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

The Viceroy now at length began to realize the gravity of his situation. One after another of the officers whom he had despatched to arrest Pizarro’s progress augmented the forces of that leader. Being thus betrayed, he is not perhaps to be very much blamed if he now suspected every one around him; but he should have acted on better grounds than mere suspicion before he gave orders for the arrest of his predecessor, Vaca de Castro. He had now recourse to negotiation, and despatched the bishop of Lima to Gonzalo’s camp. This measure not meeting with success, the Viceroy prepared for war. He put the capital in a state of defence, and gave orders for a general enrolment of the citizens. In the meantime the judges of Audience, who had been left behind, arrived at Lima. They had not given their consent to his action in Panamá, and on arriving at the capital they recorded their disapproval of his subsequent proceedings in every particular,—going even to the length of discharging many persons who had been placed in prison by his orders. Thus was the government no less in disagreement with its own component parts than it was with the country under its rule.

What brought things to a climax was the violence of the Viceroy himself. He had summoned to his palace late at night a cavalier of Lima, named Carbajal, whom he suspected of conniving at the treason of certain of his relatives. This imputation the cavalier indignantly repelled, and high words ensued; the Viceroy struck him with his dagger, and the attendants rushed in and despatched him. It was an unpremeditated outburst and was quickly repented of; but no repentance could ward off the detestation which it drew down upon the Viceroy. It was clear enough that the people needed some other protector than the head of the government, for none knew who might be the next victim to his temper. Some were for trusting for protection to the Audience; but most men were inclined to place themselves under Gonzalo Pizarro, who was now slowly advancing towards Lima. The Viceroy felt the bitter consequences of the position to which his rashness had reduced him. He had placed the town in a state of defence, but he could no longer rely on his troops to defend it. In this dilemma it occurred to him to quit the capital and withdraw to Truxillo, about eighty leagues distant, sending the women and the effects of the citizens thither by water. But the Audience here interposed. Both he and they appealed to force. The judges and their followers took the initiative; the Viceroy’s palace was entered; his person was taken and placed in strict confinement.

The first act of the judges on assuming power was to declare the ordinances suspended until instructions should be received from Spain. It was likewise determined that one of their own body should return thither, in charge of the captive Viceroy. But a more formidable enemy yet remained to be encountered in Gonzalo Pizarro. He halted at Xauxa, about ninety miles from Lima, where he was joined by numbers of the citizens. The judges sent him an envoy to announce the revolution that had taken place and the suspension of the ordinances. They pointed out that since the object of his mission had thus been effected and a new government appointed, it was for him to show a good example by submitting to it, by disbanding his troops, and by withdrawing to his estates. The envoy, however, was sent back to the judges with the answer that Gonzalo Pizarro had been called to the government by the people, and that should the Audience hesitate to deliver it to him, Lima would be given up to pillage.

After a little delay the judges saw that they had no alternative but to yield where resistance was unavailing, and thus in October 1544 Gonzalo Pizarro entered Lima at the head of twelve hundred Spaniards and several thousand Indians; and amidst the discharge of cannon and the peals of bells he was proclaimed Governor and Captain-General of Peru until his Majesty’s pleasure should be known—the judges administering the oaths of office. Gonzalo’s first act was to secure the persons of those who had taken an active part against him. They were sent into banishment, and their estates were confiscated. He filled the government of Lima with his partisans, and sent adherents to the principal towns. He caused vessels to be built, and brought his forces into the best condition. The Audience existed now only in name. One judge had departed with the Viceroy; another had become a tool in the hands of Pizarro; a third was confined to his house by illness; and the fourth Gonzalo proposed to send back to Castile, to place before the Emperor a statement of what had occurred; but this last measure was not carried out, owing to the vessel in which it was proposed that he should leave having been otherwise employed.

