Antonio de Mendoza, Count of Tendilla,
I. Viceroy of New Spain.
1530–1551.

In the year 1530, the accusations received in Spain against Nuño de Guzman, and the oidores Matinezo and Delgadillo, who at that period ruled in Mexico under royal authority, were not only so frequent, but of so terrible a character, that Charles V., resolved to adopt some means of remedying the evils of his transatlantic subjects. He was about to depart from Spain however, for Flanders, and charged the Empress to adopt the necessary measures for this purpose during his absence. This enlightened personage, perceiving the difficulty of ruling so distant, extended and rich an appendage of the Spanish crown, by inferior officials alone, wisely determined to establish a Viceroyalty in New Spain. It was a measure which seemed to place the two worlds in more loyal affinity. The vice king, it was supposed, would be the impersonation of sovereignty, the direct representative of the national head, and would always form an independent and truthful channel of information. His position set him, eminently, above the crowd of adventurers who were tempted to the shores of America; and, removable at the royal pleasure, as well as selected from among those Spanish nobles whose fidelity to the crown was unquestionable, there was but little danger that even the most ambitious subject would ever be tempted to alienate from the Emperor the affection and services either of emigrants or natives.

The Empress, in fulfilling the wishes of her august spouse, at first fixed her eyes upon the Count de Oropesa and on the Marshal de Fromesta, as persons well fitted to undertake the difficult charge of founding the Mexican viceroyalty. But these individuals, upon various pretexts, declined the mission, which was next tendered to Don Manuel Benavides, whose exorbitant demands for money and authority, finally induced the sovereign to withdraw her nomination. Finally, she resolved to despatch Don Antonio de Mendoza, Count of Tendilla, one of her chamberlains, who requested only sufficient time to regulate his private affairs before he joyfully set forth for his viceroyalty of New Spain. In the meantime, however, in order not to lose a moment in remedying the disorders on the other side of the Atlantic, the Empress created a new Audiencia, at the head of which was Don Sebastian Ramirez de Fuenleal, bishop of St. Domingo, and whose members were the Licenciados Vasco de Quiroga, Alonso Maldonado, Francisco Cainos and Juan de Salmeron. The appointment of the bishop was well justified by his subsequent career of integrity, beneficence and wisdom; whilst Vasco de Quiroga has left in Michoacan, and, indeed, in all Mexico, a venerated name, whose renown is not forgotten, in private life and the legends of the country to the present day.

In 1535, Mendoza arrived in Mexico with letters for the Audiencia, and was received with all the pomp and splendor becoming the representative of royalty. His instructions were couched in the most liberal terms, for, after all, it was chiefly on the personal integrity and discretion of a viceroy that the Spanish sovereigns were obliged to rely for the sure foundation of their American empire. Of the desire of the Emperor and Empress to act their parts justly and honestly in the opening of this splendid drama in America there can be no doubt. Their true policy was to develope, not to destroy; and they at once perceived that, in the New World, they no longer dealt with those organized classes of civilized society which, in Europe, yield either instinctively to the feeling of loyalty, or are easily coerced into obedience to the laws.

Mendoza was commanded, in the first place, to direct his attention to the condition of public worship; to the punishment of clergymen who scandalized their calling; to the conversion and good treatment of the Indian population, and to the erection of a mint in which silver should be coined according to laws made upon this subject by Ferdinand and Isabella. All the wealth which was found in Indian tombs or temples was to be sought out and devoted to the royal treasury. It was forbidden, under heavy penalties, to sell arms to negroes or Indians, and the latter were, moreover, denied the privilege of learning to work in those more difficult or elegant branches of labor which might interfere with the sale of Spanish imported productions.

During the following year Mendoza received despatches from the Emperor in which, after bestowing encomiums for the manifestations of good government which the viceroy had already given, he was directed to pay particular attention to the Indians; and, together with these missives, came a summary of the laws which the Council of the Indies had formed for the welfare of the natives. These benevolent intentions, not only of the sovereign but of the Spanish people also, were made known to the Indians and their caciques, upon an occasion of festivity, by a clergyman who was versed in their language, and, in a similar way, they were disseminated throughout the whole viceroyalty. This year was, moreover, memorable in Mexican annals as that in which the first book, entitled La Escala de San Juan Climaca, was published in Mexico, in the establishment of Juan Pablos, having been printed at a press brought to the country by the viceroy Mendoza. Nor was 1536 alone signalized by the first literary issue of the new kingdom; for the first money, as well as the first book came at this time from the Mexican mint. According to Torquemada two hundred thousand dollars were coined in copper; but the emission of a circulating medium, in this base metal, was so distasteful to the Mexicans, that it became necessary for the viceroy to use stringent means in order to compel its reception for the ordinary purposes of trade.

