hat country would undoubtedly have been lost
again to the Spanish crown. We were compelled to clear up all these
circumstances to his majesty, as we feared the bishop of Burgos had not
only omitted to lay before his majesty our previous despatches, but had
also misrepresented things to him, in order to favour his friends
Velasquez and Tapia, to the latter of whom he had promised the hand of
his niece Dona Petronella de Fonseca. Tapia had certainly produced
papers relative to his appointment, of the genuineness of which there
could really be no doubt, and we had indeed perused them with deep
veneration, and we would immediately have obeyed the instructions they
contained if we had considered Tapia a proper person to fill the
important office of governor; but as he was neither a soldier nor a man
of sufficient mind and determination of character, nor possessed of
talents requisite for a viceroy, we found ourselves necessitated to
inform his majesty of the whole state of affairs, which was the real
object of this present humble address of his majesty's faithful and
obedient servants. We then prayed his majesty to decide in these
matters, and particularly requested that he would not allow the bishop
of Burgos in any way to interfere in matters which concerned Cortes and
ourselves, as otherwise all further conquests we contemplated in New
Spain would be interrupted; nor should we even be able to maintain peace
in the provinces that were subdued. As a proof of the bishop's enmity
towards us, we mentioned that he had forbidden the two harbour masters
of Seville, Pedro de Isasaga and Juan Lopez de Recalte, to allow any
arms or soldiers which were destined for Cortes or our army in general,
to leave that place. We then gave his majesty an account of the recent
campaign of Panuco, how the inhabitants had been obliged to sue for
peace, and had declared themselves vassals of his majesty; what terrible
battles they had fought with Cortes, and how they had killed all the
officers and soldiers which Garay had sent thither from time to time.
This campaign, we went on to say, cost Cortes above 60,000 pesos, which
he had paid out of his own private purse, the reimbursement of which he
had in vain solicited from the royal treasurers; that Garay was fitting
out a new armament in Jamaica destined for the province of Panuco, but
it was advisable that his majesty should issue orders for him to
postpone that expedition until we should have compl