The History Of The Conquest Of Peru

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Since ecclesiastics were not to be reached by the secular arm,
and yet were often found fomenting troubles in the colonies,
Gasca was permitted to banish from Peru such as he thought fit.
He might even send home the viceroy, if the good of the country
required it. Agreeably to his own suggestion, he was to receive
no specified stipend; but he had unlimited orders on the
treasuries both of Panama and Peru. He was furnished with
letters from the emperor to the principal authorities, not only
in Peru, but in Mexico and the neighbouring colonies, requiring
their countenance and support; and, lastly, blank letters,
bearing the royal signature, were delivered to him, which he was
to fill up at his pleasure. *13

[Footnote 13: Zarate, Conq. del Peru, lib. 6, cap. 6. - Herrera,
Hist. General, dec. 8, lib. 1, cap. 6. - Ms. de Caravantes. -
Fernandez, Hist. del Peru, Parte 1, lib. 2, cap. 17, 18. -
Gomara, Hist. de las Ind., cap. 174. - Hist. de Don Pedro Gasca,
Ms.]

While the grant of such unbounded powers excited the warmest
sentiments of gratitude in Gasca towards the sovereign who could
repose in him so much confidence, it seems - which is more
extra-ordinary - not to have raised corresponding feelings of
envy in the courtiers. They knew well that it was not for
himself that the good ecclesiastic had solicited them. On the
contrary, some of the council were desirous that he should be
preferred to the bishopric, as already promised him, before his
departure; conceiving that he would thus go with greater
authority than as an humble ecclesiastic, and fearing, moreover,
that Gasca himself, were it omitted, might feel some natural
disappointment. But the president hastened to remove these
impressions. "The honor would avail me little," he said, "where
I am going; and it would be manifestly wrong to appoint me to an
office in the Church, while I remain at such a distance that I
cannot discharge the duties of it. The consciousness of my
insufficiency," he continued, "should I never return, would lie
heavy on my soul in my last moments." *14 The politic reluctance
to accept the mitre has passed into a proverb. But there was no
affectation here; and Gasca's friends, yielding to his arguments,
forbore to urge the matter further.

[Footnote 14: "Especialmente, si alla muriesse o le matassen: que
entoces de nada le podria ser buena, sino para partir desta vida,
con mas congoxa y pena de la poca cuenta que daua de la prouision
que auia aceptado." Fernandez, Hist. de Peru, Parte 1, lib. 2,
cap. 18.]

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.]