History Of The Conquest Of Peru

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It was provided, however, that slaves, in any event, should be forfeited
by all those who had shown themselves unworthy to hold them by
neglect or ill-usage; by all public functionaries, or such as had held
offices under the government; by ecclesiastics and religious
corporations; and lastly,--a sweeping clause,--by all who had taken a
criminal part in the feuds of Almagro and Pizarro.

It was further ordered, that the Indians should be moderately taxed; that
they should not be compelled to labor where they did not choose, and
that where, from particular circumstances, this was made necessary, they
should receive a fair compensation. It was also decreed, that, as the
repartimientos of land were often excessive, they should in such cases be
reduced; and that, where proprietors had been guilty of a notorious abuse
of their slaves, their estates should be forfeited altogether.

As Peru had always shown a spirit of insubordination, which required a
more vigorous interposition of authority than was necessary in the other
colonies, it was resolved to send a viceroy to that country, who should
display a state, and be armed with powers, that might make him a more
fitting representative of the sovereign. He was to be accompanied by a
Royal Audience, consisting of four judges, with extensive powers of
jurisdiction, both criminal and civil, who, besides a court of justice,
should constitute a sort of council to advise with and aid the viceroy.
The Audience of Panama was to be dissolved, and the new tribunal,
with the vice-king's court, was to be established at Los Reyes, or Lima,
as it now began to be called,---henceforth the metropolis of the Spanish
empire on the Pacific.13

Such were some of the principal features of this remarkable code, which,
touching on the most delicate relations of society, broke up the very
foundations of property, and, by a stroke of the pen, as it were, converted
a nation of slaves into freemen. It would have required, we may
suppose, but little forecast to divine, that in the remote regions of
America, and especially in Peru, where the colonists had been hitherto
accustomed to unbounded license, a reform, so salutary in essential
points, could be enforced thus summarily only at the price of a
revolution. Yet the ordinances received the sanction of the emperor that
same year, and in November, 1543, were published at Madrid.14

No sooner was their import known than it was conveyed by numerous
letters to the colonists, from their friends in Spain. The tidings flew like
wildfire over the land, from Mexico to Chili. Men were astounded at the
prospect of the ruin that awaited them. In Peru, particularly, there was
scarcely one that could hope to escape the operation of the law. Few
there were who had not taken part, at some time or other, in the civil
feuds of Almagro and Pizarro; and still fewer of those that remained that
would not be entangled in some one or other of the insidious clauses that
seemed spread out, like a web, to ensnare them.

The whole country was thrown into commotion. Men assembled
tumultuously in the squares and public places, and, as the regulations
were made known they were received with universal groans and hisses.
"Is this the fruit," they cried, "of all our toil? Is it for this that we have
poured out our blood like water? Now that we are broken down by
hardships and sufferings, to be left at the end of our campaigns as poor
as at the beginning! Is this the way government rewards our services in
winning for it an empire? The government has done little to aid us in
making the conquest, and for what we have we may thank our own good
swords; and with these same swords," they continued, warming into
menace, "we know how to defend it." Then, stripping up his sleeve, the
war-worn veteran bared his arm, or, exposing his naked bosom, pointed
to his scars, as the best title to his estates.15

The governor, Vaca de Castro, watched the storm thus gathering from all
quarters, with the deepest concern. He was himself in the very heart of
disaffection; for Cuzco, tenanted by a mixed and lawless population was
so far removed into the depths of the mountains, that it had much less
intercourse with the parent country, and was consequently much less
under her influence, than the great towns on the coast. The people now
invoked the governor to protect them against the tyranny of the Court;
but he endeavored to calm the agitation by representing, that by these
violent measures they would only defeat their own object. He counselled
them to name deputies to lay their petition before the Crown, stating the
impracticability of the present scheme of reform, and praying for the
repeal of it; and he conjured them to wait patiently for the arrival of the
viceroy, who might be prevailed on to suspend the ordinances till further
advices could be received from Castile.

