less the master of the fleet on the _Pacific_. No hostile force coming from Spain could encounter him until it should have rounded the Straits of _Magellan_ or forced a passage across the primeval forests of _Brazil_. Yet the youngest Pizarro lacked the moral courage which till this supreme moment of its fortunes had never failed his upstart house; and the result was that, instead of anticipating the colonial revolution by two centuries and a half, he who had gone too far to hope for any safety save in defiance, determined to submit himself to Spain. The result was that, without sending a fleet through the Straits of _Magellan_ or an army through the forests of _Brazil_, Pizarro was conquered by the address of one man, whose services the Emperor was enabled to command in this dire emergency. That man was the President Gasca. CHAPTER XI. _PERU; THE PRESIDENT GASCA._ 1545-1550. The aged lieutenant of Gonzalo Pizarro, Carbajal, gave him perhaps the wisest advice when he urged him to renounce his allegiance; pointing out that in point of fact he had already done so, since he had encountered the Viceroy in battle, slain him, and assumed his authority. He had no favour or mercy to expect from the crown, and had but one course before him, to proclaim himself king, supported as he was by the troops and the people. He advised him likewise to unite himself in marriage to the female representative of the _Incas_. But Gonzalo Pizarro, though he had fought against the Viceroy for what he deemed his own rights and the rights of others, was still at heart loyal to the crown. The course he determined to adopt was the halting one of sending an embassy to Spain, to vindicate his proceedings, and to ask a confirmation of his authority in succession of his brother as Viceroy of Peru. Meanwhile news had reached the mother country of the disorders proceeding in that land. The Spanish Government heard with dismay of the effect produced by the promulgation of the ordinances and of the unyielding conduct of the Viceroy.