History Of The Conquest Of Peru

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Neither was the viceroy's character of a kind that tended to mitigate the
odium of his measures, and reconcile the people to their execution. It
afforded a strong contrast to that of his rival, Pizarro, whose frank,
chivalrous bearing, and generous confidence in his followers, made him
universally popular, blinding their judgments, and giving to the worse
the semblance of the better cause. Blasco Nunez, on the contrary,
irritable and suspicious, placed himself in a false position with all whom
he approached; for a suspicious temper creates an atmosphere of distrust
around it that kills every kindly affection. His first step was to alienate
the members of the Audience who were sent to act in concert with him.
But this was their fault as well as his, since they were as much too lax, as
he was too severe, in the interpretation of the law.31 He next alienated
and outraged the people whom he was appointed to govern. And, lastly,
he disgusted his own friends, and too often turned them into enemies; so
that, in his final struggle for power and for existence, he was obliged to
rely on the arm of the stranger. Yet in the catalogue of his qualities we
must not pass in silence over his virtues. There are two to the credit of
which he is undeniably entitled,--a loyalty, which shone the brighter
amidst the general defection around him, and a constancy under
misfortune, which might challenge the respect even of his enemies. But
with the most liberal allowance for his merits, it can scarcely be doubted
that a person more incompetent to the task assigned him could not have
been found in Castile.32

The victory of Anaquito was received with general joy in the
neighboring capital; all the cities of Peru looked on it as sealing the
downfall of the detested ordinances, and the name of Gonzalo Pizarro
was sounded from one end of the country to the other as that of its
deliverer. That chief continued to prolong his stay in Quito during the
wet season, dividing his time between the licentious pleasures of the
reckless adventurer and the cares of business that now pressed on him as
ruler of the state. His administration was stained with fewer acts of
violence than might have been expected from the circumstances of his
situation. So long as Carbajal, the counsellor in whom he unfortunately
placed greatest reliance, was absent, Gonzalo sanctioned no execution, it
was observed, but according to the forms of law.33 He rewarded his
followers by new grants of land, and detached several on expeditions, to
no greater distance, however, than would leave it in his power readily to
recall them. He made various provisions for the welfare of the natives,
and some, in particular, for instructing them in the Christian faith. He
paid attention to the faithful collection of the royal dues, urging on the
colonists that they should deport themselves so as to conciliate the
goodwill of the Crown, and induce a revocation of the ordinances. His
administration, in short, was so conducted, that even the austere Gasca,
his successor, allowed "it was a good government,--for a tyrant." 34

At length, in July, 1546, the new governor bade adieu to Quito, and,
leaving there a sufficient garrison under his officer Puelles, began his
journey to the south. It was a triumphal progress, and everywhere he
was received on the road with enthusiasm by the people. At Truxillo, the
citizens came out in a body to welcome him, and the clergy chanted
anthems in his honor, extolling him as the "victorious prince," and
imploring the Almighty "to lengthen his days, and give him honor."35
At Lima, it was proposed to clear away some of the buildings, and open
a new street for his entrance, which might ever after bear the name of the
victor. But the politic chieftain declined this flattering tribute, and
modestly preferred to enter the city by the usual way. A procession was
formed of the citizens, the soldiers, and the clergy, and Pizarro made his
entry into the capital with two of his principal captains on foot, holding
the reins of his charger, while the archbishop of Lima, and the bishops of
Cuzco, Quito, and Bogota, the last of whom had lately come to the city
to be consecrated, rode by his side. The streets were strewn with
boughs, the walls of the houses hung with showy tapestries, and
triumphal arches were thrown over the way in honor of the victor. Every
balcony, veranda, and house-top was crowded with spectators, who sent
up huzzas, loud and long, saluting the victorious soldier with the titles of
"Liberator, and Protector of the people." The bells rang out their joyous
peal, as on his former entrance into the capital; and amidst strains of
enlivening music, and the blithe sounds of jubilee, Gonzalo held on his
way to the palace of his brother. Peru was once more placed under the
dynasty of the Pizarros.36

