That When Cortes Sent Home A Large Contribution In Gold To His
Majesty, The Bishop Had Suppressed Our Letters, Substituting
Others, and
ascribed the present to Velasquez, retaining half of the treasure to his
own use; and, when Puertocarrera applied
To him for permission to wait
upon his majesty, the bishop had thrown him into prison, where he died.
That the bishop had forbidden the officers of the _Casa de contratation_
of Seville to give any assistance to Cortes, by which the public service
had suffered manifest injury. That he had appointed very unfit persons to
the military command in New Spain, as was particularly the case with
regard to Christoval de Tapia, to whom he had given a commission as
governor of New Spain, in order to bring about a marriage between his
niece and Tapia. That he had given authenticity to the false accounts
transmitted by the agents of Velasquez, suppressing the true relations
which came from Cortes. There were many other charges against the bishop
which he could not gainsay, as they were all substantiated by good
evidence.
All these things being made clear to his holiness, he was pleased to order,
that the bishop should have no longer any authority in regard to the
affairs of New Spain, of which the government should be conferred on
Cortes, and that Velasquez should be remunerated for all the expences he
had incurred on account of the expedition, which he could duly
substantiate. His holiness sent also to New Spain, a great number of
indulgences for the hospitals and churches, and recommended to Cortes and
the other conquerors to pay unremitting attention to the conversion of the
Indians, and was pleased to send us his holy bulls of absolution. His
majesty graciously confirmed all these orders of the pope, ordering
Velasquez to be deprived of the government of Cuba, on account of having
sent the expedition under Narvaez, in defiance of peremptory orders to the
contrary from the royal audience of St Domingo, and the Jeronymite
brethren. The bishop was so much affected by his disgrace on this occasion,
that he fell dangerously ill.
About this time, Panfilo de Narvaez and Christoval de Tapia arrived in
Spain, together with the pilot Umbria and Cardenas, who by the instigation
of the bishop of Burgos, preferred many severe accusations against Cortes
to his majesty, in which they were gladly joined by the agents of
Velasquez. They alleged, that Velasquez had fitted out three several
expeditions for New Spain at vast expence, the last of which he had
confided to Cortes, who broke his engagements and converted the armament
to his own advantage. That when Velasquez sent Narvaez as governor of New
Spain, with his majesties commission, Cortes made war upon him, defeated
him and made him a prisoner. That when the bishop of Burgos sent Tapia to
take the command of New Spain in the name of his majesty, Cortes refused
obedience, and compelled him to re-embark. They also accused Cortes of
having embezzled a great quantity of gold which he had obtained for his
majesty; of taking a fifth of all the plunder to his own use; of having
tortured Guatimotzin; of defrauding the soldiers of their shares; of
making the natives of Mexico construct for his use magnificent palaces and
castles as large as villages; of having poisoned Francisco de Garay, in
order to get possession of his ships and troops, and many other charges of
a similar nature.
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