and martial character, enabled it to resist the combined forces of the Aztecs for upwards of two hundred years.

Such was the state of the empire when the news of Cortéz's arrival became the subject of discussion in Mexico. Some were for open or wily resistance. Others were oppressed with superstitious fears. But Montezuma, adopting a medium but fatal course, resolved, without delay, to send an embassy with such gifts as he imagined would impress the strangers with the idea of his magnificence and power, whilst, at the same time, he courteously commanded the adventurers to refrain from approaching his capital.

Meanwhile the Spaniards restlessly endured the scorching heats and manifold annoyances of the coast, and were amusing themselves by a paltry traffic with the Indians, whose offerings were generally of but trifling value. After the expiration of a week, however, the returned couriers and the embassy approached the camp. The time is seemingly short when we consider the difficulty of transportation through a mountain country, and recollect that the Mexicans, who were without horses, had been obliged to traverse the distance on foot. But it is related on ample authority,so perfectly were the posts arranged among these semi-civilized people, that tidings were borne in the short period. of twenty-four hours from the city to the sea, and, consequently, that three or four days were ample for the journey of the envoys of Montezuma, upon a matter of so much national importance.

The two Aztec nobles, accompanied by the Governor of the province, Teuhtle, did not approach with empty hands the men whom they hoped to bribe if they could not intimidate. Gold and native fabrics of the most delicate character; shields, helmets, cuirasses, collars, bracelets, sandals, fans, pearls, precious stones; loads of cotton cloth, extraordinary manufactures of feathers, circular plates of gold and silver as large as carriage wheels, and the Spanish helmet filled with golden grains; were all spread out, as a free gift from the Emperor to the Spaniards!

With these magnificent presents, Montezuma replied to the request of Cortéz, that it would give him pleasure to communicate with so mighty a monarch as the king of Spain, whom he respected highly, but that he could not gratify himself by according the foreign envoy a personal interview, inasmuch as the distance to his capital was great, and the toilsome journey among the mountains was beset with dangers from formidable enemies. He could do no more, therefore, than bid the strangers farewell,

MONTEZUMA REFUSES TO RECEIVE CORTÉZ.

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and request them to return to their homes over the sea with these proofs of his perfect friendship.

It may well be supposed that this naïve system of diplomacy could have but little effect on men who were bent on improving their fortunes, and whose rapacity was only stimulated by the evidences of unbounded wealth which the simple-minded king had so lavishly bestowed on them. Montezuma was the dupe of his own credulity, and only inflamed, by the very means he imagined would assuage the avarice or ambition of his Spanish visiters. Nor was Cortéz less resolved than his companions. Accordingly he made another pacific effort, by means of additional presents and a gentle message, to change the resolution of the Indian emperor. Still the Aztec sovereign was obstinate in his refusal of a personal interview, although he sent fresh gifts by the persons who bore to the Spaniards his polite but firm and peremptory denial.

Cortéz could hardly conceal his disappointment at this second rebuff; but, as the vesper bell tolled, whilst the ambassadors were in his presence, he threw himself on his knees with his soldiers, and, after a prayer, Father Olmedo expounded to the Aztec chiefs, by his interpreters, the doctrines of Christianity, and putting into their hands an image of the Virgin and Saviour, he exhorted them to abandon their hideous idolatry, and to place these milder emblems of faith and hope on the altars of their bloody gods. That very night the Indians abandoned the Spanish camp and the neighborhood, leaving the adventurers without the copious supplies of food that hitherto had been bountifully furnished. Cortéz, nevertheless, was undismayed by these menacing symptoms, and exclaimed to his hardy followers: "It shall yet go hard, but we will one day pay this powerful prince a visit in his gorgeous capital!"

CHAPTER III.

1519.

CORTEZ FOUNDS LA VILLA RICA DE LA VERA CRUZ.- FLEET

DESTROYED MARCH TO MEXICO. - CONQUEST OF TLASCALACHOLULA. SLAUGHTER IN CHOLULA - -VALLEY OF MEXICO. CORTÉZ ENTERS THE VALLEY-GIGANTIC CAUSEWAY. -LAKE OF TEZCOCO-RECEPTION BY MONTEZUMA. -SPANIARDS ENTER THE CAPITAL.

It is impossible, in a work like the present, which is designed to cover the history of a country during three hundred years, to present the reader with as complete a narrative of events as we would desire. Happily, the task of recording the story of the conquest, has fallen into the hands of the classic historians of Spain, England and America; and the astonishing particulars of that mighty enterprise may be found, minutely recounted, in the works of De Solis, Robertson and Prescott. We shall therefore content ourselves with as rapid a summary as is consistent with the development of the modern Mexican character, and shall refer those who are anxious for more explicit and perfect details to the writings of the authors we have mentioned.

