Page:Vol 2 History of Mexico by H H Bancroft.djvu/304

284 and when tidings came to Mexico of the reception of Cortés at court and the high favor he enjoyed there, they feared lest he might come back clothed with an authority greater than he had enjoyed previously, and decided upon a measure which seemed to them best calculated to prevent this. They summoned the procuradores of the cities and towns to Mexico, ostensibly to treat of matters of general public importance, but in reality to sign a petition to the emperor that Cortés should not be allowed to return to New Spain. The delegates brought with them the lists of natives called for by the instructions to the audiencia, and demanded that the repartimientos should be allotted as had been ordered. This, however, did not suit the purpose of the triumvirate, and the demand was refused. In this Guzman was guided by Salazar, who suggested that by giving and taking away Indians at its will the audiencia would be more powerful and more feared. In taking away repartimientos — and they now took them from Jorge de Alvarado, Gonzalo Mejía, and others — it was asserted that they were to be reserved for the crown, but they were given to men more pliable than their late holders.

At length, thinking that in this way and by the use of other questionable means the convention had been sufficiently well packed, Guzman broached his design against Cortés. But many of the procuradores were conquerors, and with few exceptions refused to sanction any action prejudicial to their old commander. The wily president saw that he had gone too far, and now proposed, with apparent good faith, that a commission should be sent to Spain to represent the real wants of the colony. The proposition was accepted, but when it came to a choice of