After the conquest of Mexico, certain members of this order obtained the royal permission to proceed to the newly discovered countries for certain charitable purposes. When the subjugation was completed many of them settled in towns built by the Spaniards, but no convent of their order existed in New Spain at a very early date. To Bishop Marroquin they are indebted for the establishment of their first monastery in North America. This was founded in 1537[VIII‑14] at Ciudad Real in Chiapas, and in the following year frailes Zambrano and Dardon organized a similar institution in Santiago.
When, as will be hereafter told, the city of Santiago was almost destroyed by inundation in 1541, the friars of La Merced, then six in number, were compelled for a time to remain amid the ruins of the deserted city, for such was the indifference of the settlers that no land was assigned to them in the site afterward chosen. Finally, through the efforts of the bishop, an allotment was granted, and in the erection of their new convent they were greatly assisted by the Dominicans, who subsequently transferred to them several of the Indian towns under their charge. From this time they increased in number, gradually extended the field of their labors in Guatemala, and having districts assigned them by the bishop were enabled in after years to found convents in various parts of the country.[VIII‑15]
In the church of their order at Santiago was an image of Our Lady of La Merced, for which miraculous properties were claimed. The story as related in documents in the archives of the convent is as follows: As a westward-bound vessel was about to sail from the port of Santa María in Spain, a person dressed in the garb of a traveller approached the captain, and placing in his hands a closed box charged him to deliver it unopened to the superior of the convent in Guatemala. The aspect and bearing of the man impressed the seaman, and he faithfully discharged the commission. On receiving the casket, the superior carried it to the church, accompanied by the friars, and having opened it in their presence, the sacred effigy was disclosed. Great was their rejoicing at this unexpected boon; but their happiness was complete when they marked the divine serenity of the countenance, and perceived that an exquisite fragrance was exhaled from the holy image. Ere long one of their number noticed that from a wound in the right side a strange fluid oozed. Divine manifestation was recognized, and many of the afflicted were cured of their diseases by the application of the ichor.[VIII‑16]
Domingo Juarros may be considered the leading Guatemalan historian of modern times. He was born in the old city of Guatemala in 1752, and died in 1820. He wrote very fully on the subjugation of his country by the conquerors. Although his work is called the history of Guatemala city, it gives in reality the history of all Central America, and provides lists of all prominent officials, civil and ecclesiastical, and biographical notices of leading men, whether soldiers, priests, or rulers. The first volume treats of geography, settlements, church matters, and the history of Guatemala city. The second is devoted to the ancient records of the country, its conquest and settlement. The author was a secular presbyter and synodal examiner, and quite an able and intelligent man. His connection with the clergy and his rank gave him access to both ecclesiastical documents and government records. His work is full and clear, and displays considerable research, but unfortunately he follows Fuentes too closely, and this latter author's partiality to the conquerors renders him too biassed to be faithful as an historian. Yet Juarros frequently displays compassion for the Indians, is always ready to retract an error when he detects himself making one, and is ever cautious against dogmatic assertion. He draws largely from Remesal and Vazquez, and quotes several other of the earlier authorities; but strangely enough, while mentioning the manuscripts of Gonzalo de Alvarado and Bernal Diaz, and of writers in the Quiché, Cakchiquel, and Pipil tongues, he does not allude to Alvarado's letters to Cortés. This omission, and his numerous direct disagreements with Alvarado's own statements, lead to the inference that neither Juarros nor Fuentes consulted these despatches. Juarros' work is remarkably free from church bias. Though a priest he censures undue zeal or carelessness on the part of friars. Miracles receive attention, however, and so do stories of giants and other marvels. His arrangement with regard to the order of events is bad, and the want of logical sequence gives the work an appearance of incompleteness. The first edition was published in Guatemala by Don Ignacio Betela, and the two volumes appeared respectively in 1808 and 1818. A later issue was published in the same city in 1857. J. Baily translated the first publication into English, in a slightly abridged form, which was issued in London by John Hearne in 1823. In this edition omissions and inaccuracies may be noticed.
FRANCISCO VAZQUEZ.
