CORTEZ.
Perhaps no great revolution has ever been effected by means apparently so inadequate to the end proposed, as in the first establishment of the Spanish monarchy on the continent of America. The immense importance of that revolution, and its intimate connexion with the history of geographical discovery, warrant us in assigning a place in our Gallery to a representative of the rude and daring men by whom the mighty conquest was effected. Of these, Fernando Cortez claims the first place. It is proper to mention, in explanation of what might seem a capital omission in our work, that no authentic likeness is known to exist of Columbus: a man raised above those who followed him across the Atlantic, no less by the purity of his motives, than by the originality of his daring career.
Columbus, however, did not colonize the American continent: his settlement was in Hispaniola. But the Spaniards soon took possession of other islands in the group of the Antilles. In 1511 Diego Velasquez annexed the most important of them, Cuba, to the Spanish crown, and was rewarded with the appointment of Governor. Eager to gain fresh wealth and honour, he equipped a squadron of discovery, in 1518, which tracked the southern shores of the Gulf of Mexico, and brought home so inviting a report, that he determined to attempt the conquest of the country. But he was greatly embarrassed in the choice of a commanding officer. To conduct the enterprise himself was no part of his scheme: at the same time he was very desirous to appropriate to himself the advantages likely to accrue from its successful issue. It was no easy matter to find a person qualified by talent and courage to assume the command of such an enterprise; yet so humble in rank, or so devoid of ambition, as to give no umbrage to the governor’s jealousy. After much hesitation, he invested Cortez with the chief command as his lieutenant. The early history and character of this remarkable man are clearly and concisely told by Dr. Robertson.
Engraved by W. Holl.CORTEZ.From a Picture in the Florence Gallery.Under the Superintendence of the Society for Diffusion of Useful Knowledge.London, Published by Charles Knight, Ludgate Street.
Engraved by W. Holl.CORTEZ.From a Picture in the Florence Gallery.Under the Superintendence of the Society for Diffusion of Useful Knowledge.London, Published by Charles Knight, Ludgate Street.
Engraved by W. Holl.CORTEZ.From a Picture in the Florence Gallery.Under the Superintendence of the Society for Diffusion of Useful Knowledge.London, Published by Charles Knight, Ludgate Street.
“He was born at Medelin, a small town in Estremadura, in the year 1485, and descended from a family of noble blood, but of very moderate fortune. Being originally destined by his parents to the study of the law, as the most likely method of bettering his condition, he was sent early to the university of Salamanca, where he imbibed some tincture of learning. But he was soon disgusted with an academic life, which did not suit his ardent and restless genius, and retired to Medelin, where he gave himself up entirely to active sports and martial exercises. At this period of life he was so impetuous, so overbearing, and so dissipated, that his father was glad to comply with his inclination, and send him abroad as an adventurer in arms. There were in that age two conspicuous theatres on which such of the Spanish youth as courted military glory might display their valour: one in Italy, under the command of the Great Captain; the other in the New World. Cortez preferred the former, but was prevented by indisposition from embarking with a reinforcement of troops sent to Naples. Upon this disappointment he turned his views towards America, whither he was allured by the prospect of the advantages which he might derive from the patronage of Ovando, the Governor of Hispaniola, who was his kinsman. When he landed at St. Domingo, in 1504, his reception was such as equalled his most sanguine hopes, and he was employed by the Governor in several honourable and lucrative stations. These, however, did not satisfy his ambition; and in the year 1511 he obtained permission to accompany Diego Velasquez in his expedition to Cuba. In this service he distinguished himself so much, that, notwithstanding some violent contests with Velasquez, occasioned by some trivial events, unworthy of remembrance, he was at length taken into favour, and received an ample concession of lands and of Indians, the recompense usually bestowed upon adventurers in the New World.
“Though Cortez had not hitherto acted in high command, he had displayed such qualities in several scenes of difficulty and danger, as raised universal expectation, and turned the eyes of his countrymen towards him, as one capable of performing great things. The turbulence of youth, as soon as he found objects and occupations suited to the ardour of his mind, gradually subsided, and settled into a habit of regular indefatigable activity. The impetuosity of his temper, whenhe came to act with his equals, insensibly abated, by being kept under restraint, and mellowed into a cordial soldierly frankness. These qualities were accompanied with calm prudence in concerting his schemes, with persevering vigour in executing them, and with what is peculiar to superior genius, the art of gaining the confidence and governing the minds of men. To all which were added the inferior accomplishments that strike the vulgar, and command their respect; a graceful person, a winning aspect, extraordinary address in martial exercises, and a constitution of such vigour as to be capable of enduring any fatigue.
