ces: for instance, the
government of New Spain he had conferred upon Christobal de Tapia, who
could not even have been intrusted with an inferior command, and whose
only claim to that office was his marriage with Dona Petronella de
Fonseca, a niece of the bishop, and a near relative of Velasquez.

And lastly. The bishop lent a favorable ear to all the false statements
of Velasquez's agents, while he suppressed, distorted, and garbled the
true and faithful accounts which Cortes and the rest of us despatched 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 was staying, to whom they
handed over this document and challenged the bishop as an unfit person
to be judge in these matters.

After his holiness had perused this representation of the case, and had
convinced himself that there was very little truth with regard to the
enormous expenses to which Velasquez pretended to have put himself, 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 only declared that the
bishop was unfit to preside as judge in the dispute between Cortes and
Velasquez, but superseded him as president of the council of the Indies.

His holiness at the same time appointed Cortes governor of New Spain,
and decreed that Velasquez was to be reimbursed for his expenses in
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 highest rewards
from his majesty, and his holiness, as the pastor of our souls, would
supplicate the Almighty in prayer to send a blessing on our endeavours
in the service of Christianity. This letter was likewise accompanied by
other bulls, by which absolution was granted us for all the sins we had
committed during the conquest.

After this very favorable decision of his holiness, both as supreme
pontiff and governor of Spa