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$Title{History Of The Conquest Of Peru
Chapter IV: Part II}
$Subtitle{}
$Author{Prescott, William H.}
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$Subject{de
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$Date{1864}
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Title:       History Of The Conquest Of Peru
Book:        Book V: Settlement Of The Country
Author:      Prescott, William H.
Date:        1864

Chapter IV: Part II

     Acosta, and three or four other cavaliers who surrendered with
Gonzalo, were sent to execution on the same day with their chief; and
Gasca, on the morning following the dismal tragedy, broke up his quarters
and marched with his whole army to Cuzco, where he was received by the
politic people with the same enthusiasm which they had so recently shown
to his rival.  He found there a number of the rebel army who had taken
refuge in the city after their late defeat, where they were immediately
placed under arrest.  Proceedings, by Gasca's command, were instituted
against them.  The principal cavaliers, to the number of ten or twelve,
were executed; others were banished or sent to the galleys.  The same
rigorous decrees were passed against such as had fled and were not yet
taken, and the estates of all were confiscated.  The estates of the rebels
supplied a fund for the recompense of the loyal. ^20 The execution of
justice may seem to have been severe; but Gasca was willing that the rod
should fall heavily on those who had so often rejected his proffers of
grace.  Lenity was wasted on a rude, licentious soldiery, who hardly
recognized the existence of government, unless they felt its rigor

[Footnote 20: Pedro Pizarro, Descub. y Conq., Ms. - Fernandez, Hist. del
Peru, Parte 1, lib. 2, cap. 91. - Carta de Valdivia, Ms.  - Zarate, Conq.
del Peru, lib 7, cap 8. - Relacion del Lic. Gasca, Ms]

     A new duty now devolved on the president, - that of rewarding his
faithful followers, - not less difficult, as it proved, than that of
punishing the guilty.  The applicants were numerous; since every one who
had raised a finger in behalf of the government claimed his reward.  They
urged their demands with a clamorous importunity which perplexed the good
president, and consumed every moment of his time.

     Disgusted with this unprofitable state of things, Gasca resolved to
rid himself of the annoyance at once, by retiring to the valley of
Guaynarima, about twelve leagues distant from the city, and there
digesting, in quiet, a scheme of compensation, adjusted to the merits of
the parties.  He was accompanied only by his secretary, and by Loaysa, now
archbishop of Lima, a man of sense, and well acquainted with the affairs
of the country.  In this seclusion the president remained three months,
making a careful examination into the conflicting claims, and apportioning
the forfeitures among the parties according to their respective services.
The repa??timientos, it should be remarked, were usually granted only for
life, and, on the death of the incumbent, reverted to the Crown, to be
reassigned or retained at its pleasure.

     When his arduous task was completed, Gasca determined to withdraw to
Lima, leaving the instrument of partition with the archbishop, to be
communicated to the army.  Notwithstanding all the care that had been
taken for an equitable adjustment, Gasca was aware that it was impossible
to satisfy the demands of a jealous and irritable soldiery, where each man
would be likely to exaggerate his own deserts, while he underrated those
of his comrades; and he did not care to expose himself to importunities
and complaints that could serve no other purpose than to annoy him.

     On his departure, the troops were called together by the archbishop
in the cathedral, to learn the contents of the schedule intrusted to him.
A discourse was first preached by a worthy Dominican, the prior of
Arequipa, in which the reverend father expatiated on the virtue of
contentment, the duty of obedience, and the folly, as well as wickedness,
of an attempt to resist the constituted authorities, topics, in short,
which he conceived might best conciliate the good-will and conformity of
his audience.

     A letter from the president was then read from the pulpit.  It was
addressed to the officers and soldiers of the army.  The writer began with
briefly exposing the difficulties of his task, owing to the limited amount
of the gratuities, and the great number and services of the claimants.  He
had given the matter the most careful consideration, he said, and
endeavoured to assign to each his share, according to his deserts, without
prejudice or partiality.  He had, no doubt, fallen into errors, but he
trusted his followers would excuse them, when they reflected that he had
done according to the best of his poor abilities; and all, he believed,
would do him the justice to acknowledge he had not been influenced by
motives of personal interest.  He bore emphatic testimony to the services
they had rendered to the good cause, and concluded with the most
affectionate wishes for their future prosperity and happiness.  The letter
was dated at Guaynarima, August 17, 1548, and bore the simple signature of
the Licentiate Gasca. ^21

[Footnote 21: Ms. de Caravantes - Pedro Pizzarro, Descub. y Conq., Ms. -
Peru, Zarate, Conq. del Peru, lib. 7, cap. 9. - Fernandez, Hist. del Peru,
Parte 1, lib. 2, cap 92.]

