Page:Letters of Cortes to Emperor Charles V - Vol 2.djvu/389



and Cuba, where he stopped for some time. The inhabitants of these islands, who were for the most part enemies of Cortes and envious of the high position he had obtained, took advantage of Nuño de Guzman's stay there to prejudice the latter against him. Guzman warmly espoused the side of Velasquez, influenced by his kinsman, Gonzalo de Guzman, who is now governor of Cuba, and had been a long time in his service.

As soon as he took possession of his government, he began to show his ill-will by writing a most insolent letter to Cortes, while to the factor, Salazar, who was then in prison, he wrote another filled with proofs of friendship towards him. He kept up a constant correspondence with Salazar and even went to the length of considering as his own personal enemies, all those who maintained that Cortes, far from being a traitor, had rendered very great services to your Majesty. Some of these people he caused to be whipped, and he smashed the teeth of others with a stick, though they were guilty of no other crimes. He even dared to seize some persons on Mexican territory, whom he hanged. He infringed on the jurisdiction of Cortes, taking possession of a number of villages which were held in encomienda by inhabitants of Mexico; he inflicted tortures and vexations on the caciques, and established garrisons among them to force them to acknowledge his authority. So irritated were the inhabitants of Mexico by Guzman's conduct that one of the greatest proofs of respect and obedience they could have given Your Majesty was to refrain from taking arms and marching against him. Before leaving for Spain, Cortes exhausted every effort to tranquillise Estrada and Sandoval, who were both very much irritated. They consequently confined themselves to notifying Guzman that he need write them no more such letters as they would neither receive nor read them. Guzman had become the chief of Velasquez's partisans, and the foremost enemy of Cortes both because of the impressions he had already received before he landed in Mexico and also in consequence of the influence which the factor, Salazar, exercised upon him after his arrival. He hoped, with the latter's aid, to [sic]suceed in expelling Cortes from his government, and to obtain possession of it himself, for it is the demon of ambition and avarice that has been the cause of all the crimes which have ravaged this unhappy country.

The remainder of the letter deals with the conduct of Nunez de Guzman, Delgadillo, and others during the absence of Cortes in Spain.