scribed his ambition within more narrow limits. He cor fined his views to obtaining from the court of Spain, a co firmation of the authority which he now possessed; and for that purpose he sent an officer of distinction thither, to represent his conduct in such a favourable light, as that the emperor might be induced to continue him in his present station.

While Pizarro was deliberating with respect to the part he should take, consultations were held in Spain concerning the measures which ought to be pursued: the court had received intelligence of the insurrection against the viceroy; of his imprisonment, and Pizarro's usurpation. At first view, the actions of Pizarro and his party appeared so repugnant to the duty of subjects towards their sovereign, that the greater part of the ministers insisted on declaring them instantly guilty of rebellion, and on proceeding to punish them with rigour. But innumerable obsta cles presented themselves. The strength and glory of the Spanish armies were then employed in Germany. To transport any respectable body of troops so remote as Peru, appeared almost impossible, as the treasury had been drained of money to support the emperor's war in Europe.

Nothing, therefore, remained, but to attempt by lenient measures, what could not be effected by force: with this view, they appointed Pedro de las Gasca, a priest and counsellor of the inquisition, who had been employed by government in affairs of trust and confidence, and which he had conducted with ability and success; displaying a gentle insinuating temper, accompanied with firmness and probity, superior to any feeling of private interest, and a cautious circumspection in concerting measures, followed by such vigour in executing them, as is rarely found united with each other. These qualities marked him out for the function for which he was destined. The em. peror warmly approved of the choice. He was invested with unlimited authority; and, without money or troops, set out to quell a formidable rebellion. On his arrival at Nombre de Dios, he found Hernan Mexia, an officer of note, posted there by order of Pizarro, with a considerable body of men, to oppose the landing of any hostile forces. But Gasca came in such pacific guise, with a train so little formidable, and with a title of no such dignity as to excite terror, that he was received with much respect; for he

assumed no higher title than that of president of the court of audience in Lima.

From Nombre de Dios he advanced to Panama; and was treated with the same respect by Hinojosa, whom Pizarro had entrusted with the government of that town, and the command of the fleet stationed there. In both places, he held the same language, declaring that he was sent by his sovereign as a messenger of peace, not as a minister of vengeance; that he came to redress all grievances, to revoke the laws which had excited alarm; and to re-establish order and justice in Peru. His mild deportment, the simplicity of his manners, the sanctity of his profession, and a winning appearance of candour, gained credit to his declarations. Hinojosa, Mexia, and several other officers of distinction, were gained over to his interest, and waited only a decent pretext for declaring openly in his favour.

This, the violence of Pizarro soon gave them. He sent a new deputation to Spain to justify his conduct; and to insist in the name of all the communities in Peru, for a confirmation of the government to himself during his life. The persons entrusted with this commission, intimated the intention of Pizarro to the president, and required him, in his name, to depart from Panama, and return to Spain. To Hinojosa they had secret instructions, directing him to of fer Gasca fifty thousand pesos, if he would comply willingly with what was demanded of him; and, if he should continue obstinate, to cut him off, either by assassination, or poison. Hinojosa, amazed at his precipitate resolution of setting himself in opposition to the emperor's commission, and disdaining to execute the crimes pointed out in his secret instructions, publicly acknowledged the president as his only lawful superior. The officers under his command did the same. Such was the contagious influence of the example, that it reached even the deputies who had been sent from Lima; and, at the time when Pizarro expected to hear of Gasca's death, or his return to Spain, he was informed that he was master of the fleet, of Panama, and of the troops stationed there.

Provoked almost to madness by an event so unexpect ed, he openly declared war; and to give some colour of justice to his proceeding, he appointed the court of audience at Lima to try Gasca, for the crimes of having seized his

ships, seduced his officers, and prevented his deputies from proceeding on their voyage to Spain. Cepeda did not scrtple to prostitute his dignity as judge, by finding Gasca guilty of treason, and condemned him to death on that atcount. Wild and ridiculous as this may appear, it was imposed on the low adventurers with which Peru was peopled, by the semblance of a legal sanction, warranting Pizarro to carry hostilities on against a convicted traitor. Soldiers accordingly resorted to his standard from every quarter, and he was soon at the head of a thousand men, the best equipped that had ever taken the field in Peru.

Gasca, on his part, seeing that force must be employed, was assiduous in collecting troops from different places, and with such success, that he was soon in a condition to detach a squadron of his fleet, with a considerable body of soldiers to the coast of Peru. Their appearance excited a dreadful alarm; and though they did not for some time attempt to make any descent, yet they set ashore at different places, persons with copies of the act of general indemnity, and the revocation of the late edicts; and who made known every where the pacific intentions, and mild temper of the president. The effect of spreading this information was wonderful.

