Pizarro Revisits Cuzco--Hernando Returns To Castile-
His Long Imprisonment--Commissioner Sent To Peru-
Hostilities With The Inca--Pizarro's Active Administration-
Gonzalo Pizarro
1539--1540
On the departure of his brother in pursuit of Almagro, the Marquess
Francisco Pizarro, as we have seen, returned to Lima. There he
anxiously awaited the result of the campaign; and on receiving the
welcome tidings of the victory of Las Salinas, he instantly made
preparations for his march to Cuzco. At Xauxa, however, he was long
detained by the distracted state of the country, and still longer, as it
would seem, by a reluctance to enter the Peruvian capital while the trial
of Almagro was pending.
He was met at Xauxa by the marshal's son Diego, who had been sent to
the coast by Hernando Pizarro. The young man was filled with the most
gloomy apprehensions respecting his father's fate, and he besought the
governor not to allow his brother to do him any violence. Pizarro, who
received Diego with much apparent kindness, bade him take heart, as no
harm should come to his father;1 adding, that he trusted their ancient
friendship would soon be renewed. The youth, comforted by these
assurances, took his way to Lima, where, by Pizarro's orders, he was
received into his house, and treated as a son.
The same assurances respecting the marshal's safety were given by the
governor to Bishop Valverde, and some of the principal cavaliers who
interested themselves in behalf of the prisoner.2 Still Pizarro delayed his
march to the capital; and when he resumed it, he had advanced no farther
than the Rio de Abancay when he received tidings of the death of his
rival. He appeared greatly shocked by the intelligence, his whole frame
was agitated, and he remained for some time with his eyes bent on the
ground showing signs of strong emotion.3
Such is the account given by his friends. A more probable version of the
matter represents him to have been perfectly aware of the state of things
at Cuzco. When the trial was concluded, it is said he received a message
from Hernando, inquiring what was to be done with the prisoner. He
answered in a few words :--"Deal with him so that he shall give us no
more trouble."4 It is also stated that Hernando, afterwards, when
laboring under the obloquy caused by Almagro's death, shielded himself
under instructions affirmed to have been received from the governor.5 It
is quite certain, that, during his long residence at Xauxa, the latter was in
constant communication with Cuzco; and that had he, as Valverde
repeatedly urged him,6 quickened his march to that capital, he might
easily have prevented the consummation of the tragedy. As commander-
in-chief, Almagro's fate was in his hands; and, whatever his own
partisans may affirm of his innocence, the impartial judgment of history
must hold him equally accountable with Hernando for the death of his
associate.
Neither did his subsequent conduct show any remorse for these
proceedings. He entered Cuzco, says one who was present there to
witness it, amidst the flourish of clarions and trumpets, at the head of his
martial cavalcade, and dressed in the rich suit presented him by Cortes,
with the proud bearing and joyous mien of a conqueror.7 When Diego
de Alvarado applied to him for the government of the southern
provinces, in the name of the young Almagro, whom his father, as we
have seen, had consigned to his protection, Pizarro answered, that "the
marshal, by his rebellion, had forfeited all claims to the government."
And, when he was still further urged by the cavalier, he bluntly broke off
the conversation by declaring that "his own territory covered all on this
side of Flanders"!8--intimating, no doubt, by this magnificent vaunt, that
he would endure no rival on this side of the water.
In the same spirit, he had recently sent to supersede Benalcazar, the
conqueror of Quito, who, he was informed, aspired to an independent
government. Pizarro's emissary had orders to send the offending captain
to Lima; but Benalcazar, after pushing his victorious career far into the
north, had returned to Castile to solicit his guerdon from the emperor.
To the complaints of the injured natives, who invoked his protection, he
showed himself strangely insensible, while the followers of Almagro he
treated with undisguised contempt. The estates of the leaders were
confiscated, and transferred without ceremony to his own partisans.
