Dominic of Guzmán

“ I accepted his invitation gladly and a part of the time that I was in Caracas I spent at the Yellow [94] House, the residence of the President, as his guest. Guzman was the handsomest man I have ever known; tall and as straight as a sword, with long black beard and dark eyes, sharp as needles, that could flash fire or friendship. He was magnetic and winning to the last degree and every inch a ruler of men, without the faintest notion as to what fear meant. During the nearly twenty years that he was absolute ruler of Venezuela his temper was the thing most dreaded through all the land. ”

“ If he kill six strong men upon the stone Temalacatl, he shall be set free.' This is the law."
"This is the law, then," repeated Guzman, in imperfect Mexican, turning his eyes upon Guatimozin, as if he disdained to hold converse with any meaner infidel: "Is it a law that will be remembered, when the prisoner is a Spaniard?"
"He who is a prisoner, has no name and no country," replied the prince. "He is neither Tlascalan nor Castilian, but a man who kills or dies." ”

“ But thou must be ruled. Speak not to Cortes in complaint: he will do thee no justice. Send no defiance of battle to Guzman, for this has been proclaimed a sin against God and the king, to be punished with loss of arms, degradation, and whipping with rods,—sometimes with the loss of the right hand. You stare! Oh, señor Juan Lerma, you will find we have a master now,—a master by the king's patent,—who makes his own laws, beats and dishonours, and gives us to the gallows, when the fit moves him, without any necessity of cozening us to death in expeditions to the gold mines, or the South Seas. ”

“ Guzman’s messenger to Madrid travelled more quickly than Cecil’s, and before Dr. Man could demand his right to enjoy Protestant service, he was unceremoniously hustled out of Madrid, without obtaining audience of the King, the pretext being that he had in public conversation at his own table insulted the Catholic faith. ”

“ Guzman almost succeeded in escaping, but his judge, who had landed at Vera Cruz by the end of 1536, met him at the viceroy's palace in Mexico city, and secured his arrest before he could depart. After his trial he was detained in Mexico until June 30, 1538,-when he was enabled to leave New Spain by an order which directed him to surrender his person to the officers of the Casa de Contratacion, [13] at Seville. Guzman lost no time in going to Spain, where he spent the next four years in urging his claims to a right to participate in the northern conquests. ”

“ The famous Villanueva, we are told, had to dance attendance upon Secretary Andres de Rozas instead of keeping everybody waiting in his antechamber; and the King's former confessor had to pay his respects in the cell of Friar Santo Tomas, who was now the King's spiritual guide.
[10] A Newsletter of the time gives rather a quaint instance of the feeling against him at Saragossa. Don Antonio de Mendoza, the poet, entered a room where Guzman was playing cards. Guzman impatiently said: "How tiresome that man is to me." ”

“ One may fetch angels to the brand, but, ay de mi! the iron turns them into beldames!"
"Ay, there is some truth in that," said Guzman, a little thoughtfully. "No man honours Don Hernan more than myself; and yet did he suffer me to be choused out of the princess I fetched from Iztapalapan."
"Ay, the whole army witnessed it, and there was not a man who did not cry shame on you for taking it so—"
"Good-humouredly," interrupted the cavalier. "Rub me as thou wilt for a jest, Villafana; but touch me not in soberness."
"Pshaw! can I not abuse thee as a friend, without the apology of a grin? ”

“ Breaking the silence which both my companion and I had kept till that moment: “Are you not tired, Sayavedra,” said I, “of thus travelling like two Carthusian friars? For my part, I feel quite absorbed in idle meditation. Let us talk. Tell me some story which may enliven us.” “Signor Don Guzman,” said he, “you will, I am sure, be ready to allow that it much better becomes him who has plenty of money in his pocket to tell merry stories, than him who has not a sous wherewith to bless himself.” ”

