Sidebilder
PDF
ePub

Ferdinand, Juan, and Gonzalez, of whom the first alone was legitimate and a gentleman of education, attached themselves to his fortune and followed him.

When Pizarro arrived at Panama, he found Almagro highly incensed at the treacherous way in which his interests had been dealt with in the late negotiation: for while Luque had obtained the dignity of bishop, as originally agreed on between the associates, the command of a fortress was all that was allowed to him, and the rank of lieutenant-governor, for which he had stipulated, was withheld by his jealous colleague. Pizarro, however, had art enough to appease the natural irritation of a rough soldier, the levity of whose temper was as transiently affected by the sentiments of self-interest as by those of justice. The confederation was renewed, and preparations were made for the enterprise, the issue of which was no longer looked upon as doubtful.

But although the invasion of Peru had now received the sanction of royal authority, and was no longer the furtive project of a few obscure individuals, it was found difficult to collect persons willing to engage in what appeared an extremely hazardous undertaking. The armament fitted out for the conquest of a populous empire consisted of three small vessels, with one hundred and eighty soldiers, of whom thirty-six were horsemen. With this force Pizarro set sail in February, 1531, leaving Almagro behind to collect reinforcements. After a prosperous voyage of thirteen days he landed in the bay of St. Matthew, and immediately commenced his march southwards. On reaching the province of Coaque, the Spaniards surprised a Peruvian town, in which they found such a quantity of gold and silver as effectually removed all doubts, and seemed to justify the most sanguine expectations. Pizarro saw the advantages to be derived from this auspicious commencement. He immediately sent large remittances to Panama and to Nicaragua, in order to entice new followers by the display of his rapid success; and soon after was joined by detachments from the latter place, under the command of Sebastian Benal

eazar and Hernando de Soto, both officers of great reputation.

As he imitated the policy of Cortez in the conquest of Mexico, he advanced directly towards the heart of the Peruvian empire; at the same time amusing the inca, or sovereign of the country, with the pretence that he came as the ambassador of a powerful monarch, and not with any hostile intentions. Atahualpa, the reigning inca, lulled into security by these professions, sent presents to Pizarro as evidences of his friendship, and allowed him to pursue his march unmolested to Caxamalca, where the court at that time resided. On his arrival at this place, Pizarro posted his troops in a court, in which some public buildings and ramparts of earth secured him from any sudden attack; and here he awaited the coming of Atahualpa, who had announced his intention of visiting the Spaniards the next day.

As soon as the sun rose, the Peruvian camp was all in motion. Atahualpa wished to dazzle the strangers by an imposing display of pomp and magnificence. Pizarro, on the other hand, keeping in his eye the success of Cortez and the fate of Montezuma, resolved to decide at once the destiny of Peru, by seizing the person of its monarch. A great part of the day was consumed by Atahualpa in preparations to heighten the splendour of his appearance. At length the procession was seen approaching by the Spaniards, when their patience was nearly exhausted by delay. Four harbingers, clothed in uniform, marched in front, to clear the way before the inca. Next came the prince himself, borne on a throne, and covered with plumes of feathers and ornaments of gold and silver. Some of his chief courtiers followed in similar state. Bands of singers and dancers hovered round the royal train; while troops, amounting, it is said, to thirty thousand men, accompanied the pageant.

The Spaniards, drawn up in order of battle, awaited in silence the approach of the Peruvian procession. When the inca was near enough to be addressed, father Valverde, the chaplain to the expedition, stepped for

ward and delivered a speech, in which the most mysterious doctrines of religion were mixed with the most unwarrantable assumptions of political powers, and in which he exhorted the Peruvian monarch to embrace the Christian faith, and to acknowledge himself the vassal of the king of Spain. This harangue, of which all that was not unintelligible was highly offensive, drew from the inca, who appears not to have apprehended any danger from the handful of Spaniards whom he saw before him, a firm and contemptuous reply. The signal of attack was immediately given. Pizarro, with a chosen band, rushed forward to seize the inca; and, notwithstanding the zeal with which the Peruvians sought to defend the person of their monarch, the unfortunate Atahualpa was carried off a prisoner. An immense booty was found on the field; and this single stroke of fortune seemed at once to justify the hopes of the most ardent imaginations.

