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$Unique_ID{bob00750}
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$Title{History Of The Conquest Of Peru
Chapter I: Part II}
$Subtitle{}
$Author{Prescott, William H.}
$Affiliation{}
$Subject{pizarro
president
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gasca
peru
cap
gonzalo
lib
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$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 II

     The new president now went forward with his preparations.  They were
few and simple; for he was to be accompanied by a slender train of
followers, among whom the most conspicuous was Alonso de Alvarado, the
gallant officer who, as the reader may remember, long commanded under
Francisco Pizarro.  He had resided of late years at court; and now at
Gasca's request accompanied him to Peru, where his presence might
facilitate negotiations with the insurgents, while his military experience
would prove no less valuable in case of an appeal to arms. ^15 Some delay
necessarily occurred in getting ready his little squadron, and it was not
till the 26th of May, 1546, that the president and his suite embarked at
San Lucar for the New World.

[Footnote 15: From this cavalier descended the noble house of the counts
of Villamor in Spain.  Ms. de Caravantes.]

     After a prosperous voyage, and not a long one for that day, he
landed, about the middle of July, at the port of Santa Martha.  Here he
received the astounding intelligence of the battle of Anaquito, of the
defeat and death of the viceroy, and of the manner in which Gonzalo
Pizarro had since established his absolute rule over the land.  Although
these events had occurred several months before Gasca's departure from
Spain, yet, so imperfect was the intercourse, no tidings of them had then
reached that country.

     They now filled the president with great anxiety as he reflected that
the insurgents, after so atrocious an act as the slaughter of the viceroy,
might well despair of grace, and become reckless of consequences.  He was
careful, therefore, to have it understood, that the date of his commission
was subsequent to that of the fatal battle, and that it authorized an
entire amnesty of all offences hitherto committed against the
government. ^16

[Footnote 16: Fernandez, Hist. del Peru, Parte 1, lib. 2, cap. 21]

     Yet, in some points of view, the death of Blasco Nunez might be
regarded as an auspicious circumstance for the settlement of the country.
Had he lived till Gasca's arrival, the latter would have been greatly
embarrassed by the necessity of acting in concert with a person so
generally detested in the colony, or by the unwelcome alternative of
sending him back to Castile.  The insurgents, moreover, would, in all
probability, be now more amenable to reason, since all personal animosity
might naturally be buried in the grave of their enemy.

     The president was much embarrassed by deciding in what quarter he
should attempt to enter Peru.  Every port was in the hands of Pizarro, and
was placed under the care of his officers, with strict charge to intercept
any communications from Spain, and to detain such persons as bore a
commission from that country until his pleasure could be known respecting
them.  Gasca, at length, decided on crossing over to Nombre de Dios, then
held with a strong force by Hernan Mexia, an officer to whose charge
Gonzalo had committed this strong gate to his dominions, as to a person on
whose attachment to his cause he could confidently rely.

     Had Gasca appeared off this place in a menacing attitude, with a
military array, or, indeed, with any display of official pomp that might
have awakened distrust in the commander, he would doubtless have found it
no easy matter to effect a landing.  But Mexia saw nothing to apprehend in
the approach of a poor ecclesiastic, without an armed force, with hardly
even a retinue to support him, coming solely, as it seemed, on an errand
of mercy.  No sooner, therefore, was he acquainted with the character of
the envoy and his mission, than he prepared to receive him with the honors
due to his rank, and marched out at the head of his soldiers, together
with a considerable body of ecclesiastics resident in the place.  There
was nothing in the person of Gasca, still less in his humble clerical
attire and modest retinue, to impress the vulgar spectator with feelings
of awe or reverence.  Indeed, the poverty-stricken aspect, as it seemed,
of himself and his followers, so different from the usual state affected
by the Indian viceroys, excited some merriment among the rude soldiery,
who did not scruple to break their coarse jests on his appearance, in
hearing of the president himself. ^17 "If this is the sort of governor his
Majesty sends over to us," they exclaimed, "Pizarro need not trouble his
head much about it."

