When all this was ended, Cortes made a harangue to the people, saying, That we were now really brothers, and that Montezuma should not oppress them any more, for he would place them under the protection of the Mother of God, whom we adored; and he added many good and holy arguments exceedingly well expressed, to all of which the people listened most attentively. He then had the walls of the temple cleared of blood and new plastered, employing a number of Indian masons for this purpose, using lime which the place afforded in plenty. After having thus cleaned and purified the temple, he ordered a new altar to be erected, which he hung all round with rich mantles, and adorned it with wreaths of odoriferous flowers; and ordering four native priests to cut off their hair and to put on white garments, he committed the altar to their care, on which he planted the holy cross, before which our chaplain Olmedo celebrated the mass. He also instructed the natives to make wax candles, and enjoined the four priests to keep some of these always burning before the altar. All these things being arranged, he placed a lame old soldier named Juan de Torres, to reside in the temple as a hermit, and to keep the native priests to their new duty. In this first Christian church of New Spain, the principal persons of the surrounding districts attended divine service, and the eight native ladies, already mentioned, having been previously instucted in our holy faith, were solemnly baptized. The niece of the fat cacique of Chempoalla, who was as ugly as possible, was named Donna Catalina; yet the general took her by the hand very affectionately. Puertocarrero was more fortunate, as his lady, who was called Donna Francisco, was very handsome for an Indian, and her father, named Cuesco, was a cacique of considerable power. Having thus cemented a firm friendship with the Totonacas, we returned to our new settlement of Villa rica. We found there a vessel newly arrived from Cuba, under the command of Francisco Sauceda, called el pulido or the beau, from his affectation of finery and high manners. In this vessel there had arrived an able officer named Luis Marin, accompanied by ten soldiers and two horses. He brought intelligence that Velasquez had received the appointment of adelantado of Cuba, with authority to barter and colonize in New Spain. This news gave much satisfaction to the friends of Velasquez in our army, but made no change in the plans of Cortes.
As the works of Villa Rica were nearly completed, many of us became eager for the proposed visit to Montezuma, and expressed our wishes to Cortes that we might try our fortune in that expedition. It was resolved in the first place in a grand consultation, to send a deputation to Old Spain, to give an account to his majesty of all our proceedings, together with all the gold and other articles of value which we had hitherto obtained. For this purpose Ordas and Montejo went through among all the officers and soldiers, and persuaded them to allow of the whole treasure being sent to the king, as it was for the general interest to renounce our claim for a partition. Puertocarrera and Montejo were appointed agents for Cortes and the army, our general having gained Montejo to his party by a present of 2000 crowns. By these gentlemen Cortes sent a letter to his majesty, the contents of which we were not made acquainted with. The cabilda or council of the new settlement wrote also a letter to the king, in conjunction with those soldiers who were most solicitous for the settlement of the colony, and had voted in the election of Cortes as captain-general. Nothing was omitted in this letter which seemed calculated to establish our cause at court, and my name was signed to it along with the rest.
Beginning with expressions of our most profound respect, we related all the events which had occurred from our setting out on the expedition, down to the election of Cortes as our captain-general, till the pleasure of his majesty might be made known on the subject, together with our engagement to allow Cortes a fifth part of the treasure, after deducting the kings part. We gave an account of our having discovered two Spaniards in the country; of our having procured two excellent interpreters; of our war in Tabasco; of the interviews with the messengers of Montezuma; our march into the country, and our alliance with the natives, who had renounced their allegiance to Montezuma and submitted themselves and their country to his majesty; of our expedition to Cincapacinga; the abolition of idolatry at Chiahuitztla, and the establishment of Christianity; the construction of our fortress of Villa Rica; and of our present determination to march to the court of Montezuma, the great sovereign of Mexico. We gave likewise a succinct account of the military establishment and religious observances of the natives, an enumeration of the articles of treasure we had transmitted to his majesty by our agents, and that we had sent over four natives, whom we had rescued from the cages at Chempoalla, where they were fattening for victims to the false gods of the country. We then stated that we were only 450 soldiers, surrounded by innumerable multitudes of enemies, yet ready to sacrifice our lives for the glory of God and the service of his majesty; and we earnestly entreated that he would be graciously pleased not to bestow the government of this great and rich country upon an unworthy person, expressing our fears of what Velasquez might attempt to our prejudice, by means of his patron the bishop of Burgos, whom he had secured in his interest by grants of valuable estates in Cuba which ought to have belonged to his majesty. In conclusion, we awaited the return of his gracious answer with the most profound reverence; yet humbly assured his majesty, if the bishop of Burgos sent over any person to assume the command, we were resolved to suspend our obedience till his majesty's pleasure were clearly made known to us, remaining in the mean time, as now, under the command of his majesties most faithful servant and our general Hernando Cortes, whose merits we painted in glowing colours. When this was extended in due form, Cortes asked permission to read it, and expressed his perfect satisfaction with the whole, excepting two articles, the mention of his share of the treasure, and the names of Cordova and Grijalva as having previously discovered this country; as he assumed the whole merit to himself in his private letter. He wished therefore to have these passages expunged, but some of us roundly told him, that his majesty must not only be informed of the truth, but of the whole truth.
