Читать книгу The War of Quito - Pedro de Cieza de León - Страница 7

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How Francisco de Carbajal arrived at the city of the Kings with a great desire to return to Spain, and how the Viceroy embarked at Panama for Peru.

Francisco de Carbajal, desiring to leave the kingdom, had obtained the consent of the Governor Vaca de Castro and of the municipality of Cuzco, and, with the help they gave him, he set out from that city with all the money he could collect, wishing to return to Spain and obtain some rest. Antonio de Altamirano and Lope de Mendoza and many others would have lost nothing by his departure[7]. But it was already decreed by God, for our very great sins, that this man should become a cruel scourge, as the narrative will presently give you to understand. Leaving the city of Cuzco, Carbajal travelled until he reached the city of the Kings, and dismounted at the house of the Treasurer Antonio Riquelme. The Treasurer feared that he had come to kill him by order of Vaca de Castro, by reason of the enmity between them; so next day, by all the cunning ways he could think of, he sought how to get rid of such a guest. But Francisco Carbajal was very tiresome and, seeing what the Treasurer wanted, he continued to lodge in his house. At the end of some days after his arrival at the city of the Kings, he gave the letters he brought from Vaca de Castro to the members of the municipality, touching his voyage to Spain. The letters represented the advantages the kingdom would derive from his departure, because his Majesty, through him, would be well informed of the affairs of Peru, and of the injury that would be done to the conquerors, if the new laws were enforced in their entirety. Vaca de Castro wrote in the same way, and requested that Carbajal should be empowered to negotiate in Spain, in the interests of Peru. The members of the municipality, having read the letter of Vaca de Castro, and heard what Francis Carbajal had to say, gave an evasive answer. As the Governor, by his letter, announced that he would shortly arrive at the city of the Kings, they told Carbajal that he should wait until Vaca de Castro came, as he would give orders as Governor for the King. They gave this answer at an official meeting in the municipal building. Carbajal thought that he was looked upon by them as an unimportant person to whom they could give a frivolous answer. He came out of the building with a feeling of having been insulted; while those within were laughing, and making a joke of it. For they thought that when Vaca de Castro did come to the city of the Kings the country would already be under the new Viceroy, who would not molest them for not having cared to send Carbajal to Spain[8].

At this time the Viceroy Blasco Nuñez Vela was very anxious to leave Tierra Firme and, embarking on the South Sea, to navigate in haste to the coast of Peru. He desired to establish the court of justice in the city of the Kings with as little delay as possible, considering that it would be easy to enforce the ordinances. He was very angry, and was with difficulty induced to listen, if any one expressed a different opinion.

Leaving the Judges at Panama, and taking with him the royal seal, he embarked at the city of Panama on the 10th of February of the same year, and arrived at the port of Tumbez in nine days. This was the quickest voyage that had ever been made. From Tumbez he wrote his letters to the city of San Francisco del Quito, to Puerto Viejo, and to Guayaquil, to announce his arrival in the kingdom and the duty with which he was charged by order of the Emperor our Lord. He added that his desire was to do good to all, and to administer justice; that for this he had come, and that when he arrived at the city of the Kings he would establish a royal court of justice and chancellory where those would receive justice who sought for it. He concluded with the announcement that, although he sent to tell them this, he also came with certain ordinances for the new government and respecting the treatment of the Indians which might appear heavy and causes for anger. Hitherto justice had been administered as between friends. They murmured at the announcement of the Viceroy, and when the news of his arrival reached them, they were not a little annoyed, so that the Viceroy’s name was abhorred by most, while all, from fear of the new rules, thought of no other thing than to extort as much gold as possible from the Indians and their chiefs.