[Footnote 17: "Especialmente muchos de los soldados, que estauan
desacatados, y decian palabras feas, y desuergocadas.  A lo qual el
Presidente (viendo que era necessario) hazia las orejas sordas." Ibid.,
Parte 1, lib. 2, cap. 23.]

     Yet the president, far from being ruffled by this ribaldry, or from
showing resentment to its authors, submitted to it with the utmost
humility, and only seemed the more grateful to his own brethren, who, by
their respectful demeanour, appeared anxious to do him honor.

     But, however plain and unpretending the manners of Gasca, Mexia, on
his first interview with him, soon discovered that he had no common man to
deal with.  The president, after briefly explaining the nature of his
commission, told him that he had come as a messenger of peace; and that it
was on peaceful measures he relied for his success.  He then stated the
general scope of his commission, his authority to grant a free pardon to
all, without exception, who at once submitted to government, and, finally,
his purpose to proclaim the revocation of the ordinances.  The objects of
the revolution were thus attained.  To contend longer would be manifest
rebellion, and that without a motive; and he urged the commander by every
principle of loyalty and patriotism to support him in settling the
distractions of the country, and bringing it back to its allegiance.

     The candid and conciliatory language of the president, so different
from the arrogance of Blasco Nunez, and the austere demeanour of Vaca de
Castro, made a sensible impression on Mexia.  He admitted the force of
Gasca's reasoning, and flattered himself that Gonzalo Pizarro would not be
insensible to it.  Though attached to the fortunes of that leader, he was
loyal in heart, and, like most of the party, had been led by accident,
rather than by design, into rebellion; and now that so good an opportunity
occurred to do it with safety, he was not unwilling to retrace his steps,
and secure the royal favor by thus early returning to his allegiance.
This he signified to the president, assuring him of his hearty cooperation
in the good work of reform. ^18

[Footnote 18: Ibid., ubi supra. - Carta de Gonzalo Pizarro a Valdivia, Ms.
- Montesinos, Annales, Ms., ano 1546. - Zarate, Conq. del Peru lib. 6,
cap. 6. - Herrera, Hist General, dec. 8, lib. 2, cap. 5]

     This was an important step for Gasca.  It was yet more important for
him to secure the obedience of Hinojosa, the governor of Panama, in the
harbour of which city lay Pizarro's navy, consisting of two-and-twenty
vessels.  But it was not easy to approach this officer.  He was a person
of much higher character than was usually found among the reckless
adventurers in the New World.  He was attached to the interests of
Pizarro, and the latter had requited him by placing him in command of his
armada and of Panama, the key to his territories on the Pacific.

     The president first sent Mexia and Alonso de Alvarado to prepare the
way for his own coming, by advising Hinojosa of the purport of his
mission.  He soon after followed, and was received by that commander with
every show of outward respect.  But while the latter listened with
deference to the representations of Gasca, they failed to work the change
in him which they had wrought in Mexia; and he concluded by asking the
president to show him his powers, and by inquiring whether they gave him
authority to confirm Pizarro in his present post, to which he was entitled
no less by his own services than by the general voice of the people.

     This was an embarrassing question.  Such a concession would have been
altogether too humiliating to the Crown; but to have openly avowed this at
the present juncture to so stanch an adherent of Pizarro might have
precluded all further negotiation.  The president evaded the question,
therefore, by simply stating, that the time had not yet come for him to
produce his powers, but that Hinojosa might be assured they were such as
to secure an ample recompense to every loyal servant of his country. ^19

[Footnote 19: Fernandez, Hist. del Peru, Parte 1, lib. 2, cap. 25. -
Zarate Conq. del Peru, lib. 6, cap. 7. - Ms. de Caravantes.]