“As soon as Cortez was mentioned to Velasquez by his confidants, he flattered himself that he had at length found what he had hitherto sought in vain, a man with talents for command, but not an object for jealousy. Neither the rank, nor the fortune of Cortez, as he imagined, were such that he could aspire at independence. He had reason to believe that by his own readiness to bury ancient animosities in oblivion, as well as his liberality in conferring several recent favours, he had already gained the good-will of Cortez; and hoped, by this new and unexpected mark of confidence, that he might attach him for ever to his interest.”
It is remarkable that Velasquez, actuated by these views, should have selected for his deputy such a man as is here described. He soon repented of his confidence, and sought to revoke the commission which he had bestowed. But Cortez, in addition to the funds provided by the governor, had spent the whole of his own available means in raising troops, and making preparations for the enterprise; he was already embarked at the head of a body of impatient adventurers; and he despised a mandate which there were no means of enforcing. And one of his first steps after landing on the Main was to throw off formally all subordination to Velasquez, and to assume the title of Chief Justice and Captain General of the intended colony, by virtue of a new commission, drawn in the king’s name, and purporting to continue in force until the royal pleasure should be known.
The expedition sailed from Cuba, February 10, 1519, and following the track of the preceding one, coasted the western side of the peninsula of Yucatan. At St. Juan de Ulloa some natives came on board, and replied to the questions put to them through the medium of interpreters, that their country formed part of a great empire called Mexico, governed by a powerful monarch, Montezuma. Several interviews followed, in which Cortez, professing to come as ambassador from his own sovereign, perseveringly demanded to be led into thepresence of Montezuma. This was peremptorily refused; but the denial, as if to make amends, was accompanied by presents rich enough to inflame, had that been necessary, the cupidity of the strangers. Instead of departing, they laid the foundations of a settlement, named Villa Rica de la Vera Cruz. Meanwhile, Montezuma acted indecisively and weakly: he neither admitted his formidable visitors to the friendly intercourse which they insidiously demanded, nor summoned the strength of his empire to crush them at once; but let them fortify themselves while he was making vain requisitions for their immediate departure, and gave time and opportunity to those who were discontented under his own heavy yoke, to rally round the standard of the invader. And it was not long before the Spaniards obtained that native assistance, without which their mere physical strength must have sunk under the vastness of their enterprise.
The Cacique of Zempoalla, prompted by hatred of Montezuma, was the first to assist in the ruin of his native land. Supported by a small body of that chieftain’s troops, and attended by 200 Indians of an inferior class, who in that country, where the art of breaking animals to the use of man was unknown, performed the humiliating services of beasts of burden, Cortez marched from Zempoalla towards the heart of the country, August 16, with only 500 Europeans, and six cannon. Aware that on the first reverse of fortune his men might grow disgusted with an enterprise of such formidable appearance, or from mere inconstancy might be eager to return to their homes in Cuba, a temper which had been already manifested by some, he resolved, before quitting the coast, to destroy the shipping; and it is a remarkable instance of his ascendency over his followers’ minds, that he procured a general consent to this decisive, not to say desperate measure, which left small hope of safety but in success.
His route lay through the country of the Tlascalans, a warlike people, who spurned his professions of friendship, and attacked the invaders in a series of battles. The imperfection of their weapons rendered their efforts fruitless; and having been severely taught the strength of their enemies, they sued for peace, and became faithful and active allies. The Spaniards, accompanied by a body of 6000 Tlascalans, then advanced without resistance to Mexico itself; after punishing an attempt to lead them into an ambuscade at Cholula by an indiscriminate massacre, in which 6000 persons are reported to have perished. Montezuma received them with the semblance of profound respect. He told them of an ancient tradition, that the ancestors of the Mexicans came originally from a remote region, andconquered the land: after which their leader went back to his own country, promising that at some future period his descendants should return to reform their constitution, and assume the government; and Montezuma expressed his belief that the Spaniards were the persons whom his countrymen were thus taught to expect. Another tradition, which helped to produce that weak and wavering conduct which gave the Spaniards such advantage, foretold that some great misfortune should accrue to the native inhabitants from a race of invaders from the regions of the rising sun. It is remarkable that, according to the earliest and best Spanish historians, this belief was very prevalent in the New World.