Between the years 1536 and 1540 the history of the Mexican viceroyalty was uneventful, save in the gradual progressive efforts made not only by Mendoza, but by the Emperor himself, in endeavoring to model and consolidate the Spanish empire on our continent. Schools were established; hospitals were erected; the protection of the Indians, under the apostolic labors of Las Casas was honestly fostered, and every effort appears to have been zealously made to give a permanent and domestic character to the population which found its way rapidly into New Spain. In 1541 the copper coin, of which we have already spoken as being distasteful to the Mexicans, suddenly disappeared altogether from circulation, and it was discovered that the natives had either buried or thrown it into the lake as utterly worthless. The viceroy endeavored to remedy the evil and dispel the popular prejudice by coining cuartillas of silver; but these, from their extreme smallness and the constant risk of loss, were equally unacceptable to the people, who either collected large quantities and melted them into bars, or cast them contemptuously into the water as they had before done with the despised copper.

It was not until about the year 1542, that we perceive in the viceroyal history, any attempts upon the part of the Indians to make formidable assaults against the Spaniards, whose oppressive and grinding system of repartimientos was undoubtedly beginning to be felt. At this period the Indians of Jalisco rose in arms, and symptoms of discontent were observed to prevail, also, among the Tarascos and Tlascalans, who even manifested an intention of uniting with the rebellious natives of the north. Mendoza was not an idle spectator of these movements, but resolved to go forth, in person, at the head of his troops to put down the insurgents. Accordingly he called on the Tlascalans, Cholulans, Huexotzinques, Tezcocans, and other bands or tribes for support, and permitted the caciques to use horses and the same arms that were borne by the Spaniards. This concession seems to have greatly pleased the natives of the country, though it was unsatisfactory to some of their foreign masters.

In the meanwhile, the coasts of America on the west, and the shores of California especially, were examined by the Portuguese Juan Rodriguez Cabrillo, as far north as near the 41st° of latitude; whilst another expedition was despatched to the Spice islands, under the charge of Ruy Lopez de Villalobos.

The viceroy was moreover busy with the preparation of his army designed to march upon Jalisco, and, on the 8th of October, 1542, departed from Mexico with a force of fifty thousand Indians, three hundred cavalry, and one hundred and fifty Spanish infantry. Passing through Michoacan, where he was detained for some time, he, at length, reached the scene of the insurrection in Jalisco; but before he attacked the rebels he proclaimed through the ecclesiastics who accompanied him, his earnest wish to accommodate difficulties, and, even, to pardon, graciously, all who would lay down their arms and return to their allegiance. He ordered that no prisoners should be made except of such as were needed to transport the baggage and equipments of his troops; and, in every possible way, he manifested a humane desire to soften the asperities and disasters of the unequal warfare. But the rebellious Indians were unwilling to listen to terms:—"We are lords of all these lands," said they, heroically, in reply, "and we wish to die in their defence!"

Various actions ensued between the Spaniards, their allies, and the insurgents, until at length, Mendoza obtained such decided advantages over his opponents that they gave up the contest, threw down their arms, and enabled the viceroy to return to his capital with the assurance that the revolted territory was entirely and permanently pacified. His conduct to the Indians after his successes was characterized by all the suavity of a noble soul. He took no revenge for this assault upon the Spanish authority, and seems, to have continually endeavored to win the natives to their allegiance by kindness rather than compulsion.

These outbreaks among the Indians were of course not unknown in Spain, where they occasioned no trifling fear for the integrity and ultimate dominion of New Spain. The natural disposition of the Emperor towards the aborigines, was, as we have said, kind and gentle; but he perceived that the causes of these Indian discontents might be attributed not so much, perhaps, to a patriotic desire to recover their violated rights over the country, as to the cruelty they endured at the hands of bold and reckless adventurers who had emigrated to New Spain and converted the inoffensive children of the country into slaves. Accordingly, the Emperor, convened a council composed of eminent persons in Spain, to consider the condition of his American subjects. This council undertook the commission in a proper spirit, and adopted a liberal system towards the aborigines, as well as towards the proprietors of estates in the islands and on the main, which, in time, would have fostered the industry and secured the ultimate prosperity of all classes. There were to be no slaves made in the future wars of these countries; the system of repartimientos was to be abandoned; and the Indians were not, as a class, to be solely devoted to ignoble tasks. [31] The widest publicity was given to these humane intentions in Spain. The Visitador of Hispaniola, or San Domingo, Miguel Diaz de Armendariz, was directed to see their strict fulfilment in the islands; and Francisco Tello de Sandoval was commissioned to cross the Atlantic to Mexico, with full powers and instructions from the Emperor, to enforce their obedience in New Spain.

In February, 1544, this functionary disembarked at St. Juan de Ulua, and, a month afterwards, arrived in the capital. No sooner did he appear in Mexico than the object of his mission became gradually noised about among the proprietors and planters whose wealth depended chiefly upon the preservation of their estates and Indians in the servile condition in which they were before the assemblage of the Emperor's council in Spain during the previous year. Every effort was therefore made by these persons and their sattelites to prevent the execution of the royal will. Appeals were addressed to Sandoval invoking him to remain silent. He was cautioned not to interfere with a state of society upon which the property of the realm depended. The ruin of many families, the general destruction of property, the complete revolution of the American system, were painted in glowing colors, by these men who pretended to regard the just decrees of the Emperor as mere "innovations" upon the established laws of New Spain. But Sandoval was firm, and he was stoutly sustained in his honorable loyalty to his sovereign and christianity, by the countenance of the viceroy Mendoza. Accordingly, the imperial decrees were promulgated throughout New Spain, and resulted in seditious movements among the disaffected proprietors which became so formidable that the peace of the country was seriously endangered. In this dilemma,—feeling, probably, that the great mass of the people was the only bulwark of the government against the Indians, and that it was needful to conciliate so powerful a body,—permission was granted by the authorities, to appoint certain representatives as a commission to lay the cause before the Emperor himself. Accordingly two delegates were despatched to Spain together with the provincials of San Francisco, Santo Domingo and San Agustin, and other Spaniards of wealth and influence in the colony.