     Hinojosa was not satisfied; and he immediately wrote to Pizarro,
acquainting him with Gasca's arrival and with the object of his mission,
at the same time plainly intimating his own conviction that the president
had no authority to confirm him in the government.  But before the
departure of the ship, Gasca secured the services of a Dominican friar,
who had taken his passage on board for one of the towns on the coast.
This man he intrusted with manifestoes, setting forth the purport of his
visit, and proclaiming the abolition of the ordinances, with a free pardon
to all who returned to their obedience.  He wrote, also, to the prelates
and to the corporations of the different cities.  The former he requested
to cooperate with him in introducing a spirit of loyalty and subordination
among the people, while he intimated to the towns his purpose to confer
with them hereafter, in order to devise some effectual measures for the
welfare of the country.  These papers the Dominican engaged to distribute,
himself, among the principal cities of the colony and he faithfully kept
his word, though, as it proved, at no little hazard of his life.  The
seeds thus scattered might many of them fall on barren ground.  But the
greater part, the president trusted, would take root in the hearts of the
people; and he patiently waited for the harvest.

     Meanwhile, though he failed to remove the scruples of Hinojosa, the
courteous manners of Gasca, and his mild, persuasive discourse, had a
visible effect on other individuals with whom he had daily intercourse.
Several of these, and among them some of the principal cavaliers in
Panama, as well as in the squadron, expressed their willingness to join
the royal cause, and aid the president in maintaining it.  Gasca profited
by their assistance to open a communication with the authorities of
Guatemala and Mexico, whom he advised of his mission, while he admonished
them to allow no intercourse to be carried on with the insurgents on the
coast of Peru.  He, at length, also prevailed on the governor of Panama to
furnish him with the means of entering into communication with Gonzalo
Pizarro himself; and a ship was despatched to Lima, bearing a letter from
Charles the Fifth, addressed to that chief, with an epistle also from
Gasca.

     The emperor's communication was couched in the most condescending and
even conciliatory terms.  Far from taxing Gonzalo with rebellion, his
royal master affected to regard his conduct as in a manner imposed on him
by circumstances, especially by the obduracy of the viceroy Nunez in
denying the colonists the inalienable right of petition.  He gave no
intimation of an intent to confirm Pizarro in the government, or, indeed,
to remove him from it; but simply referred him to Gasca as one who would
acquaint him with the royal pleasure, and with whom he was to cooperate in
restoring tranquillity to the country.

     Gasca's own letter was pitched on the same politic key.  He remarked,
however, that the exigencies which had hitherto determined Gonzalo's line
of conduct existed no longer.  All that had been asked was conceded.
There was nothing now to contend for; and it only remained for Pizarro and
his followers to show their loyalty and the sincerity of their principles
by obedience to the Crown.  Hitherto, the president said, Pizarro had been
in arms against the viceroy; and the people had supported him as against a
common enemy.  If he prolonged the contest, that enemy must be his
sovereign.  In such a struggle, the people would be sure to desert him;
and Gasca conjured him, by his honor as a cavalier, and his duty as a
loyal vassal, to respect the royal authority, and not rashly provoke a
contest which must prove to the world that his conduct hitherto had been
dictated less by patriotic motives than by selfish ambition.

     This letter, which was conveyed in language the most courteous and
complimentary to the subject of it, was of great length.  It was
accompanied by another much more concise, to Cepeda, the intriguing
lawyer, who, as Gasca knew, had the greatest influence over Pizarro, in
the absence of Carbajal, then employed in reaping the silver harvest from
the newly discovered mines of Potosi. ^20 In this epistle, Gasca affected
to defer to the cunning politician as a member of the Royal Audience, and
he conferred with him on the best manner of supplying a vacancy in that
body.  These several despatches were committed to a cavalier, named
Paniagua, a faithful adherent of the president, and one of those who had
accompanied him from Castile.  To this same emissary he also gave
manifestoes and letters, like those intrusted to the Dominican, with
orders secretly to distribute them in Lima, before he quitted that
capital. ^21

[Footnote 20: "El Licenciado Cepeda que tengo yo agora por teniente, de
quien yo hago mucho caso i le quiero mucho." Carta de Gonzalo Pizarro a
Valdivia, Ms.]

