CHAPTER XX.
FUTILE ATTEMPTS TOWARD DISCOVERY.
1530-1540.
Authority of Cortés Curtailed — Indian Conspiracy Suppressed — Disturbances in Oajaca — An Empty Title — Cortés and the Colonists of Antequera — Further Disputes with the Audiencia — Cortés Persistent — Baffled Efforts at Discovery — High Hopes and a Lowly Dwelling — Misfortune Follows Misfortune — Guzman's Animosity — Cortés Defiant — He Sails Northward — Failure of the Enterprise — Rivalry of Mendoza — Cortés Disgusted — He Returns to Spain.
Upon the arrival of the second audiencia Cortés hastened to lay before that body his commission as captain-general. Though it was duly recognized by them, the powers it conferred were greatly controlled by a royal order produced by the audiencia, requiring that Cortés, in all his operations, should consult the president and oidores and act only on their approval. This we may well imagine was not pleasing to the marquis,[1] and soon he and the audiencia were engaged in hot disputes. Jealous of their position, and proud of the king's confidence,[2] the oidores were uncompromising in the exhibition of their authority, and carried out their instructions to the letter; while Cortés,
- ↑ Cortés professes to have been at first satisfied with this order; 'y fué para mí muy gran merced, porque siempre querria tales testigos de mis servicios.' Cortés, Escritos Sueltos, 191.
- ↑ When the audiencia attended mass on the arrival at the capital the bishop of Tlascala in the prayer for the royal family, after the words, 'regem nostrum cum prole regia,' added, 'et ducem exercitus nostri,' whereupon Oidor Salmeron admonished him to observe the king's preëminence: 'é yo le amonesté que guardase al Rey su preeminencia Real en aquello.' Salmeron, in Pacheco and Cárdenas, Col. Doc., xiii. 192.
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