FIFTEEN days after the arrival of the governor at Ascension, the officers of His Majesty, who hated him because he refused to consent to things done against the service of God and the king, seeing him arrive with the other Christians in this extremity, conspired with their friends on St. Mark’s Day to take him prisoner that night. They had already depopulated the best and principal port of the province, with the intention of rebelling against the sovereign, as they have now done. In order to carry out their plans in the most effective way, they told a hundred men that they knew the governor was about to take from them their property, their houses, and their Indian girls, and would distribute these among the men who had returned from the exploring expedition; that it was a great injustice and contrary to the service of His Majesty. “This night”, they added, “we will go and require him, in the name of the king, not to take away your houses, nor your lands, nor your Indian girls, and, as we fear the governor may have us arrested, arm yourselves and bring your friends, for you will be doing a great service to His Majesty in this way.” It was arranged that at the Ave Maria these men should come armed to two houses which would be assigned to them, and should hold themselves in readiness there for further orders. So the insurgents, ten or twelve in number, entered the apartment where the governor was lying on his bed of sickness, with cries of “Liberty, liberty, long live the king!” They were the supervisor Alonso Cabrera, the accountant Philip de Caceres, Garcia Vanegas, acting treasurer, a servant of the governor named Pedro de Oñate (who was in the room with him, opened the door to the conspirators, and was an active promoter of the insurrection), Don Francisco de Mendoza, Jaime Rasquin (who held an arquebus and a poisoned dart at his breast), Diego de Acosta, Portuguese interpreter, and Solorzano, a native of Canaria. These men entered with arms in their hands and seized the governor, dragged him out of the room in his shirt, continuing to cry: “Liberty, liberty!” They called him a tyrant, levelled their arquebuses at him, saying such words as these: “Now you shall pay the penalty of your offences and the losses you have caused us.” When they had come out into the street they were joined by others whom they had enlisted on their side, who, seeing they were carrying the governor off a prisoner in that fashion, said to Pedro Dorantes and the others: “Let the responsibility of this rest with the traitors who did the deed; you brought us here on the pretext that our goods, houses, and Indian girls would be taken from us, but your real object was to make us parties to your treason against the king”; upon this they drew their swords, and there was a serious scrimmage. As the insurgents were now approaching the houses of the officers some took refuge in the house of Garcia Vanegas, dragging the governor along with them. Others remained at the door, saying to those who had taken the part of the governor: “You are betraying us; don’t say that you did not know what was going to be done; help us to put him into prison. If you attempt to deliver him we will cut you to pieces and chop off your heads. It is a matter of life and death to you; aid us, therefore, to complete what we have begun, and we will all share the goods, the Indian girls, and furniture of the governor.” The officers then entered the small room in which the governor was confined, placed him in irons, and set a watch upon him. Having done this they repaired to the house of Juan Pavon, alcalde mayor, and to that of the alguazil, Francisco de Peralta. When they had come to the alcalde mayor’s, Martin de Ure, a Biscayan, as leader, seized by force the staff of office. They did the same at the alguazil’s, and, having struck these functionaries several blows with the fist and knocked them about, they called them traitors and took them to the public prison, where they were put in the stocks by the head. They set at liberty the prisoners, among whom was one sentenced to death for having murdered a certain Morales, a gentleman of Seville. Having done this, they took a drum and marched about the streets, exciting the people to rebel, and uttering loud cries of “Liberty, liberty! Long live the king!”
After they had made the circuit of the city in this way, the same individuals went to the house of Pero Hernandez, secretary of the province, who was ill at the time. They arrested him, as well as Bartolomé Gonzales, took possession of his property and documents, and carried him prisoner to the house of Domingo de Irala, where they placed him in chains, and, after insulting him, left him in the hands of the sentinels. Then they published the following proclamation: “The officers of His Majesty prohibit all persons from appearing in the streets; anyone going out of doors will be considered a traitor and condemned to death.” Having done this they again shouted, “Liberty, liberty!” While posting this order, they pushed and hustled everyone they met in the streets, forcing people to enter their houses.
They then went to the house of the governor, where he kept his property, papers, and the letters he had received from the king appointing him governor of the province, as well as the acts by which his authority had been recognised. They forced open some chests, extracted all the documents contained in them, and took possession of everything. They also opened a chest, locked with three keys, containing the public indictments against officers charged with crimes referred to the king for final sentence. They took also his goods, stuffs, provisions, oil, steel, and iron, besides a number of other things. Most of these things disappeared, everything being looted. They denounced him as a tyrant, and abused him in every way. The remainder of his property was bestowed upon such as professed to be attached to him, who took them under pretext of deposit; but these so-called friends of the deposed governor really helped the insurgents. His property was said to be worth over 100,000 castellanos,[358] according to the value current then; he had also ten brigantines.
[358] A gold coin formerly in use in Spain. During the reign of the Catholic kings it was worth 490 maravedis of silver, equal to about 4s. 9d. The value of these coins afterwards fluctuated. This sum is undoubtedly grossly exaggerated.
[CHAPTER THE SEVENTY-FIFTH.]
How the population assembled before the house of Domingo de Irala.
THE following day the officers published in the streets, by sound of drum and trumpet, that all the people should assemble in front of the house of Captain Domingo de Irala. Their friends and partisans having gone there armed, a libel was read by the public crier in a loud voice. It stated that the governor had ordered them all to be deprived of their possessions and to be treated as slaves: and that they, in the general interests of liberty, had laid hands on his person. When this libel had been read they called out, “Sirs, cry, Liberty, liberty, long live the king!” And this was accordingly done by their friends. After these proceedings they inveighed against the governor, and many said, “Come what may, let us kill this tyrant who wished to ruin and destroy us.”