In the following year, Sandoval, who had somewhat relaxed his authority, took upon himself the dangerous task of absolutely enforcing the orders of the Emperor with some degree of strictness, notwithstanding the visit of the representatives of the discontented Mexicans to Spain. He displaced several oidores and other officers who disgraced their trusts, and deprived various proprietors of their repartimientos or portions of Indians who had been abused by the cruel exercise of authority. But, in the meantime, the agents had not ceased to labor at the court in Spain. Money, influence, falsehood and intrigue were freely used to sustain the system of masked slavery among the subjugated natives, and, at last, a royal cedula was procured commanding the revocation of the humane decrees and ordering the division of the royal domain among the conquerors. The Indians, of course, followed the fate of the soil; and thus, by chicanery and influence, the gentle efforts of the better portion of Spanish society were rendered entirely nugatory. The news of this decree spread joy among the Mexican landed proprietors. The chains of slavery were rivetted upon the natives. The principle of compulsory labor was established forever; and, even to this day, the Indian of Mexico remains the bondsman he was doomed to become in the sixteenth century.

Between the years 1540 and 1542, an expedition was undertaken for the subjugation of an important nation which it was alleged existed far to the north of Mexico. A Franciscan missionary, Marcos de Naza, reported that he had discovered, north of Sonora, a rich and powerful people inhabiting a realm known as Quivara, or the seven cities, whose capital, Cibola, was quite as civilized as an European city. After the report had reached and been considered in Spain, it was determined to send an armed force to this region in order to explore, and if possible to reduce the Quivarans to the Spanish yoke. Mendoza had designed to entrust this expedition to Pedro de Alvarado, after having refused Cortéz permission to lead the adventurers,—a task which he had demanded as his right. But when all the troops were enlisted, Alvarado had not yet reached Mexico from Guatemala, and, accordingly, the viceroy despatched Vasquez de Coronado, at the head of the enterprise. At the same time he fitted out another expedition, with two ships, under the orders of Francisco Alarcon, who was to make a reconnoisance of the coast as far as the thirty-sixth degree, and, after having frequently visited the shores, he was, in that latitude to meet the forces sent by land.

Coronado set forth from Culiacan, with three hundred and fifty Spaniards and eight hundred Indians, and, after reaching the source of the Gila, passed the mountains to the Rio del Norte. He wintered twice in the region now called New Mexico, explored it thoroughly from north to south, and then, striking off to the north east, crossed the mountains and wandering eastwardly as far north as the fortieth degree of latitude, he unfortunately found neither Quivara nor gold. A few wretched ruins of Indian villages were all the discoveries made by these hardy pioneers, and thus the enchanted kingdom eluded the grasp of Spain forever. The troop of strangers and Indians soon became disorganized and disbanded; nor was Alarcon more successful by sea than Coronado by land. His vessels explored the shores of the Pacific carefully, but they found no wealthy cities to plunder, nor could the sailors hear of any from the Indians with whom they held intercourse.

In 1546, a desolating pestilence swept over the land, destroying, according to some writers, eight hundred thousand Indians, and, according to others, five-sixths of the whole population. It lasted for about six months; and, at this period, a projected insurrection among the black slaves and the Tenochan and Tlaltelolcan Indians, was detected through a negro. This menaced outbreak was soon crushed by Mendoza, who seized and promptly executed the ringleaders.

A portion of the Visitador Sandoval's orders related to the convocation of the Mexican bishops with a view to the spiritual welfare of the natives, and the prelates were accordingly all summoned to the capital, with the exception of the virtuous Las Casas, whose humane efforts in behalf of the Indians, and whose efforts to free them from the slavery of the repartimientos had subjected him to the mortal hatred of the planters. The council of ecclesiastics met; but it is probable that their efforts were quite as ineffectual as the humane decrees of the Emperor, and that even in the church itself, there may have been persons who were willing to tolerate the involuntary servitude of the natives rather than forego the practical and beneficial enjoyment of estates which were beginning to fall into the possession of convents and monastaries on the death of pious penitents.

Meanwhile the population of New Spain increased considerably, especially towards the westward. It was soon perceived by Mendoza that a single Audiencia was no longer sufficient for so extended a country. He, therefore, recommended the appointment of another, in Compostella de la Nueva Gallacia, and in 1547, the Emperor ordered two letrados for the administration of justice in that quarter. The ultimate reduction of the province of Vera-Paz was likewise accomplished at this period. The benignant name of "True Peace" was bestowed on this territory from the fact that the inhabitants yielded gracefully and speedily to the persuasive influence and spiritual conquest of the Dominican monks, and that not a single soldier was needed to teach them the religion of Christ at the point of the sword.

