The influence of this precedent in so important a person as
Aldana, aided, doubtless, by the conviction that no change was
now to be expected in Pizarro, while delay would be fatal to
himself, at length prevailed over Hinojosa's scruples, and he
intimated to Gasca his willingness to place the fleet under his
command. The act was performed with great pomp and ceremony.
Some of Pizarro's stanchest partisans were previously removed
from the vessels; and on the nineteenth of November, 1546,
Hinojosa and his captains resigned their commissions into the
hands of the president. They next took the oaths of allegiance
to Castile; a free pardon for all past offences was proclaimed by
the herald from a scaffold erected in the great square of the
city; and the president, greeting them as true and loyal vassals
of the Crown, restored their several commissions to the
cavaliers. The royal standard of Spain was then unfurled on
board the squadron, and proclaimed that this strong-hold of
Pizarro's power had passed away from him for ever. *29
[Footnote 29: Pedro Pizarro, Descub. y Conq., Ms. - Zarate, Conq.
del Peru, lib. 6, cap. 9. - Fernandez, Hist. del Peru, Parte 1,
lib. 2, cap. 38, 42. - Gomara, Hist. de las Indias, cap. 178. -
Ms. de Caravantes.
Garcilasso de la Vega, - whose partiality for Gonzalo Pizarro
forms a wholesome counterpoise to the unfavorable views taken of
his conduct by most other writers, - in his notice of this
transaction, seems disposed to allow little credit to that
loyalty which is shown by the sacrifice of a benefactor.
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