be both serviceable to God and to his majesty.
Respecting all these circumstances, Cortes' troops drew up an account,
which they had despatched to his majesty, with all the gold they had
collected up to that moment; indeed Cortes and his men were never for a
moment forgetful of the deep veneration and the dutiful obedience which
they owed to their monarch. Our agents then gave a long description of
the great partiality which the president of the council of the Indies
had undisguisedly shown on every occasion for Velasquez; how he had
taken all the gold, with our despatches, from our agents, and put half
of the former into his own pocket; how he had calumniated us to his
majesty, purposely omitted to mention what great services we had
rendered to the crown, suppressed real facts, and altogether placed
things in a false light. But this was not all; for when our agents
wished to repair in person to Flanders, in order to throw themselves at
his majesty's feet, and give him a faithful account of all the
circumstances, the bishop cast one of those gentlemen, named
Puertocarrero, a relative of the earl of Medellin, into prison, where he
died. With the same hostile feeling and party spirit the bishop had
issued peremptory orders that neither ammunition, troops, nor anything
else destined for Cortes, should leave the port of Seville, and every
obstacle was to be laid in his way to thwart his designs. He had not
hesitated to term Cortes and the whole of his men a pack of traitors;
and the only cause of his hatred was his own interested connexion with
Velasquez, and the intended marriage of his niece with Christobal de
Tapia, in consideration of which the latter was to receive the
appointment of governor of New Spain.

In proof of this and other matters, our agents produced copies of
letters we had written to his majesty, besides other important
documents; so that Velasquez's party were unable to confute them on any
point.

With respect to the armament of Narvaez, continued our agents, Velasquez
had fully deserved punishment of death, as he had fitted it out against
Cortes without any authority from his majesty, and against the wishes
and express orders of the royal court of audience at St. Domingo, and of
the Hieronymite brotherhood, whom the emperor had appointed viceroys of
the West Indies. Diego Velasquez had, upon the whole, troubled himself
very little about his majesty, but had always applied to the president
of the coun