The portion of the new world earliest colonized by the Spaniards was
the Island of St. Domingo, Hayti, or Hispaniola, discovered by
Columbus in his first voyage in the year 1492. For nearly twenty years
this island was the only colony of importance held by the Spaniards in
the new world; here alone did they occupy lands, build towns, and
found a regular commonwealth. Cuba, although the second of the islands
discovered by Columbus, remained long uncolonized; indeed it was not
till the year 1509 that it was circumnavigated, and ascertained to be
an island. At length, in 1511, Don Diego Columbus, the great admiral’s
son, governor of Hispaniola, despatched a force of three hundred men,
under Don Diego Velasquez, to take possession of the island. Velasquez
soon subdued the island, the natives of which offered but little
resistance, and he was shortly afterwards appointed governor,
subordinate to the governor of Hispaniola. Ambitious of sharing in the
glory to be derived from the discovery of new countries, Velasquez
fitted out one or two expeditions, which he despatched westward, to
explore the seas in that direction. In one of these expeditions, which
set out in 1517, commanded by a rich colonist called Cordova, the
peninsula of Yucatan was discovered, and the existence of a large and
rich country called Culua or Mexico ascertained. Elated with this
discovery, Velasquez fitted out another expedition under his nephew,
Juan de Grijalva, who leaving Cuba in April 1518, spent five months in
cruising along the newly-discovered coast, and trafficking with the
natives for gold trinkets and cotton cloths, very skillfully
manufactured. The result of this expedition was the importation to
Cuba of gold and jewels to the amount of twenty thousand pesos, or
upwards of fifty thousand pounds.
Delighted with this success, Velasquez wrote home to Spain announcing
his discovery, and petitioning for authority from the king to conquer
and colonize the country which his subordinates, Cordova and Grijalva,
had discovered. Without waiting, however, for a reply to his petition,
he commenced fitting out a much larger squadron than either of the two
former; and this he placed under the command of Hernando Cortez, a
respectable Spanish hidalgo, or gentleman, residing in the island, and
who was at this time thirty-three years of age.
Cortez proceeded with the greatest activity in making his
preparations. ‘Borrowing money for the pupose,’ says Bernal Diaz, the
gossiping chronicler of the Conquest, ‘he caused to be made a standard
of gold and velvet, with the royal arms and a cross embroidered
thereon, and a Latin motto, the meaning of which was, ‘Brothers,
follow this holy cross with true faith, for under it we shall
conquer.’ It was proclaimed by beat of drum and sound of trumpet, that
all such as entered the service in the present expedition should have
their shares of what gold was obtained, and grants of land, as soon as
the conquest was effected. The proclamation was no sooner made than,
by general inclination as well as the private influence of Cortez,
volunteers offered themselves everywhere. Nothing was to be seen or
spoken of but selling lands to purchase arms and horses, quilting
coats of mail, making bread, and salting pork for sea-store. Above
three hundred of us assembled in the town of St. Jago.’ These
preparations were likely to be interrupted. Velasquez, ruminating the
probable consequences of the expedition, had begun to repent of having
appointed Cortez to the command, and was secretly plotting his
removal. Cortez, perceiving these symptoms, determined to outwit his
patron. Accordingly, on the night of the 18th of November 1518――having
warned all the captains, masters, pilots, and soldiers to be on board,
and having shipped all the stores that had been collected――Cortez set
sail from the port of St. Jago without announcing his intention to
Velasquez, resolving to stop at some of the more westerly ports of the
island for the purpose of completing his preparations, where he would
be beyond the reach of the governor. Nothing could exceed the rage of
Velasquez at the sudden departure of Cortez. He wrote to the
commandants of two towns at which he learned that the fleet had put in
for recruits and provisions, to seize Cortez, and send him back; but
such was the popularity of Cortez, that both were afraid to make the
attempt.
At last all was ready, and Cortez finally set sail from Cuba on the
18th of February 1519. The expedition, which consisted of eleven
vessels, most of them small, and without decks, met with no disaster
at sea, but arrived safely at the island of Cozumel, off the coast of
Yucatan, after a few days’ sail. Here Cortez landed, to review his
troops. They consisted of five hundred and fifty-three soldiers, not
including the mariners, who amounted to one hundred and ten. They
possessed sixteen horses, some of them not very serviceable, ten brass
field-pieces, four smaller pieces called falconets, and thirty-two
cross-bows; the majority of the soldiers being armed with ordinary
steel weapons. Attending on the army were about two hundred Cuba
Indians, and some Indian women. And as religion in those days
sanctioned military conquest, there were in addition two
clergymen――Juan Diaz, and Bartholomew de Olmedo.
