When a ship arrived at Nombre de Dios the cargo was discharged into flat-bottomed boats, and carried by way of the Chagre as far as Cruces, about six leagues from the South Sea. Here the merchandise was delivered to muleteers, who conveyed it to Panamá, whence it was shipped in various directions, though the greater part of the trade was with Peru.[XV‑6]
IMPORTANCE OF PANAMÁ.
About the middle of the sixteenth century the isthmus of Darien had become the gate-way between the two seas, and Panamá the most important city of America. Situated upon the world's highway and in the very centre of the Spanish colonial possessions, through its portals must flow the treasures of Peru from the south, the products of Mexico, Nicaragua, and Guatemala from the north, and the trans-oceanic traffic of the Spice Islands from the west. Thus Panamá became not only the metropolis of the two Americas, but the half-way house and toll-gate between western Europe and eastern Asia. There the raw adventurer who at the opening of his career pressed forward with eager expectation into a dark uncertain future met the returned fortune-seeker elated with success or broken-spirited through failure. Into the lap of this great central city poured untold wealth. Her merchants were princes; her warerooms were filled with rich merchandise of every kind and from every quarter of the globe. There were to be seen stacks of yellow and white ingots from the mines of Peru, the cochineal and dye-woods of Mexico, the richest wines of Spain and Portugal, the silks, velvets, and laces of France and Italy.
The establishment of this commercial metropolis on the shores of the southern sea was the means of winning for Spain many of those provinces whose wealth was thus exchanged for the luxuries of the Old World. Without Panamá Francisco Pizarro could never have conquered Peru,[XV‑7] and after his conquest it is more than probable that but for prompt assistance from Panamá the brave Manco Capac would have succeeded in exterminating the Spaniards within his territory. While a central position and a command of both the oceans gave to the city her wealth and importance, the same causes exposed her not infrequently to social and political convulsions, and to attack from foreign powers. An insurrection in Guatemala, a rebellion in Peru, a system of restrictions on Asiatic trade were immediately felt in Panamá, and upon that city fell the heaviest blows aimed by the English, French, or Dutch against the Spanish possessions in the New World. Between 1545 and 1671, at which later date the old city of Panamá was burned, it was sacked and partially destroyed no less than four times. In other chapters I shall bring together such facts as I have been able to find relating to the lives and fortunes of the Spaniards of Darien and Central America during the three centuries which elapsed between the conquest of that country by the Spaniards and their renunciation of allegiance to parental authority. This epoch opened and ended in attempted revolution. The first was futile, the last successful. The first was attempted by brave, strong, and daring men, but Spain and Charles were stronger. The last was attempted by weak, degenerate Spaniards, but Spain and Fernando were weaker.
Upon the death of Francisco Pizarro, the Almagrist faction maintained the ascendency in Peru,[XV‑8] until dispersed by Vaca de Castro on the plains of Chupas. Young Almagro then fled to Cuzco, where he was arrested and beheaded as a traitor.[XV‑9] Vaca de Castro had but just arrived in Peru. He brought with him a commission from the crown to arbitrate upon and settle the discords between the rival factions; and in the event of the decease of Francisco Pizarro, he was instructed to assume the government. Gonzalo Pizarro, who had been appointed governor of Quito, was at the time of his brother's murder absent on an expedition of discovery to the river Amazon. On his return, learning of Francisco's tragic fate, he offered his services to Vaca de Castro, but they were declined by that official, who was fearful lest the turbulent and overbearing disposition of the last of the Pizarros should interfere with his administration of the government. Gonzalo, angered at the rebuff, retired to La Plata and engaged in working the rich silver-mines in that locality.
THE EMPEROR'S INDIFFERENCE.
Up to this time Charles, occupied by the affairs of his vast empire at home, had paid but little attention to the welfare of the colonies. In general terms the Spanish government had set limits to the cruelty and oppression of the natives by the conquerors. The intentions of the sovereigns and their councils were from the beginning humane and praiseworthy as I have often observed. But as new issues were constantly growing out of these new conditions, and as very many of the royal decrees concerning the affairs of the Indies were impracticable and therefore inoperative, the conquerors were left in a measure to lay down their own rules of conduct according to their immediate necessities; or rather to act independent of all rule, being governed by the dictates of their judgment or interest. If success attended these lawless efforts, the misdeeds of these adventurers were obliterated by their gold. If unsuccessful, they usually fell victims to their cruelty or cupidity, and their bones were left to moulder in the wilderness; so that in the early history of the Spanish colonies it was only at rare intervals and in aggravated cases that any notice was taken of disobedience of the laws. To one crime, however—that of disloyalty—the Spanish monarchs were never insensible. So long as the prerogatives of the crown were strictly regarded, excesses were overlooked. The next most heinous offence was civil strife. Native Americans, a race midway between Castilians and brutes, might be slaughtered by the thousand upon slight cause;[XV‑10] but the lives of Spanish marauders were far too valuable to be given up to internecine strife.
In Peru, however, it was different. The passions of the populace had been roused by contending factions, and the license hitherto granted to the conquerors rendered them all the more impatient of restraint. Although the people were worse prepared for stringent measures than the more orderly colonists of Mexico, the person upon whom devolved the execution of the obnoxious laws lacked the wise and politic discrimination which governed the actions of Sandoval and Mendoza.
VASCO NUÑEZ VELA.
On the 4th of March 1544, Vasco Nuñez Vela landed at Tumbez on the Peruvian coast, and as the fame of his high-handed measures at Panamá had not preceded him, was accorded a loyal reception. His popularity was short-lived, for the viceroy immediately liberated a number of slaves and on his journey to Los Reyes would not even allow his baggage to be carried by Indians, or, if compelled to do so, he paid them liberally. Such conduct caused huge disgust throughout the province, but Nuñez was deaf to all remonstrance and even caused the arrest of some of the malecontents.