of vast rent-rolls, and the appropriation of immense treasures belonging partly to the king, partly to members of the expedition; also the causes for the death of Garay and Olid.[1] The three months of residencia passed, Ponce should send in his report and opinion. If Cortés proved disloyal he should be given a letter of recall from the king, who therein expressed a wish to consult him. If this was disregarded he should be forcibly embarked. In case the charges proved to be false, on the other hand, he should be given the commission of adelantado, with the title of Don,[2] and further honors would follow, according to the royal letter addressed to Cortés.[3]
Whether the charges against Cortés were false or not, the management and demeanor of the royal officials should be investigated.[4] A report should be prepared on the condition, features, and resources of the country, particularly the mines, with suggestions for needed measures and reforms. Alloyed gold was for-
- ↑ Disregard for God and king; preparing native warriors and war material for setting aside royal authority; autocratic measures; claiming for himself 40 provinces, extending over an area of 300 leagues, with over a million and a half of vassals, and 200 rent-rolls, of which one alone yielded 50,000 castellanos per day; the appropriation of Montezuma's treasures and 4,000,000 of money from the country, and shipping them to safe places with the vessels built on the South Sea; the exaction of a fifth of all treasures for himself; withholding the royal revenue; seizing the royal treasures saved during the escape from Mexico, while pretending that they had been lost; taking 60,000 castellanos from the treasury under shallow pretences. The alleged appropriation by Gil Gonzalez of 130,000 pesos de oro from Córdoba's party in Honduras must also be investigated.
- ↑ Ponce must have been favorably impressed with Cortés' loyalty from the day of meeting him, for in the official act of surrendering the governorship the latter is already styled Don. Pacheco and Cárdenas, Col. Doc., xxvi., 223-4. The king also addresses him as Don in cédulas of 1526. Navarrete, Col. de Viages, v. 440. Herrera states that a commission of captain-general was also to be given, dec. iii. lib. viii. cap. xv., but this he already enjoyed. According to the arrangement with Ribera in the spring of 1525, the office of adelantado conveyed also the title of Don. Nothing is said about the habit of Santiago, then conferred.
- ↑ 1n this, or an accompanying letter, the king refers to the charges that Cortés had appropriated the best and greater number of provinces and pueblos for himself, leaving only a small part for the crown. His services deserved reward, but this must not exceed a just moderation. He asked him to excuse the seizure of his remittances to Spain; it was merely a loan. <A governor had been appointed over Honduras, so that he must send no agents there. Col. Doc. Inéd., i. 101-2.
- ↑ By cédula of Nov. 9, 1526, they were directed to send in a yearly statement of the royal rental. Puga, Cedulario, 20.