For nine or ten days the Spaniards remained at Cozumel, making
acquaintance with the natives, who were very friendly. Here Cortez,
whose zeal for the Catholic religion was one of the strongest of his
feelings, made it one of his first concerns to argue with the natives,
through an interpreter, on the point of their religion. He even went
so far as to demolish their idols before their eyes, and erect an
altar to the Virgin on the spot where they had stood. The natives were
horror-struck, and seemed at first ready to fall upon the Spaniards,
but at length they acquiesced.
While at Cozumel, Cortez had the good fortune to pick up a Spaniard,
who, having been wrecked in his passage from Darien to Hispaniola in
the year 1511, had for seven years been detained as a slave among the
Indians of Yucatan. The name of this poor man was Jeronimo de Aguilar;
he had been educated for the church; and as he could speak the
language of Yucatan, his services as an interpreter were likely to be
very valuable. On the 4th of March 1519, the fleet, consisting of
eleven vessels, commanded respectively by Cortez, Pedro de Alvarado,
Alonzo Puerto Carrero, Francisco de Montejo, Christoval de Olid, Diego
de Ordaz, Velasquez de Leon, Juan de Escalante, Francisco de Morla,
Escobar, and Gines Nortes, set sail from Cozumel, and on the 13th it
anchored at the mouth of the river Tabasco or Grijalva, flowing into
the south of the Bay of Campeachy.
The expedition had now reached the scene of active operations; it had
arrived on the coast of the American continent. Cortez does not appear
to have been naturally a bloodily-disposed man. He was only what a
perverted education and the vices of his times had made him――a man
full of mighty notions of the Spanish authority; of its right to take,
by foul or fair means, any country it liked; and not without an excuse
from religion to rob and kill the unfortunate natives who dared to
defend their territories.
We have now therefore, to record the beginning of a most unjust and
merciless war of aggression. As Cortez, with his followers, sailed up
the river as far as Tabasco, he everywhere observed the natives
preparing to repel his attack, and at length he was brought into
collision with them――of course overpowering them by the force of arms,
with immense slaughter. On reaching Tabasco, his soldiers fought their
way through dense masses of Indians, who discharged among them perfect
clouds of arrows and stones. Pushing through the streets, which were
lined with houses, some of mud, and some of stone, the victors reached
a large open square in the centre, where temples of large size were
erected. Here the troops were drawn up; and Cortez, advancing to a
large ceiba-tree which grew in the middle, gave it three slashes with
his sword, and took possession of the city and country in the name of
his royal master Don Carlos, king of Castile.
Next day another battle was fought between the Spaniards and the
Tabascans on the plain of Ceutla, a few miles distant from the city.
For an hour the Spanish infantry fought in the midst of an ocean of
enemies, battling on all sides, beating one wave back, only that
another might advance――a little islet encircled by the savage
breakers. At length, with the assistance of their horse――a terrible
sight to the Indians――the Spaniards were victorious. The spirit of the
Tabascans was now completely subdued. Their chiefs came to the camp of
Cortez with faces and gestures expressive of contrition, and brought
him presents of fowls, fish, maize, and numerous gold toys
representing many kinds of animals in miniature. For the horses, they
brought a feast of turkeys and roses! They also gave Cortez twenty
Indian girls to attend the army. To his inquiries respecting the
country whence they obtained the gold, they replied by repetitions of
the words ‘Culua’ and ‘Mexico,’ and pointing to the west. Having
obtained all the information the Tabascans could give him, Cortez
resolved to proceed on his voyage. Accordingly, after a solemn mass,
which the Indians attended, the armament left Tabasco, and after a
short sail, arrived off the coast of St. Juan de Ulua, the site of the
modern Vera Cruz. It was on Holy Thursday (April 20th), in the year
1519, that they arrived at the port of St. Juan de Ulua, the extreme
eastern province of the Mexican dominions properly so called. The
royal flag was floating from the mast of Cortez’s ship. The Spaniards
could see the beach crowded with natives, who had come down to gaze at
the strange ‘water-houses,’ of which they had formerly seen specimens.
