At the time of the Spanish conquest Pizarro was empowered, in 1529, to grant "_encomiendas_," or estates, to his fellow-conquerors, the inhabitants of which were bound to pay tribute to the holders of the grants; and in 1536 these _encomiendas_ were extended to two lives. The consequent exactions and cruelties were so intolerable that the good Las Casas, and other friends of the Indians, at length induced the Emperor Charles V. to enact the code so well known as the "New Laws," in 1542; by which the _encomiendas_ were to pass immediately to the Crown after the death of the actual holders; all officers under government were prohibited from holding them; all men who had been mixed up in the civil wars of the Pizarros and Almagros were to be deprived at once; a fixed sum was to be settled as tribute to be paid by the Indians; and all forced personal labour was absolutely forbidden. The promulgation of these beneficent laws excited a howl of furious execration from the conquerors,--the wolves who were thus to be dragged away, when their fangs were actually fixed in the flesh of their victims. Gonzalo Pizarro rose in rebellion in Peru, and defeated and killed Blasco Nuñez de Vela, the viceroy who had arrived to enforce these "New Laws;" while the more politic Belalcazar, at Popayan, though professing obedience, contrived to evade the execution of his orders, after a fashion which gave rise to the well-known saying--"_se obedece, pero no se cumple_"--"he obeys, but does not fulfil." Their unpopularity was so great that it was considered unsafe to persist in the attempt to enforce them, and they were revoked in 1545. The President Gasca re-distributed the "_encomiendas_" in 1550, and they were granted for three lives in 1629. Gasca, who showed more regard for his own safety and convenience than for the public service, arranged that his settlement of the _encomiendas_ should not be promulgated until he had sailed for Spain, and he suspended the law prohibiting the forced personal service of the Indians. The latter enactment, however, was boldly promulgated by the Judges of the Royal Audience in 1552, and was, as might have been expected, immediately followed by a ferment amongst the conquerors and a formidable rebellion. Finally the Marquis of Cañete arrived in Peru, as viceroy, in 1554; and, by a mixture of severity and prudent conciliation, trod out the last sparks of revolt amongst the Spaniards.