CHAPTER XI. 1521–1522.

court, Cortéz was not without staunch kinsmen and warm friends who stood up valiantly in his behalf, both before councils and king. His father, Don Martin, and his friend, the Duke of Bejar, had been prominent among many in espousing the cause of the absent hero, even before the sovereign's return;—and now, the monarch, whose heart was not indeed ungrateful for the effectual service rendered his throne by the conqueror, and whose mind probably saw not only the justice but the policy of preserving, unalienated, the fidelity and services of so remarkable a personage,—soon determined to look leniently upon all that was really censurable in the early deeds of Cortéz. Whilst Charles confirmed his acts in their full extent, he moreover constituted him "Governor, Captain General and Chief Justice of New Spain, with power to appoint to all offices, civil and military, and to order any person to leave the country whose residence there might be deemed prejudicial to the crown."