Page:The English Historical Review Volume 36.djvu/80

 1921 EARLY HISTORY OF JAMAICA (1SU-1536) 73 entire confidence in the treasurer, Miguel de Pasamonte. Accord- ing to Las Casas, his contemporaries murmured that the treasurer made profit out of this confidence. Certainly it was through Pasamonte that Velazquez, by sending samples of gold from Cuba, gained as much reputation at court as Juan de Esquivel lost by sending none from Jamaica. Charges of negligence and misconduct were entered against him ; x apparently he was accused of finding gold and failing to report it, 2 but it is possible that his downfall was due less to these things, even if he was guilty of them all, than to a failure to establish confidential relations with the treasurer, who, with the approval of the Crown, 3 was harassing the admiral by discrediting or removing those whom he had appointed to official positions. It was the admiral's right to appoint or to dismiss Esquivel, but Pasamonte indicated 4 a way to get rid of him, nevertheless, by the appoint- ment of a ' juez de residencia ' and the issuing of an order to Colon to select a competent person to succeed him. The Crown readily fell in with this plan. The appointment of the ' juez de residencia ' was left to the royal officials of Hispaniola, that is, to Pasamonte. 5 Matters doubtless went hard with the conqueror of Jamaica in the years 1513 and 15 14, 6 and before the end of 1515 he died. 7 His downfall was a minor consequence of the king's policy of curtailing Colon's authority, for the execution of which Pasamonte was his instrument in the Indies. 8 On 9 January 1514 the Crown entered into an agreement for six years (' asiento ', also called a ' concierto de compafiia ', which seems to have amounted to a partnership) with Francisco de Garay, evidently for the settlement and economic development of Jamaica, with the special end of supplying the continent. 9 The king, however, repented of the terms of this agreement, upon receiving a statement from the royal officials of Hispaniola showing the Crown's possessions in Jamaica, and the profits therefrom accruing, to be more than he had supposed them to be. He contemplated modifying the terms, but in 1519, at the expira- tion of the period of the agreement, he extended it for three years. 10 Garay was delayed on his journey, but he arrived in 1 Nos. v, viii, ix, below. 2 No. v, below. 3 No. vi, below. 4 Ibid. 5 Nos. viii, ix, below. 6 No documents have yet been found to show the findings in Esquivel's ' residencia ', the taking of which seems to have constituted a precedent, nor have any yet been seen showing when, how, and by whom he was succeeded, if he was superseded before his death. 7 Possibly earlier. He left a widow, Leonor de Guevara, by whom he had daughters (Arch, de Ind. 41, 6, 1/24, fo. 57 v ; 139, 1, 5, iv, fo. 167 T ). 8 Nos. viii, ix, x, xi, below. 9 Nos. xiii, xiv, xvii, below, and Arch, de Ind. 139, 1, 5, v, fo. 125' ; 54, 3, 28, Macuelo and the Crown, 10 December 1536. 10 No. xvi, below, and Arch, de Ind. 139, 1, 5, viii, fo. 125.