“ A proposal for marriage was formerly made to me by the King, my brother-in-law (Philip) . The King of France has now made me an offer, as well as the Kings of Denmark and Sweden, and, I am told, the Archduke Charles also. The only person who has not been suggested is your prince (Don Carlos) .” Guzman replied that the reason no doubt was that, as she had refused the King himself, it was concluded that she had no desire to marry, since no higher match could be proposed to her. ”

“ Indeed, the disordered condition of affairs in New Spain, bandied as they were by irresponsible factions which found security in the remoteness of the only feared authority, demanded the supervision of a sagacious mind with a firm hand. On their part the friends of Cortés made light of his story, and as Guzman's evil deeds were not yet known in Spain, no great efforts were made to prevent his appointment to the presidency, for it was generally considered that as he was to have no vote, the oidores could control him easily were he viciously inclined. ”

“ Thus we are all indurated by age and habit,—and feel ultimately, that the dearest connexions of nature or passion may be sacrificed to those petty indulgences which the presence or influence of a stranger may disturb. So Guzman compromised between his conscience and his feelings. He determined, in spite of all the priests in Seville, to invite his sister and her family to Spain, and to leave the mass of his immense fortune to them ”

“ If we can but reach the palace, we are saved."
"Is it thou, indeed, Juan Lerma?" cried Guzman, with a voice singularly wild and piteous, but struggling onward.—"Now then thou canst kill me thyself, since thou wouldst not be avenged by infidels."
"Quick! quick! they are following us! they are crossing the ditch!—But fifty paces more!" ”

“ They never failed to be present at Mass, and the finger of reproach could not be pointed against their family life. Before Guzman was born his father learned that one of his correspondents at Seville had become bankrupt, and setting out for Spain in order to investigate his affairs on the spot, he was captured by an Algerine pirate, adopted the religion of Mohammed, and married a Moorish lady. ”

“ Great, and doubtless just, as was his detestation of Guzman, there was something both noble and afflicting in the courage with which the unfortunate man bore himself in the midst of savage foes, who, if they awarded him a shout of approbation for every valiant blow, yet screamed with a more cordial delight, at every wound inflicted by an antagonist. Even while Juan doubted not that Guzman's skill and fortitude would insure him a full triumph, and final liberation, he could not but be struck with horror, at beholding a Christian man bound to a stone, and baited like a muzzled bear. ”

“ You must watch without ceasing for their safety, and return them exactly as they are delivered to you, under pain of{213} forfeiting my favor.” “Ah, my Lord!” cried I at these words, “you know not to what trial you expose the frail Guzman; I can guard well enough against the rats, and against the most cunning of my companions; but I cannot indeed guard against myself. I am, alas! an unhappy son of Eve, and if I find myself in a paradise of sweetmeats, ten to one but some unlucky serpent may tempt me. ”

“ He explored and subdued the country for a considerable distance along the eastern shores of the Gulf of California, but he could find nothing there to rival the Mexico of Motecuhzoma. Meanwhile reports reached Charles V of the manner in which Guzman had been treating the Indians and the Spanish settlers, and so, March 17, 1536, [11] the King appointed the Licentiate Diego Perez de la Torre to take the residencia [12] of Guzman. At the same time Torre was commissioned to replace Guzman as governor of New Galicia, as this northwestern province had been named. ”

“ Religion and moral culture make us the masters of our malign propensities; but man is naturally a vengeful animal.
It was but the weakness of a moment with Juan Lerma; perhaps, too, it was caused by the thrill of joy at the proof thus rendered, that Guzman, at least, exercised no control over the fate of the princess of Mexico ”

“ All the way thither, the people thronged to see the man true to his word at such a fearful cost. The Court was sent out to meet him, and the King, after embracing him, exclaimed, 'Here learn, ye knights, what are exploits of virtue. Behold your model.'
Lands and honors were heaped upon Alonso de Guzman, and they were not a mockery of his loss, for he had other sons to inherit them. He was the staunch friend of Sancho's widow and son in a long and perilous minority, and died full of years and honors. ”