During the two or three following years there was but little to disturb the quietness of the colony, save in brief and easily suppressed outbreaks among the Indians. Royal lands were divided among poor and meritorious Spaniards; property which was found to be valueless in the neighborhood of cities was allowed to be exchanged for mountain tracts, in which the eager adventurers supposed they might discover mineral wealth; and the valuable mines of Tasco, Zultepec, and Temascaltepec, together with others, probably well known to the ancient Mexicans, were once more thrown open and diligently worked.

The wise administration of the Mexican viceroyalty by Mendoza had been often acknowledged by the Emperor. He found in this distinguished person a man qualified by nature to deal with the elements of a new society when they were in their wildest moments of confusion, and before they had become organized into the order and system of a regular state. Mendoza, by nature firm, amiable, and just, seems nevertheless to have been a person who knew when it was necessary in a new country, to bend before the storm of popular opinion in order to avoid the destruction, not only of his own influence, but perhaps of society, civilization and the Spanish authorities themselves. In the midst of all the fiery and unregulated spirit of a colony like Mexico, he sustained the dignity of his office unimpaired, and by command, diplomacy, management, and probably sometimes by intrigue, he appears to have ensured obedience to the laws even when they were distasteful to the masses. He was successful upon all occasions except in the enforcement of the complete emancipation of the Indians; but it may be questioned whether he did not deem it needful, in the infancy of the viceroyalty at least, to subject the Indians to labors which his countrymen were either too few in number or too little acclimated in Mexico to perform successfully. History must at least do him the justice to record the fact that his administration was tempered with mercy, for even the Indians revered him as a man who was their signal protector against wanton inhumanity.

Whilst these events occurred in Mexico, Pizarro had subjugated Peru, and added it to the Spanish crown. But there, as in Mexico, an able man was needed to organize the fragmentary society which was in the utmost disorder after the conquest. No one appeared to the Emperor better fitted for the task than the viceroy whose administration had been so successful in Mexico. Accordingly, in 1550, the viceroyalty of Peru was offered to him, and its acceptance urged by the Emperor at a moment when a revolt against the Spaniards occurred among the Zapotecas, instigated by their old men and chiefs, who, availing themselves of an ancient prophecy relative to the return of Quetzalcoatl, assured the youths and warriors of their tribe that the predicted period had arrived and that, under the protection of their restored deity, their chains would be broken. In this, as in all other endeavors to preserve order, the efforts of Mendoza were successful. He appeased the Indians, accepted the proffered task of governing Peru; and, after meeting and conferring with his successor, Velasco, in Cholula, departed from Mexico for the scene of his new labors on the distant shores of the Pacific.

CHAPTER III.
1551–1564.

Don Luis de Velasco,
II. Viceroy of New Spain.
1551–1564.

The new viceroy, Don Luis de Velasco, arrived in Mexico without especial orders changing the character of the government. He was selected by the Emperor as a person deemed eminently fitted to sustain the judicious policy of his predecessor; and it is probable that he had secret commands from the court to attempt once more the amelioration of the Indian population. There is no doubt that Charles the Fifth was sincere in his wish to protect the natives; and, if he yielded at all,—as we have seen in the narrative of the last viceroyalty,—to the demands of the owners of repartimientos, it was probably with the hope that a better opportunity of sustaining his humane desires would occur as soon as the conquerors or their followers, were glutted by the rich harvests they might reap during the early years of the settlement.

Accordingly, we find, as soon as Velasco had been received in Mexico with all suitable ceremony and honor, that, notwithstanding the continued opposition of the proprietors and planters, he proclaimed his determination to carry out the orders that had been given to Mendoza, so far as they tended to relieve the Indians from the personal labors, tributes, and severe service in the mines with which they had been burdened by the conquerors. This, as was expected, created extraordinary discontent. The cupidity of the sovereign and of his representative were appealed to. It was alleged that not only would the Spanish emigrants suffer for the want of laborers, but that the royal treasury would soon be emptied of the taxes and income which, thus far, had regularly flowed into it. But Don Luis was firm in his resolution, and declared that "the liberty of the Indians was of more importance than all the mines in the world, and that the revenues they yielded to the Spanish crown were not of such a character that all divine and human laws should be sacrificed, in order to obtain them."

In 1553, the attention of the viceroy was specially directed to the subject of education, for the population had so greatly increased in the few years of stable government, that unless the best means of instructing the growing generation were speedily adopted, it was probable that New Spain would lose many of the descendants of those families which it was the policy of the crown to establish permanently in America. The University of Mexico was therefore consecrated and opened in this year; and, in 1555, Paul IV., bestowed upon it the same privileges and rights as were enjoyed by that of Salamanca in Spain.

