_Diego Velasquez despatches one of his officials to Spain._
My readers may perhaps think, that what I am now about to relate does
not exactly belong to this history; but in the course of it they will
readily perceive that I have been obliged to notice many circumstances
before I could introduce them to the captain, Hernando Cortes. They
ought also to bear in mind, that it often happens that two or three
things take place at the same moment; in which case there only remains
for the historian to treat of one circumstance after the other, and
begin with that which lies nearest at hand. In this place the following
comes first under our consideration.
After the arrival of Pedro de Alvarado with the gold which we had made
in the newly-discovered country, Diego Velasquez began to fear that some
one at court, who might have received private information of all this,
would anticipate him, in forwarding his imperial majesty the first news
of our important discovery, and so rob him of the reward. He, therefore,
despatched one of his chaplains, named Benito Martinez, a thorough man
of business, to Spain, with letters and a few of the valuable things, to
Don Juan Rodriguez Fonseca, bishop of Burgos, and archbishop of Rosano.
He wrote at the same time to the licentiate Louis Zapata, and the
secretary Lope Conchillos, who at that time had the conduct of all
Indian affairs under the archbishop.
Diego Velasquez was quite devoted to these gentlemen, and had presented
them with considerable Indian villages in Cuba, with the inhabitants of
which they worked their gold mines. But he took particular care to
provide well for the archbishop, troubling himself very little about his
majesty, who was at that time in Flanders.
He sent moreover to these, his patrons, a great portion of the gold
trinkets which Alvarado had brought with him; for everything that was
determined in the imperial council of India depended upon these
gentlemen. Diego Velasquez therefore sought, by means of his chaplain,
to obtain unlimited permission to fit out armaments at any time he might
think proper to make voyages of discovery, and to found colonies in the
new countries as well as in those that might subsequently be discovered:
in the accounts he transmitted to Spain, he spoke of the many thousands
of gold-pesos which he had already spent in like undertakings; thereby
giving such a favorable direction to the negotiations of his chaplain,
Benito Martinez, that his expectations were more than fulfilled, who
even obtained for him the additional title of Adelantado of Cuba. This
latter appointment, however, did not arrive until the new expedition
under Cortes had left. I will not make any further remarks on these
matters at present, but rather say a few words respecting Francisco
Lopez de Gomara's History of the Conquest of New Spain and Mexico. His
history fell into my hands while I was writing my own, and I soon
foresaw that I should have to contradict him in many instances. My
intention is to give a faithful account, and that in due order, of every
circumstance; this will greatly differ from his narrative, which is
quite at variance with truth.