Degradation - 5
"I had agreed with those settlers that they should pay the third of the gold, and the tenths,
and this at their own request; and they received it as a great favour from their Highnesses.
I reproved them when I heard that they ceased to do this, and hoped that the Commander
would do likewise, and he did the contrary.
"He incensed them against me by saying that I wanted to deprive them of what their
Highnesses had given them; and he endeavoured to set them at variance with me, and did
so; and he induced them to write to their Highnesses that they should never again send
me back to the government, and I likewise make the same supplication to them for myself
and for my whole family, as long as there are not different inhabitants. And he together
with them ordered inquisitions concerning me for wickednesses the like whereof were
never known in hell. Our Lord, who rescued Daniel and the three children, is present with
the same wisdom and power as He had then, and with the same means, if it should please
Him and be in accordance with His will.
"I should know how to remedy all this, and the rest of what has been said and has taken
place since I have been in the Indies, if my disposition would allow me to seek my own
advantage, and if it seemed honourable to me to do so, but the maintenance of justice and
the extension of the dominion of her Highness has hitherto kept me down. Now that so
much gold is found, a dispute arises as to which brings more profit, whether to go about
robbing or to go to the mines. A hundred castellanos are as easily obtained for a woman
as for a farm, and it is very general, and there are plenty of dealers who go about looking
for girls: those from nine to ten are now in demand, and for all ages a good price must be
paid.
"I assert that the violence of the calumny of turbulent persons has injured me more than
my services have profited me; which is a bad example for the present and for the future. I
take my oath that a number of men have gone to the Indies who did not deserve water in
the sight of God and of the world; and now they are returning thither, and leave is granted
them.
"I assert that when I declared that the Commander could not grant immunities, I did what
he desired, although I told him that it was to cause delay until their Highnesses should,
receive information from the country, and should command anew what might be for their
service.
"He excited their enmity against me, and he seems, from what took place and from his
behaviour, to have come as my enemy and as a very vehement one; or else the report is
true that he has spent much to obtain this employment. I do not know more about it than
what I hear. I never heard of an inquisitor gathering rebels together and accepting them,
and others devoid of credit and unworthy of it, as witnesses against their Governor.
"If their Highnesses were to make a general inquisition there, I assure you that they
would look upon it as a great wonder that the island does not founder.
"I think your Ladyship will remember that when, after losing my sails, I was driven into
Lisbon by a tempest, I was falsely accused of having gone there to the King in order to
give him the Indies. Their Highnesses afterwards learned the contrary, and that it was
entirely malicious.
"Although I may know but little, I do not think any one considers me so stupid as not to
know that even if the Indies were mine I could not uphold myself without the help of
some Prince.
"If this be so, where could I find better support and security than in the King and Queen,
our Lords, who have raised me from nothing to such great honour, and are the most
exalted Princes of the world on sea and on land, and who consider that I have rendered
them service, and who preserve to me my privileges and rewards: and if any one infringes
them, their Highnesses increase them still more, as was seen in the case of John Aguado;
and they order great honour to be conferred upon me, and, as I have already said, their
Highnesses have received service from me, and keep my sons in their household; all
which could by no means happen with another prince, for where there is no affection,
everything else fails.
"I have now spoken thus in reply to a malicious slander, but against my will, as it is a
thing which should not recur to memory even in dreams; for the Commander Bobadilla
maliciously seeks in this way to set his own conduct and actions in a brighter light; but I
shall easily show him that his small knowledge and great cowardice, together with his
inordinate cupidity, have caused him to fail therein.
"I have already said that I wrote to him and to the friars, and immediately set out, as I told
him, almost alone, because all the people were with the Adelantado, and likewise in order
to prevent suspicion on his part. When he heard this, he seized Don Diego and sent him
on board a caravel loaded with irons, and did the same to me upon my arrival, and
afterwards to the Adelantado when he came; nor did I speak to him any more, nor to this
day has he allowed any one to speak to me; and I take my oath that I cannot understand
why I am made a prisoner.
"He made it his first business to seize the gold, which he did without measuring or
weighing it and in my absence; he said that he wanted it to pay the people, and according
to what I hear he assigned the chief part to himself and sent fresh exchangers for the
exchanges. Of this gold I had put aside certain specimens, very big lumps, like the eggs
of geese, hens, and pullets, and of many other shapes, which some persons had collected
in a short space of time, in order that their Highnesses might be gladdened, and might
comprehend the business upon seeing a quantity of large stones full of gold. This
collection was the first to be given away, with malicious intent, so that their Highnesses
should not hold the matter in any account until he has feathered his nest, which he is in
great haste to do. Gold which is for melting diminishes at the fire: some chains which
would weigh about twenty marks have never been seen again.
"I have been more distressed about this matter of the gold than even about the pearls,
because I have not brought it to her Highness.
"The Commander at once set to work upon anything which he thought would injure me. I
have already said that with six hundred thousand I could pay every one without
defrauding anybody, and that I had more than four millions of tenths and constabulary
[dues] without touching the gold. He made some free gifts which are ridiculous, though I
believe that he began by assigning the chief part to himself. Their Highnesses will find it
out when they order an account to be obtained from him, especially if I should be present
thereat. He does nothing but reiterate that a large sum is owing, and it is what I have said,
and even less. I have been much distressed that there should be sent concerning me an
inquisitor who is aware that if the inquisition which he returns is very grave he will
remain in possession of the government.
"Would that it had pleased our Lord that their Highnesses had sent him or some one else
two years ago, for I know that I should now be free from scandal and infamy, and that my
honour would not be taken from me, nor should I lose it. God is just, and will make
known the why and the wherefore.
"They judge me over there as they would a governor who had gone to Sicily, or to a city
or town placed under regular government, and where the laws can be observed in their
entirety without fear of ruining everything; and I am greatly injured thereby.
"I ought to be judged as a captain who went from Spain to the Indies to conquer a
numerous and warlike people, whose customs and religion are very contrary to ours; who
live in rocks and mountains, without fixed settlements, and not like ourselves: and where,
by the Divine Will, I have placed under the dominion of the King and Queen, our
Sovereigns, a second world, through which Spain, which was reckoned a poor country,
has become the richest.
"I ought to be judged as a captain who for such a long time up to this day has borne arms
without laying them aside for an hour, and by gentlemen adventurers and by custom, and
not by letters, unless they were from Greeks or Romans or others of modern times of
whom there are so many and such noble examples in Spain; or otherwise I receive great
injury, because in the Indies there is neither town nor settlement.
"The gate to the gold and pearls is now open, and plenty of everything—precious stones,
spices and a thousand other things—may be surely expected, and never could a worse
misfortune befall me: for by the name of our Lord the first voyage would yield them just
as much as would the traffic of Arabia Felix as far as Mecca, as I wrote to their
Highnesses by Antonio de Tomes in my reply respecting the repartition of the sea and
land with the Portuguese; and afterwards it would equal that of Calicut, as I told them and
put in writing at the monastery of the Mejorada.