Deputies came from different parts of the country, tending the
congratulations of their respective cities; and every one eagerly urged his
own claims to consideration for the services he had rendered in the
revolution. Pizarro, at the same time, received the welcome intelligence
of the success of his arms in the south. Diego Centeno, as before stated,
had there raised the standard of rebellion, or rather, of loyalty to his
sovereign. He had made himself master of La Plata, and the spirit of
insurrection had spread over the broad province of Charcas. Carbajal,
who had been sent against him from Quito, after repairing to Lima, had
passed at once to Cuzco, and there, strengthening his forces, had
descended by rapid marches on the refractory district. Centeno did not
trust himself in the field against this formidable champion. He retreated
with his troops into the fastnesses of the sierra. Carbajal pursued,
following on his track with the pertinacity of a bloodhound; over
mountain and moor, through forests and dangerous ravines, allowing him
no respite, by day or by night. Eating, drinking, sleeping in his saddle,
the veteran, eighty years of age, saw his own followers tire one after
another, while he urged on the chase, like the wild huntsman of Burger,
as if endowed with an unearthly frame, incapable of fatigue! During this
terrible pursuit, which continued for more than two hundred leagues over
a savage country, Centeno found himself abandoned by most of his
followers. Such of them as fell into Carbajal's hands were sent to speedy
execution; for that inexorable chief had no mercy on those who had been
false to their party.37 At length, Centeno, with a handful of men, arrived
on the borders of the Pacific, and there, separating from one another,
they provided, each in the best way he could, for their own safety. Their
leader found an asylum in a cave in the mountains, where he was secretly
fed by an Indian curaca, till the time again for him to unfurl the standard
of revolt.38

Carbajal, after some further decisive movements, which fully established
the ascendency of Pizarro over the south, returned in triumph to La Plata.
There he occupied himself with working the silver mines of Potosi, in
which a vein, recently opened, promised to make richer returns than any
yet discovered in Mexico or Peru;39 and he was soon enabled to send
large remittances to Lima, deducting no stinted commission for himself,-
-for the cupidity of the lieutenant was equal to his cruelty.

Gonzalo Pizarro was now undisputed master of Peru. From Quito to the
northern confines of Chili, the whole country acknowledged his
authority. His fleet rode triumphant on the Pacific, and gave him the
command of every city and hamlet on its borders. His admiral,
Hinojosa, a discreet and gallant officer, had secured him Panama, and,
marching across the Isthmus, had since obtained for him the possession
of Nombre de Dios,--the principal key of communication with Europe.
His forces were on an excellent footing, including the flower of the
warriors who had fought under his brother, and who now eagerly rallied
under the name of Pizarro; while the tide of wealth that flowed in from
the mines of Potosi supplied him with the resources of an European
monarch.

The new governor now began to assume a state correspondent with his
full-blown fortunes. He was attended by a body-guard of eighty soldiers.
He dined always in public, and usually with not less than a hundred
guests at table. He even affected, it was said, the most decided etiquette
of royalty, giving his hand to be kissed, and allowing no one, of whatever
rank, to be seated in his presence.40 But this is denied by others. It
would not be strange that a vain man like Pizarro, with a superficial,
undisciplined mind, when he saw himself thus raised from an humble
condition to the highest post in the land, should be somewhat intoxicated
by the possession of power, and treat with superciliousness those whom
he had once approached with deference. But one who had often seen
him in his prosperity assures us, that it was not so, and that the governor
continued to show the same frank and soldierlike bearing as before his
elevation, mingling on familiar terms with his comrades, and displaying
the same qualities which had hitherto endeared him to the people.41

However this may be, it is certain there were not wanting those who
urged him to throw off his allegiance to the Crown, and set up an
independent government for himself. Among these was his lieutenant,
Carbajal, whose daring spirit never shrunk from following things to their
consequences. He plainly counselled Pizarro to renounce his allegiance
at once. "In fact, you have already done so," he said. "You have been in
arms against a viceroy, have driven him from the country, beaten and
slain him in battle. What favor, or even mercy, can you expect from the
Crown? You have gone too far either to halt, or to recede. You must go
boldly on, proclaim yourself king; the troops, the people, will support
you." And he concluded, it is said, by advising him to marry the Coya,
the female representative of the Incas, that the two races might
henceforth repose in quiet under a common sceptre! 42

The advice of the bold counsellor was, perhaps, the most politic that
could have been given to Pizarro under existing circumstances. For he
was like one who had heedlessly climbed far up a dizzy precipice,--too
far to descend safely, while he had no sure hold where he was. His only
chance was to climb still higher, till he had gained the summit. But
Gonzalo Pizarro shrunk from the attitude, in which this placed him, of
avowed rebellion. Notwithstanding the criminal course into which he
had been, of late, seduced, the sentiment of loyalty was too deeply
implanted in his bosom to be wholly eradicated. Though in arms against
the measures and ministers of his sovereign, he was not prepared to raise
the sword against the sovereign himself. He, doubtless, had conflicting
emotion in his bosom; like Macbeth, and many a less noble nature,

'"Would not play false,
And yet would wrongly win."

And however grateful to his vanity might be the picture of the airdrawn
sceptre thus painted to his imagination, he had not the audacity --we
may, perhaps, say, the criminal ambition--to attempt to grasp it.

