Pizarro Himself And Almagro, With Two Assistants, Were Appointed Judges, With Full Power To Acquit Or Condemn; An Attorney-General Was Named To Carry On The Prosecution In The King's Name; Counsellors Were Chosen To Assist The Prisoner In His Defence; And Clerks Were Ordained To Record The Proceedings Of Court.

Before this strange tribunal, a charge was exhibited still more amazing.

It consisted of various articles: That Atahualpa, though a bastard, had dispossessed the rightful owner of the throne, and usurped the regal power; that he had put his brother and lawful sovereign to death; that he was an idolater, and had not only permitted, but commanded the offering of human sacrifices; that he had a great number of concubines; that since his imprisonment he had wasted and embezzled the royal treasures, which now belonged of right to the conquerors; that he had incited his subjects to take arms against the Spaniards. On these heads of accusation, some of which are so ludicrous, and others so absurd, that the effrontery of Pizarro, in making them the subject of a serious procedure, is not less surprizing than his injustice, did this strange court go on to try the sovereign of a great empire, over whom it had no jurisdiction. With respect to each of the articles, witnesses were examined; but as they delivered their evidence in their native tongue, Philippillo had it in his power to give their words whatever turn best suited his malevolent intentions. To judges pre-determined in their opinion, this evidence appeared sufficient. They pronounced Atahualpa guilty, and condemned him to be burnt alive. Friar Valverde prostituted the authority of his sacred function to confirm this sentence, and by his signature warranted it to be just. Astonished at his fate, Atahualpa endeavoured to avert it by tears, by promises, and by entreaties that he might be sent to Spain, where a monarch would be the arbiter of his lot. But pity never touched the unfeeling heart of Pizarro. He ordered him to be led instantly to execution; and, what added to the bitterness of his last moments, the same monk who had just ratified his doom, offered to console, and attempted to convert him. The most powerful argument Valverde employed to prevail with him to embrace the Christian faith, was a promise of mitigation in his punishment. The dread of a cruel death extorted from the trembling victim a desire of receiving baptism. The ceremony was performed; and Atahualpa, instead of being burnt alive, was strangled at the stake."

Ruminagui, one of the captains under Atahualpa, who had fled with five thousand men from Caxamarca, as already related, having arrived in the kingdom of Quito, seized the children of Atahualpa, and made himself master of that country as if he had been the lawful sovereign. A short time before his death, Atahualpa had sent his brother Illescas into the kingdom of Quito, with orders to bring his children from thence; but Ruminagui not only refused to deliver them up, but even put them all to death.

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