"The violence with which the contending parties treated their opponents was not accompanied by its usual attendants, attachment and fidelity to those with whom they acted. The ties of honour, which ought to be held sacred among men, and the principle of integrity, interwoven as thoroughly in the Spanish character as in that of any nation, seem to have been equally forgotten. Even regard for decency, and the sense of shame, were totally abandoned. During these dissensions, there was hardly a Spaniard in Peru who did not abandon the party which he had originally espoused, betray the associates with whom he had united, and violate the engagements under which he had come. The viceroy Nunnez Vela was ruined by the treachery of Cepeda and the other judges of the royal audience, who were bound to have supported his authority. The chief advisers and companions of Gonzalo Pizarro in his revolt were the first to forsake him, and submit to his enemies. His fleet was given up to Gasca, by the man whom he had singled out among his officers to entrust with that important command. On the day that was to decide his fate, an army of veterans, in sight of the enemy, threw down their arms without striking a blow, and deserted a leader who had often conducted them to victory. Instances of such general and avowed contempt of the principles and obligations which attach man to man, and bind them in social union, rarely occur in history. It is only where men are far removed from the seat of government, where the restraints of law and order are little felt, where the prospect of gain is unbounded, and where immense wealth may cover the crimes by which it is acquired, that we can find any parallel to the levity, the rapaciousness, the perfidy, and corruption prevalent among the Spaniards in Peru." SECTION I. _Incidents in the History of Peru, from the departure of Gasca, to the appointment of Don Antonio de Mendoza as Viceroy._