[Footnote 21: The letters noticed in the text may be found in Zarate,
Conq. del Peru, lib. 6, cap. 7, and Fernandez, Hist. del Peru, Parte 1,
lib. 2, cap. 29, 30.  The president's letter covers several pages.  Much
of it is taken up with historic precedents and illustrations, to show the
folly, as well as wickedness, of a collision with the imperial authority.
The benignant tone of this homily may be inferred from its concluding
sentence; "Nuestro senor por su infinita bodad alumbre a vuestra merced, y
a todos los demas para que acierten a hazer en este negocio lo que couiene
a sus almas, honras, vidas y haziendas: y guarde en su sancto servicio la
Illustre persona de vuestra merced."]

     Weeks and months rolled away, while the president still remained at
Panama, where, indeed, as his communications were jealously cut off with
Peru, he might be said to be detained as a sort of prisoner of state.
Meanwhile, both he and Hinojosa were looking with anxiety for the arrival
of some messenger from Pizarro, who should indicate the manner in which
the president's mission was to be received by that chief.  The governor of
Panama was not blind to the perilous position in which he was himself
placed, nor to the madness of provoking a contest with the Court of
Castile.  But he had a reluctance - not too often shared by the cavaliers
of Peru - to abandon the fortunes of the commander who had reposed in him
so great confidence.  Yet he trusted that this commander would embrace the
opportunity now offered, of placing himself and the country in a state of
permanent security.

     Several of the cavaliers who had given in their adhesion to Gasca,
displeased by this obstinacy, as they termed it, of Hinojosa, proposed to
seize his person and then get possession of the armada.  But the president
at once rejected this offer.  His mission, he said, was one of peace, and
he would not stain it at the outset by an act of violence.  He even
respected the scruples of Hinojosa; and a cavalier of so honorable a
nature, he conceived, if once he could be gained by fair means, would be
much more likely to be true to his interests, than if overcome either by
force or fraud.  Gasca thought he might safely abide his time.  There was
policy, as well as honesty, in this; indeed, they always go together.

     Meantime, persons were occasionally arriving from Lima and the
neighbouring places, who gave accounts of Pizarro, varying according to
the character and situation of the parties.  Some represented him as
winning all hearts by his open temper and the politic profusion with
which, though covetous of wealth, he distributed repartimientos and favors
among his followers.  Others spoke of him as carrying matters with a high
hand, while the greatest timidity and distrust prevailed among the
citizens of Lima.  All agreed that his power rested on too secure a basis
to be shaken; and that, if the president should go to Lima, he must either
consent to be come Pizarro's instrument and confirm him in the government,
or forfeit his own life. ^22

[Footnote 22: Fernandez, Hist. del Peru, Parte 1, lib. 2, cap. 27. -
Herrera, Hist. General, dec. 8, lib. 2, cap. 7. - Ms. de Caravantes.]

     It was undoubtedly true, that Gonzalo, while he gave attention, as
his friends say, to the public business, found time for free indulgence in
those pleasures which wait on the soldier of fortune in his hour of
triumph.  He was the object of flattery and homage; courted even by those
who hated him.  For such as did not love the successful chieftain had good
cause to fear him; and his exploits were commemorated in romances or
ballads, as rivalling - it was not far from truth - those of the most
doughty paladins of chivalry. ^23

[Footnote 23: Fernandez, Hist. del Peru, Parte 1, lib. 2, cap. 32.]

     Amidst this burst of adulation, the cup of joy commended to Pizarro's
lips had one drop of bitterness in it that gave its flavor to all the
rest; for, notwithstanding his show of confidence, he looked with
unceasing anxiety to the arrival of tidings that might assure him in what
light his conduct was regarded by the government at home.  This was proved
by his jealous precautions to guard the approaches to the coast, and to
detain the persons of the royal emissaries.  He learned, therefore, with
no little uneasiness, from Hinojosa, the landing of President Gasca, and
the purport of his mission.  But his discontent was mitigated, when he
understood that the new envoy had come without military array, without any
of the ostentatious trappings of office to impose on the minds of the
vulgar, but alone, as it were, in the plain garb of an humble
missionary. ^24 Pizarro could not discern, that under this modest exterior
lay a moral power, stronger than his own steel-clad battalions, which,
operating silently on public opinion, - the more sure that it was silent,
- was even now undermining his strength, like a subterraneous channel
eating away the foundations of some stately edifice, that stands secure in
its pride of place!

