The Memoirs of the Conquistador Bernal Diaz del Castillo Vol. 2

1/25/22, 8:50 PM The Project Gutenberg eBook of The Memoirs of the Conquistador Bernal Diaz del Castillo written by himself, containing a true an…
expense, and had discovered thecountry himself, although he had had nothing to do with it
either oneway or the other.
Thirdly. It was not until this expedition returned that Velasquezsent out one of his nephews,
named Juan Grijalva, with a small armamentto make further discoveries. Grijalva returned
to Cuba withabove 20,000 pesos' worth of gold, the greater part of which found itsway into
the pocket of the bishop, and not a fraction of it was paidinto the royal treasury.
Fourthly. When Cortes, during the progress of the conquest of New Spain, despatched
Montejo and Puertocarrero, cousin to the earlof Medellin, to Spain, with the sun of gold,
the moon of silver, andthe gold dust, with various kinds of jewels and trinkets as a present
to his majesty, accompanied by despatches from Cortes and all the Conquistadores,
containing a full account of our transactions in thenew world, the bishop refused to give
our agents an audience, andabused them in a most shameful manner, calling them traitors
and theagents of a traitor, and took away from them the present we had destinedfor his
majesty. He suppressed our despatches to the emperor, and sent his majesty an account
which was the very opposite of ours,and had represented matters in such a way as though
everything came from his creature Diego Velasquez. But he did not stop here; for he
retained the greater part of the valuable present himself, and when Puertocarrero begged
permission of the bishop to repair in person to his majesty in Flanders, he cast him into
prison, where he died.
Fifthly. The bishop had forbidden the two chief harbour-masters of Seville to allow any
vessels having on board troops, ammunition, or other matters for Cortes, to leave that
harbour.
Sixthly. The bishop, without authority from his majesty, had wished to give the most
important appointments to men who neitherpossessed the requisite talents nor merited to
fill such offices: for instance, the government of New Spain he had conferred upon
Christobalde Tapia, who could not even have been intrusted with an inferiorcommand, and
whose only claim to that office was his marriage withDoña Petronella de Fonseca, a niece
of the bishop, and a near relativeof Velasquez.
[Pg 197]
And lastly. The bishop lent a favorable ear to all the false statementsof Velasquez's agents,
while he suppressed, distorted, andgarbled the true and faithful accounts which Cortes and
the rest of usdespatched to his majesty.
These and other complaints against the bishop, which were accompanied by undeniable
proofs were properly drawn up by our agents,and with these they repaired to Saragossa,
where his holiness wasstaying, to whom they handed over this document and challenged
thebishop as an unfit person to be judge in these matters.
After his holiness had perused this representation of the case, andhad convinced himself
that there was very little truth with regard to the enormous expenses to which Velasquez
pretended to have puthimself, and that upon the whole he had only had the interest of his
patron and the bishop at heart; but that Cortes, on the other hand,had had the interest of the
emperor in view, his holiness not onlydeclared that the bishop was unfit to preside as judge
in the disputebetween Cortes and Velasquez, but superseded him as president of thecouncil
of the Indies.
His holiness at the same time appointed Cortes governor of NewSpain, and decreed that
Velasquez was to be reimbursed for his expensesin fitting out the armament. His holiness
also sent several papal bulls with a number of indulgences for the hospitallers and the
churches of New Spain, and addressed a separate letter to Cortes, and the whole of us
Conquistadores, in which his holiness admonished us to use our utmost endeavours to
convert the Indians to Christianity;to abolish all human sacrifices and other abominations
from the country, and to gain the friendship of the people: hereby we should merit the
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