The Spaniards, with their Indian allies, were quartered in the ample precincts of a royal palace. But Cortez was uneasy, notwithstanding these fair appearances. He had advanced with a handful of men into a populous city, where he might at any time be surrounded and attacked by multitudes. He was warned by the Tlascalans of Montezuma’s faithlessness; and the hostile spirit of the Mexicans was made plain, by intelligence that several Spaniards had been slain in repelling an attack on the garrison of Vera Cruz. Cortez felt that Montezuma’s forbearance proceeded only from timidity, and that his own best security lay in working upon that passion. He conceived the daring resolution to make the king a prisoner in his own capital; judging that, while Montezuma lived, the Mexicans would not throw off their allegiance, nor disobey his mandates, though issued under foreign control. He went, therefore, as usual, to the palace, attended only by a few picked men; and being admitted without suspicion to the emperor’s presence, he complained angrily of the attack on the garrison of Vera Cruz, and required Montezuma, as a pledge of his good faith, to take up his residence in the Spanish quarters. Betrayed by his own easiness into the power of a few strangers, Montezuma complied, under the imminent fear of personal violence. Cortez next required that the officer who commanded in the attack complained of should be given up. This was done; and he, his son, and five others, were publicly burnt on a pile of Mexican weapons, taken from the public armoury. While this atrocious act of cruelty and revenge was proceeding, the emperor, apparently to render it the more impressive, was placed in fetters.
Haughty and tyrannical, but unstable and timid, the spirit of Montezuma was entirely broken by his misfortunes. He remained passively during six months in his captivity; and formally acknowledged himself a vassal to the crown of Castile. Religion was theonly point on which he was firm. Cortez urged him with the blind zeal of a crusader to renounce his false gods, and embrace Christianity; and not content with these importunate solicitations, he attempted forcibly to remove the idols from the grand temple. The resolute interference of priests and people compelled him to desist from the rash project; but not until it had aroused a spirit of implacable hostility.
Meanwhile Velasquez’s anger at Cortez’s faithlessness was increased by the brilliant accounts of his success; and having obtained from the court of Castile a patent constituting himself governor of New Spain, he prepared to remove or punish his disobedient officer by force of arms. He sent 900 men, commanded by Narvaez, a brave and experienced officer, who immediately opened a correspondence with Montezuma. This raised the hopes of the Mexicans, by showing that their invaders were not exempt from internal discord. Cortez perceived and met the dangers of his position with his usual ability and courage. Having tried in vain to arrange matters with Narvaez by negotiation, he left a garrison of 150 men in Mexico, and marched with only 250 against an enemy who nearly quadrupled him in number. His skill, the patience of his soldiers, inured to the inclemency of a tropical climate, and the too great security of his adversary, won for him an almost bloodless victory; and the troops sent out for his destruction enlisted almost to a man under his standard. Placed against all expectation at the head of near a thousand men, he hastened back to Mexico, where by that time his presence was urgently required.
He found the Spanish garrison hemmed in, and reduced to extremities, by a people who, stimulated by superstition and maddened by a fresh and atrocious outrage, seemed suddenly to have exchanged timidity for desperation. The return of Cortez with his formidable reinforcement did not abate their ferocity. Even the person of Montezuma, who was exposed on the Spanish rampart, ceased to command respect, and he received three wounds from stones and arrows, from the effects of which, aggravated by rage and a deep sense of his degradation, he expired. The Mexicans now sought to blockade their enemies and reduce them by hunger; and, as Cortez had not the command of the lake, he found it necessary immediately to evacuate the city. But he was taken at disadvantage in traversing by night (July 1, 1520) one of the long causeways which connect the city with the shores of the lake in which it stands; and on mustering those who reached the mainland, he found his small battalion of Europeans reducedby one-half, with the loss of all the horses, baggage, artillery, and most of the treasure which had been amassed by individual soldiers. The anniversary of this calamity was long, and may be still, distinguished in New Spain by the appellation of Noche Triste, the sad night.
By a circuitous route, and not without cutting their way through an immense army assembled to intercept them, the Spaniards returned to the friendly Indians of Tlascala, among whom Cortez meant to recruit his exhausted companions, and to wait until fresh supplies of men and stores could be obtained from the West India islands. Some vessels which put into the harbour of Vera Cruz afforded an unexpected reinforcement of 180 men; and on the 28th of December Cortez began to retrace his march towards Mexico. At Tezeuco, the second city of the empire, situated on the banks of the lake, about twenty miles from the capital, he established his head-quarters for four months, during which the timbers of twelve small vessels, cut out in the mountains of Tlascala, were put together. This force ensured the command of the lake, for the Mexicans had nothing larger than canoes; and just before their completion, a reinforcement of 200 men, with arms and stores, arrived from Hispaniola. At the beginning of May, 1521, with about 800 Europeans, Cortez commenced the siege of Mexico itself.