Hernando had made attempts to conciliate some of the opposite faction
by acts of liberality, but they had refused to accept anything from the
man whose hands were stained with the blood of their commander.9 The
governor held to them no such encouragement; and many were reduced
to such abject poverty, that, too proud to expose their wretchedness to
the eyes of their conquerors, they withdrew from the city, and sought a
retreat among the neighboring mountains.10
For his own brothers he provided by such ample repartimientos, as
excited the murmurs of his adherents. He appointed Gonzalo to the
command of a strong force destined to act against the natives of Charcas,
a hardy people occupying the territory assigned by the Crown to
Almagro. Gonzalo met with a sturdy resistance, but, after some severe
fighting, succeeded in reducing the province to obedience. He was
recompensed, together with Hernando, who aided him in the conquest,
by a large grant in the neighborhood of Porco, the productive mines of
which had been partially wrought under the Incas. The territory, thus
situated, embraced part of those silver hills of Potosi which have since
supplied Europe with such stores of the precious metals. Hernando
comprehended the capabilities of the ground, and he began working the
mines on a more extensive scale than that hitherto adopted, though it
does not appear that any attempt was then made to penetrate the rich
crust of Potosi.11 A few years more were to elapse before the Spaniards
were to bring to light the silver quarries that lay hidden in the bosom of
its mountains.12
It was now the great business of Hernando to collect a sufficient quantity
of treasure to take with him to Castile. Nearly a year had elapsed since
Almagro's death; and it was full time that he should return and present
himself at court, where Diego de Alvarado and other friends of the
marshal, who had long since left Peru, were industriously maintaining
the claims of the younger Almagro, as well as demanding redress for the
wrongs done to his father. But Hernando looked confidently to his gold
to dispel the accusations against him.
Before his departure, he counselled his brother to beware of the "men of
Chili," as Almagro's followers were called; desperate men, who would
stick at nothing, he said, for revenge. He besought the governor not to
allow them to consort together in any number within fifty miles of his
person; if he did, it would be fatal to him. And he concluded by
recommending a strong body-guard; "for I," he added, "shall not be here
to watch over you." But the governor laughed at the idle fears, as he
termed them, of his brother, bidding the latter take no thought of him, "as
every hair in the heads of Almagro's followers was a guaranty for his
safety.''13 He did not know the character of his enemies so well as
Hernando.
The latter soon after embarked at Lima in the summer of 1539. He did
not take the route of Panama, for he had heard that it was the intention of
the authorities there to detain him. He made a circuitous passage,
therefore, by way of Mexico, landed in the Bay of Tecoantepec, and was
making his way across the narrow strip that divides the great oceans,
when he was arrested and taken to the capital. But the Viceroy Mendoza
did not consider that he had a right to detain him, and he was suffered to
embark at Vera Cruz, and to proceed on his voyage. Still he did not
deem it safe to trust himself in Spain without further advices. He
accordingly put in at one of the Azores, where he remained until he
could communicate with home. He had some powerful friends at court,
and by them he was encouraged to present himself before the emperor.
He took their advice, and shortly after, reached the Spanish coast in
safety.14
The Court was at Valladolid; but Hernando, who made his entrance into
that city, with great pomp and a display of his Indian riches, met with a
reception colder than he had anticipated.15 For this he was mainly
indebted to Diego de Alvarado, who was then residing there, and who, as
a cavalier of honorable standing, and of high connections, had
considerable influence. He had formerly, as we have seen, by his timely
interposition, more than once saved the life of Hernando; and he had
consented to receive a pecuniary obligation from him to a large amount.
But all were now forgotten in the recollection of the wrong done to his
commander; and, true to the trust reposed in him by that chief in his
dying hour, he had come to Spain to vindicate the claims of the young
Almagro.
