Thus thwarted in every public and private measure, Cortés felt bitterly the humiliations to which he was subjected. Accustomed to command so long without restriction, his position became distasteful. His great achievements merited, he thought, a higher appreciation than that which made of him but a mere figurehead of power; and with wounded heart, and in disgust at his empty title of captain-general, he begged the king, since his ability was held in so poor esteem, to appoint a more competent person to take his place.[1]
But after all the misery was not wholly on one side. Cortés was to the audiencia as a thorn in the flesh. His friends were numerous, and their ranks were reenforced by discontented encomenderos who saw their interests attacked by the audiencia, which endeavored to suppress repartimientos. In July 1532 President Fuenleal suggested the recall of Cortés to Spain, with four or five others who were causing trouble.[2]
Meantime Cortés had left the city and retired in disgust to Cuernavaca, where he had caused a palace to be built on the outskirts of the town. Here he
- ↑ His letter is dated April 20, 1532, and he remarks: 'Porque pues hasta aquí no he errado, no querria errar de aquí adelante: yo, como un vecino, seguiré lo que ine mandaren.' Escritos Sueltos, 193. On the 20th of March preceding, the queen issued the following somewhat indefinite instructions to the andiencia regarding the duties of the captain-general: 'El Marques ha de vsar el oficio de capitan general en la nueva España en las cosas, q͏̄ por nos especialméte le fueren mandadas, o alla por vosotros en nuestro nombre se le mandaren, y no en otra cosa, mirareys bien siempre lo que les encomendays y mandays, porque se escusen diferencias, teniendo siempre respecto a la persona del marques.' Puga, Cedulario, 79.
- ↑ Pacheco and Cárdenas, Col. Doc., xiii. 226. This advice was again given by the audiencia in November following. Ternaux-Compans, Voy., série ii. tom. v. 208-9. Herrera is alone with respect to the relations between Cortés and Fuenleal. He describes them as amicable, and asserts that the president continually consulted Cortés. dec. iv. lib. ix. cap. xiv.
his instructions and reduced to slavery some prisoners captured in the Impilcingo campaign, the marquis was reprimanded for not having given sufficiently definite orders to his lieutenant, and the officer was arrested. Quiroga, in Pacheco and Cárdenas, Col. Doc., xiii. 424-6. The king in March 1532 instructs the audiencia not to proceed against either the captain, Vasco Porcallo, or the marquis in this matter. Puga, Cedulario, 79. Nor could Cortés obtain any redress from the audiencia when Captain Luis de Castilla, whom he had sent with an expedition to colonize part of the country previously pacified, was seized by Guzman and kept prisoner till his followers disbanded. Escritos, Sueltos, 192-3.
