Not that they distrusted the purity of
his motives, for these were above suspicion. But the powers for
which he stipulated were so far beyond those hitherto delegated
to a colonial viceroy, that they felt they had no warrant to
grant them. They even shrank from soliciting them from the
emperor, and required that Gasca himself should address the
monarch, and state precisely the grounds on which demands so
extraordinary were founded.
Gasca readily adopted the suggestion, and wrote in the most full
and explicit manner to his sovereign, who had then transferred
his residence to Flanders. But Charles was not so tenacious, or,
at least, so jealous, of authority, as his ministers. He had
been too long in possession of it to feel that jealousy; and,
indeed, many years were not to elapse, before, oppressed by its
weight, he was to resign it altogether into the hands of his son.
His sagacious mind, moreover, readily comprehended the
difficulties of Gasca's position. He felt that the present
extraordinary crisis was to be met only by extraordinary
measures. He assented to the force of his vassal's arguments,
and, on the sixteenth of February, 1546, wrote him another letter
expressive of his approbation, and intimated his willingness to
grant him powers as absolute as those he had requested.
Gasca was to be styled President of the Royal Audience. But,
under this simple title, he was placed at the head of every
department in the colony, civil, military, and judicial.
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