We
have a letter from him, dated at Tumbez, in November, 1541;
almost immediately after which he fell into the hands of the
Indians, and with his companions was massacred at Puna. A
violent death not unfrequently closed the stormy career of the
American adventurer. Valverde was a Dominican friar, and, like
Father Olmedo in the suite of Cortes, had been by his commander's
side throughout the whole of his expedition. But he did not
always, like the good Olmedo, use his influence to stay the
uplifted hand of the warrior. At least, this was not the mild
aspect in which he presented himself at the terrible massacre of
Caxamalca. Yet some contemporary accounts represent him, after
he had been installed in his episcopal office, as unwearied in
his labors to convert the natives, and to ameliorate their
condition; and his own correspondence with the government, after
that period, shows great solicitude for these praiseworthy
objects. Trained in the severest school of monastic discipline,
which too often closes the heart against the common charities of
life, he could not, like the benevolent Las Casas, rise so far
above its fanatical tenets as to regard the heathen as his
brother, while in the state of infidelity; and, in the true
spirit of that school, he doubtless conceived that the sanctity
of the end justified the means, however revolting in themselves.
Yet the same man, who thus freely shed the blood of the poor
native to secure the triumph of his faith, would doubtless have
as freely poured out his own in its defence.
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