But although coldly received at first, Hernando's presence, and his own
version of the dispute with Almagro, aided by the golden arguments
which he dealt with no stinted hand, checked the current of indignation,
and the opinion of his judges seemed for a time suspended. Alvarado, a
cavalier more accustomed to the prompt and decisive action of a camp
than to the tortuous intrigues of a court, chafed at the delay, and
challenged Hernando to settle their quarrel by single combat. But his
prudent adversary had no desire to leave the issue to such an ordeal;
and the affair was speedily terminated by the death of Alvarado himself,
which happened five days after the challenge. An event so opportune
naturally suggested the suspicion of poison.16
But his accusations had not wholly fallen to the ground; and Hernando
Pizarro had carried measures with too high a hand, and too grossly
outraged public sentiment, to be permitted to escape. He received no
formal sentence, but he was imprisoned in the strong fortress of Medina
del Campo, where he was allowed to remain for twenty years when in
1560, after a generation had nearly passed away, and time had, in some
measure, thrown its softening veil over the past, he was suffered to
regain his liberty.17 But he came forth an aged man, bent down with
infirmities and broken in spirit,--an object of pity, rather than
indignation. Rarely has retributive justice been meted out in fuller
measure to offenders so high in authority,--most rarely in Castile.18
Yet Hernando bore this long imprisonment with an equanimity which,
had it been rounded on principle, might command our respect. He saw
brothers and kindred, all on whom he leaned for support, cut off one
after another; his fortune, in part, confiscated, while he was involved in
expensive litigation for the remainder;19 his fame blighted, his career
closed in an untimely hour, himself an exile in the heart of his own
country;--yet he bore it all with the constancy of a courageous spirit.
Though very old when released, he still survived several years, and
continued to the extraordinary age of a hundred.20 He lived long
enough to see friends, rivals, and foes all called away to their account
before him.
Hernando Pizarro was in many respects a remarkable character. He was
the eldest of the brothers, to whom he was related only by the father's
side, for he was born in wedlock, of honorable parentage on both sides
of his house. In his early years, he received a good education,--good for
the time. He was taken by his father, while quite young, to Italy, and
there learned the art of war under the Great Captain. Little is known of
his history after his return to Spain; but, when his brother had struck out
for himself his brilliant career of discovery in Peru, Hernando consented
to take part in his adventures.
He was much deferred to by Francisco, not only as his elder brother, but
from his superior education and his knowledge of affairs. He was ready
in his perceptions, fruitful in resources, and possessed of great vigor in
action. Though courageous, he was cautious; and his counsels, when not
warped by passion, were wise and wary. But he had other qualities,
which more than counterbalanced the good resulting from excellent parts
and attainments. His ambition and avarice were insatiable. He was
supercilious even to his equals; and he had a vindictive temper, which
nothing could appease. Thus, instead of aiding his brother in the
Conquest, he was the evil genius that blighted his path. He conceived
from the first an unwarrantable contempt for Almagro, whom he
regarded as his brother's rival, instead of what he then was, the faithful
partner of his fortunes. He treated him with personal indignity, and, by
his intrigues at court, had the means of doing him sensible injury. He
fell into Almagro's hands, and had nearly paid for these wrongs with his
life. This was not to be forgiven by Hernando, and he coolly waited for
the hour of revenge. Yet the execution of Almagro was a most impolitic
act; for an evil passion can rarely be gratified with impunity. Hernando
thought to buy off justice with the gold of Peru. He had studied human
nature on its weak and wicked side, and he expected to profit by it.
Fortunately, he was deceived. He had, indeed, his revenge; but the hour
of his revenge was that of his ruin.
The disorderly state of Peru was such as to demand the immediate
interposition of government. In the general license that prevailed there,
the rights of the Indian and of the Spaniard were equally trampled under
foot. Yet the subject was one of great difficulty; for Pizarro's authority
was now firmly established over the country, which itself was too remote
from Castile to be readily controlled at home. Pizarro, moreover, was a
man not easy to be approached, confident in his own strength, jealous of
interference, and possessed of a fiery temper, which would kindle into a
flame at the least distrust of the government. It would not answer to send
out a commission to suspend him from the exercise of his authority until
his conduct could be investigated, as was done with Cortes, and other
great colonial officers, on whose rooted loyalty the Crown could
confidently rely. Pizarro's loyalty sat, it was feared, too lightly on him to
be a powerful restraint on his movements; and there were not wanting
those among his reckless followers, who, in case of extremity, would be
prompt to urge him to throw off his allegiance altogether, and set up an
independent government for himself.
