given to it,
fly from its political orbit.  It seemed as if the fairest of its jewels
was about to fall from the imperial diadem!

[Footnote 1: "Que aquello era contra una cedula que tenian del Emperador
que les daba el repartimiento de los indios de su vida, y del hijo mayor,
y no teniendo hijos a sus mugeres, con mandarles espresamente que se
casasen como lo habian ya hecho los mas de ellos; y que tambien era contra
otra cedula real que ninguno podia ser despojado de sus indios sin ser
primero oido a justicia y condenado." Historia de Don Pedro Gasca, Obispo
de Siguenza.  Ms.]

     Such was the state of things in the summer of 1545, when Charles the
Fifth was absent in Germany, occupied with the religious troubles of the
empire.  The government was in the hands of his son, who, under the name
of Philip the Second, was soon to sway the sceptre over the largest
portion of his father's dominions, and who was then holding his court at
Valladolid.  He called together a council of prelates, jurists, and
military men of greatest experience, to deliberate on the measures to be
pursued for restoring order in the colonies.  All agreed in regarding
Pizarro's movement in the light of an audacious rebellion; and there were
few, at first, who were not willing to employ the whole strength of
government to vindicate the honor of the Crown, - to quell the
insurrection, and bring the authors of it to punishment. ^2

[Footnote 2: Ms. de Caravantes. - Hist. de Don Pedro Gasca, Ms.

     One of this council was the great Duke of Alva, of such gloomy
celebrity afterwards in the Netherlands.  We may well believe his voice
was for coercion.]

     But, however desirable this might appear, a very little reflection
showed that it was not easy to be done, if, indeed, it were practicable.
The great distance of Peru required troops to be transported not merely
across the ocean, but over the broad extent of the great continent.  And
how was this to be effected, when the principal posts, the keys of
communication with the country, were in the hands of the rebels, while
their fleet rode in the Pacific, the mistress of its waters, cutting off
all approach to the coast?  Even if a Spanish force could be landed in
Peru, what chance would it have, unaccustomed, as it would be, to the
country and the climate, of coping with the veterans of Pizarro, trained
to war in the Indies and warmly attached to the person of their commander?
The new levies thus sent out might become themselves infected with the
spirit of insurrection, and cast off their own allegiance. ^3

[Footnote 3: "Ventilose la forma del remedio de tan grave caso en que huvo
dos opiniones; la una de imbiar un gran soldado con fuerza de gente a la
demostracion de este castigo; la otra que se llevase el negocio por
prudentes y suaves medios, por la imposibilidad y falto de dinero para
llevar gente, cavallos, armas, municiones y vastimentos, y para
sustentarlos en tierra firme y pasarlos al Piru." Ms. de Caravantes.]

     Nothing remained, therefore, but to try conciliatory measures.  The
government, however mortifying to its pride, must retrace its steps.  A
free grace must be extended to those who submitted, and such persuasive
arguments should be used, and such politic concessions made, as would
convince the refractory colonists that it was their interest, as well as
their duty, to return to their allegiance.

     But to approach the people in their present state of excitement, and
to make those concessions without too far compromising the dignity and
permanent authority of the Crown, was a delicate matter, for the success
of which they must rely wholly on the character of the agent.  After much
deliberation, a competent person, as it was thought, was found in an
ecclesiastic, by the name of Pedro de la Gasca, - a name which, brighter
by contrast with the gloomy times in which it first appeared, still shines
with undiminished splendor after the lapse of ages.

     Pedro de la Gasca was born, probably, towards the close of the
fifteenth century, in a small village in Castile, named Barco de Avila.
He came, both by father and mother's side, from an ancient and noble
lineage; ancient indeed, if, as his biographers contend, he derived his
descent from Casca, one of the conspirators against Julius Caesar! ^4
Having the misfortune to lose his father early in life, he was placed by
his uncle in the famous seminary of Alcala de Henares, founded by the
great Ximenes.  Here he made rapid proficiency in liberal studies,
especially in those connected with his profession, and at length received
the degree of Master of Theology.

[Footnote 4: "Pasando a Espana vinieron a tierra de Avila y quedo del
nombre dellos el lugar y familia de Gasca; mudandose por la afinidad de la
pronunciacion, que hay entre las dos letras consonantes c. y. g. el nombre
de Casca en Gasca." Hist. de Don Pedro Gasca, Ms.

     Similarity of name is a peg quite strong enough to hang a pedigree
upon in Castile.]

     The young man, however, discovered other talents than those demanded
by his sacred calling.  The war of the comunidades was then raging in the
country; and the authorities of his college showed a disposition to take
the popular side.  But Gasca, putting himself at the head of an armed
force, seized one of the gates of the city, and, with assistance from the
royal troops, secured the place to the interests of the Crown.  This early
display of loyalty was probably not lost on his vigilant sovereign ^5

[Footnote 5: This account of the early history of Gasca I have derived
chiefly from a manuscript biographical notice written in 1465, during the
prelate's life.  The name of the author, who speaks apparently from
personal knowledge, is not given: but it seems to be the work of a
scholar, and is written with a certain pretension to elegance.  The
original Ms. forms part of the valuable colle