     The archbishop next read the paper containing the president's award.
The annual rent of the estates to be distributed amounted to a hundred and
thirty thousand pesos ensayados; ^22 a large amount, considering the worth
of money in that day, - in any other country than Peru, where money was a
drug. ^23

[Footnote 22: The peso ensayado, according to Garcilasso, was one fifth
more in value than the Castilian ducat. Com. Real., Parte 2, lib. 6, cap.
3.]

[Footnote 23: "Entre los cavalleros capitanes y soldados que le ayudaron
en esta ocasion repartio el Presidente Pedro de la Gasca 135,000 pesos
ensayados de renta que estaban vacos, y no un millon y tantos mil pesos,
como dize Diego Fernandez, que escrivio en Palencia estas alteraciones, y
de quien lo tomo Antonio de Herrera: y porque esta ocasion fue la segunda
en que los benemeritos del Piru fundan con razon los servicios de sus
pasados, porque mediante esta batalla aseguro la corona de Castilla las
provincias mas ricas que tiene en America, pondre sus nombres para que se
conserbe con certeza su memoria como pareze en el auto original que
proveyo en el asiento de Guainarima cerca de la ciudad del Cuzco en diez y
siete de Agosto de 1548, que esta en los archivos del govierno." Ms. de
Caravantes.

     The sum mentioned in the text, as thus divided among the army, falls
very far short of the amount stated by Garcilasso, Fernandez, Zarate, and,
indeed, every other writer on the subject, none of whom estimate it at
less than a million of pesos.  But Caravantes, from whom I have taken it,
copies the original act of partition preserved in the royal archives.  Yet
Garcilasso de la Vega ought to have been well informed of the value of
these estates, which, according to him, far exceeded the estimate given in
the schedule.  Thus, for instance, Hinojosa, he says, obtained from the
share of lands and rich mines assigned to him from the property of Gonzalo
Pizarro no less than 200,000 pesos annually, while Aldana, the Licentiate
Carbajal, and others, had estates which yielded them from 10,000 to 50,000
pesos.  (Ibid., ubi supra.) It is impossible to reconcile these monstrous
discrepancies.  No sum seems to have been too large for the credulity of
the ancient chronicler; and the imagination of the reader is so completely
bewildered by the actual riches of this El Dorado, that it is difficult to
adjust his faith by any standard of probability.]

     The repartimientos thus distributed varied in value from one hundred
to thirty-five hundred pesos of yearly rent; all, apparently, graduated
with the nicest precision to the merits of the parties.  The number of
pensioners was about two hundred and fifty; for the fund would not have
sufficed for general distribution, nor were the services of the greater
part deemed worthy of such a mark of consideration. ^24

[Footnote 24: Caravantes has transcribed from the original act a full
catalogue of the pensioners, with the amount of the sums set against each
of their names.]

     The effect produced by the document, on men whose minds were filled
with the most indefinite expectations, was just such as had been
anticipated by the president.  It was received with a general murmur of
disapprobation.  Even those who had got more than they expected were
discontented, on comparing their condition with that of their comrades,
whom they thought still better remunerated in proportion to their deserts.
They especially inveighed against the preference shown to the old
partisans of Gonzalo Pizarro - as Hinojosa, Centeno, and Aldana - over
those who had always remained loyal to the Crown.  There was some ground
for such a preference; for none had rendered so essential services in
crushing the rebellion; and it was these services that Gasca proposed to
recompense.  To reward every man who had proved himself loyal, simply for
his loyalty, would have frittered away the donative into fractions that
would be of little value to any. ^25

[Footnote 25: The president found an ingenious way of remunerating several
of his followers, by bestowing on them the hands of the rich widows of the
cavaliers who had perished in the war.  The inclinations of the ladies do
not seem to have been always consulted in this politic arrangement.  See
Garci lasen, Com. Real., Parte 2 lib. 6 cap. 3.]