But it was not easy to still the tempest; and the people now eagerly
looked for some one whose interests and sympathies might lie with
theirs, and whose position in the community might afford them
protection. The person to whom they naturally turned in this crisis was
Gonzalo Pizarro, the last in the land of that family who had led the
armies of the Conquest,--a cavalier whose gallantry and popular manners
had made him always a favorite with the people. He was now beset with
applications to interpose in their behalf with the government, and shield
them from the oppressive ordinances.

But Gonzalo Pizarro was at Charcas, busily occupied in exploring the
rich veins of Potosi, whose silver fountains, just brought into light, were
soon to pour such streams of wealth over Europe. Though gratified with
this appeal to his protection, the cautious cavalier was more intent on
providing for the means of enterprise than on plunging prematurely into
it; and, while he secretly encouraged the malecontents, he did not
commit himself by taking part in any revolutionary movement. At the
same period, he received letters from Vaca de Castro,--whose vigilant
eye watched all the aspects of the time,---cautioning Gonzalo and his
friends not to be seduced, by any wild schemes of reform, from their
allegiance. And, to check still further these disorderly movements, he
ordered his alcaldes to arrest every man guilty of seditious language, and
bring him at once to punishment. By this firm yet temperate conduct the
minds of the populace were overawed, and there was a temporary lull in
the troubled waters, while all looked anxiously for the coming of the
viceroy.16

The person selected for this critical post was a knight of Avila, named
Blasco Nunez Vela. He was a cavalier of ancient family, handsome in
person, though now somewhat advanced in years, and reputed brave and
devout. He had filled some offices of responsibility to the satisfaction of
Charles the Fifth, by whom he was now appointed to this post in Peru.
The selection did no credit to the monarch's discernment.

It may seem strange that this important place should not have been
bestowed on Vaca de Castro, already on the spot, and who had shown
himself so well qualified to fill it. But ever since that officer's mission to
Peru, there had been a series of assassinations, insurrections, and civil
wars, that menaced the wretched colony with ruin; and, though his wise
administration had now brought things into order, the communication
with the Indies was so tardy, that the results of his policy were not yet
fully disclosed. As it was designed, moreover, to make important
innovations in the government, it was thought better to send some one
who would have no personal prejudices to encounter, from the part he
had already taken, and who, coming directly from the Court, and clothed
with extraordinary powers, might present himself with greater authority
than could one who had become familiar to the people in an inferior
capacity. The monarch, however, wrote a letter with his own hand to,
Vaca de Castro in which he thanked that officer for his past services, and
directed him, after aiding the new viceroy with the fruits of his large
experience, to return to Castile, and take his seat in the Royal Council.
Letters of a similar complimentary kind were sent to the loyal colonists
who had stood by the governor in the late troubles of the country.
Freighted with these testimonials, and with the ill-starred ordinances,
Blasco Nunez embarked at San Lucar, on the 3d of November, 1543. He
was attended by the four judges of the Audience, and by a numerous
retinue, that he might appear in the state befitting his distinguished
rank.17

About the middle of the following January, 1544, the viceroy, after a
favorable passage, landed at Nombre de Dios. He found there a vessel
laden with silver from the Peruvian mines, ready to sail for Spain. His
first act was to lay an embargo on it for the government, as containing
the proceeds of slave labor. After this extraordinary measure, taken in
opposition to the advice of the Audience, he crossed the Isthmus to
Panama. Here he gave sure token of his future policy, by causing more
than three hundred Indians, who had been brought by their owners from
Peru, to be liberated and sent back to their own country. This
highhanded measure created the greatest sensation in the city, and was
strongly resisted by the judges of the Audience. They besought him not
to begin thus precipitately to execute his commission, but to wait till his
arrival in the colony, when he should have taken time to acquaint himself
somewhat with the country, and with the temper of the people. But
Blasco Nunez coldly replied, that "he had come, not to tamper with the
laws, nor to discuss their merits, but to execute them,--and execute them
he would, to the letter, whatever might be the consequence."18 This
answer, and the peremptory tone in which it was delivered, promptly
adjourned the debate; for the judges saw that debate was useless with one
who seemed to consider all remonstrance as an attempt to turn him from
his duty, and whose ideas of duty precluded all discretionary exercise of
authority, even where the public good demanded it.