The ex-governor, Vaca de Castro, having no mind to fall into the hands of Pizarro, had bribed or otherwise persuaded the captain of the vessel on board of which he was confined to set sail for Panamá. Thence he in due course found his way to Spain. He had been previously recognized by the Government as having done his duty zealously and ably; but meanwhile he had fallen under the evil eye of his suspicious and autocratic successor, and complaints against his conduct had preceded him. These were ultimately declared groundless and futile; but in the meantime, whilst his conduct was being investigated, he was detained during twelve years a state prisoner—a strange manner of encouraging future Spanish governors to do their duty! After this lengthy period of probation or purgatory, it is satisfactory to read that the honours originally destined for Vaca de Castro were at length conferred upon him. He took his seat in the royal council, and during the remainder of his days enjoyed the public consideration to which he was so well entitled.

1544.

A strange surprise was now in store for Gonzalo Pizarro. The vessel in which the Viceroy, Blasco Nuñez, had sailed, had not long left the shore when Alvarez, the judge who had charge of him, presenting himself before him, announced that he was no longer a prisoner. He informed him at the same time that the ship was at his disposal. Blasco Nuñez eagerly availed himself of the circumstance; for his proud spirit revolted at the idea of returning home in disgrace. In an evil moment for himself he decided once more to try his fortune in Peru. He determined to direct his steps to Quito, and accordingly disembarked at Tumbez, where he issued a manifesto denouncing Pizarro and his followers as traitors, and calling on all true subjects to rally to the royal authority. Volunteers came in at his call; but before he was in a condition to fight, he received news of the arrival of one of Pizarro’s officers on the coast with a superior force. He then made such haste as he could to Quito, where he received the assurance of the support of Benalcazar, the governor of Popayan, upon which he made a counter-march to San Miguel.

At San Miguel, which was situated on the high-road along the Pacific, the Viceroy erected his standard, and in a few weeks he found himself at the head of a force of about five hundred men; but meanwhile Pizarro had not been idle. Being convinced that his only chance of ultimate safety lay in his present success, he did not tamely watch the Viceroy’s movements. Having left a strong garrison at Lima, he sent forward six hundred men to Truxillo, whither he himself repaired. Thence he marched to San Miguel, at which place the Viceroy would gladly have met him had he not been compelled to yield to the wishes of his adherents, who clamoured to be led into the upper country, where they might hope to be reinforced by the commander of Popayan. Pizarro arrived at San Miguel to find the enemy gone, and he lost not a moment in pursuing him. He reached the skirts of a mountain chain into which the Viceroy had entered only a few hours before. It was late in the evening, but Pizarro sent forward his lieutenant Carbajal with some light troops to overtake him. Carbajal overtook the slumbering enemy enveloped amongst the mountains at midnight. But one of his men had incautiously sounded a trumpet, and the Viceroy and his followers thus aroused poured a volley into the ranks of their pursuers, who were thrown into confusion and forced to retreat.

Pizarro, greatly disconcerted at this miscarriage, again sent Carbajal forward in pursuit of the Viceroy to retrieve his mistake. But the latter had profited by the delay, and it was many days before he was again overtaken. His baggage, however, fell into the hands of his pursuer. He and his men had to snatch such sleep as they could with their arms at hand and their steeds saddled beside them. At length they reached the desert of Paltos, a quagmire intersected by numerous streams, and which offered the most difficult passage for the weary and half-starved horses. Nor did Pizarro and his men suffer less than the Viceroy whom they were pursuing. It was a repetition of his trials on the expedition to the Amazons.

At length Blasco Nuñez entered Quito, which place, however, he quickly left, taking the road for Pastos, which was within the jurisdiction of Benalcazar, on whose support he mainly relied. Soon after his departure, Pizarro entered Quito, where he halted only long enough to refresh his men. His advance guard, tired and powerless, came up with the rear of the Viceroy’s force at Pastos; but the latter could not bring his soldiers to reverse the position they had so long been accustomed to, by attacking their pursuers. On the contrary, they profited by the exhaustion of the enemy to hasten their retreat. Pizarro, thus thwarted, did not care to trust himself further within the territories of Benalcazar, and made a counter-march on Quito, where his troops found time to rest, and where he received valuable reinforcements. Some of these were, however, soon despatched under Carbajal to suppress an insurrection which had broken out in the south.

