Spanish and Portuguese South America during the Colonial Period; Vol. 1 of 2

by Robert Grant Watson

CHAPTER XI.
PERU; THE PRESIDENT GASCA.
1545-1550.

The aged lieutenant of Gonzalo Pizarro, Carbajal, gave him perhaps the wisest advice when he urged him to renounce his allegiance; pointing out that in point of fact he had already done so, since he had encountered the Viceroy in battle, slain him, and assumed his authority. He had no favour or mercy to expect from the crown, and had but one course before him, to proclaim himself king, supported as he was by the troops and the people. He advised him likewise to unite himself in marriage to the female representative of the Incas. But Gonzalo Pizarro, though he had fought against the Viceroy for what he deemed his own rights and the rights of others, was still at heart loyal to the crown. The course he determined to adopt was the halting one of sending an embassy to Spain, to vindicate his proceedings, and to ask a confirmation of his authority in succession of his brother as Viceroy of Peru. Meanwhile news had reached the mother country of the disorders proceeding in that land. The Spanish Government heard with dismay of the effect produced by the promulgation of the ordinances and of the unyielding conduct of the Viceroy.

In 1545 the prince afterwards known as Philip II., then regent of Spain during the absence of his father, called together a special council to deliberate on the measures to be pursued for the purpose of restoring order in Peru. The difficulties to be encountered in the way of suppressing the rebellion by force naturally presented themselves to the conclave, and it was accordingly resolved to endeavour to bring about an arrangement by conciliatory measures. A full pardon was to be granted to all such colonists as should make their submission, and due steps were to be taken to make them perceive that it was to their interest, as it was their duty, to return to their allegiance; and fortunately a man was found to carry out this policy whose single agency was of more avail than that of a fleet or an army. Pedro de la Gasca was of the ecclesiastical profession, but had nevertheless borne arms. He had filled with distinction several civil offices in Spain, and his discretion no less than his ability pointed him out for the position of agent to the crown in Peru, one of the most responsible missions ever confided to any individual. Gasca seems indeed, according to the estimate of all writers of history, to have been a model of character—courteous in demeanour but firm in his course, as beseemed a man who was strong in his rectitude of purpose. The choice made by the prince and his council was immediately ratified by the Emperor, who wrote to Gasca an autograph letter confirming it.

Gasca at once accepted the mission proposed to him, merely stipulating for powers sufficient to admit of its full success. The powers which he demanded were indeed so great that the ministers had not the authority to grant them; but on an appeal to the Emperor, who was by this time in Flanders, they were at once conceded. Gasca, now armed with greater authority than had ever hitherto been entrusted to a vassal of the Spanish crown, set sail for Peru early in 1546, under the title of President of the Royal Audience.[N] So modest was his train that only three thousand ducats were expended in equipping him. Under the above title he was placed at the head of every department in the colony. He indeed had the warrant to exercise the same powers as the Emperor himself; since he might declare war, appoint to all offices, and pardon all offences. He was, however, to proclaim at once the revocation of the obnoxious ordinances, and he might banish from Peru such ecclesiastics and others as might not be reached by the temporal authority. He had unlimited orders on the treasuries both of Panamá and Peru, and was furnished with letters to the chief authorities requiring their support. The Emperor and his advisers were safe in confiding these unbounded powers on a single-minded man, whose only worldly ambition was the bishopric which was held out to him, and which he declined to accept until he should have returned after fulfilling his mission.

In July of the above-mentioned year Gasca landed in the New World, where he was met by the intelligence of the defeat and death of the Viceroy and of the absolute supremacy of Gonzalo Pizarro. In this perplexing situation he steered his course with undeviating prudence and consummate skill. At Nombre de Dios he presented himself before the trusted partisan of Pizarro, to whose care that place had been committed, not with the military surroundings befitting the all-powerful alter ego of the Emperor, but as a humble ecclesiastic to whose admittance there could be no objection. Never probably in the course of history has the subtle effect of the sentiment of loyalty been more remarkably manifested. There was nothing in the appearance of Gasca or of his humble retinue to attract especial attention; yet no sooner was his mission known than Pizarro’s trusted officer was at his feet placing his powers in his hand. Once within the stronghold of the enemy, Gasca’s moral influence was forthwith felt. In contact with his singular powers—not those of mere oratory, but based on the foundation of the highest moral and secular authority,—the position of the officer who merely held his office in virtue of an order from the rebel Pizarro was at once untenable. Indeed Mexia does not seem to have made the slightest effort at impeding the progress of the President, who had with him the consolatory balm of pardon for all repentant rebels.

