" Historia de Don Pedro Gasca, Obispo de
Siguenza. Ms.]
Such was the state of things in the summer of 1545, when Charles
the Fifth was absent in Germany, occupied with the religious
troubles of the empire. The government was in the hands of his
son, who, under the name of Philip the Second, was soon to sway
the sceptre over the largest portion of his father's dominions,
and who was then holding his court at Valladolid. He called
together a council of prelates, jurists, and military men of
greatest experience, to deliberate on the measures to be pursued
for restoring order in the colonies. All agreed in regarding
Pizarro's movement in the light of an audacious rebellion; and
there were few, at first, who were not willing to employ the
whole strength of government to vindicate the honor of the Crown,
- to quell the insurrection, and bring the authors of it to
punishment. *2
[Footnote 2: Ms. de Caravantes. - Hist. de Don Pedro Gasca, Ms.
One of this council was the great Duke of Alva, of such gloomy
celebrity afterwards in the Netherlands. We may well believe his
voice was for coercion.]
But, however desirable this might appear, a very little
reflection showed that it was not easy to be done, if, indeed, it
were practicable. The great distance of Peru required troops to
be transported not merely across the ocean, but over the broad
extent of the great continent. And how was this to be effected,
when the principal posts, the keys of communication with the
country, were in the hands of the rebels, while their fleet rode
in the Pacific, the mistress of its waters, cutting off all
approach to the coast? Even if a Spanish force could be landed
in Peru, what chance would it have, unaccustomed, as it would be,
to the country and the climate, of coping with the veterans of
Pizarro, trained to war in the Indies and warmly attached to the
person of their commander? The new levies thus sent out might
become themselves infected with the spirit of insurrection, and
cast off their own allegiance.
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