But it was very seldom that an adventurer
of the kind succeeded in obtaining an important concession unless he
were prepared to subsidize it heavily from his own pocket.
We may instance Pedro de Mendoza. It was the part he had played in the
sack of Rome which enabled this wealthy adventurer to organize the great
expedition which set sail for the Provinces of the River Plate. Here we
have the curious anomaly of the Church being robbed by a mercenary, and
the money obtained by the loot employed in an object which was
ostensibly in the interests of the Church in the New World. In order to
satisfy the public nearer home, it is true that the _conquistadores_
were almost invariably accompanied by priests; but once well without the
jurisdiction of Rome, Spain, and Portugal, they took very good care that
the priests should not interfere in their concerns. Having been accepted
as a guarantee of good faith, their sphere of utility had ended with the
arrival in the New World so far as the _conquistadores_ were concerned.
Many of them became active participants in the wild deeds of the
_conquistadores_. Did they, on the other hand, show themselves desirous
of protesting, the more reckless pioneers made strenuous attempts to
muzzle their eloquence.
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