Even at this very moment, when urged to this desperate extremity, he
was preparing a mission to Spain, in order to vindicate the course he had
taken, and to solicit an amnesty for the past, with a full confirmation of
his authority, as successor to his brother in the government of Peru.--
Pizarro did not read the future with the calm, prophetic eye of Carbajal.

Among the biographical notices of the writers on Spanish colonial
affairs, the name of Herrera, who has done more for this vast subject
than any other author, should certainly not be omitted. His account of
Peru takes its proper place in his great work, the Historia General de las
lndias, according to the chronological plan on which that history is
arranged. But as it suggests reflections not different in character from
those suggested by other portions of the work, I shall take the liberty to
refer the reader to the Postscript to Book Third of the Conquest of
Mexico, for a full account of these volumes and their learned author.

Another chronicler, to whom I have been frequently indebted in the
progress of the narrative, is Francisco Lopez de Gomara. The reader
will also find a notice of this author in the Conquest of Mexico, Book 5,
Postscript. But as the remarks on his writings are there confined to his
Cronica de Nueva Espana, it may be well to add here some reflections on
his greater work, Historia de las Indias, in which the Peruvian story bears
a conspicuous part.

The "History of the Indies" is intended to give a brief view of the whole
range of Spanish conquest in the islands and on the American continent,
as far as had been achieved by the middle of the sixteenth century. For
this account, Gomara, though it does not appear that he ever visited the
New World, was in a situation that opened to him the best means of
information. He was well acquainted with the principal men of the time,
and gathered the details of their history from their own lips; while, from
his residence at court, he was in possession of the state of opinion there,
and of the impression made by passing events on those most competent
to judge of them. He was thus enabled to introduce into his work many
interesting particulars, not to be found in other records of the period. His
range of inquiry extended beyond the mere doings of the Conquerors,
and led him to a survey of the general resources of the countries he
describes, and especially of their physical aspect and productions. The
conduct of his work, no less than its diction, shows the cultivated
scholar, practised in the art of composition. Instead of the naivete,
engaging, but childlike, of the old military chroniclers, Gomara handles
his various topics with the shrewd and piquant criticism of a man of the
world; while his descriptions are managed with a comprehensive brevity
that forms the opposite to the long-winded and rambling paragraphs of
the monkish annalist. These literary merits, combined with the
knowledge of the writer's opportunities for information, secured his
productions from the oblivion which too often awaits the unpublished
manuscript; and he had the satisfaction to see them pass into more than
one edition in his own day. Yet they do not bear the highest stamp of
authenticity. The author too readily admits accounts into his pages
which are not supported by contemporary testimony. This he does, not
from credulity, for his mind rather leans in an opposite direction, but
from a Want, apparently, of the true spirit of historic conscientiousness.
The imputation of carelessness in his statements--to use a temperate
phrase--was brought against Gomara in his own day; and Garcilasso tells
us, that, when called to account by some of the Peruvian cavaliers for
misstatements which bore hard on themselves, the historian made but an
awkward explanation. This is a great blemish on his productions, and
renders them of far less value to the modern compiler, who seeks for the
well of truth undefiled, than many an humbler but less unscrupulous
chronicle.

There is still another authority used in this work, Gonzalo Fernandez de
Oviedo, of whom I have given an account elsewhere; and the reader
curious in the matter will permit me to refer him for a critical notice of
his life and writings to the Conquest of Mexico, Book 4, Postscript.--His
account of Peru is incorporated into his great work, Natural & General
Historia de las lndias, MS., where it forms the forty-sixth and forty-
seventh books. It extends from Pizarro's landing at Tumbez to
Almagro's return from Chili, and thus covers the entire portion of what
may be called the conquest of the country. The style of its execution,
corresponding with that of the residue of the work to which it belongs,
affords no ground for criticism different from that already passed on the
general character of Oviedo's writings.

This eminent person was at once a scholar and a man of the world.
Living much at court, and familiar with persons of the highest distinction
in Castile, he yet passed much of his time in the colonies, and thus added
the fruits of personal experience to what he had gained from the reports
of others. His curiosity was indefatigable, extending to every department
of natural science, as well as to the civil and personal history of the
colonists. He was, at once, their Pliny and their Tacitus. His works
abound in portraitures of character, sketched with freedom and
animation. His reflections are piquant, and often rise to a philosophic
tone, which discards the usual trammels of the age; and the progress of
the story is varied by a multiplicity of personal anecdotes, that give a
rapid insight into the characters of the parties.

