Note 80 — Chapter V · SAILING OF THE EXPEDITION. 1518-1519.

Evidently Velazquez desired his captains to disobey instructions and colonize. He could not officially authorize them to do so, not having as yet received permission from Spain. Neither Velazquez nor Cortés had any intention in this instance of confining this enterprise to trade, or protecting the natives, or imposing morality upon the men. It was well understood by all that licentiousness and plunder were to be the reward for perils to be undergone. ‘Atque etiam quod Grijalvae prætentâ causa auxilii ferendi quod Alvaradus postulabat, ire licebat,’ is the pointed observation in De Rebus Gestis Ferdinandi Cortesii, in Icazbalceta, Col. Doc., i. 343-4. Bernal Diaz, Hist. Verdad., 13, refers to promises of Indian repartimientos in the new regions as an inducement for volunteers. Cortés’ statement at Vera Cruz, that he had no order to settle, means nothing in view of the motives then actuating him. Secret agreements between governors and lieutenants for defrauding the crown and promoting their own aims were only too common; and this is overlooked by those who trust merely to the instructions for arguments on this point.