As we have seen, the little province of Tlaxcalla was situated in an isolated position among the mountains, holding itself independent, and always hostile to the Confederates of the Valley, as the Mexicans and their allies are now called. The Conquistadores describe it as a formidable state, bearing the name of a republic, of ancient origin and advanced civilization. They speak of its capital as a splendid city, divided into four quarters, each governed by an hereditary chieftain, who exercised his authority over a number of dependent villages assigned to him. They give to the little republic, which contained scarcely fifty square miles, the dignity of a confederacy of four separate states with one common head.
In this constant exaggeration we must remember that Cortés was in the hands of the interpreters, one of them Malintzi, who may have used the word for republic when she meant tribe, and splendid city instead of pueblo. We may allow ourselves to think that.
The Tlaxcallans were an orderly, excellent people; to gain the friendship of such a tribe was highly important to the Spanish conqueror. To theirloyalty and good faith he applied the arts of his eloquence and bravery, and awaited at a distance the results of an embassy which he sent forward. There was a stormy discussion in the councils of Tlaxcalla, between the chiefs who welcomed allies against their great enemy, Montezuma, and those who feared the intervention of unknown warriors, come from afar, of whose intentions they had no means of judging. Those which prevailed were for a third course, by which a trap was laid for the Spaniards without implicating at first the Tlaxcallans.
Cortés, impatient of delay, pressed forward without waiting for his answer, and found himself, September 2, 1519, before an army of Otomis, a tribe friendly to the Tlaxcallans, whom they had persuaded to attack the strangers, without mixing in the fight themselves. Cortés easily repulsed this savage band, and without pressing his advantage, again attempted negotiations with the republic; but by this time a haughty message was returned to him that "the strangers which the sea had thrown up could come if they chose to the great city, to become sacrifices to the gods and served up at a sacred festival." Cortés, of course, was firm, and on the 5th of September, 1519, took place the first real struggle between the army of the old world, which in this case appeared the new one, and the brave descendants of an ancient race.
The Tlaxcallans, led by the young and brave General Xicotencatl, fought bravely, but the result was in favor of the little band of Spaniards, after a hot contest of but four hours. The Tlaxcallans returnedto their city, and consulted their oracle. The head priest pronounced that their enemies were children of the sun, and invincible during the day, while their father was shining in the sky, but that by night they would lose their strength and be like other mortals.
The next night, encouraged by this divine decree, an attack was made, but Cortés was on his guard. The enemy, who, relying on their priests, had imagined they were marching to certain victory, took flight, in abject terror.
After this, the Tlaxcallans made no further resistance. Peace was solemnly concluded, and the republic recognized as a vassal to the crown of Castile, pledging itself to sustain Cortés in all his expeditions. Mass was celebrated, and the conclusion of the treaty was an occasion of great joy. This alliance was absolutely important to Cortés. The Tlaxcallans remained to the end faithful to it; later on, without their support, and their chief city to fall back upon, the conqueror must have inevitably failed in his enterprise.
The Tlaxcallans consented to accept the God of the Christians, but were unwilling to give up their old protecting divinities for fear of appearing ungrateful to them. Cortés insisted upon the abolition of human sacrifices, and himself made a chapel in the palace assigned to him and erected in it the cross. The first mass celebrated there attracted immense crowds, and many natives, especially young girls of good birth, were voluntarily baptized.
The Conquistadores entered Tlaxcalla the 22d of September, receiving demonstrations of the greatestfriendship. Here Cortés rested awhile, but only in order to cement his good relations, and to obtain information how best to proceed. He himself is said to have been so ill from fever that he could hardly keep his seat in the saddle, but this man of iron habitually disregarded the troubles of the flesh.
His next step was to Cholula, where he was received with apparent cordiality; but Malintzi's vigilance discovered a plot for the destruction of the Spanish army. Cortés resolved to punish this treachery by an example. He collected all the principal Cholultecas in a large court, accused them of perfidy, and, without listening to explanations, put them to general slaughter, so that "in two hours," according to the letter of Cortés describing the affair, "perished more than three thousand natives." The body of the Tlaxcallans who had joined themselves to this expedition, gathered rich booty from it, and returned home well content with the prowess of their new ally.
Cortés then issued a general pardon. Calm returned to the streets of Cholula, and the people of the surrounding villages poured in to do honor to the terrible conqueror. Emissaries from Mexico, who witnessed this bloody triumph, were not slow to describe it to their sovereign, who became more and more frightened and despairing.
Cortés stayed two weeks in Cholula, before setting out again for Mexico. It was thus early that he received overtures of alliance from Ixtlilxochitl, king of a portion of Texcuco, who was in constant warfare with his brother Cacamatzin. These young men,it will be remembered, were nephews of Montezuma, who, in the quarrel between them had defended the cause of Cacamatzin, so that the neglected brother detested him. Like all the rest of Montezuma's kindred who played into the hands of his enemy, Ixtlilxochitl had later reason to regret his hasty recognition of the stranger, who came to seize and adopt for his own every thing, regardless of small quarrels and petty animosities. This early alliance with one of the neighboring chiefs was of great advantage to Cortés though he scarcely understood then its importance.
