to his services. When summoned before the emperor, he observed that the sovereign could not have been properly informed of the extent and resources of the country he had gained for the crown, or of the immense efforts for its conquest. "Cortés, what I have given is not in final payment of your services," was the politic reply. "I shall deal with you as the archer at practice, whose aim gradually improves till he hits the mark. Receive therefore what I have given, as an earnest, until, with a better understanding of how matters are yonder, I shall be able to conform more entirely to your merits."[1] Cortés could not but kiss the royal hand and accept, though he was by no means satisfied. Indeed, when the partial concession of a habit of Santiago was tendered, he declined it on the ground that no adequate rental or encomienda accompanied the title to support it.[2]
Among his most cherished desires was the reinstallation as governor, both as a solace for his injured pride, and for the power it conferred to grant offices, encomiendas, and other favors to adherents. The latter was sufficient inducement both for patrons and friends to support the application with powerful arguments and repeated instances. But the counterargument of opponents proved stronger, upheld as they were by reports from New Spain, where his enemies now held sway. Neither did the emperor desire a repetition of the troubles which promised to arise from such an appointment, nor, perhaps, to hold out the temptation it offered to an ambitious subject not wholly satisfied with the reward granted for his services. The suspicions concerning Cortes'
- ↑ Cortés, Memorial, in Col. Doc. Inéd., iv. 224-5. A substantial increase in favors never came, and for years afterward we find him clamoring about the neglect, and the reduction in his grauts owing to ambiguous documents.
- ↑ Yet his name remained on the register of the order. Torres, Hist. Órdenas Mil., 103. The honor was hardly worth his while, as a marquis. His two natural sons Martin and Luis received it. Most writers, including Prescott, consider the reward as a whole gratifying, but his biographer Pizarro y Orellana hesitates not to write, 'Todas parecieron pequeñas, considerando los servicios, lealtad, y hazañas deste gran Caudillo' — an expression which appears to echo a wide-spread sentiment. Varones Ilvst., 120.