Guatimozin, a nephew of Montezuma, who had succeeded to the throne, made a resolute defence; and Cortez, aware of the danger of entangling his troops in the streets, yet anxious to preserve the buildings as a trophy of his victory, urged the siege with unusual caution. Each day he pushed his way as far as possible into the city; but he returned to his quarters at night, during which the barricades of the causeways were repaired, and on the morrow a fresh battle was to be fought on the same ground. Thus matters went until the 3d of July, when Cortez, impatient of so protracted a resistance, made a desperate attempt to carry every thing before him in one great assault. Experience improved the Mexicans in the art of war. When the Spaniards, by the energy of their attack, had forced a way into the heart of the city, Guatimozin led them still onwards by a show of slackened resistance, while he detached troops, by land and water, to beset the breaches in the causeway by which it was necessary for the enemy to retire. At a given signal, the great drum of the god of war was struck, and the Mexicans returned to the attack, their hatred of the invaders stimulated by the ferocity of their superstition. The Spaniards were compelled to give way, and disorder was converted into absolute rout bythe promiscuous onset of the natives, when they arrived at the breach. Above sixty Europeans perished, for those who were taken prisoners were offered as sacrifices on the Mexican altars. After this reverse Cortez took a surer way to success, and as fast as his troops made a lodgment, he caused the houses to be levelled with the ground. When three quarters of the city were thus destroyed, and those who defended the remainder were exhausted by famine and disease, Guatimozin yielded to the persuasion of those who urged him to preserve himself, to renew the war in the remote provinces of the empire. But he was intercepted and captured with his family, as he sought to escape across the lake; and on the loss of their sovereign, the Mexicans ceased to resist. The siege thus ended August 13, 1521.
The victors were greatly disappointed in the amount of the precious metals which fell into their hands. What remained of the royal treasures Guatimozin had ordered to be thrown into the lake. Much spoil was carried off by the Indian auxiliaries, and much probably was lost or destroyed in the ruins of the city. The whole treasure collected was inferior in amount to that which the Spaniards had formerly received as a present from Montezuma; and the adventurers clamorously expressed their dissatisfaction. Pressed by this spirit of discontent, Cortez gave way to a passion, as alien to that undefined feeling which we call the spirit of chivalry, as to the natural laws of charity and justice; and tried, in vain, to extract by torture from the royal prisoner and one of his favourite followers a discovery of the treasures which were supposed to be hidden. Overcome by pain, the latter cast a look on his master, which seemed to ask permission to reveal what he knew. Guatimozin indignantly replied to the implied entreaty—“Am I reposing on a bed of flowers?” and the faithful subject kept silence, and died. The emperor, with his two principal officers, was afterwards hanged, on a groundless charge of having excited insurrection.
The provinces were readily overrun after the fall of the capital, and made subject to Spain; though intolerable oppression often produced insurrections, which were put down with unrelenting severity. Having conquered an empire without commission from the monarch in whose name he made war, Cortez narrowly escaped having to answer as a criminal for the irregularity of his proceedings. But in 1522 he succeeded in procuring a royal commission, which constituted him captain-general and governor of New Spain. Still his actions were watched with an ungenerous though natural jealousy; and his situation became so critical, that he resolved, in 1528, to return to Castile,and answer, before no inferior tribunal, such charges as might be urged against him. He appeared with the splendour which became one who had unlocked the treasures of the New World; and his own ample fortune, contrasted with the smallness of the sum divided among his comrades, gave birth to a belief that he had not dealt fairly in the partition of the spoil. As his return to Spain put an end to all fears of his ambition, he was received with the favour which such brilliant services merited. He was invested with the order of St. Jago, the highest rank of Spanish knighthood; and the valley of Guaxaca, with an extensive domain, was erected into a marquisate in his behalf. But he could not obtain what he most desired, the supreme direction of affairs in Mexico. He returned thither in 1530 at the head of the military department, and with authority to prosecute new discoveries; but the direction of civil affairs was vested in a board, entitled the Audience of New Spain. Henceforward we may regard Cortez as a disappointed and unhappy man. Thwarted at home by the double authority established, he sought to reap new glory by exploring the Pacific Ocean; and in 1536 he discovered the peninsula of California, and surveyed part of the gulf which separates it from the American continent. But from that country neither profit nor honour, unless as a geographical discoverer, could be gained; and the result of the expedition neither satisfied the expectations of others, nor repaid the adventurers for the hardships which they underwent. In 1540, wearied and disgusted, Cortez returned to Spain, and found his services forgotten, or at least his person slighted. He served as a volunteer in 1541, in Charles V.’s expedition against Algiers, and had a horse killed under him. This was his last military action. After wearying his proud spirit in fruitless attempts to gain attention from Charles or his ministers to his real or supposed grievances, he retired into seclusion, and died at Seville, December 2, 1547, in the sixty-third year of his age.