But this was a sad year for the city of Mexico, in other respects. The first inundation since the conquest, occurred in 1553, and for three days the capital was under water and the communication kept up in boats and canoes. Every effort was made by the viceroy to prevent the recurrence of the evil, by the erection of a dyke to dam up the waters of the lake; and it is related by contemporary historians, that he even wrought with his own hands at the gigantic work, during the first day, in order to show a good example to the citizens who were called on to contribute their personal labor for their future protection from such a disaster.

*****

There were few outbreaks among the Indians during this viceroyalty, yet there were troublesome persons among the original tribes of the Chichimecas,—some bands of whom were not yet entirely subjected to the Spanish government,—who contrived to keep up a guerilla warfare, which interrupted the free circulation of the Spaniards through the plains and mountain passes of the Bajio. These were, in all probability, mere predatory attacks; but as it was impossible for the viceroy to spare sufficient numbers of faithful soldiers for the purpose of scouring the hiding places and fastnesses of these robber bands, he resolved to found a number of villages composed of natives and foreigners, and to place in them, permanently, sufficient numbers of troops to protect the adjacent country roads, and to form the nucleus of towns, which, in the course of time, would grow to importance. Such was the origin, by military colonization, of San Felipe Yztlahuaca, and of San Miguel el Grande, now known as Allende, from the hero of that name to whom it gave birth. It was the constant policy of the Emperor to extend the avenues of industry for his emigrant subjects by such a system of security and protection; and, accordingly, Don Francisco Ibarra, was despatched to the interior with orders to explore the northern and western regions, but, on no account, to use arms against the natives except in case of the utmost urgency. Ibarra traversed a wide and nearly unknown region, discovered rich mines of gold and silver, and colonized many places of considerable importance in the subsequent development of Mexico, and among them, the city of Durango, which is now the capital of the state of that name.

*****

The abdication of Charles V. was unofficially announced in Mexico in 1556; but it was not until the 6th of June of the following year that his successor Philip II. was proclaimed in the capital of New Spain. The policy of the old Emperor was not changed by the accession of the new king; nor does the monarch appear to have influenced in any particular manner the destiny of Mexico during the continuance of Velasco's government, except by the fitting out, at his special command, under the order of his viceroy, of an expedition for the conquest of Florida, which proved disastrous to all concerned in it. Crowds flocked in the year 1558 to the standard raised for this adventure, which it was supposed would result in gratifying the Spanish thirst for gold. In the following year the few who remained of the untoward enterprise, returned with their commanders to Havana and thence to New Spain.

Thus far Velasco's administration had been successful in preserving the peace in Mexico,—in opening the resources of the country in mines, agriculture and pastoral affairs,—and in alleviating the condition of the Indians by gradual restraints on his countrymen. His power was unlimited; but he had, in no instance abused it, or countenanced its abuse in others. Anxious not to rely exclusively upon his own resources, but to take council from the best authorities in cases of difficulty or doubt, he invariably consulted the Audiencia in all emergencies. But, just and loyal as had been his official conduct, it had not saved him from creating enemies; and these, unfortunately, were not only found among the rich oppressors whose shameless conduct he strove to punish, but even among the members of the Audiencia itself. These men combined secretly to undermine the influence of the viceroy, and despatched commissioners to Spain, who represented to the king that the health of his representative was in a failing state, and that it was extremely needful he should be sustained by a council whose duty it was to direct him upon all questions of public interest. The intriguers were successful in their appeal, and a decree soon arrived in New Spain announcing that the viceroy should thenceforth do nothing without the previous sanction of the Audiencia. This order of the king immediately put the power into the hands of individuals whose object was rather to acquire sudden wealth than to govern a new and semi-civilized nation justly, or to enact laws which would develope the resources of the country. The viceroy had been impartial. He held the balance between the Indian laborer and the Spanish extortioner. His office and emoluments placed him, at that period, high above the ordinary temptations of avarice. But the Audiencia, composed of several persons, whose position was far inferior to the viceroy's, was accessible to intrigue and corruption, and the unfortunate Indians soon found to their cost, that the royal limitation on Velasco's power had lost them a friend and staunch supporter. The Audiencia and the viceroy were soon surrounded by parties who advocated their different causes with zeal; but the loyal viceroy did not murmur in the discharge of his duty and faithfully followed the order of the king to submit his judgment to the council. Nevertheless all were not so patient as Velasco. Counter statements were sent, by skilful advocates, to Spain; and Velasco himself required an examination to be made into his official conduct.

Accordingly, Philip II. appointed a certain licenciado Valderrama, as visitador of New Spain, who arrived in 1563, and immediately began the discharge of his functions by a course of exaction, especially from the Indians, which neither the appeals nor the arguments of the viceroy could induce him to abandon. The arrival of this harsh and cruel personage, was, indeed, sad for Mexico, and, in the country's history, he still retains the name of "El Molestador de los Indios."

Fortunately for Velasco an escape from the double tyranny of the Audiencia and of Valderrama was opened to him in an expedition to the Philipine islands which the king had ordered him to colonize. But whilst he was engaged in organizing his forces and preparing for the voyage, his health suddenly gave way, and on the 31st of July, 1564, he expired amid the general grief of all the worthier classes of Mexico, and, especially, of the Indians, whom he had befriended. Death silenced the murmurs of the intriguers. When the beneficent viceroy could no longer interfere with the selfish interests of the multitude, crowds flocked around his bier to honor his harmless remains.