When this important affair was completed, our agents set sail from Villa Rica on the 26th July 1519233, with strict injunctions not to touch at the Havanna or the port of el Marien, as we wished to keep the whole from being known to Velasquez. Yet they went directly to the Havanna, the pilot Alaminos being over-persuaded into this measure, under pretence of Puertocarrero being sick, and that Montejo wanted to procure provisions from his estate of El Marien. As soon as the ship came to anchor, Montejo sent letters on shore to Velasquez, giving an account of all that had taken place during the expedition; and as the messenger went through the island, he everywhere communicated the news of all that had occurred to our army. On receiving this intelligence from Montejo, Velasquez was highly enraged against Cortes, and heartily cursed his secretary and contador, who had persuaded him to confide the expedition to his guidance. He immediately dispatched two armed vessels to detain our ship, but soon got the unwelcome news that she was considerably advanced on her voyage to Europe. Besides writing to his patron the bishop of Burgos, he lodged a complaint against Cortes before the royal audience at St Domingo; but the members sent him an answer highly favourable to us, with whose good services they were already acquainted. All these untoward circumstances gave the adelantado infinite vexation, insomuch that from being very fat, he became quite lean. But he used every exertion to collect a powerful armament on purpose to overwhelm us as rebels against his legitimate authority, going about the whole island in person to incite the settlers to take up arms in his cause, and prepared a fleet of eighteen sail of vessels for the expedition against us, which was confided to the command of Pamphilo de Narvaez, of which we shall give an account hereafter.
Our agents passed through the Bahama channel, under the direction of the pilot Alaminos, being the first ship which took that passage from the West Indies for Europe. After touching at the island of Tercera for refreshments, they proceeded for Seville, and arrived a few days afterwards at Valladolid, where the court was then held. Our agents immediately waited on the bishop of Burgos, who was president of the council of the Indies, expecting a favourable reception, and requested him to transmit our letters and present them with all speed to the emperor, who was then in Flanders. The bishop gave them a haughty and repulsive answer, saying, That he would make a proper representation of our conduct, for having thrown off our obedience to Velasquez. The arrival of Benito Martinez, chaplain to the governor of Cuba, contributed to place our affairs in an unfavourable light; and as Puertocarrero made a remonstrance to the bishop, he caused him to be thrown into prison, on a frivolous charge of having taken away with him a woman from Medellin to the Indies. The bishop made a represention of our affairs to his majesty, stating every thing in the most favourable light for Velasquez, and as much as he possibly could against us, suppressing all mention of our letters and present, and even appropriated a great part of the latter to his own use. But our agents concerted matters with Martin Cortes, our generals father, and the licentiate Nunez, his near relation, who had an office in the royal council, and by means of some noblemen who were jealous of the bishop and disgusted with his haughty demeanour, they procured duplicates of all our letters to be transmitted to his majesty, together with complaints of the partiality of the bishop. These letters got safe to his majesty, with which he was well pleased; and for a long time his court was full of the praises of Cortes and of us his soldiers. The emperor conceived much displeasure against the bishop of Burgos for his conduct on this occasion; who became quite furious against Cortes and the rest of us, when he heard of the light in which our affairs had been seen at the court; but about two years afterwards the bishop became quite crest-fallen, as he was censured by the emperor, while we continued to be esteemed as loyal subjects. On receiving these duplicates of our letters, the emperor was pleased to say, That he would soon return to Spain, when he would attend to our memorials, and would reward our faithful services.
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Bernal Diaz has given no dates of the transactions of Cortes in Mexico, from the 21st of April till now, the 26th of July, a period of 3 months and 5 days. –E.