Cieza de León gives a very interesting account of the voyage of Vaca de Castro to Buenaventura, and his journey thence into Peru, where he was joined by all the loyal captains. He also relates in detail, the murder of the captain Sotelo at Cuzco, the death of his murderer, and the proceedings of young Almagro until his final overthrow at the battle of Chupas and subsequent execution at Cuzco. The account of the battle of Chupas by Cieza de León is very interesting. It is as good as, but not better than, that of Zarate, who also came to Peru soon after the event. Neither of these authors knew the ground. Mr. Prescott writes of "the bloody plains of Chupas." There are no plains near the position; it is a very mountainous broken region. I spent a whole day carefully examining the site, on October 27th, 1852, and I have therefore added a special note on the position, to accompany our author's account of the battle (chapter [LXXVII]).
Mr. Prescott condemns the number of executions after the battle in the civil wars of Peru, referring especially to Chupas. But in the case of Chupas, out of twenty-six executions, fourteen were those of assassins, the rest were aides and abettors of the criminals, also guilty of treason. The assassination of a royal governor was no common crime. After the battle of Las Salinas there were no executions. That of Almagro was months afterwards, and for a different reason. The executions and barbarities of that cunning and cruel priest, Pedro de la Gasca, were, it is true, unjustifiable after Sacsahuana; but Mr. Prescott did not condemn them.
The final chapters of the present work are occupied by two very different subjects—the expedition led by Felipe Gutiérrez and Diego de Rojas, told in much detail, and the promulgation of the New Laws, with some account of their reception and of the appointment of Blasco Núñez Vela as Viceroy of Peru to enforce them. Cieza de León gives the complete text of the New Laws.
The Emperor Charles V was a statesman of ability and good intentions; but it was impossible, as has been already observed, for one man to give sufficient attention to all his vast dominions. Those numerous kingdoms, dukedoms, counties, and lordships are enumerated in the preamble to the New Laws. When at last he found time to attend to the affairs of the Indies it was twenty years too late. He was convinced by Las Casas and others that the Spaniards, in their haste to enrich themselves, were treating the Indians with such cruelty that it must needs lead to a serious diminution of the population in the near future. As a statesman, he saw clearly that the value of the Indies must depend on the preservation and good treatment of the native races. His view of the course it was best to adopt was statesmanlike. Probably without knowing it, Charles wished to adopt the policy which the experience of ages had shown to be the best in all the countries of the East. The cultivator should be a vassal of the Crown; and what Charles V called the "tribute" of the Indians was simply the land tax of eastern countries, the ryotwari system of Sir Thomas Munro in Madras. It was also the system of the Inca government, and was well understood by the people. As a rule, the State took two-thirds of the produce or its equivalent, and the cultivator retained one-third. In some cases the cultivator received seeds and implements. This land tax, or tribute, as the Spanish Government called it, should have been the main source of revenue. So far the Emperor's plan was excellent, but it came too late. It should have been announced and enforced from the very first, and rewards to the conquerors should have come from the State. In 1542 a very different and most tyrannical and ruinous system was in force. The land tax, with liberty to treat the natives as they pleased, had been to a very large extent alienated and granted to adventurers, usually for two or three lives. The Emperor hoped to obviate this almost insuperable difficulty by ordering all official bodies, whether civil or religious, to surrender their grants at once; and all others to cease on the death of the grantee, whether granted for two or three lives or not, some maintenance being allowed to widows and children. All grants that were considered too large were to be reduced to what a judge should decide to be a moderate size. For Mexico the names of those whose huge grants ought to be cut down are given. In these ways Charles V seems to have intended that all the natives of the Indies should become vassals of the Crown, be well treated, and pay the land tax direct to the State. He trusted, for obedience, to the loyalty of his subjects in the Indies. He was disappointed; loyalty had no chance against self-interest. Don Antonio de Mendoza, the Viceroy of Mexico, did not enforce the New Laws. He explained that it would cause an insurrection. This excellent statesman was one of the very few really good men whom the home government selected. As a rule their choice fell on the most unfit man they could find in Spain. It would be difficult to choose a worse governor than Pedrarias. But the home government persisted; and Blasco Núñez Vela was even more unfit. This first viceroy of Peru was sent out to enforce the New Laws, and did his best to enforce them. But he was an incapable martinet without judgment, without tact, passionate, suspicious, listening to no representation; and he was at last guilty of a foul murder which gave rise to a formidable insurrection in which he lost his life.
Cieza de León gives an account of the appointment of Blasco Núñez Vela, and describes him in most flattering terms. He also relates how the New Laws were received in the Indies, and fully admits the cruelties perpetrated by the Spaniards on the natives. Indeed, he does not hesitate to notice and denounce those cruelties. But it must not be supposed that all the Spaniards who received grants of Indians and their land tax were equally cruel. There were many noble and chivalrous knights among them, who deplored the existing state of things and treated their own dependents well. Lorenzo de Aldana, Garcilaso de la Vega, Mancio Serra de Sequidano did not stand alone in that respect; and, as a persistent advocate of the Indians, and a denouncer of the cruelties perpetrated on them, we must include our worthy author, Pedro de Cieza de León.
C. R. M.
NOTE.
There are certain terms which constantly recur in the text and require explanation, namely, encomienda and encomendero, repartimiento, and Juez de Residencia.
An encomienda was the grant of a district, with fixed boundaries, to a Spaniard, with power to appropriate the land tax (called tribute) of the Indians, or to exact personal services from them, or both. Pizarro made such grants when he formed the first settlement at San Miguel de Piura, soon after landing, in 1532.
An encomendero was the recipient of an encomienda. Encomenderos were expected to reside in the district granted to them.
Repartimiento was the apportionment of a conquered region or people among the conquerors as encomenderos. The word is often used as equivalent to encomienda.
A Juez de Residencia was a Judge or Commissioner sent by the Home Government to examine into the administration or conduct of a colonial Viceroy, Governor, Adelantado, or any other official, and submit a report.
Alcalde, Justice of the peace.
Regidor, Municipal councillor.
Alguacil, a Constable.
Cabildo, a Municipality, Municipal body, or even a Municipal building.
The name by which Cieza quotes the capital of Peru, except in one or two instances, is "Los Reyes" ("the Kings"), it having been founded at Epiphany. I have substituted the present name "Lima," as more convenient to the reader. The phrase Los de Chile (They of Chile) is constantly used in Cieza's text in reference to the members of the Almagro faction; it was the current expression for Don Diego's adherents at the time, because the leaders of his party were men who had served under the elder Almagro in the expedition to Chile which led up to his disaster.
There were two captains, men of very different type, with exactly the same name—Francisco de Chaves. This is confusing. One was a friend of Pizarro, but also a friend of the natives—a man of sound judgment and high honour. He was struck down by the assassins outside the door of Pizarro's sala, when remonstrating with them. The other, said to have been a cousin, was the worst of Almagro's captains, and a thoroughly bad character: to distinguish them I have called the first Francisco de Chaves (the good), and the second, Francisco de Chaves (the bad).