Don Gaston de Peralta, Marques de Falces,
III. Viceroy of New Spain.
1564–1568.

On the death of Don Luis de Velasco the First, the reins of government remained in the hands of the Royal Audiencia, in conformity with the order of Philip II. Francisco de Zeinos, Pedro de Villalobos, and Geronimo de Orozoco were then the oidores; while Valderrama, whose visit occurred during the government of Don Luis de Velasco, as we have already narrated, had departed for Spain. In 1564, the expedition which was planned and prepared under the last viceroy, sailed for the Philipine islands, and founded the celebrated city of Manilla, which has since played so distinguished a part in the history of oriental commerce.

The year 1566 was an important one, at least in the social history of Mexico, for it was fraught with danger to the son and representative of the illustrious conqueror. The Marques del Valle, heir of Hernando Cortéz, had been for sometime established in the capital, where he formed the nucleus of a noble circle, and was admired by all classes for the splendor with which he maintained the honor of his house. His palace was constantly filled with the flower of Mexican aristocracy, and among the knightly train of gallant men, few were more distinguished for gentle bearing and personal accomplishment than Alonso de Avila Alvarado, and his brother Gil Gonzalez. The Marques del Valle, distinguished the former by his special attentions, and this, together with the imprudent conduct or expressions of Alonso, made him suspected by persons who simulated an extraordinary zeal for the Spanish monarchy, whilst, in fact, their chief object was to ingratiate themselves with men of power or influence in order to further their private interests.

On the 30th of June, 1566, the Dean of the Cathedral, Don Juan Chico de Molina, baptized in that sacred edifice, the twin daughters of the Marques del Valle, whose sponsors were Don Lucas de Castilla and Doña Juana de Sosa. The festivities of the gallant Marques upon this occasion of family rejoicing, were, as usual among the rich in Spanish countries, attended with the utmost magnificence; and in order to present our readers a picture of the manners of the period, we shall describe the scene as it is related by those who witnessed it.

It was a day of general rejoicing and festivity in the city of Mexico. From the palace of the Marques to the door of the cathedral, a passage was formed under lofty and splendid canopies composed of the richest stuffs. A salute of artillery announced the entry of the twins into the church, and it was repeated at their departure. At the moment when the rites of religion were completed and the infants were borne back to their home through the covered way, the spectators in the plaza were amused by a chivalric tournament between twelve knights in complete steel. Other rare and costly diversions succeeded in an artificial grove, which the Marques had caused to be erected in the plazuela, or lesser square, intervening between his palace and the cathedral. Nor were these amusements designed alone for persons of his own rank, for the masses of the people were also summoned to partake his bountiful hospitality. At the doors of his princely dwelling tables were sumptuously spread with roasted oxen, all kinds of wild fowl and numberless delicacies, whilst two casks of white and red wine,—then esteemed in Mexico the most luxurious rarities,—were set flowing for the people.

At night, Alonso Gonzalez de Avila, the intimate companion of the Marques, entertained the chief personages of Mexico with a splendid ball, during which there was a performance, or symbolical masque representing the reception of Hernando Cortéz by the Emperor Montezuma. Alonso, splendidly attired, sustained the part of the Mexican sovereign. During one of the evolutions of the spectacle, Avila threw around the neck of the young Marques a collar of intermingled flowers and jewels, similar to the one with which his father had been adorned by Montezuma; and, at the conclusion of the scene, he placed on the heads of the Marques and his wife a coronet of laurel, with the exclamation,—"How well these crowns befit your noble brows!"

These simple diversions of a family festival were, doubtless, altogether innocent, and, certainly, not designed to prefigure an intention upon the part of the Marques and his friends to usurp the government of the New World. But it is probable that he had unwisely made enemies of men in power who were either ridiculously suspicious, or eagerly sought for any pretext, no matter how silly, to lay violent hands upon the son of Cortéz. It is probable, too, that the prestige,—the moral power,—of the great conqueror's name had not yet ceased to operate in Mexico; and, in those days when individuals were not dainty in ridding themselves of dangerous intruders, it is not unlikely that it was the policy of the Audiencia and its coadjutors to drive the gallant Marques from scenes, which, in the course of time, might tempt his ambition. The extreme popularity of such a man was not to be tolerated.

However, the domestic festival, symbolical as it was deemed by some of a desire to foreshadow the destiny of the son of Cortéz, was allowed to pass over. The oidores and their spies, meditating in secret over the crowning of Cortéz and his wife by Avila, and the remarkable words by which the graceful act was accompanied, resolved to embrace the first opportunity to detect what they declared was a conspiracy to wrest the dominion of New Spain from Philip II.

When men are anxious to commit a crime, a pretext or an occasion is not generally long wanting to accomplish the wicked design. Accordingly we find that on the 13th of August, the anniversary of the capture of the capital, the alleged conspiracy, was to break out. A national procession, in honor of the day, was to pass along the street of San Francisco and to return through that which now bears the name of Tacuba. Certain armed bands, convened under the pretext of military display, were to be stationed in the way, while, from a small turret in which he had concealed himself, Don Martin Cortéz, the son of the conqueror by the Indian girl Mariana, was to sally forth, and seize the royal standard, and being immediately joined by the armed bands, was, forthwith, to proclaim the Marques del Valle king of Mexico and to slay the oidores as well as all who should offer the least resistance.

