Ch. I. Cortes adverse to bishops. B. XII. This is the passage which, I imagine, has led some ingenious persons to believe that Cortes was inclined to the Protestant doctrines. To my mind, it is to be explained by his great desire for conversion, in which he wisely foresaw the religious Orders would be most useful. Perhaps, also, his dislike to Bishop Fonseca may be traced in this general outbreak against bishops. Arrival of the Francis cans. 1524. It must have been with great satisfaction, that Cortes in this year (1524) had to welcome the arrival of Martin de Valencia* and his Franciscan brethren. As there were many things connected with the Church in the New World which required disponer de los bienes de la 392. *Martin de Valencia was endowed with inquisitorial powers in New Spain, and this was the first entrance of the Inquisition into Mexico.-" Quando el año de 1524, passo á Mexico el Padre fr. Martin de Valencia, con sus Religiosos de San Francisco, aun no era muerto el Padre fr. Pedro de Córdova, y assí por la autoridad de Inquisidor que tenia, le hizo comissario en toda la Nueva-España, con licencia de castigar delinquentes en ciertos casos, reservando para si el Inquisidor el conocimiento de algunos mas graves.' ANTONIO DE REMESAL, Historia de la Provincia de San Vincente de Chiapa y Guatemala, lib. 2, cap. 3. Madrid, 1619. An account in detail of the immigration of the religious Orders into New Spain, will be given in the history of Guatemala, settlement, a synod was immediately held. It B. XII. consisted of five clérigos, nineteen religiosos, six Ch. 1. letrados, and Cortes himself.* At this synod the difficult question of polygamy was discussed; and it was arranged that the Indian husband might choose as his legal wife the one he liked best.† Few conquerors or statesmen can have transacted more important affairs than we see that Cortes had to deal with in the three years and two months that had now elapsed since the Conquest of Mexico. "Y para que en todo se procediesse conforme á lo dispuesto por la Santa Madre Iglesia. Fray Martin de Valencia, como Legado del Santíssimo Papa, juntó un Synodo, que fué el primero que se celebró en el Nuevo Mundo, y en él se hallaron, 5 Clérigos, 19 Religiosos, 6 Letrados, y con ellos D. Fernando Cortes."-GIL GONZALEZ DAVILA, Teatro Eclesiástico, tom. I, p. 20. "Declararon, que por entonces casasen con la que quisiesen, pues no se sabian los ritos de sus Matrimonios." GOMARA, Crónica de la Nueva- "Ultimamente habiendose CHAPTER II. Ch. 2. CHRISTOVAL DE OLID SENT BY CORTES TO HONDURAS TLACUBA RETURN OF CORTES TO MEXICO-PONCE DE LEON THE B. XII. THE next great transaction of Cortes is one which led to the most disastrous consequences, and is not, as it appears to me, marked by his accustomed sagacity. Even the shrewdest men, however, are liable to singular errors of judgment, from the temptation to continue to do something similar to that which they have once done well. In the management of an expedition through a hostile or dubious country, Cortes was transcendent. But a sagacity of another kind was more in demand now; and for some years he would have served his country better as a statesman than as a soldier. de Olid Honduras, Soon after the settlement of the affairs of Christoval Panuco, Cortes had despatched Christoval de Olid, sent to one of those captains who had distinguished themselves in the siege, to make a settlement in Honduras. This expedition started on the 11th of January, 1524. Christoval de Olid proved unfaithful to his trust, and gave undeniable Jan. 1524. Journey of Cortes to Honduras. 31 Ch. 2. signs of setting up an independent government B. XII. for himself. Cortes was particularly indignant at the conduct of Olid; and his rage, shown by the swelling of the veins in his throat and the dilating of his nostrils, must have been closely watched and reported to the Council of the Indies at home, for we find that Peter Martyr was well aware of it.* Cortes despatched an armament commanded by his cousin, Francisco de las Casas, to reduce Olid to obedience; and afterwards sent, to support Las Casas, a vessel laden with arms and provisions, under a certain Pedro Gonzalez, a native of Truxillo, and, therefore, a fellow-townsman of Cortes. Having, however, received no good tidings from Cortes these captains, the General resolved to go himself, to go to and bring Olid to a sense of his duty. The journey was a most perilous one. The settlement which Olid had made was not less than fifteen hundred miles from Mexico, and the King's officers (who had arrived at Mexico in the year 1524) naturally remonstrated with Cortes upon his undertaking such an expedition. It is probable that their remonstrance did not meet the considerations which induced Cortes to undertake this expedition. Almost any other man in the world, if employed as Cortes had been since the conquest of Mexico, would have supposed, and justly, that he had been leading a very active and energetic life. But resolved Honduras. 32 Journey of Cortes to Honduras. B. XII. Cortes felt that for some time he had been idle, Ch. 2. and had done no new thing; and it now appeared Cortes provides for the government of Mexico during his absence. to him that he "must engage in something." Accordingly he determined to persevere in his expedition,† and made his preparations for quitting Mexico in the following manner. He appointed the Treasurer, Alonso de Estrada (a natural son of Ferdinand the Catholic), and the Contador Albornoz as his Lieutenants in the government. He named as Alcalde Mayor the Licentiate Zuazo, the same man who had been sent by Cardinal Ximenes to accompany the Jeronimites, and who had been a great friend of Las Casas. He left Rodrigo de Paz, a cousin of his, Olid, the expedition would have another object, and that it was originally intended as much for further discovery and conquest as for chastising a disobedient lieutenant. *"Dada órden para en lo de Cristoval Dolid como á V. M. escribí, porque me pareció que ya habia mucho tiempo que mi persona estaba ociosa y no hacia cosa de nuevo de que V. M. se sirviese á causa de la lesion de GOMARA, indeed, says that mi brazo, aunque no muy libre Cortes got free from the requiside ella, me pareció que debia de tions of the King's officers by entender en algo."- Relacion promising to go to Coatzacualco hecha al EMPERADOR CARLOS V. only, and other provinces in that por HERNAN CORTÉS sobre la neighbourhood which were in expedicion de Honduras. De revolt.-"Ellos entonces le reTemixtitan (Méjico) á 3 de quirieron de parte del EmpeSetiembre, de 1526. Docu- rador, que no fuese; í él promentos Inéditos, tom. 4, p. 10. metió, que no iria sino á Coaça A letter to the Emperor coalco, í otras Provincias por allí from Cortes about the Olid rebeladas; í con tanto, se eximió affair is lost. I conjecture, de los ruegos, í requirimientos, í from some slight indications, aprestó su partida, aunque con that the letter in question in- mucho seso."-GOMARA, Crónica formed his Majesty that the de la Nueva-España, cap. 163 present expedition was not ne- (2). BARCIA, Historiadores, cessarily to proceed to Honduras, tom. 2. but that if Cortes received favourable intelligence about 515. See ante, vol. I, book 8, p. |