How Cortes sends his majesty 30,000 pesos worth of gold, with an account of the conversion of the Indians, the rebuilding of the city of Mexico, and of the expedition of Christobal de Oli to the Honduras; also how the vessel which conveyed this gold at the same time carried secret letters to Spain, written by the royal accountant Rodrigo de Albornoz, in which Cortes and the whole of the veteran Conquistadores were calumniated in the vilest manner.
After Cortes had been appointed governor of New Spain, he considered himself called upon to give his majesty a circumstantial account of what was going on in the country; of the conversion of the Indians, the rebuilding of the city of Tenochtitlan-Mexico, and of other important circumstances; among which he mentioned, in the first place, the expedition he had sent to Honduras, and he was very particular in bringing under his majesty's notice the great expenses to which it had put him. He then went on to state that he had conferred the chief command of this armament on Christobal de Oli, who had allowed himself to be bribed by Diego Velasquez to make common cause with him, and renounce all further obedience to Cortes.
Our general then told his majesty that he was determined, if his majesty should think proper, to despatch another officer to the Honduras, to deprive Oli of the command, and cast him into chains; but if he resisted, he would himself march against him. A severe punishment, continued Cortes, ought to be inflicted in this instance, in order to deter other officers who were sent out to subdue other provinces from following Oli's example. He must therefore earnestly supplicate his majesty's permission to march against this officer.