_How Cortes sends a present to his majesty; 80,000 pesos in gold and
silver, besides a magnificent field-piece made of silver and gold,
covered with various beautiful figures; also how he sends his father
Martin Cortes above 5000 pesos._
Cortes had by this time collected about 80,000 pesos, and now also the
field-piece was finished, which received the name of Phoenix, and was in
every way a present worthy of the acceptance of so renowned a sovereign
as our great emperor. This beautiful cannon was cast of silver, and bore
the following inscription:
No bird like this was ever born,
As a servant I have no second,
And you have not your equal in the world.
Cortes therefore determined to forward all this treasure to his majesty
in Spain, and commissioned a nobleman of Toledo, named Diego de Soto to
be the bearer: whether Juan de Ribera, who squinted with one eye, and
had been Cortes' private secretary, accompanied this gentleman, I cannot
exactly remember; but one thing I know, that very little reliance could
be placed in his honesty. I also imagined that he played falsely at
cards and cheated at dice; besides which he possessed many other bad
qualities. I merely mention all this because he behaved so villanously
to Cortes in Spain, for he not only kept back the money which the latter
confided to his care for his father Martin Cortes,[42] but he repaid
kindness with ingratitude, and so far forgot all the favours which
Cortes had bestowed upon him, that, instead of speaking good of our
general, or even the truth, he calumniated his benefactor in every
possible manner. As this Ribera was a man who possessed considerable
eloquence, and as he had been private secretary to Cortes, his
aspersions were generally credited in Spain, by the bishop of Burgos in
particular; and he created the more evil, as at that time Narvaez,
Christobal de Tapia, and the agents of Velasquez had renewed their
charges against Cortes, complaining to his majesty that he could not
depend upon the honesty of the decision to which the commissioners had
come, as Cortes had bribed them all with valuable presents. All this
created a most unfavorable change in Cortes' affairs, and he fell so
greatly into his majesty's displeasure that matters, in all likelihood,
would have terminated most unfavorably for him if the duke of Bejar, who
was greatly attached to Cortes, had not employed his utmost endeavours
for him and become his bail until he should be summoned to take his
trial in due form. The duke's reason for espousing Cortes' cause so
warmly was, because the preliminaries of a marriage had been settled
between the latter and a niece of the duke. This lady's name was Juana
de Zunniga, daughter to the earl of Aguilar Don Carlos de Arellano, and
she had also a brother who was a great favorite with the emperor. As
about this time also the 80,000 pesos, with the other valuable presents
arrived in Spain, accompanied by letters from Cortes, in which he
expressed to his majesty his thanks for the great honours which his
majesty had bestowed upon him, and for the just sentence he had
pronounced in his favour; the inquiries which were going to be
instituted against him were dropped, and the storm which was gathering
over him blew over. But now again the proud inscription which he had
placed on the silver field-piece created a great deal of ill-feeling
towards him, and several of the dukes, marquisses and earls, who had
likewise rendered great services to our emperor, considered it amazingly
presumptuous that Cortes should attempt, by this inscription, to raise
his merits so far above all others. Even his greatest patrons, the
admiral of Castile, the duke of Bejar, and the earl of Aguilar, greatly
disapproved of this self-praise.[43] But why, I ask, should they term
this presumptuous in our general? Can any one mention to me another
general who has accomplished so many heroic deeds as Cortes, or who has
conquered for our emperor a country of the magnitude of New Spain, or
who has been the means of converting so many thousands of heathens to
Christianity? Though, to be sure, the merit and glory of all this is not
due to Cortes alone, but also to his brave companions in arms! We have
equally merited for ourselves grants of land and honorable escutcheons,
with those brave men of former times who were so honoured by their
monarchs!
With respect to the beautiful field-piece, we further received
information that it was presented to his majesty by the
comendador-mayor of Leon, Don Francisco de las Cobos, but that it was
never removed from Seville, for it was smelted there and the value of
the metal was altogether estimated at 20,000 ducats. This present, with
all those which Cortes sent on former occasions to Spain, though some
unfortunately never reached their place of destination, not only spread
the fame of Cortes to all parts of the empire, but throughout the whole
of christendom, and his name was in every person's mouth. Neither must I
forget to mention, that after Martin Cortes had in vain demanded of the
squinting Ribera to deliver up the money to him which had been sent by
our general, he commenced an action against him; to which, however, an
end was speedily put by the death of Ribera, who fell ill on a journey
to the town of Cadahalso, after eating too heartily of fat bacon. His
death was so sudden that he had not even time to confess his sins; may
God have mercy on his poor soul! Amen!
While all this was going on in Spain, Cortes was very busily employed in
rebuilding the city of Mexico, and he strove by every possible means to
increase its population by holding out rewards to the inhabitants of the
country to settle there. For this purpose he declared the town free from
all tribute, until all the buildings should be completed, the causeways,
aqueducts and bridges repaired, and the churches and the hospitals were
entirely finished both inside and out.[44] The superintendence of the
latter he gave to the excellent father Olmedo, who had already brought
together all the Indians who were suffering from ill health, and
attended to them with the most affectionate care. But about this time
there likewise arrived in Vera Cruz twelve Franciscan monks from Spain,
who were accompanied by the very pious father, Martin de Valencia, whom
his holiness had appointed vicar-general of New Spain. He was a native
of the village of Valencia de san Juan, in the district of Campo, and we
shall see in the following chapter how this reverend father was received
in Mexico.