At length a light pirogue, filled with natives, some of them evidently
men of rank, pushed off from the shore, and steered for the ship of
Cortez. The Indians went on board without any symptoms of fear, and,
what was more striking, with an air of ease and perfect good-breeding.
They spoke a different language from that of the inhabitants of
Cozumel or the Tabascans――a language, too, which Aguilar did not
understand. Fortunately, one of the twenty Indian girls presented by
the Tabascans to the Spaniards was a Mexican by birth. This girl,
whose Spanish name of Donna Marina is imperishably associated with the
history of the conquest of Mexico, was the daughter of a chief, but,
by a singular course of events, had become a slave in Tabasco. She had
already attracted attention by her beauty, sweetness, and gentleness,
and she had been mentioned to Cortez. Her services now became
valuable. The Mexican was her native language; but by her residence in
Tabasco, she had acquired the Tabascan, which language was also
familiar to Aguilar. Interpreting, therefore, what the Mexicans said
into Tabascan to Aguilar, Aguilar in turn interpreted the Tabascan
into Spanish; and thus, though somewhat circuitously, Cortez could
hold communication with his visitors.
The Aztec visitors who came on board the ship of Cortez, informed him
that they were instructed by the governor of the province to ask what
he wanted on their coast, and to promise that whatever he required
should be supplied. Cortez replied that his object was to make the
acquaintance of the people of those countries, and that he would do
them no injury. He then presented them with some beads of cut glass,
and after an entertainment of wine, they took their departure,
promising that Teuthlille, the governor of the province under their
great emperor, should visit him the next day.
Next day, Friday the 21st of April 1519, Cortez landed with his
troops, and had an interview with Teuthlille, who received the
visitors with suspicion; and this feeling was not lessened by the
parade of mounted dragoons and firing of guns with which the Spanish
commander thought fit to astonish him and the other natives. Sketches
were taken of the appearance of the strangers, in order to be sent to
Montezuma, the king of the country, who was likewise to be informed
that the white men who had arrived on his coast desired to be allowed
to come and see him in his capital.
Here we pause to present a short account of the Mexican empire, in
which Cortez had landed; also of the character and government of this
monarch, Montezuma, whom the Spaniards expected soon to be permitted
to visit.
If a traveler, landing on that part of the coast of the Mexican gulf
where Cortez and his Spaniards landed three hundred and thirty years
ago, were to proceed westward across the continent, he would pass
successively through three regions or climates. First he would pass
through the _tierra caliente_, or hot region, distinguished by all the
features of the tropics――their luxuriant vegetation, their occasional
sandy deserts, and their unhealthinesss at particular seasons. After
sixty miles of travel through this tierra caliente, he would enter the
_tierra templada_, or temperate region, where the products of the soil
are such as belong to the most genial European countries. Ascending
through it, the traveler at last leaves wheat-fields beneath him, and
plunges into forests of pine, indicating his entrance into the _tierra
fria_, or cold region, where the sleety blasts from the mountains
penetrate the very bones. This tierra fria constitutes the summits of
part of the great mountain range of the Andes, which traverses the
whole American continent. Fortunately, however, at this point the
Andes do not attain their greatest elevation. Instead of rising, as in
some other parts of their range, in a huge perpendicular wall or
ridge, they here flatten and widen out, so as to constitute a vast
_plateau_, or table-land, six or seven thousand feet above the level
of the sea. On this immense sheet of table-land, stretching for
hundreds of miles, the inhabitants, though living within the tropics,
enjoy a climate equal to that of the south of Italy; while their
proximity to the extremes both of heat and cold enables them to
procure, without much labor, the luxuries of many lands. Across the
table-land there stretches from east to west a chain of volcanic
peaks, some of which are of immense height, and covered perpetually
with snow.