Such was the story which the authorities had heard or feigned to have heard through their trusty spies. Nearly a month before the dreaded day, however, the Audiencia assembled, and requested the presence of the Marques del Valle, under the pretext that despatches had been received from the king of Spain, which, by his special order, were only to be opened in presence of the son of Cortéz. The Marques, who imagined no evil, immediately responded to the call of the oidores, and the moment he entered the hall the doors were guarded by armed men. Cortéz was ordered to seat himself on a common stool, while one of the functionaries announced to him that he was a prisoner, in the name of the king. "For what?" eagerly demanded the Marques. "As a traitor to his Majesty!" was the foul reply. "You lie!" exclaimed Cortéz, springing from his seat, and grasping the hilt of his dagger;—"I am no traitor to my king,—nor are there traitors among any of my lineage!"

The natural excitement of the loyal nobleman subsided after a moment's reflection. He had been entrapped into the hands of the Audiencia, and finding himself completely, though unjustly, in their power, he at once resolved to offer no childish opposition, when resistance would be so utterly useless. With the manly dignity of a chivalrous Spaniard, he immediately yielded up his weapons and was taken prisoner to the apartments that had been prepared for him. His half brother, Don Martin, was also apprehended, and orders were sent to the city of Tezcoco for the seizure of Don Luis Cortéz who resided there as justice or governor. In Mexico, Alonso Avila Alvarado, and his brother Gil Gonzalez, with many other distinguished men were incarcerated, and the papers of all the prisoners were, of course, seized and eagerly scrutinized by the sattelites who hoped to find in them a confirmation of the imaginary conspiracy.

Among the documents of Alonso de Avila a large number of love letters were found; but neither in his papers nor in those of his brother, or of the many victims of these foul suspicions, who languished in prison, did they discover a single line to justify their arrest. Nevertheless, Don Alonso and his brother Don Gil Gonzalez, were singled out as victims and doomed to death. The authorities dared not, probably, strike at a person so illustrious and so popular as the Marques del Valle; but they resolved to justify, in the public eye, their inquisitorial investigation, by the sacrifice of some one. The public would believe that there was in reality a crime when the scaffold reeked with blood; and, besides, the blow would fall heaviest on the family of Cortéz when it struck the cherished companions of his home and heart.

On the 7th of August, at seven in the evening, Alonso and Gil Gonzalez were led forth to the place of execution in front of the Casa de Cabildo. Their heads were struck off and stuck on spears on the roof of the edifice; whence they were finally taken, at the earnest remonstrance of the Ayuntamiento, and buried with the bodies of the victims in the church of San Agustin. Every effort had been made to save the lives of these truly innocent young men. But although the principal persons in the viceroyalty, united in the appeal for mercy if not for justice, the inexorable oidores carried out their remorseless and bloody decree. It is even asserted that these cruel men would not have hesitated to inflict capital punishment upon the Marques himself had not the new viceroy, Don Gaston de Peralta, Marques de Falces, arrived at San Juan de Ulua, on the 17th of September, 1566.

As soon as this personage reached Mexico he began to enquire into the outrage. He was quickly satisfied that the whole proceeding was founded in malice. The oidores were removed, and others being placed in their posts, the viceroy despatched a missive to the court of Spain containing his views and comments upon the conduct of the late officials. But the document was sent by a man who was secretly a warm friend of the brutal oidores, and, to save them from the condign punishment they deserved, he withheld it from the king.

Yet these functionaries, still fearing that their crime would be finally punished, not only treacherously intercepted the despatch of the viceroy, but also took the speediest opportunity to send to the king accusations against Don Gaston himself, in which they charged him with negligence in his examination of the conspiracy, with treasonable alliance with the Marques del Valle, and with a design to usurp the government of New Spain. They founded their allegations upon the false oaths of several deponents, who alleged that the viceroy had already prepared and held at his orders thirty thousand armed men. This base imposture, as ridiculous as it was false, originated in an act of Peralta which was altogether innocent. Being a man of fine taste, and determining that the viceroyal residence should be worthy the abode of his sovereign's representative, he caused the palace to be refitted, and, among the adornments of the various saloons, he ordered a large painting to be placed on the walls of one of the chambers in which a battle was represented containing an immense number of combatants. This was the army which the witnesses, upon their oaths, represented to the king, as having been raised and commanded by the viceroy! It can scarcely be supposed possible that the Audiencia of Mexico would have resorted to such flimsy means to cover their infamy. It seems incredible that such mingled cruelty and childishness could ever have proceeded from men who were deputed to govern the greatest colony of Spain. Yet such is the unquestionable fact, and it indicates, at once, the character of the age and of the men who managed, through the intrigues of court, to crawl to eminence and power which they only used to gratify vindictive selfishness or to glut their inordinate avarice.