Some one was to be sent out, therefore, who should possess, in some
sort, a controlling, or, at least, concurrent power with the dangerous
chief, while ostensibly he should act only in subordination to him. The
person selected for this delicate mission, was the Licentiate Vaca de
Castro, a member of the Royal Audience of Valladolid. He was a
learned judge, a man of integrity and wisdom, and, though not bred to
arms, had so much address, and such knowledge of character, as would
enable him readily to turn the resources of others to his own account.
His commission was guarded in a way which showed the embarrassment
of the government. He was to appear before Pizarro in the capacity of a
royal judge; to consult with him on the redress of grievances, especially
with reference to the unfortunate natives; to concert measures for the
prevention of future evils; and above all, to possess himself faithfully of
the condition of the country in all its details, and to transmit intelligence
of it to the Court of Castile. But, in case of Pizarro's death, he was to
produce his warrant as royal governor, and as such to claim the
obedience of the authorities throughout the land.--Events showed the
wisdom of providing for this latter contingency.21
The licentiate, thus commissioned, quitted his quiet residence at
Valladolid, embarked at Seville, in the autumn of 1540, and, after a
tedious voyage across the Atlantic, he traversed the Isthmus, and,
encountering a succession of tempests on the Pacific, that had nearly sent
his frail bark to the bottom, put in with her, a mere wreck, at the
northerly port of Buenaventura.22 The affairs of the country were in a
state to require his presence.
The civil war which had lately distracted the land had left it in so
unsettled a state, that the agitation continued long after the immediate
cause had ceased. This was especially the case among the natives. In
the violent transfer of repartimientos, the poor Indian hardly knew to
whom he was to look as his master. The fierce struggles between the
rival chieftains left him equally in doubt whom he was to regard as the
rulers of the land. As to the authority of a common sovereign, across the
waters, paramount over all, he held that in still greater distrust; for what
was the authority which could not command the obedience even of its
own vassals?23 The Inca Manco was not slow in taking advantage of
this state of feeling. He left his obscure fastnesses in the depths of the
Andes, and established himself with a strong body of followers in the
mountain country lying between Cuzco and the coast. From this retreat,
he made descents on the neighboring plantations, destroying the houses,
sweeping off the cattle, and massacring the people. He fell on travellers,
as they were journeying singly or in caravans from the coast, and put
them to death--it is told by his enemies--with cruel tortures. Single
detachments were sent against him, from time to time, but without effect.
Some he eluded, others he defeated; and, on one occasion, cut off a party
of thirty troopers, to a man.24
At length, Pizarro found it necessary to send a considerable force under
his brother Gonzalo against the Inca. The hardy Indian encountered his
enemy several times in the rough passes of the Cordilleras. He was
usually beaten, and sometimes with heavy loss, which he repaired with
astonishing facility; for he always contrived to make his escape, and so
true were his followers, that, in defiance of pursuit and ambuscade, he
found a safe shelter in the secret haunts of the sierra.
Thus baffled, Pizarro determined to try the effect of pacific overtures.
He sent to the Inca, both in his own name, and in that of the Bishop of
Cuzco, whom the Peruvian prince held in reverence, to invite him to
enter into negotiation.25 Manco acquiesced, and indicated, as he had
formerly done with Almagro, the valley of Yucay, as the scene of it. The
governor repaired thither, at the appointed time, well guarded, and, to
propitiate the barbarian monarch, sent him a rich present by the hands of
an African slave. The slave was met on the route by a party of the Inca's
men, who, whether with or without their master's orders, cruelly
murdered him, and bore off the spoil to their quarters. Pizarro resented
this outrage by another yet more atrocious.
Among the Indian prisoners was one of the Inca's wives, a young and
beautiful woman, to whom he was said to be fondly attached. The
governor ordered her to be stripped naked, bound to a tree, and, in
presence of the camp, to be scourged with rods, and then shot to death
with arrows. The wretched victim bore the execution of the sentence
with surprising fortitude. She did not beg for mercy, where none was to
be found. Not a complaint, scarcely a groan, escaped her under the
infliction of these terrible torments. The iron Conquerors were amazed
at this power of endurance in a delicate woman, and they expressed their
admiration, while they condemned the cruelty of their commander,--in
their hearts.26 Yet constancy under the most excruciating tortures that
human cruelty can inflict is almost the universal characteristic of the
American Indian.
