In consequence of these apprehensions, Cortes sent duplicate copies of all his despatches, so that if one set were seized at Seville by the bishop's functionaries, the other might arrive safe in the proper hands.
The accountant Albornoz had indeed, as it proved, forwarded letters by this same vessel to his majesty, to the bishop of Burgos, and to the royal council of the Indies, in which he renewed all the late accusations against our general, adding besides several new ones: among others, he assured his majesty that Cortes levied vast quantities of gold upon the caziques, under the pretext of forwarding it to his majesty; thereby occasioning great discontent throughout the whole country. He had assembled a considerable number of the distinguished females of the country, in order to marry them to his Spanish soldiers; but if honorable men requested any one of them in marriage, he was sure to refuse them, and retained them rather as his own mistresses. The caziques of the country in general looked upon him as a king; in fact, they knew of no other king than Cortes, who took to himself an equal fifth of the whole revenue of the country with the emperor, and he had amassed immense treasures to himself. Yet he was so artful, that it was impossible to divine his plans. He was building large fortresses, and it might be his intention to declare his independence of the Spanish crown, and turn traitor to his own country. It was, at all events, high time for his majesty to adopt some decisive step to prevent this, and despatch some personage of distinction to New Spain, in order to deprive Cortes of the chief command, and of all sovereign power in the country.
Besides this, Albornoz slandered Cortes in various other ways, and the bishop of Burgos determined to profit by it; and as Narvaez, Tapia, and the agents of Diego Velasquez still continued their solicitations at court, the bishop strenuously urged them to renew their accusations against Cortes, and he strove to add further weight to their complaints by the accounts which had just been received from Albornoz.
After his majesty had read these severe charges against our general, he considered they were all true, and he said to Narvaez, who was spokesman for the rest: "I am now determined that Cortes shall be punished! Though he may send me a quantity of gold, yet the accusations that are brought against him are becoming too frequent, and I love justice before all the treasures he can procure me."
His majesty did not long delay to carry out his threats, for he despatched orders to the admiral of St. Domingo to repair at the head of 600 men to Mexico, to seize Cortes' person, and if he found him guilty to cut off his head without any further ceremony, and to punish all those who assisted in the defeat of Narvaez. The emperor, in order to spur the admiral on to fulfil his commands, even promised to appoint him admiral of New Spain.
The admiral duly received these commands, but either from want of money to fit out an armament sufficiently extensive for this purpose, or whether he considered it a hazardous enterprise, he continually delayed to act up to the emperor's commands. Certain it is, however, that his friends cautioned him against Cortes' good fortune in arms, who, with a handful of men, had defeated the large body of troops under Narvaez, and they likewise assured him that he would not find Cortes or his companions in arms guilty of anything wrong, but in every sense loyal and faithful servants of his majesty. To all this was added, that it had been observed to the emperor what a very distinguished appointment admiral of New Spain would be, and that it was too great a reward to bestow on any one for a mere expedition of this nature.
In the meantime while the admiral of St. Domingo was making preparations for fitting out this armament, Cortes' agents, his father Martin Cortes and father Melgarejo de Urrea, got information of all that was going forward, and they no longer doubted from the letters they received from Cortes himself, that the accountant Albornoz, or others of his enemies, had been secretly plotting against him at court. These gentlemen, therefore, called upon the duke of Bejar, to whom they gave a full account of all the circumstances, and then laid before him Cortes' own letters. When the duke saw how perilous the posture of affairs looked, and how necessary it was to lend immediate assistance, he repaired to his majesty without delay, accompanied by several of his distinguished relatives, Martin Cortes, and father Melgarejo. After paying to his majesty the deep respect which was due from them to their sovereign and master, the duke humbly begged his majesty not to put any faith in what the accountant Albornoz might say, who was the avowed enemy of Cortes, and that his majesty would be pleased to countermand the orders he had given to the admiral of St. Domingo, at least if less suspicious witnesses than the accountant Albornoz did not come forward against Cortes. As his majesty, continued the duke, was a monarch who loved justice above all things, it was necessary to be doubly precautious in taking proceedings against Cortes and his companions in arms, who had rendered those services to their monarch, of which history could not produce another example. He himself still continued to place implicit confidence in the loyalty of Cortes towards his majesty, and in the same way as he had previously offered to answer for Cortes with his head, he was now quite ready to do the same again, and to stake the whole of his possessions in the bargain. After the duke had thus declared himself to the emperor, he gave his majesty an account of the letters which Cortes had written to his own father, in which he had explained the reasons of Albornoz's hatred to him. He then reminded his majesty of the vast quantities of gold which Cortes had forwarded to Spain, and of the many and great services he had altogether rendered to the crown, and brought forth excellent arguments in justification of Cortes' conduct. His majesty was so far convinced of the sound reasoning of the duke, that he determined to despatch to New Spain a man of high rank, distinguished talents, and of an unblemished character, there thoroughly to investigate the matter on the spot itself.
The imperial court was at that time in Toledo, of which town a cavalier and licentiate, named Luis Ponce de Leon, a cousin to the corregidor, earl Don Martin de Cordoba, was then the vice-regidor. It was on this gentleman that his majesty's choice fell, and Ponce de Leon accordingly received the important commission to repair, without delay, to New Spain, there to make the strictest inquiries into the accusations which had been made against Cortes, and if he found him guilty to punish him according to the utmost rigour of the law.
The licentiate Luis Ponce de Leon promised his majesty to employ his utmost endeavours to bring the truth of the matter to light, and made preparations for his journey to the New World; but he did not leave Spain till two and a half years after, so that I shall subsequently again have to recur to these circumstances. Nor did we receive any information from Cortes' father of what had taken place in Spain until after this time had elapsed. For the rest, Albornoz continued regularly to despatch his slanders to the emperor, and even did not spare the viceroy himself, Don Antonio de Mendoza, a man of exalted mind, worthy of the most grateful remembrance, and whose name will be ever glorious. However spotless the government of this gentleman might be, however honest in his distribution of justice, yet this Albornoz presumed to slander him to the emperor, and this merely because they were not upon good terms with each other. Subsequently all the charges which Albornoz had made against Cortes became known to this excellent viceroy, but he contented himself by merely ordering Albornoz into his presence, and laying before him the slanderous letters which he had written; he said to him with his usual mildness and composure of countenance: "Since you are so accustomed to write to his majesty, do not write falsehood, and thereby wantonly precipitate others into ruin!" Albornoz, as may easily be imagined, stood quite confounded and abashed.
I must now relate how Cortes, ignorant at that time of the secret machinations of his enemies at the imperial court, sent out an armament against Christobal de Oli.