His first
step was to alienate the members of the Audience who were sent to
act in concert with him. But this was their fault as well as
his, since they were as much too lax, as he was too severe, in
the interpretation of the law. *31 He next alienated and outraged
the people whom he was appointed to govern. And, lastly, he
disgusted his own friends, and too often turned them into
enemies; so that, in his final struggle for power and for
existence, he was obliged to rely on the arm of the stranger.
Yet in the catalogue of his qualities we must not pass in silence
over his virtues. There are two to the credit of which he is
undeniably entitled, - a loyalty, which shone the brighter amidst
the general defection around him, and a constancy under
misfortune, which might challenge the respect even of his
enemies. But with the most liberal allowance for his merits, it
can scarcely be doubted that a person more incompetent to the
task assigned him could not have been found in Castile. *32
[Footnote 31: Blasco Nunez characterized the four judges of the
Audience in a manner more concise than complimentary, - a boy, a
madman, a booby, and a dunce! "Decia muchas veces Blasco Nunez,
que le havian dado el Emperador, i su Consejo de Indias vn Moco,
un Loco, un Necio, vn Tonto por Oidores, que asi lo havian hecho
como ellos eran. Moco era Cepeda, i llamaba Loco a Juan Alvarez,
i Necio a Tejada, que no sabia Latin." Gomara, Hist. de las Ind.,
cap.
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