Page:Vol 2 History of Mexico by H H Bancroft.djvu/401

Rh them under circumstances which required the greatest prudence, good judgment, and courage.

It is refreshing to be able to speak well of one of Spain's rulers in America. Mendoza made every effort to carry out the instructions he had received. The duties of his position had been rendered somewhat less difficult of performance by the previous exertions of the second audiencia in the work of reform; nevertheless it was no easy matter to rule with satisfactory results a community divided into factions, whose opposing interests were asserted with jealous claims of merit and equal expectations of support. The number of provinces, and the varied condition of the native tribes in different parts, rendered it impossible to apply the same rules in all cases. Regulations which were beneficial and necessary in some districts were inapplicable in others; hence discontent and charges of capriciousness against the viceroy. Moreover, each ruler of a province and each encomendero wished the government to adopt his own particular views, and the advice offered to Mendoza was so multifarious that he found it the best plan quietly to listen to all without dissenting, and then do as he thought best, as contradiction on his part led to interminable wrangling. The adjustment of existing jealousies between the conquerors proper and the new settlers was a difficult task, but much more so was the enforcement of the new laws relative to the treatment of the natives; and though he was