Ixtlilxochitl sent ambassadors as far as Tlaxcalla to invite Cortés to pass through his territory on his way to Mexico. Cacamatzin, on the other hand, indignant at the disregard shown to the wishes of his royal uncle by the Europeans, hastened to Texcuco, resolved to collect an army and declare war against them, but Montezuma, with a faithlessness not to be excused by his terror, himself set an ambuscade for his nephew, and handed him over to Cortés, who had him loaded with chains and imprisoned.
Through the influence of Montezuma, Cortés allowed a third son of the late King Nezahualpilli to occupy his throne. This was Cuicuicatzin, twelfth king at Texcuco. He was loyal to the Spaniards. It would seem that he stayed by them even through the terrors of thenoche triste; and that returning to Mexico after that sad night, being considered, with some reason, to be a spy of the Spaniards, he was killed by the order of the successor of Montezuma.
Followed by a horde of Cholulans and Tlaxcallans, Cortés set out on his difficult journey across the plateau, impeded by tempests and sandstorms. The view they got of the fair valley of Mexico made them forget all their fatigues. At their feet were noble forests; farther on they saw cultivated fields, and in the centre of an immense fertile basin the lakes, bordered with cities and villages; in the middle of the panorama was the city, Mexico the Proud, resting upon its waters, and crowned with towers and pyramidal temples. Above the capital rose, on the hill Chapultepec, the favorite resort of the Mexican monarch, surrounded by its great cypresses. Farther off was seen Texcuco, not less fair than Tenochtitlan, and, round about all, the girdle of irregular mountains which enclose and form this incomparable picture.
Cortés was seized with enthusiasm at the sight. This was his promised land. Boldly he pressed onward to success, in spite of his feeble means.
At Ayotzinco, Cacama came forth to meet the strangers, King of Texcuco, loyal to Montezuma, a splendid young man of twenty-five, richly dressed. He brought presents for the invaders, but urged them even then to turn back. Cortés replied with courtesy but firmness that nothing would deter him from entering Mexico. "In that case," replied Cacama, "I will return to the court"; and without any thing which could be considered an invitation, he withdrew with his suite.
On the 8th of November the Spaniards found themselves on the great avenue leading to the capital.Here Montezuma came to meet them with the greatest splendor, of costume and retinue. Magnificent carpets were spread on the ground, the monarch descended from his palanquin with a bouquet in his hand, supported on either side by his brother and nephew. Cortés approached him with respect and put about his neck a chain of gold ornamented with paltry colored beads.
Montezuma, calm and dignified at this critical moment, welcomed Fernando to his capital, where the gods had long announced his coming. Then he entered his palanquin again, leaving the two princes to escort the Spaniards to the palace he destined to receive them.
The adventurers followed with their eyes the royalcortégeas it vanished along a wide street which they describe as lined with sumptuous palaces. No one was looking on in the streets, and the silence of death reigned in the city. By royal command the whole population abstained from coming out to welcome these audacious intruders.
Cortés understood the lesson, and it is said that he then and there made a vow, that if he should escape safely from this enterprise he would erect a church upon that very spot.
He built in fact later the hospice and church of Jesu-Nazareno—in compliance with this vow.
The ancient palace of Axayacatl was prepared to receive the strangers, within whose walls were ample accommodations for the leaders of the little host.
Cortés proceeded at once to explore the capital, its paved causeways and lagoons. He devoted himself to gaining the friendship of Montezuma, and strove to incline him to embrace the Catholic religion and become a subject of the king of Spain. The bewildered king listened to these persuasions, transmitted to him through the lips of Malintzi-Marina, with amazement and dread. He scarcely understood the import of the words, and the doctrine of the Cross, thus suddenly presented to him, was only a puzzle. Cortés had but little patience with his pupil. His own situation was full of peril, in the midst of a large population who showed no cordiality towards the Spaniards. He resolved upon the bold measure of seizing the person of Montezuma.
Having found a pretext for a visit, Cortés waited on the monarch in his palace. An audience was readily granted. He was graciously received by Montezuma, who entered into light conversation through the interpreters, and gave little presentsto the Spanish general and his attendants. He readily listened to the complaints brought by Cortés against certain caciques who had killed some Spaniards. Cortés then coolly suggested that it would be better for Montezuma to transfer his residence to the palace occupied by the Spaniards, as a sign to his people of his perfect confidence, as well as a proof to the king and master of Cortés that he was loyal to the strangers.
Montezuma listened to this proposal with looks of profound amazement. He became pale under his dark skin, but in a moment his face flushed with resentment; and he utterly declined the proposal. The visit was prolonged in discussion and persuasion, always gentle on the part of Cortés, but one of his companions, Velasquez de Léon, to cut short the matter, proposed seizing the king, with such fierce note and gesture, that Montezuma, alarmed, asked Marina what had been said. She strove to explain the exclamation in a gentle fashion, and besought him so tenderly to yield, that the poor king finally consented to quit his own palace and allowed himself to be led away. With their sovereign thus in his power, Cortés, with his wonderful tact and resource, might have succeeded in his plan of peaceably subjugating the Mexicans, but unfortunately at that time he had to leave the capital for Vera Cruz, where Narvaez, an emissary from the governor of Cuba, had just landed, with directions to dispossess Cortés of his command. The affair took only a little while, for Cortés surprised the new-comer in his own quarters at Cempoallan, routed him entirely, and carriedoff to join his own troops the forces sent against him from Cuba, a very timely addition, especially the horses, of which he was greatly in need.
