of July.[1] The body was deposited with great pomp in the church of St Joseph.[2] Cortés donned deep mourning, as for a father, and most of his followers shared his sincere grief; for the geniality, clear judgment, and impartiality of the deceased had filled them all with the hope of obtaining justice and the desired reward for their services. Cortés in particular had longed for the disprovement of the charges against him, and for a public vindication of his loyalty and good services. He reveals his bitter dissapointment to the king. For seventeen days, he declared, the residencia had been proclaimed, without bringing forth a single demand against him.[3] This was on account of intimidation, his enemies saId. The charges against him were chiefly rumor. Cortés took the opportunity, however, to review them in a letter to the king, and demonstrate the absurdity of some of them. Whatever the riches acquired by him, he had expended far more for the advancement of the royal interests, so much so that he was now in debt to the extent of half a million of pesos de oro. The domains he had gained for the king were greater in wealth and extent than any so far conquered by others. As a proof of his comparative disinterestedness, he offered to surrender all he possessed, including the rumored two hundred rent-rolls, for a score — ay, half a score — of moderate rentals in Spain.[4]
- ↑ Libro de Cabildo, MS. After seven days of sickness, says Oviedo; nine days, according to Bernal Diaz.
- ↑ Vetancvrt, Trat. Mex., 6. Bernal Diaz states, and testimony in Cortés, Residencia, i. 290, intimates, the San Francisco convent, but this mistake may be due to the close proximity of the temples, and the assistance of the friars at the ceremony.
- ↑ Cartas, 482. 'Entre algunas fortunas contrarias . . . una de las mas adversas para mi ha sido la muerte de Luis Ponce.' Carta, September 11, 1526, in Cortés, Escritos Sueltos, 110.
- ↑ Much land and gold have I received in truth,' he says, in substance, 'but more have I expended, till I am indebted for 500,000 pesos de oro, without a castellano to pay with; all expended to increase the domains of Y. M. My books show more than 300,000 pesos de oro of my own estate expended on conquests, in which my life and health have also been ventured. From these conquests Y. M. has received larger returns than from all other lands so far subjugated.' He thereupon recounts what he has done, and what he proposes to do. 'From Montezuma's treasures I and my men assigned more than the fifth due to Y. M. They say that I possess 200 rent-rolls. I am willing to
