Page:Vol 2 History of Mexico by H H Bancroft.djvu/305

Rh commissioners and the partisans of the audiencia put in nomination Antonio de Carvajal and Bernardino Vazquez de Tapia, declared enemies of Cortés, the veterans, whose trust in him had come to be part of their being, refused to take further part in the proceedings. For this refusal, the sturdy delegates, to the number of one hundred, were banished from the city, and the candidates were elected. They were well furnished with gold wherewith to buy favor at court, and instructed to say that, had not Estrada thwarted it, Cortés would have succeeded in his treasonable design, that he went to Spain only because of this discovery, and that the well-being of the colony demanded that he should not return. The privilege of a vote was to be asked for on the part of Guzman, and in order to ward off the blow which the audiencia knew would come, the bishops were to be accused of meddling in secular matters under pretence of protecting the Indians, while against the friars it was to be alleged that a blind deference to Cortés, if unreproved, would bring ruin on New Spain. At this time Pedro de Alvarado arrived from Spain, and busied himself in drawing up a representation in favor of Cortés, which was signed by all who had refused Guzman's request, besides others whom he had cajoled or forced into the support of his plan. Alvarado was on this occasion a stanch supporter of his old commander. Foiled in their endeavor to warp the popular will, the partisans of the audiencia redoubled their efforts to defame Cortés. Later, Salazar ata social gathering made a remark derogatory to the emperor as well as calumniatory of the captain-general. The circumstance came to the knowledge of Alvarado, who appeared before the audiencia