ts, protests and what
not that had ever been made, and if the makers of them could be found,
as most of them could, he summoned them before his tribunal and required
them to testify everything they could to the discredit of Velasquez. A
similar inquisition was conducted into the affairs of all the chief
office-holders and administrators under Velasquez. The result was what
might have been expected, seeing that there was no opportunity for
Velasquez to reply to the charges or to cross-examine the witnesses
against him, or to produce other testimony in rebuttal. The founder of
the Cuban State was charged with the acceptance of gifts, including a
horse and a mule; with having levied and collected taxes without special
authority from the King, though these were admittedly for road-building
and other useful public purposes; with having participated in gambling
games, though Rojas pointed out that his fellow gamblers were among the
foremost members of the community; with having failed to check and
punish blasphemous utterances; with having neglected to pay for some of
the supplies which were taken for his Mexican expeditions; and with
having administered justice without due regard to the letter of the
statute law, which was not strange, seeing that he was not a lawyer. In
his mortuary absence, he was found guilty, by default, and was condemned
to pay heavy fines; which were collected from his heirs.

The dead lion was not, however, without his vengeance upon the jackals
that would defile his sepulchre. The inquisition went too far, and too
dearly disclosed its animus. A vigorous resentment and reaction soon
arose, widespread and formidable; among the municipal councils and among
the people. The kinsmen and friends of Velasquez were numerous, loyal to
his memory, and powerful in influence. Gonzalo de Guzman, who had been
the advocate of Velasquez at court at Madrid, not only against Cortez
but also against Diego Columbus himself, and Nunez de Guzman, the royal
treasurer at Santiago de Cuba, were brothers-in-law of Velasquez; and
Andres Duero, Pedro de Paz, and Diego de Soto were his steadfast
friends. These were all men of wealth and influence. Like Rojas, they
were Cuban colonists, and resented meddling in Cuban affairs by one whom
they considered an outsider. They were, moreover, life members of the
Municipal Council of Santiago, by appointment of the King, and were
therefore independent of the Governor so far as their tenure