HIS RETURN TO MEXICO RESIDES AT TEZCOCO. 89 



and his aged mother to return to the Indian Islands, and finally 

 to New Spain. 



At Hispaniola he met an Audiencia Real, which was still to 

 have jurisdiction of his case, if it ever came to trial, and at whose 

 head was an avowed enemy of the conquerer, Nuno de Guzman. 

 The evidence was taken upon eight scandalous charges against 

 Cortez, and is of so suspicious a character that it not only disgusts 

 the general reader, but also failed in its effect upon the Spanish 

 court by which no action was finally taken in regard to it. 



Cortez remained two months in the island before he set sail for 

 Vera Cruz, in July 1530; and, in the meantime, the Bishop of 

 San Domingo was selected to preside over a new Audiencia, 

 inasmuch as the conduct of the late Audiencia, and of Guzman 

 especially, in relation to the Indians, had become so odiously op- 

 pressive that fears were entertained of an outbreak. The bishop 

 and his coadjutors were men of a different stamp, who inspired the 

 conqueror with better hopes for the future prosperity of the Indian 

 colonies. 



So jealous was the home government of the dangerous influence 

 of Cortez, — a man so capable of establishing for himself an inde- 

 pendent empire in the New World, — that he had been inhibited 

 from approaching the capital nearer than thirty leagues. But this 

 did not prevent the people from approaching him. He returned 

 to the scene of his conquest, with all the personal resentments and 

 annoyances that had been felt by individuals of old, softened by 

 the lapse of time during his prolonged absence in Spain. He 

 came back, too, with all the prestige of his Emperor's favor; and, 

 thus, both by the new honors he had won at court, and the 

 memory of his deeds, the masses felt disposed to acknowledge, at 

 the moment of joyous meeting, that it was alone to him they owed 

 their possessions, their wealth, their comfort, and their importance 

 in New Spain. 



Accordingly, Mexico was deserted by the courtiers, and Tez- 

 coco, where he established his headquarters was thronged by 

 eager crowds who came not only to visit but to consult the man 

 whose wit and wisdom were as keen as his sword, and who re- 

 visited Mexico, ripened into an astute statesman. 



Nevertheless, the seeming cordiality between the magistrates of 

 the capital and the partly exiled Captain General, did not long 

 continue. Occasions arose for difference of opinion and for dis- 

 putes of even a more bitter character, until, at length, he turned his 

 12 



