- Defeat
And Death Of The Viceroy. - Gonzalo Pizarro Lord Of Peru.
1544-1546.
The first act of Gonzalo Pizarro was to cause those persons to be
apprehended who had taken the most active part against him in the
late troubles. Several he condemned to death; but afterwards
commuted the sentence, and contented himself with driving them
into banishment and confiscating their estates. *1 His next
concern was to establish his authority on a firm basis. He
filled the municipal government of Lima with his own partisans.
He sent his lieutenants to take charge of the principal cities.
He caused galleys to be built at Arequipa to secure the command
of the seas; and brought his forces into the best possible
condition, to prepare for future emergencies.
[Footnote 1: Pedro Pizarro, Descub. y Conq., Ms.
The honest soldier, who tells us this, was more true to his king
than to his kindred. At least, he did not attach himself to
Gonzalo's party, and was among those who barely escaped hanging
on this occasion. He seems to have had little respect for his
namesake.]
The Royal Audience existed only in name; for its powers were
speedily absorbed by the new ruler, who desired to place the
government on the same footing as under the marquess, his brother
Indeed, the Audience necessarily fell to pieces, from the
position of its several members. Alvarez had been sent with the
viceroy to Castile. Cepeda, the most aspiring of the court, now
that he had failed in his own schemes of ambition, was content to
become a tool in the hands of the military chief who had
displaced him.
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