This first step gained was everything for the mission of Gasca. His advent was announced not, as had been that of the late Viceroy, as a despoiler of the colonists and a stern enforcer of obnoxious decrees. On the contrary, he came as a messenger of peace and conciliation, bearing an unheard-of admission on the part of the crown in justification of the colonists,—since the ordinances were repealed,—and granting full pardon for past offences to all such as should again declare themselves loyal subjects. Indeed Mexia, like Gonzalo Pizarro himself, and like most of his followers, had found himself a rebel owing to accidental circumstances and certainly not by design; and he was only too glad to avail himself of so unexpectedly favourable an opportunity of extricating himself from the disagreeable position into which circumstances had led him. Gonzalo, by rejecting the advice of his lieutenant Carbajal, had failed to bind all his followers to himself by the common tie of their being compromised rebels.

Having thus acquired so important an ally on land, the next step of the sagacious President was to obtain the command of Pizarro’s fleet of twenty-two vessels which lay in the harbour of Panamá. It was under the command of Hinojosa, an officer high in the confidence of Pizarro, and who was as loyal to him as was compatible with his supreme loyalty to his sovereign. But Pizarro was now destined to find that the same arts which had been employed to corrupt his own loyalty to the crown might again be made use of to seduce others from their loyalty to him. Mexia was employed by the President for this purpose. In the conflict of duties which were claimed from him on either side, Hinojosa asked to be allowed to see the powers of the President, and he likewise inquired whether they gave him authority to confirm Pizarro in the post he held. The President evaded the question; whereupon Hinojosa sent to Pizarro to acquaint him with his arrival and with the object of his coming.

But from the moment when Gasca had received a favourable opportunity for stating his mission, his success was practically assured, carrying with him as he did such ample moral force and such intellectual capacity to wield it. The same vessel which bore to Pizarro the news of his advent, carried likewise a Dominican who had been entrusted by Gasca with manifestoes proclaiming the glad tidings of the abolition of the ordinances, and of a free pardon to all rebels who should return to their obedience. The President likewise sent letters to the prelates and to the civic corporations. In short, the whole discipline, civil and ecclesiastic, in which the Spaniard of the day had been trained, was at once called into the service of the man whose singular ability proved him to be more than able to cope with the Dictator of Peru, who directed its civil government and commanded its army and fleet.

Gasca meanwhile calmly awaited the results of the measures he had adopted, and his courtesy and intelligence did not fail to have their due effect upon those with whom he was thrown into contact. Several cavaliers of Panamá, as well as officers of the squadron, offered him their services, and with their assistance the President was enabled to open communication with the Spanish authorities in Guatemala and Mexico, whom he required to abstain from holding any communication with the insurgents in Peru. By these means he acquired powerful allies for the Spanish Government. Lastly, he prevailed on the governor of Panamá to supply him with a ship, in which he despatched a letter from the Emperor to Gonzalo Pizarro, and likewise one from himself. The former was couched in the most conciliatory terms, making every allowance for the difficult circumstances in which the rebel chief had been placed, and throwing the blame on the Viceroy. In his own letter the President significantly remarked that the circumstances which had led Pizarro into his present position no longer existed, since all that the colonists had required when they appealed to arms was now conceded; it only remained, therefore, to show their loyalty by resuming their dutiful obedience. Should the contest be further prolonged, it would be open rebellion against the crown, without the pretext of an excuse; and against bringing about such a struggle the President invoked Pizarro’s sense of honour and duty. These important despatches, with others, were entrusted by the President to an adherent on whom he could rely, and who was likewise charged to distribute further manifestoes.

Some months passed away whilst Gasca and the governor of Panamá still awaited the decisive reply from Peru. Indeed Pizarro’s situation was such as to make him hesitate. He was still comparatively a young man, being forty-two years of age, and he found himself in the most dazzling position which any Spaniard not born in the purple could hold, and to which, moreover, he fancied he had a right as being the successor of his brother. Were he to resign this he would not only lay down that position, but he would put himself in the absolute power of another, before whom he would doubtless be charged with crimes that might be held to cancel the offers of pardon for past offences conveyed to him by the Emperor and the President. He had learned with no small apprehension the coming of the latter; but he was so simple as to be misled by the unostentatious manner in which the President had made his appearance. He ignored alike his personal qualities and the moral force which he represented. Having before him two plain roads, either of which might have led him into safety, if not into the ultimate realization of his ambition—that is to say, being free to choose either to make his submission to the President, or to appeal to arms against the crown,—he took the half-way course of keeping the President at a distance whilst he should meanwhile send an embassy to Spain to vindicate his past proceedings and solicit a confirmation of his authority, a course which could not but lead to his ruin.