This table-land was known in the Mexican language by the name of the
plain of Anahuac. Near its centre is a valley of an oval form, about
two hundred miles in circumference, surrounded by a rampart of
porphyritic rock, and overspread for about a tenth part of its surface
by five distinct lakes or sheets of water. This is the celebrated
valley of Mexico――called a valley only by comparison with the
mountains which surround it, for it is seven thousand feet above the
level of the sea. Round the margins of the five lakes once stood
numerous cities the relics of which are yet visible; and on an islet
in the middle of the largest lake stood the great city of Mexico, or
Tenochtitlan, the capital of the empire which the Spaniards were now
invading, and the residence of the Mexican emperor, Montezuma.
The origin of the Mexicans is a question of great obscurity――a part of
the more extensive question of the manner in which America was
peopled. According to Mr. Prescott, the latest and one of the best
authorities on the subject, the plains of Aanahuac were overrun,
previous to the discovery of America, by several successive races from
the north-west of the continent where it approaches Asia. Thus, in the
thirteenth century, the great table-land of central America was
inhabited by a number of races and sub-races, all originally of the
same stock, but differing from each other greatly in character and
degree of civilization, and engaged in mutual hostilities. The cities
of these different races were scattered over the plateau, principally
in the neighborhood of the five lakes. Tezcuco, on the eastern bank of
the greatest of the lakes, was the capital of the Acolhuans; and
Tenochtitlan, or Mexico, founded in 1325, on an island in the same
lake, was the capital of the Aztecs.
In the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries the dominant race in the
plains of Anahuac was the Acolhuans, or Tezcucans, represented as a
people of mild and polished manners, skilled in the elegant arts and
possessing literary habits and tastes――the Athenians, if we may so
call them, of the new world. The most celebrated of the Tezcucan
sovereigns was Nezahualcoyotl, who reigned early in the fifteenth
century. By this prince a revolution was effected in the political
state of the valley of Anahuac. He procured the formation of a
confederacy between Tezcuco and the two neighboring friendly cities of
Mexico and Tlacopan, by which they bound themselves severally to
assist each other when attacked, and to carry on wars conjointly. In
this strange alliance Tezcuco was the principal member, as being
confessedly the most powerful state; Mexico stood next; and lastly
Tlacopan, as being inferior to the other two.
Nezahualcoyotl died in 1470, and was succeeded on the Tezcucan throne
by his son Nezahualpilli. During his reign the Tezcucans fell from
their position as the first member of the triple confederacy which his
father had formed, and gave place to the Aztecs or Mexicans. These
Aztecs had been gradually growing in consequence since their first
arrival in the valley. Decidedly inferior to the Tezcucans in culture,
and professing a much more bloody and impure worship, they excelled
them in certain qualities, and possessed, on the whole, a firmer and
more compact character. If the Tezcucans were the Greeks, the Aztecs
were the Romans of the new world. Under a series of able princes they
had increased in importance, till now, in the reign of Nezahualpilli,
they were the rivals of their allies, the Tezcucans, for the
sovereignty of Anahuac.
In the year 1502, a vacancy occurred in the throne of Tenochtitlan, or
Mexico. The election fell on Montezuma II, the nephew of the deceased
monarch, a young man who had already distinguished himself as
a soldier and a priest or sage, and who was noted, as his
name――Montezuma (sorrowful man)――implied, for a certain gravity and
sad severity of manner. The first years of Montezuma’s reign were
spent in war. Carrying his victorious arms as far as Nicaragua and
Honduras in the south, and to the shores of the Mexican gulf in the
east, he extended the sovereignty of the triple confederacy, of which
he was a member, over an immense extent of territory. Distant
provinces he compelled to pay him tribute; and the wealth of Anahuac
flowed from all directions towards the valley of Mexico. Haughty and
severe in his disposition, and magnificent in his tastes, he ruled
like an Oriental despot over the provinces which he had conquered; and
the least attempt at rebellion was fearfully punished, captives being
dragged in hundreds to the capital to be slaughtered on the stone of
human sacrifice in the great war temple. Nor did Montezuma’s own
natural-born subjects stand less in dread of him. Wise, liberal, and
even generous in his government, his inflexible justice, and his
lordly notions of his own dignity, made him an object less of
affection than of awe and reverence. In his presence his nobles spoke
in whispers; in his palace he was served with a slavish homage; and
when he appeared in public, his subjects vailed their faces, as
unworthy to gaze upon his person. The death of Nezahualpilli, in 1516,
made him absolute sovereign in Anahuac. On the death of that king, two
of his sons, Cacama and Ixtlilxochitl, contended for the throne of
Tezcuco. Montezuma sided with Cacama; and the dispute was at length
ended by a compromise between the two brothers, by which the kingdom
was divided into two parts――Cacama obtaining the southern half with
the city of Tezcuco, and Ixtlilxochitl the northern half.