“ It was remembered, or reported, that she had made many efforts to soften the heart and open the hand of her brother, who was even then very wealthy, and to induce him to be reconciled to their union, and to enable her and her husband to remain in Spain. Guzman was inflexible. Wealthy, and proud of his wealth as he was, he might have digested the unpalatable morsel of her union with a poor man, whom he could have made rich; but he could not even swallow the intelligence that she had married a Protestant. ”

“ The clergy, headed by Bishop Zumárraga, who had been invested with the title and duties of protector of Indians, were powerless to stay these outrages, for to men who held in contempt the commands of their earthly sovereign, and in whose natures there was no instinct of piety, the thunder of the church was indeed an empty sound. On one occasion Guzman and his colleagues were present at mass when an over-zealous friar took occasion to upbraid them from the pulpit. He was forcibly removed by order of the president, and ordered into exile ”

“ That he is vain and imperious is admitted, and that many of his acts would not be tolerated by such a people as those who live in the United States cannot be questioned; but, conceding everything his enemies may say as true, it is nevertheless a fact that since{287} Guzman Blanco has been ruler over this republic it has prospered and had peace—something it never had before. There have been varied and extensive improvements; the people have made rapid strides in progress ”

“ At this signal for breaking up the audience, which was pronounced with the grave and easy authoritativeness of one long accustomed to command, the individuals present, Christian and heathen, princes, chieftains, and cavaliers, took their departure, leaving behind them Sandoval, Alvarado, and a few other officers of high standing.
As Juan stood, embarrassed between hope and doubt, the señor Guzman descended from the platform, and, passing him, said with a low voice and a derisive smile,
"You mount, señor, and Bobadil neighs for you! It is better—the war is equal." ”

“ But Vadillo found him to be guilty of almost every one of them, and sentenced him to pay a heavy fine and to be removed from office, both as governor and as repartidor. Against this judgment Guzman made appeal to the Council for the Indies, in Spain. In order to bring all possible influence to bear upon that body, he himself went to Spain, in August, 1532, carrying a vast mass of documents, and accompanied by Bishop Ramirez, who was returning to Spain to be consecrated. This ecclesiastic had been Guzman's most staunch and zealous partisan during the investigation. ”

“ Don Jose Avellanos loved his country. He had served it lavishly with his fortune during his diplomatic career, and the later story of his captivity and barbarous ill-usage under Guzman Bento was well known to his listeners. It was a wonder that he had not been a victim of the ferocious and summary executions which marked the course of that tyranny; for Guzman had ruled the country with the sombre imbecility of political fanaticism. The power of Supreme Government had become in his dull mind an object of strange worship, as if it were some sort of cruel deity. ”

“ As Guzman refused to appear before the auditors, all they could do for the present was to forward his majesty an account of the state of affairs in New Spain; for they feared, by employing open force, to create insurrection throughout the country. The council of the Indies, on receiving this information, despatched to Mexico the licentiate de la Torre, with orders to repair in person to the province of Xalisco, there to institute an inquiry against Guzman, and to take him prisoner to Mexico. ”

“ Railroads were built, roads improved, schools established, and real religious liberty took the place of clericalism. He was betrayed, in the end, by his supposed friends, men whom he had raised to prominence and prosperity. Had he been succeeded by a man as strong and able as himself Venezuela would to-day be the foremost country in South America, instead of the one most uncivilized.
Not long after the campaign against Pulido, in which I served on Guzman’s staff, I received another letter from Baez, urging me to come to Santo Domingo. ”

“ The Duke of Braganza, the Portuguese pretender with the best right to the throne, was prodigiously rich and over cautious, but his virile Spanish Guzman wife was eager and ambitious; whilst her wealthy brother, the Duke of Medina Sidonia, head of the Guzmans, silently helped forward the scheme which would make his sister a Queen, and afford him, the most powerful vassal of the Castilian crown, a precedent for the creation of an independent principality for himself in Andalucia, free from the weak and corrupt bureaucracy led by his cousin Olivares in Madrid. ”