[CHAPTER XCVIII]
How the General, Felipe Gutiérrez, pursued his exploration down the river of Soconcho, and what else happened.
AFTER the private negotiations between the captains which we have recounted had been settled, Felipe Gutiérrez, with the concurrence of the rest, went on exploring down the Soconcho river towards the west.[160] This river is not very large, but there are extensive native villages near it; so that those who saw them were of opinion that some new settlements of Spaniards might be formed there, whose members could derive large repartimientos and other advantages. The civil wars there have been in the Realm hindered what now, with the help of our Lord, will be achieved; but let the leaders who may contemplate expeditions in this direction go well provided with horses and defensive armour of cotton; for other kinds do not avail. Proceeding down the river with their exploration, Gutiérrez and his party came to a populous district. The natives have the same dresses and customs as those first met with; but they have different kinds of religion among themselves, and they speak many tongues. They are a people under no description of rule, and so entirely without organization that they appear like brutes.
They came out to the Christians with a great yelling, astonished at seeing them on horses, and took them for immortals, some of them thinking that horse and man were one animal. Diego Maldonado had been left with the baggage, and Felipe Gutiérrez waited at a place that seemed to secure the best supply of food. Felipe Gutiérrez felt sore that Francisco de Mendoza should occupy the position he held, and sought to deprive him of it. He sent to him to claim the stores and provisions which had been collected when Diego de Rojas died. Francisco de Mendoza would not give them up. On the contrary, he assembled his friends, and asked them whether they would be faithful to him, and not allow him to be deprived of his present post by Felipe Gutiérrez. They replied that he need have no fear of Felipe Gutiérrez, for that they would be such true friends that it would not be possible to deprive him of the position. It was reported to Felipe Gutiérrez that Francisco de Mendoza always went about closely attended by some of those in camp; but he did not dare to arrest Mendoza, and for the time being dropped the subject. He decided to advance to a large village also called Soconcho,[161] like the river. Leaving Sotomayor on guard at the camp, he set out from thence, taking Francisco de Mendoza with him; and here we will leave them awhile.
[CHAPTER XCIX]
How, when the news of the Marquis Pizarro's death reached Spain, it was ordered that a Viceroy and an Audiencia should be appointed; and of the conference over the Ordinances which were issued for the government of the new empire of the Indies.
WHEN the Marquis was murdered in Lima by the Almagro party the news came with extraordinary celerity to the ships which were about to sail for Spain, and the Emperor Charles V received it at....[162] He held that it was an evil service to him, on hearing that the Marquis had been murdered with such cruelty and violence, considering the great services he had rendered to his Majesty and the rich provinces he had added to the Realm. His Majesty wished that the Marquis could have enjoyed some repose in his old age, and that he had not died so ignobly. At the same time, his Majesty had felt that he had also been ill-served by the death inflicted by the Marquis's brother on the Adelantado Don Diego de Almagro in a former year. Taking counsel with his grandson, and with others who attended him for that purpose, and seeing how remote those kingdoms were from Spain, that in the time of the governors there had been great outrages and robberies, and that cruel deaths had been inflicted on not a few lords and principal people, it was resolved that they should be so justly ruled that God our Lord and the Royal Crown should not suffer displeasure. His Majesty therefore decided to send out learned men as judges to form a Court of Justice or Audiencia, and also a Royal Chancellery, in order that causes might be determined and that in all things there might be right decisions so needful in such a free country where all men are prone to commit evil. In order that justice might have greater force, it was also resolved that there should be a Viceroy, whose duty it would be to see that the natives were well treated by the Spaniards. The councillors then considered at several sittings whom should be entrusted with so important a service. His Majesty had been informed by many people, and from various directions, of the great oppression the Indians suffered from the Spaniards, and how the latter, in order to extort gold from them, had burned them and thrown them to the dogs; also how they seized the natives' wives and daughters for their own uses, and committed other atrocities. Above all, there was very great remissness about their conversion; no one caring for the souls of the poor natives. As a Christian prince, fearing God, the Emperor was very anxious to find a remedy for these great evils. He felt that, as universal pastor, he was responsible to God. Nevertheless, his Majesty's repeated absences from Spain, so important for the worship of God and for his own service, had interfered with the mature consideration of what should be done to avoid these great evils, and of what laws ought to be made for the protection of the Indians.
At this time the reverend Friar Bartolomé de las Casas, who was afterwards Bishop of Chiapa, arrived in Spain, by whom it was asserted that the Spaniards were treating the natives in the manner we have mentioned, and it was even hinted that their behaviour was worse still. His Majesty ordered the assembly of grandees and prelates, jointly with men learned in the law who were members of his distinguished and puissant Council, to determine what should be provided for the good government of the new realm or empire of the Indies. They met many times in the presence of the King, some arguing, others thinking; and their deliberations resulted in the New Laws, which for this, and not for what the people in Peru supposed, were enacted; so that we can, in each one of them, see points which demonstrate the feeling and the reason for their adoption. As these Ordinances were very famous, and as Gonzalo Pizarro stood in Peru in opposition to them, thereby giving rise to great battles and many wars, we will insert them in this place word for word, taken from the originals.
I know from my experience gathered during a long residence in the Indies that there were great cruelties and much injury done to the natives, such as cannot be lightly stated. All know how populous the island of Española was, and that if the Christians had treated the natives decently and as friends there would certainly be many there now. Yet there remains no other testimony of the country having once been peopled than the great cemeteries of the dead, and the ruins of the places where they lived. In Tierra Firme and Nicaragua also not an Indian is left. They asked Belalcázar how many he found between Quito and Cartago, and they desired to know from me how many now remain. Well, there are none. In a town which had a population of ten thousand Indians there was not one. When we came from Cartagena with Vadillo I saw a Portuguese, named Roque Martín, who had quarters of Indians hanging on a perch to feed his dogs with, as if they were those of wild beasts. In the new Realm of Granada and in Popayán they did things so ruthless that I would rather not mention them. In fine, as nothing is concealed from princes, his Majesty became fully informed, and as soon as he was able to spare time from the affairs of the empire, he gave his attention to these matters.