     It was in vain, however, that the archbishop, seconded by some of the
principal cavaliers, endeavoured to infuse a more contented spirit into
the multitude.  They insisted that the award should be rescinded, and a
new one made on more equitable principles; threatening, moreover, that, if
this were not done by the president, they would take the redress of the
matter into their own hands.  Their discontent, fomented by some
mischievous persons who thought to find their account in it, at length
proceeded so far as to menace a mutiny; and it was not suppressed till the
commander of Cuzco sentenced one of the ringleaders to death, and several
others to banishment.  The iron soldiery of the Conquest required an iron
hand to rule them.

     Meanwhile, the president had continued his journey towards Lima; and
on the way was everywhere received by the people with an enthusiasm, the
more grateful to his heart that he felt he had deserved it.  As he drew
near the capital, the loyal inhabitants prepared to give him a magnificent
reception.  The whole population came forth from the gates, led by the
authorities of the city, with Aldana as corregidor at their head.  Gasca
rode on a mule, dressed in his ecclesiastical robes.  On his right, borne
on a horse richly caparisoned, was the royal seal, in a box curiously
chased and ornamented.  A gorgeous canopy of brocade was supported above
his head by the officers of the municipality, who, in their robes of
crimson velvet, walked bareheaded by his side.  Gay troops of dancers,
clothed in fantastic dresses of gaudy-colored silk, followed the
procession, strewing flowers and chanting verses as they went, in honor of
the president.  They were designed as emblematical of the different cities
of the colony; and they bore legends or mottoes in rhyme on their caps,
intimating their loyal devotion to the Crown, and evincing much more
loyalty in their composition, it may be added, than poetical merit. ^26 In
this way, without beat of drum, or noise of artillery, or any of the rude
accompaniments of war, the good president made his peaceful entry into the
City of the Kings, while the air was rent with the acclamations of the
people, who hailed him as their "Father and Deliverer, the Saviour of
their country.!" ^27

[Footnote 26: Fernandez has collected these flowers of colonial poesy,
which prove that the old Conquerors were much more expert with the sword
than with the pen. Hist. del Peru, Parte 1, lib. 2, cap. 93.]

[Footnote 27: "Fue recibimiento mui solemne, con universal alegria del
Pueblo, por verse libre de Tiranos; i toda la Gente, a voces, bendecia al
Presidente, i le llamaban: Padre, Restaurador, i Pacificador, dando
gracias a Dios, por haver vengado las injurias hechas a su Divina
Magestad." Herrera, Hist General, dec. 8, lib. 4, cap. 17.]

     But, however grateful was this homage to Gasca's heart, he was not a
man to waste his time in idle vanities.  He now thought only by what means
he could eradicate the seeds of disorder which shot up so readily in this
fruitful soil, and how he could place the authority of the government on a
permanent basis.  By virtue of his office, he presided over the Royal
Audience, the great judicial, and, indeed, executive tribunal of the
colony; and he gave great despatch to the business, which had much
accumulated during the late disturbances.  In the unsettled state of
property, there was abundant subject for litigation; but, fortunately, the
new Audience was composed of able, upright judges, who labored diligently
with their chief to correct the mischief caused by the misrule of their
predecessors.

     Neither was Gasca unmindful of the unfortunate natives; and he
occupied himself earnestly with that difficult problem, - the best means
practicable of ameliorating their condition.  He sent a number of
commissioners, as visitors, into different parts of the country, whose
business it was to inspect the encomiendas, and ascertain the manner in
which the Indians were treated, by conversing not only with the
proprietors, but with the natives themselves.  They were also to learn the
nature and extent of the tributes paid in former times by the vassals of
the Incas. ^28

[Footnote 28: "El Presidente Gasca mando visitar todas las provincias y
repartimientos deste reyno, nombrando para ello personas de autoridad y de
quien se tenia entendido que tenian conoscimiento de la tierra que se les
encargavan, que ha de ser la principal calidad, que se ha buscar en la
persona, a quien se comete semejante negocio despues que sea Cristiana: lo
segundo se les dio instruccion de lo que hauian de averiguar, que fueron
muchas cosas: el numero, las haciendas, los tratos y grangerias, la
calidad de la gente y de sus tierras y comarca y lo que davan de tributo."
Ondegardo, Rel. Prim., Ms.]

