Page:Letters of Cortes to Emperor Charles V - Vol 1.djvu/48

28 to take him alive or dead, and bring him back to the vengeance of Diego Velasquez, were won over to his standard, and fought under his leadership until Mexico fell, while their rightful commander lay a prisoner at Vera Cruz. Tapia was stripped of his goods and bundled ignominiously back to Cuba with their price in his pockets, and Cortes's delusive arguments in his ears, and, when Francisco de Garay's mission arrived by a fortuitous coincidence, simultaneously with the long delayed royal commission which recognised Cortes as Captain-General of the New Spain, his men also enthusiastically deserted in a body to Cortes, leaving Garay to humble himself before the man he had come to supplant, and to remain as his guest until death suddenly brought his career to an end.

Nothing more disastrous for Spain or for Mexico could be imagined than the success of any one of these ignorant and incompetent men. The mission of Cristobal de Tapia and its inglorious failure illustrate the deplorable conflict of authorities which rendered the Spanish colonial administration of that time almost farcical. The confusion and uncertainty prevailing in the direction of colonial affairs left many loopholes of escape for all who wished to disregard unpalatable orders. The President of the Royal Council for the Indies, who was in reality the highest authority, might order one thing, but the Jeronymite Fathers, who were supported by the audiencia in Hispaniola, and who exercised vague but supreme power in the Islands, would oppose or suspend the execution of his commands. There was also the Viceroy with his immense pretensions to be considered, and the Governors of Cuba and Jamaica, who were jealous of any trespass on their prerogatives, while over all there was the Sovereign, from whom cedulas or decrees could be obtained granting jurisdiction which contradicted the exercise of authority already established, or annulled all other