Note VI‑10 — Chapter VI · INDIAN REVOLTS AND CIVIL FACTIONS IN GUATEMALA. 1529-1530.

Only two of these remain to our knowledge. For the discovery and preservation of the Proceso de Residencia contra Pedro de Alvarado, we are indebted to the licentiate Ignacio Rayon, 'oficial mayor' in the Mexican archives. The confusion of the immense pile of documents in that office had become so great that in 1846 the government decided to reduce them to some order, and entrusted the work of so doing to the director Miguel María Arrioja, whose co-laborer was Rayon. In a bundle of old papers, marked 'useless,' was the Proceso contra Alvarado, the historical value of which was at once recognized. The first intention of the finder was merely to copy and add it to his collection of manuscripts. His friends, however, advised him otherwise; and through their assistance—Ignacio Trigueros generously offering to pay expenses, and José Fernando Ramirez having obtained permission from the government—he published it in Mexico in 1847. The Proceso is the official investigation into Alvarado's conduct in Mexico and Guatemala, and consists of the several charges, mainly bearing on his cruel treatment of the natives, his extortions, and embezzlement of royal dues, and the testimony of the witnesses on both sides. Though there is much conflicting evidence, it is of great value in establishing numerous historical points narrated by the early chroniclers. This volume contains, besides the Proceso, a biographical sketch of Alvarado's career by Ramirez; fragments of the Proceso contra Nuño de Guzman, preceded by an account of his life by the same author; and notes explanatory of four copies of Aztec paintings, one of which represents the death of Alvarado. The account given by Ramirez of Alvarado's expedition to Peru is the same as that of Herrera and incorrect, as are also the reasons he assigns for the Honduras campaign. It is well known that Ramirez was minister of state during the empire under Maximilian.