Leaving the Audience, as one of its body was ill, at Panama, the viceroy
proceeded on his way, and, coasting down the shores of the Pacific, on
the fourth of March he disembarked at Tumbez. He was well received
by the loyal inhabitants; his authority was publicly proclaimed, and the
people were overawed by the display of a magnificence and state such as
had not till then been seen in Peru. He took an early occasion to intimate
his future line of policy by liberating a number of Indian slaves on the
application of their caciques. He then proceeded by land towards the
south, and showed his determination to conform in his own person to the
strict letter of the ordinances, by causing his baggage to be carried by
mules, where it was practicable; and where absolutely necessary to make
use of Indians, he paid them fairly for their services.19

The whole country was thrown into consternation by reports of the
proceedings of the viceroy, and of his conversations, most unguarded,
which were eagerly circulated, and, no doubt, often exaggerated.
Meetings were again called in the cities. Discussions were held on the
expediency of resisting his further progress, and a deputation of citizens
from Cuzco, who were then in Lima, strongly urged the people to close
the gates of that capital against him. But Vaca de Castro had also left
Cuzco for the latter city, on the earliest intimation of the viceroy's
approach, and, with some difficulty, he prevailed on the inhabitants not
to swerve from their loyalty, but to receive their new ruler with suitable
honors, and trust to his calmer judgment for postponing the execution of
the law till the case could be laid before the throne.

But the great body of the Spaniards, after what they had heard, had
slender confidence in the relief to be obtained from this quarter. They
now turned with more eagerness than ever towards Gonzalo Pizarro; and
letters and addresses poured in upon him from all parts of the country,
inviting him to take on himself the office of their protector. These
applications found a more favorable response than on the former
occasion.

There were, indeed, many motives at work to call Gonzalo into action. It
was to his family, mainly, that Spain was indebted for this extension of
her colonial empire; and he had felt deeply aggrieved that the
government of the colony should be trusted to other hands than his. He
had felt this on the arrival of Vaca de Castro, and much more so when
the appointment of a viceroy proved it to be the settled policy of the
Crown to exclude his family from the management of affairs. His
brother Hernando still languished in prison, and he himself was now to
be sacrificed as the principal victim of the fatal ordinances. For who had
taken so prominent a part in the civil war with the elder Almagro? And
the viceroy was currently reported--it may have been scandal---to have
intimated that Pizarro would be dealt with accordingly.20 Yet there was
no one in the country who had so great a stake, who had so much to lose
by the revolution. Abandoned thus by the government, he conceived that
it was now time to take care of himself.

Assembling together some eighteen or twenty cavaliers in whom he most
trusted, and taking a large amount of silver, drawn from the mines, he
accepted the invitation to repair to Cuzco. As he approached this capital,
he was met by a numerous body of the citizens, who came out to
welcome him, making the air ring with their shouts, as they saluted him
with the title of Procurator-General of Peru. The title was speedily
confirmed by the municipality of the city, who invited him to head a
deputation to Lima, in order to state their grievances to the viceroy, and
solicit the present suspension of the ordinances.

But the spark of ambition was kindled in the bosom of Pizarro. He felt
strong in the affections of the people; and, from the more elevated
position in which he now stood, his desires took a loftier and more
unbounded range. Yet, if he harbored a criminal ambition in his breast,
he skilfully veiled it from others--perhaps from himself. The only object
he professed to have in view was the good of the people;21 a suspicious
phrase, usually meaning the good of the individual. He now demanded
permission to raise and organize an armed force, with the further title of
Captain-General. His views were entirely pacific; but it was not safe,
unless strongly protected, to urge them on a person of the viceroy's
impatient and arbitrary temper. It was further contended by Pizarro's
friends, that such a force was demanded, to rid the country of their old
enemy, the Inca Manco, who hovered in the neighboring mountains with
a body of warriors, ready, at the first opportunity, to descend on the
Spaniards. The municipality of Cuzco hesitated, as well it might, to
confer powers so far beyond its legitimate authority. But Pizarro avowed
his purpose, in case of refusal, to decline the office of Procurator; and
the efforts of his partisans, backed by those of the people, at length
silenced the scruples of the magistrates, who bestowed on the ambitious
chief the military command to which he aspired. Pizarro accepted it with
the modest assurance, that he did so "purely from regard to the interests
of the king, of the Indies, and, above all, of Peru!" 22