This despatched, he returned in all haste to Mexico, which he had left in the hands of Don Pedro de Alvarado, whose unflinching bravery was spoiled by his cruel and sanguinary temper. Entirely lacking the good judgment of Cortés, he had in his absence involved the Spaniards in ruin. The month of May had arrived, in which the Mexicans were accustomed to hold a great festival in honor of Huitzilopochtli. By this time, the supremacy of the Spaniards had become so established, through the weakness of Montezuma that they asked the permission of Alvarado to have it. He consented, but in the middle of the night, when they were all assembled in the temple, unarmed and carelessly engaged in dancing and the festive ceremonies of the occasion, Alvarado entered with fifty Spaniards and in wholesale destruction killed them all. The population arose, and when Cortés came back he found Alvarado and the army besieged in their quarters and at the point of being overcome by the enraged populace.
Cortés, in dismay, disgusted with the folly of his lieutenant, knew not how to escape from its result. For several days the Mexicans attacked the Spaniards in their head-quarters. Cortés made several sallies and engaged in terrible combats with compact masses of the natives, but always had to retreat to his quarters, with losses that daily diminished his small army.
At last he persuaded Montezuma to ascend to theazotea, a flat roof of the palace, in order there to addresshis subjects and exhort them to suspend the attack. With repugnance the humbled monarch yielded, and emerged on the parapet. Opposite to him, he could easily discern animating the crowd who surged below, Cuitlahuatzin, his own brother, according to custom the general in chief, and probable successor to the throne.
Montezuma was clothed in his imperial robes; his mantle of white and blue flowed over his shoulders, held together by a rich clasp of green stone. Emeralds set in gold profusely ornamented his dress. The royal diadem was on his brow, and golden sandals on his feet. He was preceded by the golden wand of office, and surrounded by a few Aztec nobles. His presence was instantly recognized by the people, and a sudden change came over the scene. A death-like stillness pervaded the whole assembly, so that the voice of the monarch was distinctly heard. He addressed the people mildly, but when they found that he was urging mercy toward the stranger, the calm was turned to fury, the populace redoubled its cries and threats, and arrows and stones were aimed even at the Emperor, one of which wounded him fatally in the head.
The unhappy prince was borne to his apartment below. He had tasted the bitter cup of degradation. It may have been the simple effect of the wound, or his despair, which determined him to tear off the bandages, or, as the Aztecs think, a Spanish dagger which finally despatched him. Not many days after this supreme insult by his people, he died on the 30th of June, 1520.
Due respect was shown to his memory; his body was committed to the charge of his subjects, and borne by nobles, it is said, to Chapultepec, to be laid among the tombs of his ancestors, under the sadahuehuetes. At least, this is the received account. A Mexican story says that on the night of the departure of the Spaniards the corpse of the monarch was dashed to pieces, by his enraged people, upon a tortoise of stone which stood in a corner of the palace of Axayacatl. And here, say theindios, wanders the melancholy spirit of Montezuma, under the gloomy cypress, restless and unable to sleep the sleep of death, lamenting the lost Tenochtitlan and the happy days of the Aztecs. Here comes also Malintzi, whom, when she meets him, the sad shade accosts: "Why, Malintzi, didst thou betray me to the stranger why didst thou plead with me for his cause?"
And the other sighs and wrings her hands and asks herself the same vain question.
There are other shadows, too, that frequent the moss-hung alleys of Chapultepec, but these are creatures of a later day and unheeded by the sorrowful phantoms of the victims of the Conquest.
As this is the story of the Mexicans, and not of the Conquest only, and as moreover that period of Mexican history is fully elsewhere described, we must pass slightly over the continued adventures of Cortés.
When the adventurer saw that the presence of the monarch had produced no good effect upon his subjects, he withdrew to head-quarters, and after a consultationwith his captains, resolved to abandon the city and to cut a passage for himself and his army, through the enraged assemblage of his enemies. This difficult and dangerous task was effected on the night of July 1, 1520.
It was impossible to conceal so great a movement from the Mexicans. As soon as they became aware of it, they attacked the little army on its march, destroyed bridges before them, while suddenly the lagoons were covered with canoas from which showered arrows upon the Spaniards. Many soldiers were killed or drowned. They set out loaded with booty which they had seized in their palace, and their treasures impeded their progress, so that every Spaniard had to choose between abandoning these precious objects or saving his life. Quantities of gold and precious things according to the report, were thrown into the canals.
Cortés, himself under a thousand dangers, succeeded in effecting his escape from the city to a spot where, under a large tree, he threw himself down to rest, and there reviewed the whole extent of his misfortune, recognized the loss of his most faithful and bravest companions, and faced the maimed condition of the last of his army. Tears came to the eyes of the bold commander, and for a moment all his vigor and energy abandoned him.
Some few of his companions, however, were left to him. Alvarado, on whom rests the real blame in this disaster, had escaped by a miraculous leap across a breach in the causeway which it was necessary to pass. Pressing his long lance firmly on the bottomof the shallow lake, strewed with wrecks of every sort, he sprang across the chasm to the amazement of the beholders. Several others were there, and above all, Marina was safe in the hands of some Tlaxcallans who had faithfully protected her.