1546.

The Viceroy had now reached Popayan, but with only one-fifth of the followers with whom he had begun his march, which had extended over two hundred leagues, and which had been marked by sufferings rarely equalled even in Spanish America. Still, however, when joined by Benalcazar, he could muster four hundred men. Pizarro, anxious to bring the struggle to a conclusion, had recourse to stratagem to effect this end. He himself, with the greater portion of his force, quitted Quito, under a pretence of joining his lieutenant in the south, but leaving a garrison in the above-named city. On these tidings reaching the Viceroy’s camp, Blasco Nuñez, quitting Popayan, moved rapidly on Quito, where, however, he found himself confronted by Pizarro’s entire force, entrenched in a strong position. In his endeavour to surprise Pizarro in his rear by means of a night-march, he put himself at a fatal disadvantage, having been misled by guides as to the distance to be traversed, and his men being exhausted, he entered Quito, the inhabitants of which city had declared themselves in favour of Pizarro.

In this emergency the Viceroy was recommended by his chief officer to try the effect of negotiation; but his haughty Castilian spirit rebelled at the notion of parleying with traitors. Calling his troops together, he addressed to them a few courageous words before he led them forth to fight on behalf of his king. The battle which ensued, as might be expected, when both sides had staked their all on the issue, was a desperate one. The cavalry, which was equally matched on either side, met in deadly shock, and when their lances were shivered the cavaliers fought with axe and sword. But the Viceroy’s horses, worn out by the march of the previous night, were unequal to the work, and the victory was not long in suspense. Blasco Nuñez and his followers, however, did all that brave men could do, until he was at length overwhelmed by numbers. His companions having fallen one by one, and he being wounded, the stroke of a battle-axe caused him to fall from his horse. He was then pointed out to the brother of Carbajal, the cavalier whom in a fit of passion he had so rashly struck with his poniard at Lima. In this unhappy situation the proud Viceroy’s career terminated by a stroke from the sabre of a negro slave. Thus ended the decisive day, and Gonzalo Pizarro was for the time being master of Peru.

This victory on the part of the colonists over the crown was looked upon as finally sealing the fate of the obnoxious ordinances, and was the cause of great joy throughout the country. Pizarro, for a time, rested in Quito, where he and his followers enjoyed the excesses which in those times usually succeeded excessive military privations and fatigues. But Gonzalo was no longer merely a victorious soldier. Upon him now rested the cares of state, for which, unfortunately, he was fitted neither by education nor by natural powers. He rewarded his followers by grants of land, and made various provisions for the welfare of the natives; but he does not seem to have entertained the idea of establishing an independent authority, since he was careful to collect the dues belonging to the crown. Indeed he urged upon the colonists so to conduct themselves as by their behaviour to bring about a revocation of the hated ordinances. In July 1546 he left Quito for the south, and was everywhere received with enthusiasm. At Lima he was met in triumph, the archbishop, with three other bishops of that place, riding by his side; while to crown his good fortune, he at the same time received the intelligence of the success of his arms in the south. From Quito to Chili his authority was undisputed, while the mines of Potosí supplied him with a kingly revenue. Had he been a man of as much force of character as a politician as he had proved himself to be as a military leader, he was now in a position to have founded a dynasty of Pizarros in Peru. Every Spanish soldier throughout the land obeyed him; the colonists looked on him as their champion; whilst he was no less the master of the fleet on the Pacific. No hostile force coming from Spain could encounter him until it should have rounded the Straits of Magellan or forced a passage across the primeval forests of Brazil. Yet the youngest Pizarro lacked the moral courage which till this supreme moment of its fortunes had never failed his upstart house; and the result was that, instead of anticipating the colonial revolution by two centuries and a half, he who had gone too far to hope for any safety save in defiance, determined to submit himself to Spain. The result was that, without sending a fleet through the Straits of Magellan or an army through the forests of Brazil, Pizarro was conquered by the address of one man, whose services the Emperor was enabled to command in this dire emergency. That man was the President Gasca.

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.14 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.