Page:Vol 2 History of Mexico by H H Bancroft.djvu/481

Rh neglected and despised, he passed the remaining six years of his life.

The record of Nuño de Guzman is before the reader, who will see in him an able, scheming, and unscrupulous lawyer; a fearless soldier and a skilful though unpopular leader; an unfeeling, tyrannical ruler; a grasping miser; and a hypocritical adherent of royalty and Christianity. True, as certain writers claim in his behalf, his faults were those of his time; but in his character these faults are shown by the chroniclers at their worst, unrelieved by a single one of the generous impulses or noble traits which, notwithstanding their deeds of blood, have given lasting fame and respect to the memory of many of the conquerors. Few of the old chroniclers have anything good to say of him. He had great opportunities, and abused them all. Had he found a Mexico or a Peru in the northwest, his name would not have been so utterly forgotten; his sovereign would not have so abhorred him, and his historians might perhaps have found some one redeeming quality in his character. But he would have been remembered as a Pizarro, not as a Cortés.

As soon as Torre had concluded so much of the residencia of Guzman as pertained to his administration in the capital, and provided for the safe custody of his prisoner, he proceeded to Pánuco, as before mentioned, there to continue his investigations. Having completed his labors in that province he removed with his family in 1537 to Guadalajara.