The Licentiate de la Gama had to retain the staff of lieutenant, because when Juan de Barbaran came with the despatches, he never liked to enter the municipal building, nor did he find it at the reception of the Viceroy.
O my God! how many deaths, robberies, insults, disgraces, destruction of natives were caused by the jealousies of these men who sought to secure commands. O that thy divine goodness had left Vaca de Castro among the snows of Pariacaca never to appear again, that the Viceroy had fallen so ill at Truxillo, where he then was, that it might have been his end, instead of finding it with disgrace in Quito, and that another pit had opened for Gonzalo Pizarro and Carbajal, like the one at Rome. Wanting these leaders the miserable country might not have suffered such evils, and the sorrowful fields of Salinas and Chupas might have sufficed. The sins of these men were so enormous, and the charity among them so minute, that it pleased God that they should meet with great calamities.
The Licentiate de la Gama set out for the city of Lima in advance of Vaca de Castro, to know what was wrong with the Treasurer Alonso Riquelme[25], and why he and the other magistrates had accepted the Viceroy simply on the strength of a copy of the appointment. He conversed with Lorenzo de Estopiñan, who had come out to give him information, and to see if it could be arranged to give him some Indians. For he was a friend of the Treasurer, and it might be negotiated that he should have better Indians than those he had dismissed. Estopiñan returned to Lima, but the reply of the Treasurer was that he no longer had any friendship for Vaca de Castro who had dismissed the Indians, and that if he came he would have his head cut off. This Treasurer was very wise and cautious, keeping clear of being committed to any side, and he knew afterwards how to remain outside.
The Licentiate de la Gama, when he arrived at Lima, went to the house of the Treasurer Riquelme and persuaded him, as one of the principal citizens, to call a meeting of the officials, adding that he would return the rod of lieutenant, for when he had left the city he had not surrendered it with the required customs and solemnities. Besides the Viceroy had written to say that he would be in the city and that they should receive him as his Majesty had ordered. Though this was true, and the Viceroy had so written, the intention of the Licentiate de la Gama was no other than that he should again take his place in the municipality, and that when Vaca de Castro arrived he should again take up the government and be governor. Having been lieutenant to former governors his Indians would be taken from him, and he could not negotiate anything.
Vaca de Castro continued his journey until he came to the city of Lima. Although his arrival was known, there was no great reception, and no one came out to meet him except a few of his friends and some servants. With these he entered the city and went to the house of the Bishop Don Jeronimo de Loaysa. There the citizens came to visit him, and talk over the proceedings of the Viceroy and the rigour of the new laws.
CHAPTER X
Of the great disturbances in the city of Arequipa when tidings came respecting the new laws, and how Francisco de Carbajal departed from Lima.
When Alonso Palomino and Antonio de Ribera came to the city of Cuzco with the news of the ordinances, the Governor Vaca de Castro sent one Tomas Vasquez, with all the haste he could make to the city of Arequipa with a letter. It desired the citizens not to be disturbed, and to make no trouble whatever when they should hear the news about the Viceroy and the ordinances because, when his Majesty was informed that it would not be for the good of his service if they were enforced, he would very shortly amend them. It ended by telling them to send representatives to Lima to state their grievance. Tomas Vasquez set out from Cuzco and arrived at the end of seven days, finding the principal citizens in the church. After they had read the letter Vasquez showed them a copy of the ordinances. When their provisions were understood there was a great disturbance, and the bells were rung as if it were a signal for war. A citizen of Arequipa named Miguel Cornejo took the ordinances in his hand, went up into the pulpit where the preachers deliver their sermons, and when all the people had assembled at the sound of the bell, he began to read the new laws before them all. When he came to the place where the King ordered that, when the Encomenderos died, all their grants were to revert to the crown, there arose great shouts of dissent, all declaring that they would die rather than allow it to be enforced, and they said the same with regard to all the other laws. Among those who were there the tumult was as great as it had been at Lima, the people going about sullenly, and discussing it one with another, saying that they were all disinherited and ruined after having, with so much labour and fatigue, discovered the province, and that they were ill paid for it. The Captain Alonso de Caceres procured that the tumult should cease, as such words could do them no good. So leaving this we come to the arrival of Carbajal.
Francisco de Carbajal wished to return to Spain knowing, from his experience in war, that there must be disturbances in all the provinces on the arrival of the Viceroy. He tried hard to induce the municipality of Lima to let him go, but he could not attain his desire, because the authorities did not wish any ship to leave the port until the Viceroy should come. Seeing that there was little chance of attaining his end, he determined to go to the city of Arequipa, believing that he might find a ship in the port of Quilca, on board of which he might take a passage. He therefore departed from Lima in haste, with all the money he possessed, divining the great calamity that was threatening the country. For it pleased God that Carbajal should not leave the country but that he should be the scourge for the punishment of many, as he was, for so many perished by his order that it causes grief to think of it.