Thus, at the period of the arrival of the Spaniards, Montezuma was
absolute sovereign of nearly the whole of that portion of central
America which lies between the Gulf of Mexico and the Pacific
Ocean――the kings of Tezcuco and Tlacopan being nominally his
confederates and counselors, according to the ancient treaty of
alliance between the three states, but in reality his dependents. The
spot where Cortez had landed was in one of the maritime provinces of
Montezuma’s dominions.
It is a singular but well-authenticated fact, that at the time the
Spaniards landed in America a general expectation prevailed among the
natives of the arrival of a mysterious race of white men from the
East, who were to conquer the country. This was especially the case in
Mexico. There was a tradition among the Mexicans that, some ages
before the arrival of the Spaniards, and while yet the Aztec empire
was in its infancy, there appeared in Anahuac a divine personage
called Quetzalcoatl. He was a man of benevolent aspect, tall in
stature, with a white complexion, long dark hair, and a flowing beard;
and he came from the East. He resided in Anahuac for many years,
teaching the Mexicans numerous arts and sciences, and reforming their
manners; and under his care the country flourished and became happy.
At length some difference arose between him and the Mexicans, and they
no longer paid respect to the words of the good Quetzalcoatl. He then
announced to them that he was going to depart from their country.
Proceeding eastward, delaying a little while at Cholula, a city which
ever afterwards was regarded as sacred, he arrived at the sea-shore.
Embarking on board a little skiff made of serpents’ skins, he pushed
out to sea, and as the Mexicans strained their eyes after him, he
disappeared in the distance, going, as it seemed, to the East. Before
he departed, however, he delivered a prophecy, that at some future
time people of his race, with white complexions like his, would come
from the East to conquer and possess the country.
The tradition of Quetzalcoatl’s prophecy was rife among the natives of
Anahuac when Cortez arrived, and it was with a kind of religious awe
that Montezuma and his people heard of the arrival of the white men in
their ‘water-houses.’ Cortez and his men constituted, as we have seen,
this body. Teuthlille’s messengers, announcing their arrival, had
already reached Montezuma; and he was deliberating in what manner he
should receive the strangers. In order to learn his decision, let us
return to the Spaniards on the sea-coast.
The Spaniards, supplied by the natives with plenty of everything which
they required, were waiting the return of the messengers to Montezuma.
After six days they returned, accompanied by Teuthlille. They bore
with them a splendid present from Montezuma to the Spanish emperor. It
consisted of loads of finely-wrought cotton, ornamented with
featherwork; and a miscellaneous collection of jewels and articles of
gold and silver, richly carved, of which the most attractive were two
circular plates as large as carriage-wheels, one of gold, valued at
more than fifty thousand pounds, and intended to represent the sun;
the other of silver, and representing the moon. As they gazed on the
kingly present, the Spaniards could scarcely contain their raptures.
The message which accompanied it, however, was less satisfactory.
Montezuma was happy to hear of the existence of his brother, the king
of Spain, and wished him to consider him as his friend; he could not,
however, come to see the Spaniards, and it was too far for them to
come and visit him. He therefore hoped they would depart, and carry
his respects to his brother, their monarch.
To this Cortez, thanking Montezuma for his present, replied that he
could not leave the country without being able to say to his king that
he had seen Montezuma with his own eyes; and the ambassadors again
departed, carrying a sorry present from Cortez to Montezuma. After
another interval of six days they returned, with another gift little
inferior in value of the former, and informed Cortez that the great
Montezuma had received his present with satisfaction, but that, as to
the interview, he could not permit any more to be said on the subject.
Cortez, though greatly mortified, thanked them politely, and returned
to Montezuma a second message to the same effect as the former, but
couched in more decided language. The Mexicans withdrew in distrust,
and ceased to barter with the Spaniards, or to bring them supplies.