Some historians, in order to explain the facility with which the Spaniards made the conquest of Peru, are careful to explain the dissensions which at that time existed in the royal family, and which unquestionably distracted the force of the empire. But so great was the superiority in the field of the Spaniards above the simple natives of America, and so little did they scruple to employ the vilest arts of treachery and deceit, that the Peruvian empire, while it tempted them by its wealth, could hardly, under the most fortunate circumstances, have offered them any effectual resistance. How needless, and even impertinent, are explanations founded on the disordered state of Peru at the time of its invasion, will be evident to those who reflect that the Spaniards, though not above one hundred and sixty in number, and with only three musquets, marched direct into the heart of the empire; seized the inca by a mixture of violence and fraud; routed an army of thirty thousand Peruvians, and slew four thousand of them, without the loss of a single man on their own side. Proceedings of this nature do not belong to ordinary revolutions, and cannot be associated with subtle calculations.

The captive inca endeavoured to regain his liberty, by addressing his arguments to the predominant passion of the Spaniards—the love of gold. The apartment in which he was confined was twenty-two feet long and sixteen wide: this he engaged to fill with gold as high as he could reach with his hand, and Pizarro joyfully accepted the offer; though nothing was farther from his mind than to perform his part of the agreement, and, having received the ransom, to release his prisoner. The Spaniards watched impatiently the accumulation of the stipulated treasure; and at length, unable to contain themselves in the sight of so much wealth, they resolved to divide it before the whole quantity agreed on was collected. It was found to amount to a sum, which, taking into consideration the change in the value of the precious metals, would exceed three millions sterling. The share of each horseman was equivalent to about eight thousand pounds of our present money; that of the foot soldier was one fifth less. Many of Pizarro's followers, finding themselves now suddenly enriched beyond their most sanguine expectations, resolved to risk themselves no longer in the lottery of adventure, and solicited their dismissal. He readily allowed them to depart; convinced, that when they published their good fortune, crowds would throng to join his standard.

When Atahualpa had exhausted his resources, and proved no longer a convenient instrument to collect the treasures of his kingdom, the Spaniards began to talk of taking away his life. The conquerors of Mexico and Peru were, in views and sentiments, not superior to banditti, and knew no principle but that of acquiring the greatest possible booty. Their general rudeness and ignorance are evinced in the farcical display which they sometimes made of the forms of justice. Atahualpa was solemnly tried on a series of ridiculous charges; and, being found guilty, was condemned to be burned alive; but his sentence was mitigated on his allowing himself to be baptized, and he was strangled at the stake. Pizarro found little difficulty in suppressing the rebellions

which broke out after the death of the Peruvian prince. He founded, in an advantageous situation, the city of Los Reyes, since known by the name of Lima, corrupted from Rimac, the name of the valley in which it stands. The court of Spain, astonished at the immense quantity of treasure which he remitted as the royal portion of the spoils, rewarded the successful conqueror with a grant of seventy leagues of coast in addition to what had already been assigned him, and bestowed on him the title of marquess.

Almagro, who from interested motives had warmly urged the execution of the inca, now made preparations for the conquest of Chili, where a tract extending a hundred leagues along the coast had been granted him by the crown of Spain. In marching southwards to invade that country, the Spaniards endured severities of climate surpassing any thing they had hitherto experienced. In the rugged and elevated regions by which they penetrated into Chili, the cold was so intense that several men and horses were frozen to death; and five months afterwards, when the army was returning to Peru, they were found in the same positions and in the same state as when they had been first overpowered by the cold. Almagro found the inhabitants of Chili to be a strong and courageous race, who, though unable to withstand the Spaniards, were not to be speedily subdued. They were clad in the skins of seals and seawolves, and showed great address in the use of the bow and arrow. The Spaniards were at a loss what measures to adopt in order to secure themselves in their conquest, when unexpected events recalled Almagro to Peru.

The possession of Cuzco, the capital of the incas, had been long a subject of dispute between him and Pizarro ; but the latter, with his usual dexterity, had contrived to over-reach his colleague, and persuaded him to remain satisfied at first with the conquest of Chili. When the roval patents arrived, however, Almagro became convinced that the city of Cuzco lay within his territory. Intelligence at the same time reached him that the Pe

« ForrigeFortsett »