*24
[Footnote 24: The specification of the charges against the Inca
is given by Garcilasso de la Vega. (Com. Real., Parte 2, lib. 1,
cap. 37.) One could have wished to find them specified by some of
the actors in the tragedy. But Garcilasso had access to the best
sources of information, and where there was no motive for
falsehood, as in the present instance, his word may probably be
taken. - The fact of a process being formally instituted against
the Indian monarch is explicitly recognized by several
contemporary writers, by Gomara, Oviedo, and Pedro Sancho.
Oviedo characterizes it as "a badly contrived and worse written
document, devised by a factious and unprincipled priest, a clumsy
notary without conscience, and others of the like stamp, who were
all concerned in this villany." (Hist. de las Indias, Ms., Parte
3, lib. 8, cap. 22.) Most authorities agree in the two principal
charges, - the assassination of Huascar, and the conspiracy
against the Spaniards.]
These charges, most of which had reference to national usages, or
to the personal relations of the Inca, over which the Spanish
conquerors had clearly no jurisdiction, are so absurd, that they
might well provoke a smile, did they not excite a deeper feeling.
The last of the charges was the only one of moment in such a
trial; and the weakness of this may be inferred from the care
taken to bolster it up with the others. The mere specification
of the articles must have been sufficient to show that the doom
of the Inca was already sealed.
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