Meanwhile differences had been springing up among the Spaniards
themselves, the partisans of Velasquez insisting that they ought now
to return to Cuba, and that it was folly to think of founding a
settlement. Pretending to yield to the clamors of these persons,
Cortez issued orders for embarkation on the following day. Immediately
the other party, consisting of the friends of Cortez, flocked to his
tent, and implored him not to give up the enterprise which had been so
successfully begun. This was precisely what Cortez wished.
Accordingly, after some delay he seemed to yield; and revoked the
order for embarkation, he announced his willingness to found a
settlement in the name of the Spanish sovereign. Forthwith the new
city, although not a stone of it had yet been raised, and the site had
alone been determined on, was named Villa Rica de la Vera Cruz――‘The
Rich Town of the True Cross.’ Magistrates were immediately appointed
in the king’s name; the two captains Puerto Carrero and Montejo, the
latter a friend of Velasquez, being nominated _alcaldes_, and others
to different offices. ‘Thus,’ says Mr. Prescott, ‘by a single stroke
of the pen the camp was transformed into a civil community.’
At the first sitting of the new magistracy, Cortez appeard before it,
with his cap doffed, and formally resigned his commission from
Velasquez into its hands. He then withdrew; but after a short time was
recalled, and informed that he had been unanimously appointed by them,
in the king’s name, ‘Captain-General and Chief-Justice of the colony.’
Thus, by a clever stroke of policy, had Cortez shaken off all
connection with Velasquez. He held his command now directly from the
king, and could be superseded only by royal authority. The friends of
Velasquez were at first furious with rage; but Cortez at length
soothed them into acquiescence.
A little before the conclusion of these proceedings, an event of some
consequence happened. This was the arrival in the Spanish camp of five
Indians, differing in dress and language from the Mexicans. They
informed Cortez that they were a deputation sent by the caçique of
Cempoalla, a city at a little distance on the sea-coast, the capital
of the Totonacs, a nation which had been recently conquered by
Montezuma, and was now groaning under his yoke. They were sent by
their caçique to beg a visit of the Spaniards to Campoalla. A light
instantly flashed upon the mind of Cortez. He saw that Montezuma’s
empire was not so firmly compacted as he had supposed, and that it
might be possible to divide it against itself, and so overthrow it. He
therefore dismissed the ambassadors kindly, and promised a speedy
visit to Campoalla.
Accordingly, as soon as the disturbance which had arisen among his men
was quashed, Cortez marched to Campoalla, a city not rich, but
prettily built, and containing a population, as it appeared, of about
thirty thousand inhabitants. He was cordially received by the caçique,
a large and very corpulent man. Remaining some time in Campoalla and
its neighborhood, while the city of Villa Rica was being built, the
Spaniards soon gained the reverence and good-will of the inhabitants,
the Totonacs, who willingly submitted themselves to the dominion of
the distant monarch Don Carlos, of whom the Spaniards told them. Here
the Spaniards were horrified by the symptoms of human sacrifice, which
were perpetually visible in the temples――the blood-stained walls, and
the fragments of human flesh which lay about; and, fired with
religious enthusiasm, they resolved to put a stop to such practices by
tearing down the idols. Cortez informed the caçique of his intention;
but although the announcement filled him with speechless dismay, no
opposition was offered, and the idols were broken in pieces, and burnt
before the eyes of the Totonacs, while the priests went about
shrieking like demons. ‘These priests,’ we are told, ‘were dressed in
long black mantles, like sheets with hoods: their robes reached to
their feet. Their long hair was matted together with clotted blood;
with some it reached to the waist, and with others to the feet: their
ears were torn and cut, and they smelt horribly, as it were of sulphur
and putrid flesh.’
The destruction of their idols did not alienate the Totonacs from the
Spaniards; on the contrary, it raised their opinion of them, inasmuch
as they saw the gods patient under the indignity. The intercourse of
the two parties, therefore, continued; and, by his frequent
conversations with the caçique, Cortez gained greater insight every
day into the condition of Montezuma’s empire.
By this time the town of Villa Rica had been nearly finished, and
nothing remained to prevent the Spaniards from commencing their march
into the interior. Before beginning it, however, Cortez deemed it
advisable to send a report of his proceedings to Spain, to be laid
before the king, knowing that Velasquez must have represented his
conduct in very disadvantageous terms to the home government.