This fearful escape is called universally theNoche triste. The tree under which Cortés sat and wept is a venerable cypress still alive. It has been in perfect health until a few years ago, when a fire was lighted underneath it, by some foolish pic-nic party, which burned into its huge trunk. Since then an iron railing has been put up to protect it. The picturesque old Church of San Esteban stands near it. It is at Popotla, a suburb of the modern city easily attained by tram-cars, through crowded modern streets, where nothing is to be recognized of the calzadas of the Aztecs. The line of houses is broken in one place on the way to Popotla by a space shut in with a low wall and iron grating. Here, says tradition, is the very point in the causeway where Alvarado leaped the breach. As there is no indication nor tradition of the actual width of the chasm, our wonder is without any limit.
Cortés did not allow himself time to repose or despair. As the dawn broke he mounted his horse, and gathering together such stragglers as he could find, he led them out into the country to the Cerro of Otoncalpolco, now the Sanctuary de los Remedios. Here, weary and discouraged as he was, he attacked with his little band the natives who were defending the teocalli there was there, and drove them out. In this shelter he took care of his wounds and those ofhis men, and united the dispersed remnants of his army.
This sanctuary is now the abode of an image of the Holy Virgin, of which the legend is that it was brought to Mexico by one of the soldiers of Cortés, and that during the first stay of the Spaniards in Tenochtitlan it was permitted to be set up in a shrine of the great teocalli among the Aztec gods. It was carried thence on the fatalNoche triste, by its possessor, when he sought shelter in this very temple with the rest of the shattered Spanish army. And there he left it hidden under a maguey, being too sorely wounded to carry it farther, where it was found and made an object of veneration.
The accounts of losses in this conflict are varying. According to our present authority, the Spaniards lost four hundred and fifty men, twenty-six horses, and about four thousand allied Indians. On the Mexican losses it is impossible to speculate, but the artillery and fire-arms of their enemies must have made frightful havoc in the crowds of people who swarmed through the streets during the night.
The Mexicans drew a long breath after the departure of the enemy. It is true their emperor was ignominiously slain, covered with the contempt and scorn of his own subjects. His two sons, whom Cortés carried with him as prisoners, perished in the flight. The streets ran with blood and were strewn with corpses. The beautiful city was defaced, the causeways shattered, the bridges destroyed, and many of the houses burnt down. But it was freed from the odius presence of the stranger, who they imagined would never return. In fact the Aztecs conceived him and his army to be absolutely annihilated. They set about restoring their tumbled down gods to their places, and contemplated appeasing Huitzilopochtli for the indignity with which he had been treated, by a new course of sacrifices.
Cuitlahuatzin, brother of Montezuma, was elected emperor. He had fought valiantly in the struggle, and shown heroic courage in driving Cortés from the capital, which it was his determination to enforce. He began the slow task of gathering the army together, and bringing order out of confusion, but a few days only after the great battle, he was attackedby small-pox. This disease, never before known among the Aztecs, was one of the misfortunes bequeathed to them by the Spaniards. A negro, who had just come up with Cortés, on his return from Vera Cruz, one of his recruits belonging to Narvaez, had the malady, and died of it, spreading contagion in the capital.
Cuahtemoc succeeded, the thirteenth and last king. He was of a different stock, the sons of Axayacatl all being destroyed, of the family of the friendly kings of the little neighboring state of Tlaltelolco. He embraced with enthusiasm the cause of his country, and attacked vigorously the work of restoration. He was but little more than twenty years old.
The tranquillity of the capital was but brief. In less than a week rumors came that the terrible white warrior was not killed, but alive, strong and determined as ever. Many of the Aztecs conceived him to be immortal, and it is scarcely to be wondered at. Cortés had gathered together the little remnant of his army, who crept along a winding route north of the city absolutely ignorant of their way, and what they might encounter. When light came, so that they were observed, stones and arrows were aimed at them by chance natives from above. For several days and nights they slowly advanced, living on the few ears of maize they found; for all provision was carried off from the deserted villages they passed through by the inhabitants as soon as they saw them approach. Cortés was always brave, cheerful, and even encouraging in these dark days. In this toilsomemarch seven days were passed, and then they came upon the strange pyramid of the sun and moon, at San Juan Teotihuacan, supposed to be the work of the earliest dwellers upon Anahuac, older than the Toltecs. These they make no mention of in their narrative, and we may well suppose they scarcely noticed them, for a sight more impressive and awe-inspiring soon after met their eyes, as they turned the crest of a ridge they had been climbing,—a full-fledged army stretched out before them, filling up the valley of Otumba, and giving it the appearance of being covered with snow, for the warriors were dressed in white cotton mail.
Cuitlahua had lost no time. As soon as he heard of the survival of the invader's army, he wasted not a moment. No puerile fear, no fatalistic paralysis restrained his understanding. Ably seconded by the warriors of the army, now roused to the importance of the occasion, he gathered a noble army. Every chief took the field with his whole force, and in a wonderfully short space of time a large army was collected and marched against the fugitives, having learned their course among the mountains.