Francisco Vazquez, the author of the Chronica de la Provincia del Santissimo Nõbre de Jesvs de Gvatemala, was a friar of the Franciscan order, retired lecturer, calificador del Santo Oficio, and synodal examiner in the diocese of Guatemala. His work was published in the city of Guatemala in 1714, and according to the title-page and preface there was, or was to have been, a second volume, consisting of two books, the existing one containing three. This work, which is rare, although mainly devoted to chronicling petty details of the labors of obscure friars, throws much light upon the early history of Guatemala during the conquest and subsequently down to the end of the sixteenth century. The author, having had access to the city archives at the early date at which he wrote, was able to avail himself of documents which have since disappeared. Fortunately he quotes such evidence frequently, thus enabling the historian to establish historical facts which otherwise, in the face of conflicting assertions of chroniclers unsupported by evidence, he would be unable to do. Vazquez has undoubtedly borrowed much material from Remesal, giving him little or no credit, while he mercilessly exposes his real or supposed errors. The jealousy which existed between the Franciscan and Dominican orders was the cause of this unfairness. In his opening declaration the author protests that, when he applies terms of praise to any who figure in his history, he is but giving the common and general estimation. This will hardly apply to his adulation of Alvarado and other conquerors, and his eager defence of their actions. It is not easy to find in the old chroniclers, clerical or secular, an uncompromising champion of their conduct, in face of the reliable and varied evidence of the cruelties practised by them. In defence of the conquerors he asserts that the vices and cruelties of a few were attributed to all; and without one symptom of feeling for the natives, maintains that their refusal to receive the faith was the cause of the incessant warfare. On this subject he writes: "It causes me much pain, disgust, and affliction to read some books which attempt, with artificial piety, to persuade us that the Indians were innocent and inoffensive lambs, and that the Christians were cruel furies, it being certain that these races while in a condition of paganism were greater butchers than blood-thirsty wolves, more cruel than lamiæ, harpies, and infernal furies, and, were it not for subjection and fear, they would neither have become Christians nor now remain so." 29-32. The matter contained in his work is badly arranged; the sentences drawn out to a puzzling length, a fault which, in addition to a lack of proper punctuation, renders the recital of facts frequently confusing. Information of the neighboring provinces can, in a less degree, be obtained from this volume.
CHAPTER IX.
AFFAIRS IN HONDURAS.
1527-1536.
Diego Mendez de Hinostrosa Appointed Lieutenant-governor—Salcedo Returns to Trujillo—His Office Usurped by Vasco de Herrera—Death of Salcedo—Three Rival Claimants for the Governorship—Expeditions to the Naco and Jutigalpa Valleys—Diego Mendez Conspires against Herrera—Assassination of the Latter—A Reign of Terror—Arrest and Execution of the Conspirator—Arrival of Governor Albitez at Trujillo—His Death—Andrés de Cereceda at the Head of Affairs—Distress of the Spaniards—Exodus of Settlers from Trujillo—They Establish a Colony in the Province of Zula—Cereceda Appeals for Aid to Pedro de Alvarado—He is Roughly Used by his own Followers—Alvarado Arrives in Honduras—He Founds New Settlements—His Departure for Spain.
RIVAL CLAIMANTS.
When Salcedo set out for the Freshwater Sea, hoping to gain possession of the province of Nicaragua—an expedition which, it will be remembered, resulted only in his humiliation and imprisonment[IX‑1]—his lieutenant, Francisco de Cisneros, left in charge of the government with a force entirely insufficient to uphold his authority, was overpowered by his enemies, and for a time anarchy prevailed throughout Honduras. Captain Diego Mendez de Hinostrosa, despatched by Salcedo from Leon to quell the rebellion, succeeded in restoring order, but only for a time. Before many months had elapsed Diego Mendez was placed under arrest and the regidor Vasco de Herrera appointed in his stead. The new ruler, of whom it is related that, being guilty of sedition, he had fled from Spain to avoid punishment, soon gave the settlers cause to repent of their choice. His first undertaking was to organize a raid to the Olancho Valley, where without cause or pretext he made war on the caciques, kidnapped and branded their subjects, and returned with three shiploads of slaves.