*3
[Footnote 3: "Ventilose la forma del remedio de tan grave caso en
que huvo dos opiniones; la una de imbiar un gran soldado con
fuerza de gente a la demostracion de este castigo; la otra que se
llevase el negocio por prudentes y suaves medios, por la
imposibilidad y falto de dinero para llevar gente, cavallos,
armas, municiones y vastimentos, y para sustentarlos en tierra
firme y pasarlos al Piru." Ms. de Caravantes.]
Nothing remained, therefore, but to try conciliatory measures.
The government, however mortifying to its pride, must retrace its
steps. A free grace must be extended to those who submitted, and
such persuasive arguments should be used, and such politic
concessions made, as would convince the refractory colonists that
it was their interest, as well as their duty, to return to their
allegiance.
But to approach the people in their present state of excitement,
and to make those concessions without too far compromising the
dignity and permanent authority of the Crown, was a delicate
matter, for the success of which they must rely wholly on the
character of the agent. After much deliberation, a competent
person, as it was thought, was found in an ecclesiastic, by the
name of Pedro de la Gasca, - a name which, brighter by contrast
with the gloomy times in which it first appeared, still shines
with undiminished splendor after the lapse of ages.
Pedro de la Gasca was born, probably, towards the close of the
fifteenth century, in a small village in Castile, named Barco de
Avila.
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