intended for Indian warfare, though such was the pretence, and with this rebellious aim he had even seized over sixty thousand pesos de oro from the royal treasury. The natives looked upon Cortés as a king, and would follow him anywhere, and so would the soldiers, whom he had attracted by his magnetism or won with his gold. This strength, supplemented by manifold resources, had made him so ambitious and imperious that he gave no heed to royal orders, but dealt with the country and the offices as if they were his own. A change was urgent, or all would be lost to the king. The best means was to give them authority to proceed against him, withdraw his arms, and gradually dispossess him of the government. He should be ordered to do nothing without the approval of the royal officials, and blank commissions should be sent for them to distribute to loyal men so as to strengthen their party, and they should be given a place among the regidores, whose votes were at present controlled by their patron Cortés.[1] Authority should also be given them to make a fresh repartimiento of the natives who had been appropriated by the supporters of the captain-general[2]
In this tirade of denunciations they spared not one another, and foreseeing the evil effect of such jealousy, the wily Salazar intimated that Cortés was creating discord between them for his own purposes; adding that he had sent one hundred and thirty thousand pesos to Spain wherewith to bribe the members of the council, and to his father other large sums embezzled from the royal treasury.
- ↑ The king had ordered regidores and other officials to be appointed annually by the governor and royal agents, but this had not been done, says Albornoz, Carta, in Icazbalceta, Col. Doc., i. 495, implying that Cortés preferred to keep his retainers in these controlling positions. His adherent Lope de Samaniego was the bearer of the charges, directed also to the powerful Comendador Cobos, the patron of the officials.
- ↑ 'Y que se permitiesse, que ellos pudiessen tener Encomiendas.' Herrera, dec. iii. lib. vi. cap. ii. 'To hold encomiendas had been expressly forbidden the royal officers, yet they had eagerly scrambled for a share. It was also charged that the followers of Cortés appropriated all the daughters of nobles for mistresses, so that honorable men could obtain no wives. Bernal Diaz, Hist. Verdad., 192.