[Footnote 24: Gonzalo, in his letter to Valdivia, speaks of Gasca as a
clergyman of a godly reputation, who, without recompense, in the true
spirit of a missionary, had come over to settle the affairs of the
country.  "Dicen ques mui buen christiano i hombre de buena vida i
clerigo, i dicen que viene a estas partes con buena intencion i no quiso
salario ninguno del Rey sino venir para poner paz en estos reynos con sus
cristiandades." Carta de Gonzalo Pizarro a Valdivia, Ms.]

     But, although Gonzalo Pizarro could not foresee this result, he saw
enough to satisfy him that it would be safest to exclude the president
from Peru.  The tidings of his arrival, moreover, quickened his former
purpose of sending an embassy to Spain to vindicate his late proceedings,
and request the royal confirmation of his authority.  The person placed at
the head of this mission was Lorenzo de Aldana, a cavalier of discretion
as well as courage, and high in the confidence of Pizarro, as one of his
most devoted partisans.  He had occupied some important posts under that
chief, one secret of whose successes was the sagacity he showed in the
selection of his agents.

     Besides Aldana and one or two cavaliers, the bishop of Lima was
joined in the commission, as likely, from his position, to have a
favorable influence on Gonzalo's fortunes at court.  Together with the
despatches for the government, the envoys were intrusted with a letter to
Gasca from the inhabitants of Lima; in which, after civilly congratulating
the president on his arrival, they announce their regret that he had come
too late.  The troubles of the country were now settled by the overthrow
of the viceroy, and the nation was reposing in quiet under the rule of
Pizarro.  An embassy, they stated, was on its way to Castile, not to
solicit pardon, for they had committed no crime, ^25 but to petition the
emperor to confirm their leader in the government, as the man in Peru best
entitled to it by his virtues. ^26 They expressed the conviction that
Gasca's presence would only serve to renew the distractions of the
country, and they darkly intimated that his attempt to land would probably
cost him his life. - The language of this singular document was more
respectful than might be inferred from its import.  It was dated the 14th
of October, 1546, and was subscribed by seventy of the principal cavaliers
in the city.  It was not improbably dictated by Cepeda, whose hand is
visible in most of the intrigues of Pizarro's little court.  It is also
said, - the authority is somewhat questionable, - that Aldana received
instructions from Gonzalo secretly to offer a bribe of fifty thousand
pesos de oro to the president, to prevail on him to return to Castile; and
in case of his refusal, some darker and more effectual way was to be
devised to rid the country of his presence. ^27

[Footnote 25: "Porque perdo ninguno de nosotros le pide, porque no
entendemos que emos errado, sino seruido a su Magestad: conseruado nuestro
derecho; que por sus leyes Reales a sus vasallos es permitido." Fernandez,
Hist. del Peru, Parte 1, lib. 2, cap. 33.]

[Footnote 26: "Porque el por sus virtudes es muy amado de todos: y tenido
por padre del Peru." Ibid., ubi supra.]

[Footnote 27: Ibid., loc. cit. - Herrera, Hist. General, dec. 8, lib. 2,
cap. 10. - Zarate, Conq. del Peru, lib. 6, cap. 8. - Gomara, Hist. de las
Ind., cap. 177. - Montesinos, Annales, Ms., ano 1546.

     Pizarro, in his letter to Valdivia, notices this remonstrance to
Gasca, who, with all his reputation as a saint, was as deep as any man in
Spain, and had now come to send him home, as a reward, no doubt, of his
faithful services.  "But I and the rest of the cavaliers," he concludes,
"have warned him not to set foot here." "Y agora que yo tenia puesta esta
tierra en sosiego embiava su parte al de la Gasca que aunque arriba digo
que dicen ques un santo, es un hombre mas manoso que havia en toda Espana
e mas sabio; e asi venia por presidente e Governador, e todo quanto el
quiera; e para poderme embiar a mi a Espana, i a cabo de dos anos que
andavamos fuera de nuestras casas queria el Rey darme este pago, mas yo
con todos los cavalleros deste Reyno le embiavamos a decir que se vaya,
sino que haremos con el como con Blasco Nunez." Carta de Gonzalo Pizarro a
Valdivia, Ms.]