PYRAMID AT TEOTIHUACAN
The Spaniards were but a handful, and the few Tlaxcallans who were with them increased the force but little. Gathering themselves together, they dashed directly into the midst of the Aztec army, on their horses, with the intention of cutting themselves a path through the ranks. Flight, and not conquest, was their only thought. They were soon surrounded, but defended themselves desperately. Several hours had passed, when the chief of the army was seen advancing on a litter, richly dressed, with plumes upon his head, a mantle of feather-work, and the banner of Tenochtitlan floating from his shoulders. Around him, to protect his sacred person, were a body of young warriors, richly dressed. It was a shining mark, and Cortés sprang towards it on his charger. Coming down upon the prince, and overturning his bearers, he struck him through with his lance and threw him to the ground. One of his men sprang from the saddle, seized the banner, and gave it to Cortés quick as a flash. It was all over in a moment. A panic ensued. The whole Mexican army fled in confusion, convinced that they fought against odds too great, human skill against the power of the immortals.
The Spaniards followed up the flying army, killing right and left, and then returned to the battle-field to gather up booty from the rich costumes of the dead and wounded left upon the field. This was the famous battle of Otumba, one of the most extraordinary in history, fought on the 8th of July, 1520. This encounter at Otumba is regarded by Baudelier as grossly exaggerated. He reduces the number of the attacking army to a much smaller proportion, but does credit to the bravery of Cortés and his men. He considers the episode, the fall of the standard-bearer deciding the fight, as completely in accordance with Indian modes of warfare.
Whatever remained to tell the melancholy tale came back to the capital. The inhabitants were filled with their old terror, but Cuahtemoc retained his courage, and only made more vigorous exertionsthan before, seeing that his work was not only to restore the capital, but to prepare the country for another conflict. He collected great stores of corn in the warehouses, fortified all the places he considered exposed to attack, shattered the calzadas, or causeways, and got ready a large fleet of canoas. He worked with all diligence, for he was kept well informed of the proceedings of the enemy, and knew that Cortés had arrived safe within the boundaries of Tlaxcalla. And, indeed, before the end of the year the renewed attack began.
The distance from Otumba to Tlaxcalla was short, and the Spaniards were not further interrupted. The returned Tlaxcallans were received at home with great honors, and in spite of the disasters of the Spaniards, they remained faithful to the stranger. Cortés reposed among them, recovering from his own wounds, and giving his companions time to rest and refresh themselves. Meanwhile, he was forming new projects and drawing closer the bond of friendship with his hosts. The wise old Maxixcatzin, his first friend and constant supporter, died at that time, but the other Tlaxcallans continued their favor.
By December, only six months from his return to Tlaxcalla, Cortés had succeeded in making a new army of respectable proportion. Ixtlilxochitl now ruled undisturbed over the whole of Texcuco, after the death of his brothers, who had resisted the cause of the invaders. He was the fourteenth and last monarch of his country, of which he was the greatest enemy, fatal to it as well as to his own race andfamily. From the beginning a prudent ally of Cortés, after the retreat of the Spanish army to Texcuco, he sent him renewed offers of aid, and raised a large troop of soldiers for the invading army. Without them and other indigenous bands Cortés would have been badly off. Thus increased, his new army reached the reputed number of two hundred thousand men. With these he came to Texcuco, by two days' march, halting at a little village at the base of Iztaccíhuatl, the companion volcano of Popocatepetl, which, stretched like a corpse in its shroud of everlasting snow, bears the name of the White Woman. The Spanish army entered Texcuco on the last day of the year, December 31, 1520, and here was conducted to the palace of Nezahualpilli, a building spacious enough to accommodate all the Spaniards. The town, as on his first entrance at Tenochtitlan, was deserted, and Cortés learned that whole families were leaving in boats and by the mountain paths. A weaker heart might have sunk at the repetition of such intimations of dislike, but the Spanish conqueror's heart was inflexible. Ixtlilxochitl received him with all cordiality, and presented to him the body of fifty thousand men he had raised, a substantial gift, which was in itself encouraging.
It was a great advantage to Cortés to have Texcuco for his head-quarters. He had caused to be made in Tlaxcalla thirteen brigantines for crossing the lake. These were put together after his arrival and launched upon the water, through a little stream which had to be enlarged by the work of thousands of Indians, which led from the gardens of Nezahualcoyotlto the lake. These brigantines, constructed in part of the timbers of his own ships which he had left scuttled at Vera Cruz, supplemented by quantities of native canoas, made a respectable fleet. During these preparations Cortés was bringing the whole neighborhood into his control, either by conquest or negotiation. As we have seen, the Mexicans were by no means beloved by the smaller powers. It was not until the latter part of May, 1521, that the regular siege of the city of Mexico began. The first division of the army was given to the formidable Pedro de Alvarado, called by the Mexicans Tonatiah, which means the sun, or all powerful. The second division was assigned to Christobal de Olid, and the third to Gonzalo de Sandoval. These three were all his trusty companions, who had shown themselves from the first as daring, as enduring, as invincible as himself. Only in the characteristics of superior forethought, judgment, and tact did Cortés exceed them. To himself he reserved the conduct of the brigantines upon the lake.