Cortéz was not long idle after the withdrawal of the Aztec emissaries and the surly departure of the Indians, who, as we have related in the last chapter, quitted his camp and neighborhood on the same night with the ambassadors of Montezuma. He forthwith proceeded to establish a military and civil colony, of which he became Captain General and Chief Justice; he founded the Villa Rica de la Vera Cruz in order to secure a base on the coast for future military operation, by means of which he might be independent of Velasquez; and he formed an alliance with the Totonacos of Cempoalla, whose loyalty, though they were subjects of Montezuma, was alienated from him by his merciless exactions. We shall not dwell upon the skill with which he fomented a breach between the Totonacos and the ambassadors of Montezuma, nor upon the valuable gifts, and discreet despatches he forwarded to

the Emperor Charles V., in order to secure a confirmation of his proceedings. The most daring act of this period was the destruction of the squadron which had wafted him to Mexico. It was a deed of wise policy, which deliberately cut off all hope of retreat,pacified, in some degree, the querulous conspirators who lurked in his camp, and placed before all who were embarked in the enterprise the alternative of conquest or destruction. But one vessel remained. Nine out of the ten were dismantled and sunk. When his men murmured for a moment, and imagined themselves betrayed, he addressed them in that language of bland diplomacy which he was so well skilled to use whenever the occasion required. "As for me," said he, "I will remain here whilst there is one to bear me company! Let the cravens shrink from danger and go home in the single vessel that remains. Let them hasten to Cuba, and relate how they deserted their commander and comrades; and there let them wait in patience till we return laden with the spoils of Mexico!"

This was an appeal that rekindled the combined enthusiasm and avarice of the despondent murmurers; and the reply was a universal shout: "To MEXICO! TO MEXICO!"

On the 16th of August, 1519, Cortéz set out with his small army of about four hundred men, now swelled by the addition of thirteen hundred Indian warriors and a thousand porters, and accompanied by forty of the chief Totonacs as hostages and advisers. From the burning climate of the coast the army gradually ascended to the cooler regions of the tierra templada, and tierra fria, encountering all degrees of temperature on the route. After a journey of three days, the forces arrived at a town on one of the table lands of the interior, whose chief magistrate confirmed the stories of the power of Montezuma. Here Cortéz tarried three days for repose, and then proceeded towards the Republic of Tlascala, which lay directly in his path, and with whose inhabitants he hoped to form an alliance founded on the elements of discontent which he knew existed among these inveterate foes of the central Aztec power. But he was mistaken in his calculations. The Tlascalans were not so easily won as his allies, the Totonacs, who, dwelling in a warmer climate, had not the hardier virtues of these mountaineers. The Tlascalans entertained no favorable feeling towards Montezuma, but they nourished quite as little cordiality for men whose characters they did not know, and whose purposes they had cause to dread. A deadly hostility to the Spaniards was consequently

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30

CONQUEST OF TLASCALA

CHOLULA.

soon manifested. Cortéz was attacked by them on the borders of their Republic, and fought four sharp battles with fifty thousand warriors who maintained, in all the conflicts, their reputation for military skill and hardihood. At length the Tlascalans were forced to acknowledge the superiority of the invaders, whom they could not overcome either by stratagem or battle, and, after the exchange of embassies and gifts, they honored our hero with a triumphal entry into their capital.

The news of these victories as well as of the fatal alliance which ensued with the Tlascalans, was soon borne to the court of Montezuma, who began to tremble for the fate of his empire when he saw the fall of the indomitable foes who had held him so long at bay. Two embassies to Cortéz succeeded each other, in vain. Presents were no longer of avail. His offer of tribute to the Spanish king was not listened to. All requests that the conqueror should not advance towards his capital were unheeded. "The command of his own emperor," said Cortéz, "was the only reason which could induce him to disregard the wishes of an Aztec prince, for whom he cherished the profoundest respect!" Soon after, another embassy came from Montezuma with magnificent gifts and an invitation to his capital, yet with a request that he would break with his new allies and approach Mexico through the friendly city of Cholula. The policy of this request on the part of Montezuma, will be seen in the sequel. Our hero, accompanied by six thousand volunteers from Tlascala, advanced towards the sacred city,— the site of the most splendid temple in the empire, whose foundations yet remain in the nineteenth century. The six intervening leagues were soon crossed, and he entered Cholula with his Spanish army, attended by no other Indians than those who accompanied him from Cempoalla. At first, the General and his companions were treated hospitably, and the suspicions which had been instilled into his mind by the Tlascalans were lulled to sleep. However, he soon had cause to become fearful of treachery. Messengers arrived from Montezuma, and his entertainers were observed to be less gracious in their demeanor. It was noticed that several important streets had been barricaded or converted into pitfalls, whilst stones, missiles and weapons were heaped on the flat roofs of houses. Besides this, Mariana had become intimate with the wife of one of the Caciques, and cunningly drew from her gossiping friend the whole conspiracy that was brewing against the adventurers. Montezuma, she learned, had stationed twenty thousand Mexicans near