THE KING'S STRONG BOX.
In 1508 was sent to Santo Domingo as treasurer-general Miguel de Pasamonte to supersede Bernardino de Santa Clara, who had received the office of treasurer from Ovando. Santa Clara loved display and lacked honesty. Using freely the king's money he bought estates, and gave feasts, in one of which the salt-cellars were filled with gold-dust. This folly reaching the king's ears, Gil Gonzalez Dávila, of whom we shall know more presently, was sent to investigate the matter, and found Santa Clara a defaulter to the extent of eighty thousand pesos de oro. His property was seized and offered at auction. Ovando, with whom Santa Clara was a favorite, stood by at the sale, and holding up a pineapple offered it to the most liberal bidder, which pleasantry was so stimulating that the estate brought ninety-six thousand pesos de oro, more than twice its value. Afterward the plan was adopted of having three locks upon the government's strong-box, the keys to which were carried by the three chief treasury officials.[V-8] Pasamonte was an Aragonese, in the immediate service of Ferdinand, with whom he corresponded in cipher during his residence in the Indies. A very good repartimiento of Indians was ordered by the king to be given the faithful Pasamonte. In 1511 Gil Gonzalez Dávila was made contador of Española, and Juan de Ampues factor; to each were given two hundred Indians, and they were ordered to examine the accounts of the treasurer, Pasamonte. For the faithful must be kept faithful by the strictest watching; such was Spanish discretion, whether in the management of men or women.
The removal of Ovando was delayed by the death of Isabella in 1504, and of Columbus in 1506. After persistent importunities Diego Colon, son of the admiral, was permitted in 1508 to plead in the courts of Spain his claim, as his father's successor, to the viceroyalty of the Indies. His marriage, meanwhile, with María de Toledo, a lady of high birth and connection, assisted in opening the eyes of the law to the justness of his demands, fully as much as did any argument of counsel. Ovando was recalled and Diego authorized to take his place.
The new governor, accompanied by his wife, his brother Fernando, his uncles Bartolomé and Diego, and a retinue brilliant with rank and beauty, landed at Santo Domingo in July, 1509. Although Ferdinand had withheld the title of viceroy, Diego evidently regarded his appointment nothing less than a viceroyalty, although the two mainland governors, Alonso de Ojeda and Diego de Nicuesa, for the provinces east and west of Urabá, remained independent of him.
THE SOVEREIGN TRIBUNAL.
Diego's administration was but little if any improvement on those of his predecessors. He possessed neither the ability nor the prudence of Ovando. He had intended equity and honesty in his rulings, and exceptional kindness to the natives; notwithstanding which he began by granting repartimientos to himself, his wife, and kindred, and giving the best of the remainder to his favorites. So that the now standard evils of favoritism and cruelty were in no wise mitigated. Not only were the Indians no better used than formerly, but falling into the errors of his father in the management of men Diego's weak government soon found opposed to it a faction at whose head was the powerful Pasamonte. Charges of a serious nature against the son of the Genoese so frequently reached Spain that in 1511 the king found it necessary to establish at Santo Domingo a sovereign tribunal to which appeals might be made from the decisions of the governor. This tribunal which at first was only a royal court of law, superior to any other colonial power, was the germ of the Real Audiencia of Santo Domingo by which the greater part of the Indies, islands and firm land, were governed for a period subsequent to 1521. It was at first composed of three jueces de apelacion, or judges of appeal, Marcelo de Villalobos, Juan Ortiz de Matienzo, and Lúcas Vazquez de Aillon. These licenciados, having brought with them instructions from Spain, and also orders on Diego Colon for partitions of land and two hundred Indians each, in 1511 were ready to rule. They were empowered to hear and determine appeals from the governor, his tenientes and alcaldes mayores, and from any other judges that had been or should be appointed either by the colonial governor or by the crown, appeal from their decision being only to the Council of the Indies in Spain. Although from its creation clothed with many of the powers of an audiencia, it did not all at once possess that title, but gradually assumed it.[V-9] By decree of September 14, 1526, we find the emperor ordering that in the city of Santo Domingo there should reside the Audiencia y Chancillería Real, "como está fundada," as at present constituted. It was to consist of a president; four oidores, who were also alcaldes del crímen, or criminal judges; a fiscal, a prosecuting officer in this case; an alguacil mayor, or high sheriff; a teniente de gran canciller, or deputy grand chancellor, and other necessary officers. Indeed, beside some of the other officers, a president had already been provided in 1521, in the person of Luis de Figueroa, bishop of Concepcion. Francisco de Prado was appointed fiscal in 1523, at which time the salaries of the oidores were raised, as they had been deprived of the right of holding Indians. All appeals from the jueces de residencia, where the amount involved was less than six hundred pesos de oro, were thereafter referred to this tribunal. Alonso de Zuazo took his seat among the oidores in 1526. To the audiencia of Santo Domingo was given for its district the West India Islands; and on the mainland the governments of Venezuela, Nueva Andalucía, Rio de Hacha, and Guayana, or el Dorado, this district being bounded by those of the audiencias of the Nuevo Reino de Granada, Tierra Firme, Guatemala, Nueva España, and the provinces of Florida. The president was empowered to make such ordinances as he should deem essential to the good government and defence of the island, just as was done, within their jurisdiction, by other governors of Indian provinces. He might fill vacancies in the various subordinate offices until the pleasure of the king should be known, and he might do generally all things pertaining to the executive power. In these matters the oidores were forbidden to interfere; nor could the president exercise judicial functions, but must nevertheless sign with the judges all sentences. In other respects this tribunal was on an equal footing with others of its class.[V-10]
AUDIENCIAS.
Meanwhile the most disturbing question in the colony was that of labor. To govern the few Spaniards at Española, under the arbitrary system of Spain, was a small matter; but to divide among them lands, agricultural and mineral, and laborers in such a way as to satisfy at once the colonists and the many tender and enlightened consciences in Spain, in such a way as to prevent the utter ruin either of colonial enterprise or of the natives themselves, was indeed a difficult task.
END OF DIEGO COLON.
In 1509 possession had been taken of Jamaica by Juan de Esquivel, and toward the end of 1511[V-11] the governor of Española had sent Diego Velazquez to occupy Cuba, which was done without the loss of a Spaniard. Ojeda and Nicuesa having failed in colonizing Darien, the mainland in that vicinity was offered by the king in 1514 to the adelantado, Bartolomé Colon, but he was then too ill to accept the charge, and died not long after. In April, 1515, Diego Colon embarked for Spain; and we find him attempting his vindication at court, when Ferdinand died, the 23d of January, 1516. Cardinal Jimenez, who held the reins of Spanish government for a time, refused to decide between the governor and treasurer; but in 1520 the emperor directed Pasamonte to molest Diego no more. Then affairs at Española became more intolerable than ever, and in 1523 Diego was divested of authority by the Council of the Indies, the sovereign tribunal at Santo Domingo furnishing ample information of a condemnatory character. Diego succeeded, however, in having a commission appointed to examine the matter more carefully, but this tended only to further complications; and the last days of the son, which ended in 1526, were not more happy than those of the father had been.[V-12]