The whole campaign against Mexico lasted eight months, while the siege proper was maintained for eighty days. The Spaniards attacked time and again with their artillery, and slew thousands of Mexicans. They penetrated even to the heart of the capital but were driven back. Cortés himself, and all his captains, ran several times great risk of being slain or taken prisoners. The native allies could not be, or were not, restrained from plundering and burning houses and killing men, women, and children.
Upon the lake the brigantines besides assistingthe land attack, mastered and sank the canoes of the enemy in great numbers. The temples were burned; the new images of the gods, put in place since the first sack of the teocalli, were thrown down and hustled into the lake; whole streets were demolished, and with their ruins the canals were filled up.
Cortés made various propositions of peace to Cuahtemoc, but the brave young monarch, in spite of the hunger which reigned in the besieged city, the multitude of corpses heaped in the streets, although he saw before him the inevitable ruin of his kingdom, was unwilling to surrender until the supreme moment came when further resistance was impossible. On the 13th of August, 1521, Cuahtemoc was concealed in apiragua, or boat, leaving the attack, in order to command elsewhere. His presence there was suspected and the boat followed. Just as the pursuers were aiming their cross-bows, a young warrior, fully armed, rose and said, "I am Cuahtemoc, lead me to your chief." On landing, he was escorted to the presence of Cortés, who was stationed on anazotcawhere he could survey the combat. Marina was by his side as interpreter. Cuahtemoc approached with a calm bearing and firm step, a noble, well-proportioned youth, it is said, with a complexion fair for one of his race. Without waiting to be addressed he said: "I have done my best to defend my people. Deal with me as you will," and touching the dagger in Cortés' belt, he added, "Despatch me at once, I beseech you."
The wife of the captive king was now sent for; she was one of the daughters of Montezuma, and ofwonderful beauty it is said. The captive pair were treated with kindness, rest and refreshment offered to them.
It was the hour of vespers when the Aztec monarch surrendered. This was the end of the contest. During that night a tremendous tempest burst on the fallen city of Tenochtitlan. Thunder and lightning shook the shattered teocallis and levelled them to the ground. The elements finished what the Conquistadores had begun,—the ancient city of the Aztecs was in ruins.
After the surrender of Tenochtitlan, Cortés withdrew to Coyoacán, still a picturesque old town in the suburbs of the modern city. There he remained while the capital was rebuilt. It is said that he gave a banquet to his captains in honor of the victory they had achieved, an occasion made genial by some good wine which opportunely arrived just then at Vera Cruz. The house he occupied with Marina, is still to be seen on the northern side of the plaza of the little town. Over the doorway are carved the arms of the conqueror, much obscured by repeated coats of whitewash. In the church-yard is a stone cross set up on a little mound, said to have been placed there by Cortés himself. His first labor was to cleanse the city and dispose of the dead, then to clear away the ruins in order to erect new buildings. The Spaniards were greatly disappointed not to find vast treasures belonging to the Aztec crown, which they were convinced were somewhere concealed. To his everlasting dishonor Cortés allowed Cuahtemoc to be tortured by putting his feet in boiling oil, inorder that he might reveal where such treasure was to be found. The king of Tlacopan was tortured also for the same object, but with no result. Both victims were of opinion that the precious objects so coveted by the Spaniards, if they existed at all, must have been thrown into the lake, but the Spaniards explored in vain the bottom of the shallow expanse and found nothing. If such treasures were there, there they still remain.
The country was put under military rule, although the Mexican chiefs were allowed to retain their titles and nominal authority. Cortés assumed the titles of Governor, Captain General, and Chief-Justice, in all of which he was later confirmed by the King of Spain. He had next to make sure of the subjugation of the other tribes of Anahuac. He organized expeditions and embassies to all the peoples thereabouts, and among others to Michoacan, where, as we have seen, was a kingdom of strength and power, which had never surrendered to the Aztecs. Tangaxoan II., when he heard of the conquest of Mexico, awaited his own turn with terror. Cortés at first sent a peaceful ambassador, led by a soldier named Montaño, who returned after some dangers with a detailed account of the wonders of Calzonzi—the name given this monarch by the Spaniards. Shortly afterwards Christobal de Olid was sent out with seventy horses and two hundred foot soldiers; this force was sufficient to subjugate the monarch and make him swear allegiance to the King of Spain. Afterwards Calzonzi came to Mexico on a visit to Cortés; he beheld with amazement the ruins of thegreat city which he had never seen in the days of its splendor. The destruction of his hereditary rival gave him much to reflect upon, and hastened his willingness to accept the religion of the Conquistadores. In his ancient capital of Tzintzuntzan there is a pathetic picture, crude and of course not ancient, which depicts the Tarascan king accepting the cross.
During the rule of Cortés, Tangaxoan lived peacefully, enjoying the nominal control of his vast kingdom. In the course of three years, Cortés greatly extended the dominion of Castile in New Spain, as it was then called; for all his conquests were of course referred to his sovereign, Charles V. of Spain, to whom from time to time he sent presents of gold, specimens of the wealth of the new possessions. His power extended as far as Honduras, where Christobal de Olid was put in power. At a safe distance from his chief, Olid conceived the foolish idea of asserting his personal control, and made himself king of the colony. Olid lost his life in this attempt; and Cortés determined to go himself to Honduras. It was on this expedition that, without knowing it, he passed close to the ruins of the serpent city, Nachan, now Palenque. But, as we have seen, Cortés was more in the way of making ruins on his own account, than of regarding the mighty ones wrought by time; and had he known of the existence of the city, it is doubtful whether he would have stopped to cut away the massive growth in which it was concealed. In Izancapac, a Tabascan town, Cortés suddenly ordered the death of the three royal captives of Anahuac, whom he had brought thus far with him, perhaps for thispurpose. On the charge of a conspiracy to restore the Aztec rule, they were hung upon a ceyba tree,—Cuahtemoc, and the kings of Tacuba and Texcuco,—all denying any thought of conspiracy.