Pizarro now prepared, as the most effectual means of checking these
disorders among the natives, to establish settlements in the heart of the
disaffected country. These settlements, which received the dignified
name of cities, might be regarded in the light of military colonies. The
houses were usually built of stone, to which were added the various
public offices, and sometimes a fortress. A municipal corporation was
organized. Settlers were invited by the distribution of large tracts of land
in the neighborhood, with a stipulated number of Indian vassals to each.
The soldiers then gathered there, sometimes accompanied by their wives
and families; for the women of Castile seem to have disdained the
impediments of sex, in the ardor of conjugal attachment, or, it may be, of
romantic adventure. A populous settlement rapidly grew up in the
wilderness, affording protection to the surrounding territory, and
furnishing a commercial depot for the country, and an armed force ready
at all times to maintain public order.
Such a settlement was that now made at Guamanga, midway between
Cuzco and Lima, which effectually answered its purpose by guarding the
communications with the coast.27 Another town was founded in the
mining district of Charcas, under the appropriate name of the Villa de la
Plato, the "City of Silver." And Pizarro, as he journeyed by a circuitous
route along the shores of the southern sea towards Lima, planted there
the city of Arequipa, since arisen to such commercial celebrity.
Once more in his favorite capital of Lima, the governor found abundant
occupation in attending to its municipal concerns, and in providing for
the expansive growth of its population. Nor was he unmindful of the
other rising settlements on the Pacific. He encouraged commerce with
the remoter colonies north of Peru, and took measures for facilitating
internal intercourse. He stimulated industry in all its branches, paying
great attention to husbandry, and importing seeds of the different
European grains, which he had the satisfaction, in a short time, to see
thriving luxuriantly in a country where the variety of soil and climate
afforded a home for almost every product.28 Above all, he promoted the
working of the mines, which already began to make such returns, that the
most common articles of life rose to exorbitant prices, while the precious
metals themselves seemed the only things of little value. But they soon
changed hands, and found their way to the mother-country, where they
rose to their true level as they mingled with the general currency of
Europe. The Spaniards found that they had at length reached the land of
which they had been so long in search,--the land of gold and silver.
Emigrants came in greater numbers to the country, and, spreading over
its surface, formed in the increasing population the most effectual barrier
against the rightful owners of the soil.29
Pizarro, strengthened by the arrival of fresh adventurers, now turned his
attention to the remoter quarters of the country. Pedro de Valdivia was
sent on his memorable expedition to Chili; and to his own brother
Gonzalo the governor assigned the territory of Quito, with instructions to
explore the unknown country towards the east, where, as report said,
grew the cinnamon. As this chief, who had hitherto acted but a
subordinate part in the Conquest, is henceforth to take the most
conspicuous, it may be well to give some account of him.
Little is known of his early life, for he sprang from the same obscure
origin with Francisco, and seems to have been as little indebted as his
eider brother to the fostering care of his parents. He entered early on the
career of a soldier; a career to which every man in that iron age, whether
cavalier or vagabond, seems, if left to himself, to have most readily
inclined. Here he soon distinguished himself by his skill in martial
exercises, was an excellent horseman, and, when he came to the New
World, was esteemed the best lance in Peru.30
In talent and in expansion of views, he was inferior to his brothers.
Neither did he discover the same cool and crafty policy; but he was
equally courageous, and in the execution of his measures quite as
unscrupulous. He lied a handsome person, with open, engaging features,
a free, soldier-like address, and a confiding temper, which endeared him
to his followers. His spirit was high and adventurous, and, what was
equally important, he could inspire others with the same spirit, and thus
do much to insure the success of his enterprises. He was an excellent
captain in guerilla warfare, an admirable leader in doubtful and difficult
expeditions; but he had not the enlarged capacity for a great military
chief, still less for a civil ruler. It was his misfortune to be called to fill
both situations.