As The Spaniards In Cuzco Were
Aware That The Insurrection Was General Over All Peru, They Hardly Doubted
But The
Governor and all their other countrymen were cut off, so that they
defended themselves as men who had no earthly
Hope of succour, depending
only on the mercy of God and their own courage. Their small number was
daily diminished, as hardly a day passed in which the Indians did not kill
or wound some of their people. One time during the siege, Gonzalo Pizarro
made a sally with twenty horsemen, and proceeded to the lake or marsh of
Chinchero which is five leagues from Cuzco, where he was surrounded by so
vast a force of Indians that he must inevitably have been made prisoner,
had not Ferdinand Pizarro and Alfonso de Toro come up to his rescue with a
body of horse. Gonzalo was much blamed on this occasion for having
advanced so far among the enemy with so few men.
We have already mentioned that Almagro had resolved to return into Peru
and to make himself master of Cuzco, from the time that Juan de Herrada
had brought him the commission by which he was appointed to a government
beyond that assigned to Don Francisco Pizarro. The principal officers who
were along with him, strongly urged him to this measure, particularly
Gomez Alvarado and Diego Alvarado, brother and uncle of Don Pedro Alvarado
the governor of Guatimala, and Rodrigo Orgognez; some of whom were eager
to procure settlements in Peru, and others were desirous of gaining
establishments in Chili. To succeed in their design, as reports of the
insurrection in Peru had reached Chili, they instructed some Indian
interpreters to inform Almagro that the governor Francisco Pizarro and
most of the Spaniards in Peru had been slain by the Peruvians. Urged by
all these considerations, Almagro marched back into Peru, and even arrived
within six leagues of Cuzco without giving notice to Ferdinand Pizarro of
his motions or intentions[6]. Almagro made overtures to the Inca Manco
Capac for an accommodation, offering to forgive him all the injury he had
already done to the Spaniards, in consideration of joining his party and
assisting him to become master of Cuzco, of which he pretended that he had
been appointed governor by the king of Spain. The Inca proposed an
interview between them under pretence of settling the terms of an
agreement, to which Almagro consented without suspecting any treachery,
and went accordingly with a part only of his troops to the place appointed
for the conference, leaving the rest of his force under the command of
Juan de Saavedra. Taking advantage of this confidence, the Inca attacked
Almagro by surprize with extreme fury, and even killed and wounded several
of his men.
In the mean time, Ferdinand Pizarro received notice of the arrival of
Almagro, and that Juan de Saavedra was left at the village of Hurcos in
command of the troops in the absence of Almagro. He went therefore from
Cuzco at the head of an hundred and seventy of his best troops, in hope of
being able to prevail on Saavedra and the rest to abandon the party of
Almagro, or to fall upon them by surprize and make them prisoners. But
Saavedra got timely notice of his approach, and drew up his forces,
amounting to three hundred Spaniards, in an advantageous situation for his
reception. When the two parties were just about to engage, Ferdinand
Pizarro sent a message to Saavedra proposing a private interview, that
they might endeavour to agree upon an accommodation, to which the other
consented. As this conference was entirely between themselves, it is
difficult to know with any certainty what passed; but it was reported that
Ferdinand endeavoured to persuade Saavedra to join him with the troops
under his command, for which he offered a large recompense in gold; but
that Saavedra, like a man of honour, peremptorily refused to betray his
general.
On the return of Almagro from his affair with the Inca, he rejoined the
troops under Saavedra, and marched for Cuzco with his whole force. While
on the march, he made prisoners of four horsemen who had been sent out by
Ferdinand Pizarro to reconnoitre, from whom he learnt all the particulars
of the insurrection of the Peruvians, who had killed more than six hundred
Spaniards, and had burnt down a great part of the city of Cuzco, on which
news Almagro was very sensibly afflicted. He sent however, his patents as
governor to the senators of the royal council or Cabildo of Cuzco, whom he
urged to receive him as their governor; since, as he insisted, the bounds
of the government assigned to Francisco Pizarro certainly did not include
their city, and even fell considerably short of it to the north. In answer
to this demand, the council made answer, that whenever the extent of the
government belonging to Pizarro was accurately measured and determined,
they would be ready to accede to his desires, provided their city was
found to be beyond his limits. This subject was endeavoured to be settled
at that time, and has been since tried to be ascertained by several
experienced persons; but the manner in which this affair ought to be
regulated has never been agreed upon between the two interested parties.
The adherents of Almagro have always insisted, that the extent assigned by
his majesty as the government of Pizarro, ought to be measured either
along the sea coast or by the grand road of the Incas, taking into the
account all the turnings and windings in either of these routes; by which
means, in either of these ways not only the city of Cuzco, but even Lima
according to the opinions of several persons, would be left out of the
province of Pizarro. He on the other hand, insisted that the extent of
country granted to him, ought to be measured in a straight line directly
from north to south, without any angles or turnings, or by means of
settling the degrees of latitude at the two extremities, allowing so many
leagues to each degree.
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