As he appeared before his sovereign, all eyes were turned with admiration and respect upon the man whose achievements seemed to eclipse those of the great heroes. The modesty with which he plead his cause before the high judges removed the suspicions they had entertained. The King received him with expressions of the highest respect and gratitude and showered favors upon him. He decorated him with the order of St. Iago, elevated him to the rank of count, and conferred upon him a broad stretch of territory in Mexico which would yield him a large revenue. But when they came to the confirmation of his governorship, it was clearly apparent they considered it dangerous to invest him anew with the power he might misuse. All that he received was his recognition as general and permission to make new discoveries. The entire administration of civil affairs was entrusted to a viceroy. Cortes went back to Mexico, but from that time forward his career was marked by an unbroken series of troubles. He was so hampered by the viceroy’s strictness and so humiliated by his loss of authority that his only relief was found in the discovery and conquest of new regions. He fitted out an expedition on the west coast of Mexico for making discoveries in the great South Sea and succeeded in finding the peninsula of Lower California. Upon his return his life became so embittered that he decided to go to Spain again, appeal to the justice and former favor of the King, and lay his grievances before him in person. He little anticipated the still greater troubles he must endure. During his restless and martial life he had had little chance to know the fickleness of a court and the unreliability of the favor of the great. He was now to discover it. He was coldly received, indifferently listened to, and his complaints and appeals dismissed as of no consequence. He had grown old. What further important service could he promise? What he had accomplished for his King and country was forgotten or it was considered as already fully recompensed. He found himself at the close of his career, like Columbus, ignominiously treated by a thankless King and his malicious ministers, and obliged to beg for justice. Six long wretched years passed in solitude and neglect but at last grief and indignation at such treatment brought his life to an end. He died October 11, 1547,[15] in the sixty-third year of his age. His body at his express desire was taken to New Spain, perhaps because he considered his ungrateful fatherland unworthy to be its burial-place.[16] Footnotes [1]Diego Velasquez was born at Cúellar, Segovia, in 1465—some authorities say in 1458—and died at Havana, Cuba, in 1522 or 1523. He accompanied Columbus to Hispaniola (Haiti) in 1493. [2]Francisco Hernandez de Cordova was born about 1475 and died at Leon, Nicaragua, in 1526. He was beheaded for attempting to set up an independent government in Honduras.