     In this way, a large amount of valuable information was obtained,
which enabled Gasca, with the aid of a council of ecclesiastics and
jurists, to digest a uniform system of taxation for the natives, lighter
even than that imposed on them by the Peruvian princes.  The president
would gladly have relieved the conquered races from the obligations of
personal service; but, on mature consideration, this was judged
impracticable in the present state of the country, since the colonists,
more especially in the tropical regions, looked to the natives for the
performance of labor, and the latter, it was found from experience, would
not work at all, unless compelled to do so.  The president, however,
limited the amount of service to be exacted with great precision, so that
it was in the nature of a moderate personal tax.  No Peruvian was to be
required to change his place of residence, from the climate to which he
had been accustomed, to another; a fruitful source of discomfort, as well
as of disease, in past times.  By these various regulations, the condition
of the natives, though not such as had been contemplated by the sanguine
philanthropy of Las Casas, was improved far more than was compatible with
the craving demands of the colonists; and all the firmness of the Audience
was required to enforce provisions so unpalatable to the latter.  Still
they were enforced.  Slavery, in its most odious sense, was no longer
tolerated in Peru.  The term "slave" was not recognized as having relation
to her institutions; and the historian of the Indies makes the proud
boast, - it should have been qualified by the limitations I have noticed,
- that every Indian vassal might aspire to the rank of a freeman. ^29

[Footnote 29: "El Presidente, i el Audiencia dieron tales oraenes, que
este negocio se asento, de manera, que para adelante no se platico mas
este nombre de Esclavos, sino que la libertad fue general por todo el
Reino." Herrera, Hist. Gen., dec. 8, lib. 5, cap. 7.]

     Besides these reforms, Gasca introduced several in the municipal
government of the cities, and others yet more important in the management
of the finances, and in the mode of keeping the accounts.  By these and
other changes in the internal economy of the colony, he placed the
administration on a new basis, and greatly facilitated the way for a more
sure and orderly government by his successors.  As a final step, to secure
the repose of the country after he was gone, he detached some of the more
aspiring cavaliers on distant expeditions, trusting that they would draw
off the light and restless spirits, who might otherwise gather together
and disturb the public tranquillity; as we sometimes see the mists which
have been scattered by the genial influence of the sun become condensed,
and settle into a storm, on his departure. ^30

[Footnote 30: Ms. de Caravantes. - Gomara, Hist. de las Indians, cap. 187.
- Fernandez, Hist. del Peru, Parte 1, lib. 2, cap. 93-95. - Zarate.  Conq.
del Peru, lib. 7, cap. 10.]

     Gasca had been now more than fifteen months in Lima and nearly three
years had elapsed since his first entrance into Peru.  In that time, he
had accomplished the great objects of his mission.  When he landed, he
found the colony in a state of anarchy, or rather organized rebellion
under a powerful and popular chief.  He came without funds or forces to
support him.  The former he procured through the credit which he
established in his good faith; the latter he won over by argument and
persuasion from the very persons to whom they had been confided by his
rival.  Thus he turned the arms of that rival against himself.  By a calm
appeal to reason he wrought a change in the hearts of the people; and,
without costing a drop of blood to a single loyal subject, he suppressed a
rebellion which had menaced Spain with the loss of the wealthiest of her
provinces.  He had punished the guilty, and in their spoils found the
means to recompense the faithful.  He had, moreover, so well husbanded the
resources of the country, that he was enabled to pay off the large loan he
had negotiated with the merchants of the colony, for the expenses of the
war, exceeding nine hundred thousand pesos de oro. ^31 Nay, more, by his
economy he had saved a million and a half of ducats for the government,
which for some years had received nothing from Peru; and he now proposed
to carry back this acceptable treasure to swell the royal coffers. ^32 All
this had been accomplished without the cost of outfit or salary, or any
charge to the Crown except that of his own frugal expenditure. ^33 The
country was now in a state of tranquillity Gasca felt that his work was
done; and that he was free to gratify his natural longing to return to his
native land.

