SUCCESS OF HINOJOSA.
By these shrewd measures Hinojosa had the satisfaction of seeing his forces daily increase, while those of Pedro de Casaos proportionately diminished. The soldiers of Juan de Illanes and Juan de Guzman did not prove insensible to the wiles and genial hospitality of Hinojosa, and those captains, seeing themselves abandoned by the greater part of their recruits, secretly stole from the city and seizing a vessel attempted to make their escape to Peru. They were, however, captured by one of the watchful captains stationed in the harbor, and not long after voluntarily joined themselves to Hinojosa and became his faithful adherents. Such was the influence which Hinojosa acquired by his careless and apparently unintentional display of wealth, and by his skill in throwing tempting baits to men who never flinched from danger when they saw prospect of gain, that in a few weeks and by a silent and bloodless revolution he became master of the city. At the expiration of the forty-five days he seized the batteries and made a formal entry into Panamá at the head of his entire force, amidst the acclamations of the greater part of the inhabitants.
Hinojosa took no advantage of his easily won victory. He strove to maintain the strictest discipline among his followers, treated the citizens with the utmost liberality, and ordered that the soldiers should respect their rights and in no wise interfere with their affairs.[XV‑33] He then despatched his son-in-law, Hernando Mejía de Guzman, in company with Pedro de Cabrera, to take possession of Nombre de Dios and guard the interests of Gonzalo Pizarro in that quarter.
MELCHOR VERDUGO.
While the province of Panamá thus quietly passed into the hands of Hinojosa the partisans of the viceroy were not idle. Melchor Verdugo,[XV‑34] to whom as one of the conquerors of Peru had been assigned the province of Caxamalca, proffered his services to Vasco Nuñez Vela, on his first landing in Peru. Becoming afterward implicated in a plot devised by the royalist party to gain possession of Lima, he was arrested in that city by order of Gonzalo Pizarro. Escaping thence he proceeded to Trujillo, where he was fortunate enough to seize one of Bachicao's vessels, laden with the spoils of Panamá. With the proceeds of this capture, and with funds realized from his own estate, he enlisted a company in the service of the viceroy. He then sailed for Nicaragua and requested from the governor, as a loyal servant of the king, men and means to assist him in quelling the insurrection on the Isthmus. Failing to draw from him a hearty response he next applied to the audiencia of the Confines. With the magistrates of that tribunal he was more successful. Licentiate Ramirez de Alarcon, one of the members, took an active part in recruiting men and collecting arms and horses.
In the mean time tidings of Verdugo's doings in Peru and Nicaragua and his intended expedition to the northern coast of Darien reached Panamá. Hinojosa, fearing that Verdugo might raise a force sufficient to cause him trouble, sent Juan Alonso Palomino with two vessels and one hundred and twenty arquebusiers in pursuit. Arriving at Nicaragua Palomino captured Verdugo's vessel without difficulty, but on attempting to land found himself confronted by all the available men in the province arrayed under the royalist banner, under the command of Verdugo and the licentiate. After hovering about the coast for several days, watching in vain for a chance to disembark, he seized all the ships on the coast, and burning those which were unserviceable, returned with the remainder to Panamá, not knowing that his design was suspected. Verdugo made ready on Lake Nicaragua three or four frigates, and with two hundred choice and well armed troops[XV‑35] sailed through the river San Juan to the North Sea, and creeping stealthily along the coast, hoped to surprise the rebels before his presence in that quarter became known. At the Rio Chagre he captured a vessel manned by negroes, from whom he obtained valuable information as to the condition of affairs at Nombre de Dios, the number of men stationed there, the names of their commanders, and a minute description of the building in which the officers were quartered.
Hinojosa was on the alert, but not so his captains. Though warned of the approach of the loyal party, they were taken by surprise. Landing at midnight, Verdugo stole quietly to the house where Hernando Mejía, Pedro Cabrera, and other officers were peacefully slumbering, surrounded the premises, and fired the dwelling. The dilatory captains, maddened at thus being entrapped in their own beds, sprang up, and seizing their weapons rushed out of the blazing edifice, and cutting their way through the enemy made their escape to the woods and finally to Panamá.[XV‑36]
Had Verdugo thenceforth conducted his affairs with the skill and discretion which characterized Hinojosa's movements at Panamá he would have caused that commander no little trouble, but he had none of the tact or generalship of Gonzalo's officer. He imprisoned the alcaldes, levied arbitrary assessments upon the merchants, demanded heavy ransom for his prisoners, and soon made himself so obnoxious to the people that with one accord they petitioned Doctor Ribera, the mayor, to ask protection from Hinojosa. The appeal was not in vain. Ribera at once entered into negotiations with Hinojosa,[XV‑37] and it was agreed that while the former levied troops at Nombre de Dios, the latter should at once march from Panamá with a strong force. Verdugo impressed into his service every available man, and withdrawing from the town, took up a position on the shore, where he was to some extent covered by the guns of his vessels. There he awaited Hinojosa, who with a small but picked company of veterans[XV‑38] was now crossing the Isthmus to join battle with the royalist forces.
As soon as the rebel troops debouched from the woods surrounding Nombre de Dios, Ribera sallied from the town and opened a lively fire on the forces of Verdugo, the citizens taking fright at the first noise of the fray and scampering to a hill near by. Hinojosa's brigade advanced meanwhile with the steady measured tramp of trained soldiers, whereupon the men of Nicaragua, led by Verdugo, took to their heels also, leaving but one of their number wounded on the field,[XV‑39] and regained their ships, whence a brisk cannonade was opened on the town, but without visible result save loss of ammunition. The royalist captain then set sail for Cartagena, there to await a more favorable opportunity to serve his king. Hinojosa severely reprimanded Mejía and the other fugitive officers, and leaving them at Nombre de Dios in charge of a stronger garrison returned with Ribera to Panamá.
Nothing could have happened that would draw the attention of the court of Spain to the affairs of the New World more effectually than rebellion, as I have before intimated. The discovery and conquest of America cannot be classed as an achievement of the nation. It was a magnificent accident, in the busy reigns of Ferdinand and Isabella, and Charles. Those sovereigns, absorbed in wars and involved in ambitious intrigues at home, with a vast continent thrust upon them by a Genoese navigator, could scarcely find time to do more than grant permits to adventurers to subjugate, at their own cost, new territories in the western world, and to receive when remitted to them the royal fifth of the returns. But rebellion, of whatsoever magnitude or shape, is always distasteful to a sovereign. Therefore when tidings reached Spain that the emperor's representative in Peru had been maltreated, and that a powerful body of insurgents held possession of that province, the monarch and his ministers were aroused. The affairs of Peru occupied for a time their careful consideration. Lengthy debates and close councils followed. At first, the king's counsellors in their deliberations consulted only the honor of the nation and strongly advocated sending an armed force against Pizarro; but insurrection at home and insurrection in Peru were two very different things. The Spanish government could more easily make war against a hundred thousand men in Spain or Germany than against one thousand in the wilds of that distant province.[XV‑40]