Page:Letters of Cortes to Emperor Charles V - Vol 1.djvu/70

50 of California, all cost him immense sums, plunged him into debt, and merely served to pave the way for later undertakings, so that he might with reason have exclaimed with Columbus, "I have opened the door for others to enter." During this time he was surrounded by enemies hidden and declared, who sent complaints of him to Spain by every ship; he was accused of murdering his wife Catalina Xuarez who had died within a few months after her arrival in Mexico where, though possibly unwelcome, she was received with due honours; he was accused of defrauding the royal treasury, as well as his companions in arms, and of taking an undue share of the spoils for himself; and finally he was accused of planning to throw off his allegiance to Spain, and set up an independent government with himself as king. These ceaseless intrigues against him finally decided the Emperor to send a high commissioner (juez de residencia) to investigate, not only all charges against the Captain-General, but also to report upon the general condition of affairs in New Spain. This was the means usually employed in such cases and did not necessarily constitute any indignity to Cortes, to whom the Emperor took occasion to write, notifying him of his decision, and assuring him that it was in no sense prompted by suspicions of his loyalty or honesty, but rather to furnish him with the opportunity of silencing his calumniators once for all by proving his innocence. Don Luis Ponce de Leon, a young man of high character and unusual attainments, was charged with this delicate mission, and his appointment was universally applauded as an admirable one.

He was received upon his arrival in Mexico by Cortes and all the authorities with every distinction due to him, but his untimely death of a fever within a few weeks after his arrival defeated the good results expected from his labours, and also furnished Cortes's enemies with another accusation — that of poisoning the royal commissioner.