Philip the II. could not, at first, believe the accusations of the oidores against the family of Cortéz and the distinguished nobleman whom he had sent to represent him in Mexico. He resolved, therefore, to wait the despatches of the viceroy. But the oidores had been too watchful to allow those documents to reach the court of Spain; and Philip, therefore, construing the silence of Don Gaston de Peralta, into a tacit confession of his guilt, sent the Licenciados Jaraba, Muñoz, and Carillo to New Spain, as Jueces Pesquisidores, with letters for the viceroy commanding him to yield up the government and to return to Spain in order to account for his conduct.

These men immediately departed on their mission and arrived safely in America without accident, save in the death of Jaraba one of their colleagues. As soon as they reached Mexico, they presented their despatches to the viceroy, and Muñoz took possession of the government of New Spain. The worthy and noble Marques de Falces was naturally stunned by so unprecedented and unexpected a proceeding; but, satisfied of the justice of his cause as well as of the purity of his conduct, he left the capital and retired to the castle of San Juan de Ulua, leaving the reins of power in the hands of Muñoz whose tyrannical conduct soon destroyed all the confidence which hitherto had always existed, at least between the Audiencia and the people of the metropolis. [32] It was probably before this time that the Marques del Valle was released;—and deeming the new empire which his father had given to Spain no safe resting place for his descendants, he departed once more for the Spanish court. The viceroy himself had fallen a victim to deception and intrigue.

*****

It seems to have been one of the weaknesses of Philip the Second's character to have but little confidence in men. With such examples as we have just seen, it may, nevertheless, have been an evidence of his wisdom that he did not rely upon the courtiers who usually surround a king. He had doubted, in reality, the actual guilt of the Marques de Falces, and was, therefore, not surprised when he learned the truth upon these weighty matters in the year 1568. The government of Muñoz, his visitador, was, moreover, represented to him as cruel and bloody. The conduct of the previous Audiencia had been humane when compared with the acting governor's. The prisons, which already existed in Mexico were not adequate to contain his victims, and he built others whose dark, damp and narrow architecture rendered incarceration doubly painful to the sufferers. Don Martin Cortéz, the half brother of the Marques del Valle, who remained in the metropolis as the attorney and representative of his kinsman, was seized and put to torture for no crime save that the blood of the conqueror flowed in his veins, and that he had enjoyed friendly relations with the suspected conspirators. Torture, it was imagined would wring from him a confession which might justify the oidores. The situation of New Spain could not, indeed, be worse than it was, for no man felt safe in the midst of such unrestrained power and relentless cruelty; and we may be permitted to believe that outraged humanity would soon have risen to vindicate itself against such brutes and to wrest the fruits of the conquest from a government that sent forth such wicked sattelites. Even the Audiencia itself,—the moving cause of this new and bad government,—began to tremble when it experienced the humiliating contempt with which it was invariably treated by the monster Muñoz.

But all these acts of maladministration were more safely reported to the Spanish court by the nobles and oidores of Mexico, than the despatches of the unfortunate Marques de Falces. Philip eagerly responded to the demand for the removal of Muñoz. He despatched the oidores Villanueva and Vasco de Puga, to Mexico, with orders to Muñoz to give up the government in three hours after he received the royal despatch, and to return immediately to Spain for judgment of his conduct. The envoys lost no time in reaching their destination, where they found that Muñoz had retired to the convent of Santo Domingo, probably as a sanctuary, in order to pass Holy Week. But the impatient emissaries, responding to the joyful impatience of the people, immediately followed him to his retreat, and, after waiting a considerable time in the anti-chamber, and being, at last, most haughtily received by Muñoz, who scarcely saluted them with a nod, Villanueva drew from his breast the royal cedula, and commanded his secretary to read it in a loud voice.

For a while the foiled visitador sat silent, moody and thoughtful, scarcely believing the reality of what he heard. After a pause, in which all parties preserved silence, he rose and declared his willingness to yield to the king's command; and thus, this brutal chief, who but a few hours before believed himself a sovereign in Mexico, was indebted to the charity of some citizens for a carriage in which he travelled to Vera Cruz. Here a fleet was waiting to transport him to Spain. The late viceroy, the Marques de Falces, departed in a ship of the same squadron, and, upon his arrival at the court, soon found means to justify himself entirely in the eyes of his sovereign. But it went harder with Muñoz. He vainly tried his skill at exculpation with the king. Philip seems to have despised him too much to enter into discussion upon the merits of the accusations. The facts were too flagrant. The king returned him his sword, declining to hear any argument in his justification. "I sent you to the Indies to govern, not to destroy!" said Philip, as he departed from his presence; and that very night the visitador suddenly expired!

Whether he died of mortification or violence, is one of those state secrets, which, like many others of a similar character, the chronicles of Spain do not reveal!

Don Martin Cortéz and his family took refuge in Spain where his case was fully examined; and whilst the investigation lasted, from 1567 to 1574, his estates in Mexico were confiscated. He was finally declared innocent of all the charges, but his valuable property had been seriously injured and wasted by the officers of the crown, to whom it was intrusted during the long period of sequestration.