Book 4

Chapter 8

The Viceroy Arrives At Lima--Gonzalo Pizarro Marches From Cuzco--
Death Of The Inca Manco--Rash Conduct Of The Viceroy--
Seized And Deposed By The Audience--
Gonzalo Proclaimed Governor Of Peru

1544

While the events recorded in the preceding pages were in progress,
Blasco Nunez had been journeying towards Lima. But the alienation
which his conduct had already caused in the minds of the colonists was
shown in the cold reception which he occasionally experienced on the
route, and in the scanty accommodations provided for him and his
retinue. In one place where he took up his quarters, he found an ominous
inscription over the door:--"He that takes my property must expect to pay
for it with his life." 1 Neither daunted, nor diverted from his purpose,
the inflexible viceroy held on his way towards the capital, where the
inhabitants, preceded by Vaca de Castro and the municipal authorities,
came out to receive him. He entered in great state, under a canopy of
crimson cloth, embroidered with the arms of Spain, and supported by
stout poles or staves of solid silver, which were borne by the members of
the municipality. A cavalier, holding a mace, the emblem of authority,
rode before him; and after the oaths of office were administered in the
council-chamber, the procession moved towards the cathedral, where Te
Deum was sung, and Blasco Nunez was installed in his new dignity of
viceroy of Peru.2

His first act was to proclaim his determination in respect to the
ordinances. He had no warrant to suspend their execution. He should
fulfil his commission; but he offered to join the colonists in a memorial
to the emperor, soliciting the repeal of a code which he now believed
would be for the interests neither of the country nor of the Crown.3
With this avowed view of the subject, it may seem strange that Blasco
Nunez should not have taken the responsibility of suspending the law
until his sovereign could be assured of the inevitable consequences of
enforcing it. The pacha of a Turkish despot, who had allowed himself
this latitude for the interests of his master, might, indeed, have reckoned
on the bowstring. But the example of Mendoza, the prudent viceroy of
Mexico who adopted this course in a similar crisis, and precisely at the
same period, showed its propriety under existing circumstances. The
ordinances were suspended by him till the Crown could be warned of the
consequences of enforcing them,--and Mexico was saved from
revolution.4 But Blasco Nunez had not the wisdom of Mendoza.

The public apprehension was now far from being allayed. Secret cabals
were formed in Lima, and communications held with the different towns.
No distrust, however, was raised in the breast of the viceroy, and, when
informed of the preparations of Gonzalo Pizarro, he took no other step
than to send a message to his camp, announcing the extraordinary
powers with which he was himself invested, and requiring that chief to
disband his forces. He seemed to think that a mere word from him
would be sufficient to dissipate rebellion. But it required more than a
breath to scatter the iron soldiery of Peru.

Gonzalo Pizarro, meanwhile, was busily occupied in mustering his army.
His first step was to order from Guamanga sixteen pieces of artillery,
sent there by Vaca de Castro, who, in the present state of excitement,
was unwilling to trust the volatile people of Cuzco with these implements
of destruction. Gonzalo, who had no scruples as to Indian labor,
appropriated six thousand of the natives to the service of transporting
this train of ordnance across the mountains.5

By his exertions and those of his friends, the active chief soon mustered
a force of nearly four hundred men, which, if not very imposing in the
outset, he conceived would be swelled, in his descent to the coast, by
tributary levies from the towns and villages on the way. All his own
funds were expended in equipping his men and providing for the march;
and, to supply deficiencies, he made no scruple---since, to use his words,
it was for the public interest--to appropriate the moneys in the royal
treasury. With this seasonable aid, his troops, well mounted and
thoroughly equipped, were put in excellent fighting order; and, after
making them a brief harangue, in which he was careful to insist on the
pacific character of his enterprise, somewhat at variance with its military
preparations, Gonzalo Pizarro sallied forth from the gates of the capital.