All who were dissatisfied with Pizarro, all who retained any sentiments of fidelity to their sovereign, meditated revolt. Some openly deserted a cause they considered now as unjust. Centeno left his cave, and having assembled about fifty of his former adherents, almost without arms, entered Cuzco by night, and though it was defended by five hundred men, he rendered himself master of that capital. Most of the garrison ranged themselves under his banners, and he had soon the command of a respectable body of troops.

As the danger from Centeno's operations was the most urgent, Pizarro instantly set out to oppose him. Having provided horses for his soldiers, his march was rapid. But every morning he found his force diminished by numbers who had left him during the night; and though he be came suspicious to excess, and punished without mercy, all whom he suspected, the rage of desertion was too violent to be checked. Before he got within sight of the enemy at Huarina, near the lake Titicaca, he could only muster four hundred men. But those he considered as

oldiers of tried attachment, on whom he might depend. They were the boldest and most desperate of his followrs, conscious, like himself, of crimes, for which they could ardly expect forgiveness; and without any other hope ut the success of their arms. With these he did not heitate to attack Centeno's troops, though double in number o his own.

The royalists did not decline the combat. It was the most obstinate and bloody that ever had been fought in Peru. The intrepid valour, and the superiority of Carvaal's military talents prevailed, and triumphing over numbers, a complete victory was gained. The booty was immense, and the treatment of the vanquished cruel.

By this signal success, the reputation of Pizarro was re-established, and being now considered as invincible in the field, his army increased daily. But this victory was more than counterbalanced by events which happened in other parts of Peru.

Pizarro had scarcely left Lima, when the citizens, weary of his oppressive dominion, erected the royal standard; and Aldana, with a detachment of soldiers from the fleet, took possession of the town: at the same time Gasca landed at Tumbez with five hundred men ; as his numbers augmented fast, he advanced into the interior of the country. His behaviour still continued to be gentle and unassuming; he expressed on every occasion, his ardent wish of putting an end to the contest without bloodshed. He upbraided no man for past offences, but received them as a father receives his penitent children, returning to a sense of their duty. He appointed the general rendezvous of his troops in the valley of Xauxa on the road to Cuzco ; there he remained for some months, that he might have time to make another attempt towards an accommodation with Pizarro, and also that he might train his new soldiers to the use of arms, and accustom them to discipline, before he led them against a body of victorious troops. Pizarro, elated with success, and having now a thousand men under his command, refused to listen to any terms, although Cepeda, together with several officers, and Carvajal himself, gave it as their advice, to close with the president's offer, of a general indemnity, and the revocation of the obnoxious laws.

Gasca having tried in vain every expedient to avoid enbruing his hands in the blood of his countrymen, advanced at the head of sixteen hundred men, towards Cuzco. Pizarro, confident of victory, suffered the royalists to pass all the rivers without opposition, and to advance within four leagues of the capital, flattering himself that a defeat in such a situation would render a retreat impracticable, and at once terminate the war. He then marched out to meet the enemy. Carvajal chose his ground, and made a disposition of the troops, with the discerning eye, and profound knowledge, of the art of war, which were conspicuous in all his operations.

As the two armies moved forward to the charge, the appearance of each was singular, Pizarro's men enriched with the spoils of the most opulent country in America; every officer, and almost all the private men, were clothed in silk stuffs, or brocade, embroidered with gold and silver; and their horses, their arms, and standards, were adorned with all the pride of military pomp. That of Gasca, though not so splendid, exhibited what was no less striking. Himself accompanied by the archbishop of Lima, the bishop of Quito, and Cuzco, and a great number of ecclesiastics, marching along the lines, blessing the men, and encouraging them to a resolute discharge of their duty. When both were just ready to engage, Cepeda set spurs to his horse, galloped off, and surrendered himself to the president; several other officers of note follow ed his example. The revolt of persons of such high rank struck all with amazement. Distrust and consternation spread from rank to rank; some silently slipped away, others threw down their arms, but the greater number went over to the royalists. Carvajal, and some leaders employed authority, threats, and entreaties, to stop them, but in vain; in less than half an hour, a, body of men, which might have decided the fate of the Peruvian empire, was totally dispersed. Pizarro, seeing all lost, cried out in amazement to a few officers, who still faithfully adhered to him, "What remains for us to do?" "Let us rush," replied one of them, "upon the enemy's firmest battalion, and die like Romans."

Dejected with such a reverse of fortune, he had not spirit to follow this soldierly counsel; and with a tame