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VOYAGES
A N D D I S C O V E R I E S OF
supplies, and bringing a reinforcement of one hundred and fifty men.
They brought also a commission to Vasco Nunez, signed
by Miguel de Pasamonte, the royal treasurer of Hispaniola, (to whom he had sent a private present of gold,) constituting him captain-general of the colony.
It is doubtful whether Pasamonte
possessed the power to confer such a commission, though it is af firmed that the king had clothed him with it, as a kind of check upon the authority of the admiral Don Diego Columbus, then governor of Hispaniola, of whose extensive sway in the New World the monarch was secretly jealous.
At any rate, the trea
surer appears to have acted in full confidence of the ultimate approbation of his sovereign. Vasco Nunez was rejoiced at receiving a commission which clothed him with at least the semblance of royal sanction.
Feel
ing more assured in his situation, and being naturally of a gen erous and forgiving temper, he was easily prevailed upon, in his moment of exultation, to release and pardon Alonzo Perez, the Bachelor Corral, and the other ringleaders of the late commo tions ; and for a time the feuds and factions of this petty commu nity were lulled to repose.