ly to preside
in the royal court of audience. He pretended to be perfectly assured of
this circumstance, by letters from Francisco Maldonado, whom he had sent
to the king, and that the president had even in some measure
acknowledged this in the letter which was brought from him by Paniagua.
He alleged farther, that the captains in his own employment, who had
been sent into the Tierra Firma for the defence of Peru, having revolted
to the president, had now persuaded him to change his tone and to invade
Peru by force of arms; at which procedure his majesty would be assuredly
much displeased, when informed. By these and other arguments of a
similar nature, Gonzalo endeavoured to demonstrate that the president
was highly to blame in detaining those persons whom he, Gonzalo, had
sent to Spain, and that it was justifiable on these grounds to oppose
him by force of arms.

Gonzalo, by the advice of his lieutenant-general and other confidential
officers, took additional measures to justify their conduct, and to
satisfy the soldiers and inhabitants in the goodness of their cause. In
an assembly of all the men learned in the law who were then in Lima,
they arraigned the president as having acted criminally, in taking
possession of the ships belonging to the colony, and by invading the
country in a warlike manner, contrary to the tenor of the commission and
instructions he had received from the king; endeavouring at the same
time to convince the assembly, that it was just and proper to proceed
judicially against the president, and those captains and others who
adhered to him and abetted him in these proceedings, and that they ought
to be proceeded against in a formal manner, by legal process. The
persons composing this assembly of men of learning, dared not to
contradict Gonzalo on this occasion or to oppose his will in any
respect: A process was accordingly instituted in due form, informations
taken and recorded, and judgment pronounced in the following tenor:
"Considering the crimes established by the judicial informations given
against the licentiate De la Gasca and those captains who adhere to him;
they are found guilty and deserving of condemnation; wherefore, the said
licentiate De la Gasca is hereby adjudged to be beheaded, and the
captains Aldana and Hinojosa to be quartered." The other captains and
officers serving under the president, were at the same time condemned to
various punishments, according to the measure of guil