Page:Vol 2 History of Mexico by H H Bancroft.djvu/88

68 number of similar letters, unaddressed, were issued to enable Tapia to select useful adherents.

Elated by the possession of these dignities, Tapia hastened on his mission, in one small vessel, and almost unattended, regardless of the warnings imparted by the audiencia of Española, which had declared that the sovereign should be informed of what had happened in New Spain since last advices, before a step was taken that might create an uprising, and injure the royal interests. On arriving at Villa Rica, Tapia exhibited his credentials to Gonzalo de Alvarado, who had replaced Rangel as lieutenant, and demanded recognition. Gonzalo appears to have been somewhat intimidated by the documents, and accorded no little deference to their possessor. He would undoubtedly be obeyed, but it was necessary that he should address himself to Cortés. Tapia sought with promises and threats to draw the officials and settlers on the coast to his side, but, warned by former occurrences, the general had taken the precaution to intrust the guardianship of the coast to loyal persons, and, although a few malcontents appeared, yet bribery failed with the controlling majority. Under these circumstances the commissioner deemed it unsafe to penetrate the interior, whose occupants were still more devoted to his rival, and thus place himself entirely at his mercy. Narvaez, still a prisoner at Villa Rica, appears to have increased his fears by pointing out that if he, a general of repute with a strong army, had been