With his eminent qualifications, and with a social position that
commanded respect, it is strange that so much of his writings-the whole
of his great Historia de las Indias, and his curious Quincuagenas--should
be so long suffered to remain in manuscript. This is partly chargeable to
the caprice of fortune; for the History was more than once on the eve of
publication, and is even now understood to be prepared for the press.
Yet it has serious defects, which may have contributed to keep it in its
present form. In its desultory and episodical style of composition, it
resembles rather notes for a great history, than history itself. It may be
regarded in the light of commentaries, or as illustrations of the times. In
that view his pages are of high worth, and have been frequently resorted
to by writers who have not too scrupulously appropriated the statements
of the old chronicler, with slight acknowledgments to their author.

It is a pity that Oviedo should have shown more solicitude to tell what
was new, than to ascertain how much of it was strictly true. Among his
merits will scarcely be found that of historical accuracy. And yet we
may find an apology for this, to some extent, in the fact, that his writings,
as already intimated, are not so much in the nature of finished
compositions, as of loose memoranda, where everything, rumor as well
as fact,--even the most contradictory rumors,--are all set down at
random, forming a miscellaneous heap of materials, of which the discreet
historian may avail himself to rear a symmetrical fabric on foundations
of greater strength and solidity.

Another author worthy of particular note is Pedro Cieza de Leon. His
Cronica del Peru should more properly be styled an Itinerary, or rather
Geography, of Peru. It gives a minute topographical view of the country
at the time of the Conquest; of its provinces and towns, both Indian and
Spanish; its flourishing sea-coast; its forests, valleys, and interminable
ranges of mountains in the interior; with many interesting particulars of
the existing population,--their dress, manners, architectural remains, and
public works, while, scattered here and there, may be found notices of
their early history and social polity. It is, in short, a lively picture of the
country in its physical and moral relations, as it met the eye at the time of
the Conquest, and in that transition period when it was first subjected to
European influences. The conception of a work, at so early a period, on
this philosophical plan, reminding us of that of Malte-Brun in our own
time,--parva componere magnis,-was, of itself, indicative of great
comprehensiveness of mind in its author. It was a task of no little
difficulty, where there was yet no pathway opened by the labors of the
antiquarian; no hints from the sketch-book of the traveller, or the
measurements of the scientific explorer. Yet the distances from place to
place are all carefully jotted down by the industrious compiler, and the
bearings of the different places and their peculiar features are exhibited
with sufficient precision, considering the nature of the obstacles he had
to encounter. The literary execution of the work, moreover, is highly
respectable, sometimes even rich and picturesque; and the author
describes the grand and beautiful scenery of the Cordilleras with a
sensibility to its charms, not often found in the tasteless topographer, still
less often in the rude Conqueror.

Cieza de Leon came to the New World, as he informs us, at the early age
of thirteen. But it is not till Gasca's time that we find his name enrolled
among the actors in the busy scenes of civil strife, when he accompanied
the president in his campaign against Gonzalo Pizarro. His Chronicle,
or, at least, the notes for it, was compiled in such leisure as he could
snatch from his more stirring avocations; and after ten years from the
time he undertook it, the First Part--all we have---was completed in
1550, when the author had reached only the age of thirty-two. It
appeared at Seville in 1553, and the following year at Antwerp; while an
Italian translation, printed at Rome, in 1555, attested the rapid celebrity
of the work. The edition of Antwerp--the one used by me in this
compilation--is in the duodecimo form, exceedingly well printed, and
garnished with wood-cuts, in which Satan,-for the author had a full
measure of the ancient credulity,--with his usual bugbear
accompaniments frequently appears in bodily presence. In the Preface,
Cieza announces his purpose to continue the work in three other parts,
illustrating respectively the ancient history of the country under the
Incas, its conquest by the Spaniards, and the civil wars which ensued.
He even gives, with curious minuteness, the contents of the several
books of the projected history. But the First Part, as already noticed,
was alone completed; and the author, having returned to Spain, died
there in 1560, at the premature age of forty-two, without having covered
any portion of the magnificent ground-plan which he had thus
confidently laid out. The deficiency is much to be regretted, considering
the talent of the writer, and his opportunities for personal observation.
But he has done enough to render us grateful for his labors. By the vivid
delineation of scenes and scenery, as they were presented fresh to his
own eyes, he has furnished us with a background to the historic picture,--
the landscape, as it were, in which the personages of the time might be
more fitly portrayed. It would have been impossible to exhibit the
ancient topography of the land so faithfully at a subsequent period, when
old things had passed away, and the Conqueror, breaking down the
landmarks of ancient civilization, had effaced many of the features even
of the physical aspect of the country, as it existed under the elaborate
culture of the Incas.

History of the Conquest of Peru

by William Hickling Prescott

Book 5

Settlement Of The Country

Chapter 1

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

1545--1547

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

It seemed as if the fairest of its jewels was about to fall from the imperial
diadem!

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