This was Sedeno, a perfect type of the Spanish adventurer of the sixteenth century—­restless, ambitious, unscrupulous.  The king had made him “contador” (comptroller) of San Juan in 1512 and perpetual “regidor” (alderman) in 1515.  In 1518 we find him in prison under accusation of having brought a woman and child from a convent in Sevilla.  He broke out of the prison and escaped in a ship.  In 1521 he was in prison again for debt to the Government.  On this occasion the judge auditor wrote to the emperor:  " ...  It is said of the comptroller that he has put his hands deep into your Majesty’s treasure.  He is the one who causes most strife and unrest in the island, ... everybody says that it would be well if he were removed.”  In 1524 Villasante accused him of malversation of public funds.  In 1531 he appears as Governor of Trinidad, accused of capturing natives of the neighboring continent, branding them and selling them as slaves.  In 1532, reinstated in his post as comptroller, he leaves Alonzo de la Fuente as his deputy and goes on an expedition to conquer Trinidad.  In 1535 he complains to the emperor that the authorities in San Juan have not assisted him in his enterprise, and in the following year the governor and crown officers address a complaint against him to the empress, saying:  “Sedeno presented a schedule authorizing him to bring 200 men from the Canary Islands to make war with fire and sword on the Caribs of Trinidad, and permitting him, or any other person authorized by him, to fit out an expedition for the same purpose here.

“Under this pretext he has collected people to go to the conquest of Meta.  We wrote to the Audiencia in la Espanola, and an order came that he should not go beyond the limits of his government, but he continues his preparations and has already 50 horses and 120 men on the continent, and is now going with some 200 men more and another 100 horses.  He takes no notice of your Majesty’s commands, collects people from all parts without a license, and causes grave injury to the island, because since the rage for going to Peru began the population is very scarce and we can not remedy the evil....”

This restless adventurer died of fever on the continent in 1538.  Sedeno’s emigration schemes deprived the island of many of its best settlers.  The wish to abandon it was universal.  Lando’s drastic measures to prevent it roused the people’s anger, and they clamored for his removal.  The Audiencia sent Juan Blasquez as judge auditor, and Vasco de Tiedra was appointed Lando’s successor in 1536.  But in the following year a radical change was made in the system of government.

The quarrels, the jealousies, and mutual accusations between the colonists and the Government officials that kept the island in a continual ferment, were the natural consequence of the prerogatives exercised by Diego Columbus, which permitted him to fill all lucrative positions in the island with his own favorites, often without any regard to their aptitude.