We have passed rapidly over the shocking cruelties which marked the progress of the Spanish arms. Some portion of the horror, with which we naturally regard the actors in such events, may be neutralized by the consideration, that men’s notions in all things, and perhaps most especially in matters of international justice, are greatly dependent on the spirit of the time in which they live; and that it is hardly fair to judge actions, which won the admiration of contemporaries, according to the standard of a subsequent age. But even in that age there were not wanting many to raise an indignant voice against the cruelties practised on an unoffending people; and afterevery just allowance has been made, it is not to be doubted that the treatment of the American aborigines forms a foul stain on the history of Spain, and loads all who were concerned in it with an awful responsibility; and we willingly acknowledge it to have been a just retribution, that of the original settlers few reaped prosperity, repose, or wealth, as the harvest of their arms. With their leaders it was eminently otherwise. Scarce one of those who led the conquerors of Peru escaped a violent death in civil strife; while Cortez (with whom no one divides the fame of conquering Mexico) lived to experience the proverbial ingratitude of courts, and died in that forced obscurity which is most galling to an ambitious mind.
The noble inscription, composed by Southey for the birth-place of Cortez’s early companion in arms and rival in fame, needs but the change of name to render it equally applicable to Cortez himself.
“Pizarro here was born—a greater nameThe list of Glory boasts not. Toil and Pain,Famine, and hostile Elements, and HostsEmbattled, failed to check him in his course,Not to be wearied, not to be deterred,Not to be overcome. A mighty realmHe overran, and with relentless armSlew or enslaved its unoffending sons,And wealth, and power, and fame were his rewards.There is another world beyond the grave,According to their deeds where men are judged.O reader! if thy daily bread be earnedBy daily labour,—yea, however low,However wretched be thy lot assigned,Thank thou, with deepest gratitude, the GodWho made thee, that thou art not such as he.”
“Pizarro here was born—a greater nameThe list of Glory boasts not. Toil and Pain,Famine, and hostile Elements, and HostsEmbattled, failed to check him in his course,Not to be wearied, not to be deterred,Not to be overcome. A mighty realmHe overran, and with relentless armSlew or enslaved its unoffending sons,And wealth, and power, and fame were his rewards.There is another world beyond the grave,According to their deeds where men are judged.O reader! if thy daily bread be earnedBy daily labour,—yea, however low,However wretched be thy lot assigned,Thank thou, with deepest gratitude, the GodWho made thee, that thou art not such as he.”
“Pizarro here was born—a greater nameThe list of Glory boasts not. Toil and Pain,Famine, and hostile Elements, and HostsEmbattled, failed to check him in his course,Not to be wearied, not to be deterred,Not to be overcome. A mighty realmHe overran, and with relentless armSlew or enslaved its unoffending sons,And wealth, and power, and fame were his rewards.There is another world beyond the grave,According to their deeds where men are judged.O reader! if thy daily bread be earnedBy daily labour,—yea, however low,However wretched be thy lot assigned,Thank thou, with deepest gratitude, the GodWho made thee, that thou art not such as he.”
“Pizarro here was born—a greater name
The list of Glory boasts not. Toil and Pain,
Famine, and hostile Elements, and Hosts
Embattled, failed to check him in his course,
Not to be wearied, not to be deterred,
Not to be overcome. A mighty realm
He overran, and with relentless arm
Slew or enslaved its unoffending sons,
And wealth, and power, and fame were his rewards.
There is another world beyond the grave,
According to their deeds where men are judged.
O reader! if thy daily bread be earned
By daily labour,—yea, however low,
However wretched be thy lot assigned,
Thank thou, with deepest gratitude, the God
Who made thee, that thou art not such as he.”
LEIBNITZ.