     Aldana, fortified with his despatches, sped swiftly on his voyage to
Panama.  Through him the governor learned the actual state of feeling in
the councils of Pizarro; and he listened with regret to the envoy's
conviction, that no terms would be admitted by that chief or his
companions, that did not confirm him in the possession of Peru. ^28

[Footnote 28: With Aldana's mission to Castile Gonzalo Pizarro closes the
important letter, so often cited in these pages, and which may be supposed
to furnish the best arguments for his own conduct.  It is a curious fact,
that Valdivia, the conqueror of Chili, to whom the epistle is addressed,
soon after this openly espoused the cause of Gasca, and his troops formed
part of the forces who contended with Pizarro, not long afterwards, at
Huarina.  Such was the friend on whom Gonzalo relied!]

     Aldana was soon admitted to an audience by the president.  It was
attended with very different results from what had followed from the
conferences with Hinojosa; for Pizarro's envoy was not armed by nature
with that stubborn panoply which had hitherto made the other proof against
all argument.  He now learned with surprise the nature of Gasca's powers,
and the extent of the royal concessions to the insurgents.  He had
embarked with Gonzalo Pizarro on a desperate venture, and he found that it
had proved successful.  The colony had nothing more, in reason, to demand;
and, though devoted in heart to his leader, he did not feel bound by any
principle of honor to take part with him, solely to gratify his ambition,
in a wild contest with the Crown that must end in inevitable ruin.  He
consequently abandoned his mission to Castile, probably never very
palatable to him, and announced his purpose to accept the pardon proffered
by government, and support the president in settling the affairs of Peru.
He subsequently wrote, it should be added, to his former commander in
Lima, stating the course he had taken, and earnestly recommending the
latter to follow his example.

     The influence of this precedent in so important a person as Aldana,
aided, doubtless, by the conviction that no change was now to be expected
in Pizarro, while delay would be fatal to himself, at length prevailed
over Hinojosa's scruples, and he intimated to Gasca his willingness to
place the fleet under his command.  The act was performed with great pomp
and ceremony.  Some of Pizarro's stanchest partisans were previously
removed from the vessels; and on the nineteenth of November, 1546,
Hinojosa and his captains resigned their commissions into the hands of the
president.  They next took the oaths of allegiance to Castile; a free
pardon for all past offences was proclaimed by the herald from a scaffold
erected in the great square of the city; and the president, greeting them
as true and loyal vassals of the Crown, restored their several commissions
to the cavaliers.  The royal standard of Spain was then unfurled on board
the squadron, and proclaimed that this strong-hold of Pizarro's power had
passed away from him for ever. ^29

[Footnote 29: Pedro Pizarro, Descub. y Conq., Ms. - Zarate, Conq. del
Peru, lib. 6, cap. 9. - Fernandez, Hist. del Peru, Parte 1, lib. 2, cap.
38, 42. - Gomara, Hist. de las Indias, cap. 178. - Ms. de Caravantes.

     Garcilasso de la Vega, - whose partiality for Gonzalo Pizarro forms a
wholesome counterpoise to the unfavorable views taken of his conduct by
most other writers, - in his notice of this transaction, seems disposed to
allow little credit to that loyalty which is shown by the sacrifice of a
benefactor.  Com. Real., Parte 2, lib. 5, cap. 4.]

     The return of their commissions to the insurgent captains was a
politic act in Gasca.  It secured the services of the ablest officers in
the country, and turned against Pizarro the very arm on which he had most
leaned for support.  Thus was this great step achieved, without force or
fraud, by Gasca's patience and judicious forecast.  He was content to bide
his time; and he now might rely with well-grounded confidence on the
ultimate success of his mission.