Before leaving it, he received an important accession of strength in the
person of Francisco de Carbajal, the veteran who performed so
conspicuous a part in the battle of Chupas. He was at Charcas when the
news of the ordinances reached Peru; and he instantly resolved to quit
the country and return to Spain, convinced that the New World would be
no longer the land for him,--no longer the golden Indies. Turning his
effects into money, he prepared to embark them on board the first ship
that offered. But no opportunity occurred, and he could have little
expectation now of escaping the vigilant eye of the viceroy. Yet, though
solicited by Pizarro to take command under him in the present
expedition, the veteran declined, saying, he was eighty years old, and had
no wish but to return home, and spend his few remaining days in quiet.6
Well had it been for him, had he persisted in his refusal. But he yielded
to the importunities of his friend; and the short space that yet remained to
him of life proved long enough to brand his memory with perpetual
infamy.

Soon after quitting Cuzco, Pizarro learned the death of the Inca Manco.
He was massacred by a party of Spaniards, of the faction of Almagro,
who, on the defeat of their young leader, had taken refuge in the Indian
camp. They, in turn, were all slain by the Peruvians. It is impossible to
determine on whom the blame of the quarrel should rest, since no one
present at the time has recorded it.7

The death of Manco Inca, as he was commonly called, is an event not to
be silently passed over in Peruvian history; for he was the last of his race
that may be said to have been animated by the heroic spirit of the ancient
Incas. Though placed on the throne by Pizarro, far from remaining a
mere puppet in his hands, Manco soon showed that his lot was not to be
cast with that of his conquerors. With the ancient institutions of his
country lying a wreck around him, he yet struggled bravely, like
Guatemozin, the last of the Aztecs, to uphold her tottering fortunes, or to
bury his oppressors under her ruins. By the assault on his own capital of
Cuzco, in which so large a portion of it was demolished, he gave a check
to the arms of Pizarro, and, for a season, the fate of the Conquerors
trembled in the balance. Though foiled, in the end, by the superior
science of his adversary, the young barbarian still showed the same
unconquerable spirit as before. He withdrew into the fastnesses of his
native mountains, whence sallying forth as occasion offered, he fell on
the caravan of the traveller, or on some scattered party of the military;
and, in the event of a civil war, was sure to throw his own weight into the
weaker scale, thus prolonging the contest of his enemies, and feeding his
revenge by the sight of their calamities. Moving lightly from spot to
spot, he eluded pursuit amidst the wilds of the Cordilleras; and, hovering
in the neighborhood of the towns, or lying in ambush on the great
thoroughfares of the country, the Inca Manco made his name a terror to
the Spaniards. Often did they hold out to him terms of accommodation;
and every succeeding ruler, down to Blasco Nunez, bore instructions
from the Crown to employ every art to conciliate the formidable warrior.
But Manco did not trust the promises of the white man; and he chose
rather to maintain his savage independence in the mountains, with the
few brave spirits around him, than to live a slave in the land which had
once owned the sway of his ancestors.

The death of the Inca removed one of the great pretexts for Gonzalo
Pizarro's military preparations; but it had little influence on him, as may
be readily imagined. He was much more sensible to the desertion of
some of his followers, which took place early on the march. Several of
the cavaliers of Cuzco, startled by his unceremonious appropriation of
the public moneys, and by the belligerent aspect of affairs, now for the
first time seemed to realize that they were in the path of rebellion. A
number of these, including some principal men of the city, secretly
withdrew from the army, and, hastening to Lima, offered their services to
the viceroy. The troops were disheartened by this desertion, and even
Pizarro for a moment faltered in his purpose, and thought of retiring with
some fifty followers to Charcas, and there making his composition with
government. But a little reflection, aided by the remonstrances of the
courageous Carbajal, who never turned his back on an enterprise which
he had once assumed, convinced him that he had gone too far to recede,-
-that his only safety was to advance.

He was reassured by more decided manifestations, which he soon after
received, of the public opinion. An officer named Puelles, who
commanded at Guanuco, joined him, with a body of horse with which he
had been intrusted by the viceroy. This defection was followed by that
of others, and Gonzalo, as he descended the sides of the table-land,
found his numbers gradually swelled to nearly double the amount with
which he had left the Indian capital.