Accordingly, Cortez drew up one letter, and the magistrates of the new
colony another, detailing the whole of the incidents of the expedition
down to the foundation of Villa Rica, and announcing that they were on
the point of commencing their march into the heart of the country. To
increase the effect of the letters, they were accompanied by nearly
all the gold that had been collected, together with the splendid gifts
of Montezuma, and such curiosities as might interest the learned of
Spain. The business of carrying these letters to the king was
intrusted to Montejo and Puerto Carrero, and they were instructed,
above all, to endeavor to secure the appointment of Cortez as
captain-general of the colony. On the 26th of July 1519, the little
ship set sail, freighted with a more precious cargo than had ever yet
been packed within the timbers of a vessel from the new world. The
pilot was instructed to make direct for Spain, landing at no
intermediate station, and especially avoiding Cuba.
The departure of this vessel seems to have raised thoughts of home in
the minds of some of those who were left behind. A conspiracy was
formed by some of the soldiers and sailors, along with the clergyman
Diaz, to sieze a vessel and return to Cuba. The conspiracy was
discovered; two of the ringleaders were hanged, and the rest whipped
or confined. Foreseeing, however, that such conspiracies would be
constantly occurring, unless effectual means were taken to prevent
them, Cortez came to the resolution, almost unparalleled in the annals
of heroism, of destroying the ships which had brought him to Mexico.
Accordingly, taking counsel with a few of his most attached followers,
he procured a report from the pilots that the vessels were not
seaworthy, and caused them to be broken in pieces and sunk, before the
majority were aware of his design. When the Spaniards thus saw
themselves shut up in a strange and populous country, with no means of
retreat, their first impulse was one of rage and despair, and Cortez
had nearly fallen a sacrifice. As he foresaw, however, the daring act
had the effect of bracing his men to a pitch of resolution all but
supernatural. Besides, by the destruction of the fleet, he obtained a
reinforcement of a hundred and ten men――the mariners formerly employed
in the ships being now converted into soldiers, and very good ones, as
it afterwards proved.
All being now ready, Cortez, leaving a considerable force as a
garrison to the new settlement of Villa Rica, under the command of
Juan de Escalante, set out from the territory of the Totonacs, on his
march inland, on the 16th of August 1519. His army consisted of four
hundred Spaniards on foot, and fifteen horse, accompanied by thirteen
hundred Cempoallan warriors, and a thousand _tamanes_, or Indian body
slaves, furnished by the caçique of Cempoalla, who were to carry the
heavy burdens, and perform other laborious offices. Advancing through
the tierra caliente, they began to ascend the mountains which separate
it from the vast table-land of Anahuac. A few days’ march across the
tierra templada and the tierra fria, brought the Spaniards to a small
mountain province of Tlascala, situated about half-way between the
sea-coast and the Mexican valley. The Tlascalans were a brave and
high-spirited people, of the same race as the Aztecs. They had
refused, however, to submit to the empire of Montezuma, and were the
only people in Anahuac who bade defiance to his power, preferring
poverty and hardship in their mountain home to the loss of
independence. The government of Tlascala was a kind of feudalism. Four
lords or caçiques held their courts in different quarters of the same
city, independently of each other, and yet mutually allied; and under
these four chieftans the Tlascalan population, nobles and commons, was
ranged as subjects. On the approach of the Spaniards, a consultation
was held among the Tlascalan lords and their counselors as to how the
strangers should be received; some being inclined to welcome them, in
hopes of being able, by their assistance, to cope with Montezuma;
others maintaining that the Spaniards were enemies, who ought to be
repulsed by all means. The latter opinion prevailed, and three
desperate battles were fought between the Tlascalans under the command
of Xicotencatl, a brave and able young chief, the son of one of the
four caçiques, and the Spanish invaders. These engagements were far
more serious than the battles which the Spaniards had fought with the
Tabascans; and it required the utmost exertion of Castilian valor,
directed by all the ability of Cortez, to gain the victory. But Indian
courage against the flower of European chivalry――the _maquahuitl_, or
war-club, dreadful instrument as it was, with its sharp flinty blades,
against muskets and artillery――coatings of war-paint, or doublets of
featherwork, against Spanish mail――were a very unequal contest; and,
as usual, the losses of the Spaniards were as nothing compared with
the apparent fierceness of the struggle. But how could the little army
hope to advance through a country where such battles had to be fought
at every step? If such were their reception by the Tlascalans, what
might they not expect from the richer and more powerful Mexicans? Such
were the reflections of the Spanish soldiery. The idea of their ever
reaching Mexico, says Bernal Diaz, was treated as a jest by the whole
army. Fortunately, when these murmurs were reaching their height, the
Tlascalans submitted, and sent ambassadors to beg the friendship of
the Spaniards; and on the 23d of September 1519 the Spaniards entered
the city of Tlascala, a large and populous town, which Cortez compared
to Grenada in Spain. Here they were cordially received by the four
caçiques, and especially by the elder Xicotencatl; and in a short time
an intimacy sprung up between the Tlascalans and the invaders, and a
treaty was concluded, by which the Tlascalans bound themselves to
assist the Spaniards throughout the rest of their expedition. Here, as
elsewhere, Cortez showed his zeal for the Catholic faith by
endeavoring to convert the natives; and it is probable that the same
scenes of violence would have taken place at Tlascala as at Cempoalla,
had not the judicious father Olmedo interfered to temper the more
headlong fanaticism of the general.