[Footnote 31: "Recogio tanta sema de dinero, que pago novecientos mil
pesos de Oro, que se hallo haver gastado, desde el Dia que entro en
Panama, hasta que se acabo la Guerra, los quales tomo prestados." Herrera,
Hist. General, dec. 8, lib. 5, cap. 7. - Zarate, Conq. del Peru, lib. 7,
cap. 10.]

[Footnote 32: "Aviendo pagado el Presidente las costas de la guerra que
fueron muchas, remitio a S. M y lo llevo consigo 264,422 marcos de plata,
que a seis ducados valieron 1 millon 588,332 ducados" Ms. de Caravantes.]

[Footnote 33: "No tubo ni quiso salario el Presidente Gasca sino cedula
para que a un mayordomo suyo diosen los Oficiales reales lo necesario de
la real Hacienda, que como pareze de los quadernos de su gasto fue muy
moderado." (Ms. de Caravantes.) Gasca, it appears, was most exact in
keeping the accounts of his disbursements for the expenses of himself and
household, from the time he embarked for the colonies.]

     Before his departure, he arranged a distribution of those
repartimientos which had lapsed to the Crown during the past year by the
death of the incumbents.  Life was short in Peru; since those who lived by
the sword, if they did not die by the sword, too often fell early victims
to the hardships incident to their adventurous career.  Many were the
applicants for the new bounty of government; and, as among them were some
of those who had been discontented with the former partition, Gasca was
assailed by remonstrances, and sometimes by reproaches couched in no very
decorous or respectful language.  But they had no power to disturb his
equanimity; he patiently listened, and replied to all in the mild tone of
expostulation best calculated to turn away wrath; "by this victory over
himself," says an old writer, "acquiring more real glory, than by all his
victories over his enemies." ^34

[Footnote 34: "En lo qual hizo mas que en vencer y ganar todo aquel Ympe
rio: porque fue vencerse assi proprio." Garcilasso, Com. Real Parte 2,
lib. 6, cap. 7.]

     An incident occurred on the eve of his departure, touching in itself,
and honorable to the parties concerned.  The Indian caciques of the
neighbouring country, mindful of the great benefits he had rendered their
people, presented him with a considerable quantity of plate in token of
their gratitude.  But Gasca refused to receive it, though in doing so he
gave much concern to the Peruvians who feared they had unwittingly fallen
under his displeasure.

     Many of the principal colonists, also, from the same wish to show
their sense of his important services, sent to him, after he had embarked,
a magnificent donative of fifty thousand gold castellanos.  "As he had
taken leave of Peru," they said, "there could be no longer any ground for
declining it." But Gasca was as decided in his rejection of this present,
as he had been of the other.  "He had come to the country," he remarked,
"to serve the king, and to secure the blessings of peace to the
inhabitants; and now that, by the favor of Heaven, he had been permitted
to accomplish this, he would not dishonor the cause by any act that might
throw suspicion on the purity of his motives." Notwithstanding his
refusal, the colonists contrived to secrete the sum of twenty thousand
castellanos on board of his vessel, with the idea, that, once in his own
country, with his mission concluded, the president's scruples would be
removed.  Gasca did, indeed, accept the donative; for he felt that it
would be ungracious to send it back; but it was only till he could
ascertain the relatives of the donors, when he distributed it among the
most needy. ^35

[Footnote 35: Fernandez, Hist. del Peru, Parte 1, lib. 2, cap. 95.]

    Having now settled all his affairs, the president committed the
government, until the arrival of a viceroy, to his faithful partners of
the Royal Audience, and in January, 1150, he embarked with the royal
treasure on board of a squadron for Panama.  He was accompanied to the
shore by a numerous crowd of the inhabitants, cavaliers and common people,
persons of all ages and conditions, who followed to take their last look
of their benefactor, and watch with straining eyes the vessel that bore
him away from their land.