This was the sad end of the life of Cuahtemoc, the last of the Aztec kings. The rest of the native chiefs died off gradually, so that in a few years, all the old governments of the country were obliterated. Few of the other states discovered by the Spaniards made resistance, and none of them any thing like that of the Mexican. Remains of various uncivilized tribes retreated to the sierras or the deserts of the north, where they continued for generations in perpetual war with the white race.
During the remainder of his life, Cortés made several voyages to Spain to defend his interests and arrange his affairs. In Mexico he employed the greater part of his time and fortune in the discovery of new lands in the neighborhood of Jalisco and the western coast. Finally, considering himself neglected and overlooked, he returned to Spain to make one more attempt at recognition at court. He was but coldly received by his sovereign. His time had gone by. The wonders of Peru had eclipsed the glory of the Mexican Conquest. He was taken ill, perhaps as much of disappointment as disease, and withdrew to Seville; afterwards to a small town in that neighborhood, Castilleja de la Cuesta, where he died on the 2d of December, 1547. His body was carried thence in great state and buried in the chapel of the Dukes of Medina Sidonia. But Cortés had ordered in his will that his bones should be broughtin ten years time from his death to Mexico, and this wish was fulfilled, and the remains were interred at Texcuco. On the 2d of July, 1794, the bones of the great Conquistador were placed in a marble sepulchre which had been prepared for them in the church of Jesu-Nazareno, which he had founded himself. Even then they did not rest, for in the first years of the revolution, so great was the popular hatred of everything Spanish, safety required that they should be hidden; they were secretly removed, by the orders of the heirs of Cortés, and by last advices, they are now at rest in Italy, in the vaults of the Dukes of Monteleone, his descendants.
During the two years occupied, with varying fortunes, in the conquest of Mexico, Cortés was always accompanied by Malintzi, who was indeed indispensable to him as interpreter. Her tent was always near that of the commander. His lieutenants treated her with consideration and respect, always giving her the title of Doña.
Through his reverses, and on the terribleNoche triste, it is said, that Malintzi never lost her courage. She was put in charge of some brave Tlaxcallans, by Cortés, who could not have her with him at the head of the fray, and their devotion brought her through the wild confusion of flight.
The long struggle over, Cortés, as we have seen, went to live at Coyoacán. Doña Marina was with him.
Now she is happy. Her hero rules triumphant over millions of men. She lives in a palace, with her guards, her maids of honor, her pages, and esquires. The long, sad days of her youth of slavery are at an end, she has resumed her rank. She has a son, baptized under the name of Martin Cortés, whom she tenderly loves, and with this child andhis father, now at peace with all the vast empire he has conquered for his sovereign, she passes a tranquil, happy life.
Suddenly, to break in upon this dream, comes the news that Doña Catalina Juarez Cortés has landed at Vera Cruz, and is approaching the capital.
Very likely Cortés had forgotten to mention his marriage to Marina. Perhaps he had forgotten it himself. But the reader will remember Doña Catalina, the cause of the jealousy of Velasquez in the early days of Fernando's career. It is said that his first ardor for her cooled off after a time, and that the marriage would never have taken place but for the persistence of the Doña. It was not happy, and the adventurer sailed away, without regret for the cheerless home he left behind in Cuba.
Her name was never mentioned during the long period which passed between the landing of the Spaniards and their successful establishment in Mexico. But the deeds of Fernando Cortés were known to all the world, and especially sounded about in the island whence he set out. Doña Catalina, with every right on her side, set out to join her recusant spouse, encouraged by Diégo Velasquez, who saw with no pleasure the continued triumphs of Cortés.
Bernal Diaz says that Cortés hated his wife, but he dared not bring down upon himself the wrath of the Church by ignoring her, and Doña Catalina was received on her arrival with all the honors due to the wife of the great conqueror. She made a splendid entrance into the capital, and at once stepped intothe position of head of his household, and succeeded to the homage of maids of honor, pages, and esquires.
Malintzi withdrew, persuaded of the necessity by the good father Olmedo, who baptized her, trained her in the Christian faith, and now, in the hour of trial, stood by her side.
Doña Catalina was not destined to enjoy long her new state. The air of the lofty plateau did not suit her constitution, accustomed to the lower atmosphere of Cuba. She died suddenly.
At Coyoacán there is a tale that Doña Catalina was drowned by her husband, and the well is even shown to tourists into which she is supposed to have been thrown. This legend is probably of later date than the time of her death, but even then rumors arose that it had been a violent one, and reports were rapidly circulated about Cortés likely to injure his reputation and, moreover, that of the Malintzi.