While in Tlascala, Cortez received various embassies from provinces in
the neighborhood anxious to secure his good-will. About the same time
an embassy was received from Montezuma himself, entreating Cortez not
to place any reliance upon the Tlascalans, whom he represented as
treacherous barbarians; and now inviting him, in cordial terms, to
visit his capital, pointing out the route through the city of Cholula
as the most convenient. This route was accordingly adopted, and the
Spaniards, accompanied by an army of six thousand Tlascalan warriors,
advanced by it towards Mexico. Their approach gave great alarm, and
Montezuma set on foot a scheme for their massacre at Cholula, which,
however, was discovered by Cortez, who took a terrible vengeance on
the sacred city. Montezuma, overawed, again made overtures of
reconciliation, and promised the Spaniards an immense quantity of gold
if they would advance no farther. This Cortez refused, and the Spanish
army, with the Tlascalan warriors, left Cholula, and proceeded on
their march, met everywhere by deputations from neighboring towns,
many of which were disaffected to the government of Montezuma. The
route of the army lay between two gigantic volcanic mountains, and the
march, for a day or two, was toilsome, and bitterly cold. At last,
‘turning an angle of the sierra, they suddenly came on a view which
more than compensated their toils. It was that of the valley of
Mexico; which, with its picturesque assemblage of water, woodland, and
cultivated plains, its shining cities and shadowy hills, were spread
out like some gay and gorgeous panorama before them. Stretching far
away at their feet were seen noble forests of oak, sycamore, and
cedar; and beyond, yellow fields of maize, and the towering maguey,
intermingled with orchards and blooming gardens. In the centre of the
great basin were beheld the lakes, their borders thickly studded with
towns and hamlets; and in the midst, like some Indian empress with her
coronal of pearls, the fair city of Mexico, with her white towers and
pyramidal temples, reposing, as it were, on the bosom of the
waters――the far-famed “Venice of the Aztecs.”’
Descending into the valley, the Spaniards halted at Ajotzinco, a town
on the banks of the southernmost of the five lakes. Meanwhile
Montezuma was in an agony of indecision. When intelligence reached him
that the Spaniards had actually descended into the valley, he saw that
he must either face the strangers on the field of battle, or admit
them into his capital. His brother, Cuitlahua, advised the former; but
his nephew, Cacama, the young lord of Tezcuco, was of the contrary
opinion, and Montezuma at length sent him to meet the Spaniards, and
welcome them to his dominions. Cacama accordingly set out in state,
and arrived at Ajotzinco just as the Spaniards were about to leave it.
When he came into the presence of Cortez, he said to him, ‘Malintzin,
here am I and these lords come to attend you to your residence in our
city, by order of the great Montezuma.’ Cortez embraced the prince,
and presented him with some jewels. After a while Cacama took his
leave, and the Spaniards resumed their march. Traveling along the
southern and western banks of Lake Chalco, they crossed the causeway
which divides it from Lake Zochichalco, and advanced along the margin
of the latter to the royal city of Iztapalapan, situated on the banks
of the great Tezcucan lake over against Mexico. To the eyes of the
Spaniards, all they saw in their journey seemed fairy land.