CHAPTER III. 

 1551 —1564. 



VELASCO ENDEAVORS TO AMELIORATE THE CONDITION OF THE 

 INDIANS. UNIVERSITY OF MEXICO ESTABLISHED INUNDA- 

 TION. MILITARY COLONIZATION PHILIP II. FLORIDA. 



INTRIGUES AGAINST VELASCO PHILIPINE ISLES. DEATH OF 



VELASCO MARQUES DE FALCES. BAPTISM OF THE GRAND 



CHILDREN OF CORTEZ. CONSPIRACY AGAINST THE MARQUES 



DEL VALLE HIS ARREST EXECUTION OF HIS FRIENDS. 



MARQUES DE FALCES CHARGES AGAINST HIM HIS FALL. 



ERRORS OF PHILIP II. FALL OF MUNOZ AND HIS RETURN. 



VINDICATION OF THE VICEROY. 



Don Luis de Velasco, 

 II. Viceroy of New Spain. 



1551 — 1564. 



The new viceroy, Don Luis de Velasco, arrived in Mexico 

 without especial orders changing the character of the govern- 

 ment. He was selected by the Emperor as a person deemed 

 eminently fitted to sustain the judicious policy of his predecessor ; 

 and it is probable that he had secret commands from the court to 

 attempt once more the amelioration of the Indian population. 

 There is no doubt that Charles the Fifth was sincere in his wish to 

 protect the natives ; and, if he yielded at allj — as we have seen in 

 the narrative of the last viceroyalty, — to the demands of the owners 

 of repartimientos, it was probably with the hope that a better op- 

 portunity of sustaining his humane desires would occur as soon as 

 the conquerors or their followers, were glutted by the rich harvests 

 they might reap during the early years of the settlement. 



Accordingly, we find, as soon as Velasco had been received in 

 Mexico with all suitable ceremony and honor, that, notwithstand- 

 ing the continued opposition of the proprietors and planters, he 

 proclaimed his determination to carry out the orders that had been 

 given to Mendoza, so far as they tended to relieve the Indians 

 from the personal labors, tributes, and severe service in the mines 

 with which they had been burdened by the conquerors. This, as 