At that time Cortés was thinking of a return to Spain. He was thirty-five, still young enough to thirst for a full recognition at home of his great deeds. While making his preparation for departure, he heard of the insurrection of his lieutenant Olid in Honduras, who had declared himself independent. It was necessary for him to hasten at once to chastise his boldness. Aguilar, the interpreter, was dead, and Cortés, who had never troubled himself to acquire the Mexican dialects, had to send for Marina to accompany him, as interpreter only. This caused the rumors about the death of his wife to circulate morethan before. Cortés, warned of the danger, took a decisive step to silence all such insinuations. At Orizaba, he caused the sudden marriage of Marina with one of his officers, Don Juan de Jaramillo.
Poor Marina was required to carry her devotion, her absolute obedience to her chief, to the extreme point of marrying a man she scarcely knew. She yielded. It is said that she never lived with her husband, but withdrew at once to her birthplace, at Païnala, where her own family still lived; that her guilty relatives threw themselves at her feet, afraid that she would have them destroyed by the Spaniard. She forgave them, and passed the rest of her life far away from the capital, in obscurity. She died young, when Cortés was yet at the height of his fame, before he had suffered the mortification of seeing himself overlooked by the court of Spain.
Not long after the expedition to Honduras, Cortés carried out his intention of crossing to Spain. On this first visit he was, as we have seen, received with acclamations, and loaded with praise and honors. When he again entered Mexico, with the title of Marquess of the Valley of Oaxaca, he brought with him a Spanish bride, Doña Juana de Zuñiga, daughter of the second Count of Aguilar, and niece of the Duke de Bejar.
So Malintzi, if her shade returns to wander under theahuehuetesof Chapultepec, has her own grief to mourn, in addition to the ruin she helped to bring upon her people.
The Conquest was complete. Tenochtitlan was no more, and the Aztec kings with their dynasty were blotted out. So were all the other independent states of Anahuac, for if here and there a petty chieftain were allowed still to call himself lord of his domains, it was a mere form, to keep him and his people contented, while in reality the Spaniard controlled every thing throughout the conquered land. The terrible war gods were overthrown, their temples and images thrown down and hidden under ground. Even the annals of the country, the picture-writings, which the Spaniards imagined to be impious scrolls connected with the heathen belief of the savages, were destroyed. Before long distinctive names of the separate tribes were wiped out, as details of no importance, and all the native races of the country went by the common title of Indios.
This of course is the Spanish word for Indians, with the same source. Columbus in seeking a new world believed that when found it would be India, little thinking that the earth he had rightly guessed to be round, was big enough to contain a whole continent between the western shore of Europe and the Indies,a remote land almost fabulous for its riches and precious stones.
The first natives Columbus encountered in the Western World, he therefore naturally called Indios, and this name attaches to all the indigenous tribes of America. So the first settlers farther north, on the shores of the Atlantic, called the red men who came to meet them Indians. But the Red Men of the north are a distinctive race from the Indios of Anahuac. If allied at all, they are but distant relatives. Their color, their skulls, their brains, their manners and customs are all different. As we have seen, the Nahuatl tribes that migrated from Aztlan belonged, with scarce a doubt, to a people antecedent to the Red Indians of North America.
Nevertheless, the word Indian is so fixed in the minds of most of the people of the United States, as belonging to the savage of the tomahawk and war-whoop, that it is rather common to fancy the Mexican Indios to be of the same stock. Many a reader of Prescott's "Conquest" has been surprised to find that the natives who were terrified at the approach of Cortés on his war-horse, were not first cousins to the Mohawks and Algonquins whom Parkman has described.
It is necessary to dwell on this, in order that any fair opinion should be formed of the native races of Anahuac, belonging to the different tribes of Indios, descendants of Tarascans, Otomies, Zapotecs, Mextecs, Mazahuans, Popolocs, Zotzils, Mayas, etc., which now form a large part of the population of Mexico.
Whatever are or have been their virtues, they are wholly different from those of the North American Red Man. Whatever their vices, they are equally so, or if similar, similar on account of like conditions of life. Climate, inheritance, and the vicissitudes of their fortunes, would have caused them to be somewhat different by this time, even if they had come from a common stock, but this is absolutely not the case, and long before the time of the Conquest, the characteristics of the Nahuatl race, which still cling to their present descendants, were as strongly marked as those of the Red Man, while they were widely remote from them.
The indigenous inhabitants of Mexico, however, have as good a right to the name, wholly unappropriate in either case, ofIndian, as the "North American Savage" has. This latter title would be totally misapplied in connection with the native Mexicans, because for long generations, these have been above the level of wild men. After the Conquest, for years the Spaniards were disturbed by remaining savage tribes who, resisting civilization, had retreated to the woods and mountains; but these tribes have been long exterminated. Their successor, the highway robber of roads and mountain passes, was of another breed, imported, with other products of civilization, from old Spain.
The Aztec dynasty, then, was extinct, but the Aztec nation, a large population, even after the great diminution in the wars of the Conquest, remained on the plateau to begin a new life under the influences of Christian rulers. The horrid rites of their old religion were utterly done away with, relinquished, it would seem, with no great regret, by the common people. To them there had been no glory, no gratification, in the wholesale slaughter of the sacrifices to Huitzilopochtli. The part of their ceremonies which appealed to their source of enjoyment was the feasting and dancing, and general rejoicing on such occasions.