torture of guatemozin—submission of the country—rebuilding of the capital—mission to castile—complaints against cortés—he is confirmed in his authority

1521-1522

the history of the conquest of mexico terminates with the surrender of the capital. but the history of the conquest is so intimately blended with that of the extraordinary man who achieved it, that there would seem to be an incompleteness in the narrative if it were not continued to the close of his personal career. this part of the subject has been very imperfectly treated by preceding writers. i shall therefore avail myself of the authentic materials in my possession to give a brief sketch of the brilliant but checkered fortunes which marked the subsequent career of cortés.

the first ebullition of triumph was succeeded in the army by very different feelings, as they beheld{130} the scanty spoil gleaned from the conquered city, and as they brooded over the inadequate compensation they were to receive for all their toils and sufferings. some of the soldiers of narvaez, with feelings of bitter disappointment, absolutely declined to accept their shares. some murmured audibly against the general, and others against guatemozin, who, they said, could reveal, if he chose, the place where the treasures were secreted. the white walls of the barracks were covered with epigrams and pasquinades levelled at cortés, whom they accused of taking “one-fifth of the booty as commander-in-chief, and another fifth as king.” as guatemozin refused to make any revelation in respect to the treasure, or rather declared there was none to make, the soldiers loudly insisted on his being put to the torture. but for this act of violence, so contrary to the promise of protection recently made to the indian prince, cortés was not prepared; and he resisted the demand, until the men, instigated, it is said, by the royal treasurer, alderete, accused the general of a secret understanding with guatemozin, and of a design to defraud the spanish sovereigns and themselves. these unmerited taunts stung cortés to the quick, and in an evil hour he delivered the aztec prince into the hands of his enemies, to work their pleasure on him.

but the hero who had braved death in its most awful forms was not to be intimidated by bodily suffering. when his companion, the cacique of tacuba, who was put to the torture with him, testified his anguish by his groans, guatemozin coldly

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the torture of guatemozin

{131}

rebuked him by exclaiming, “and do you think i, then, am taking my pleasure in my bath?”[137] at length cortés, ashamed of the base part he was led to play, rescued the aztec prince from his tormentors before it was too late,—not, however, before it was too late for his own honour, which has suffered an indelible stain from this treatment of his royal prisoner.

all that could be wrung from guatemozin by the extremity of his sufferings was the confession that much gold had been thrown into the water. but, although the best divers were employed, under the eye of cortés himself, to search the oozy bed of the lake, only a few articles of inconsiderable value were drawn from it. they had better fortune in searching a pond in guatemozin’s gardens, where a sun, as it is called, probably one of the aztec calendar wheels, made of pure gold, of great size and thickness, was discovered. the cacique of tacuba had confessed that a quantity of treasure was buried in the ground at one of his own villas. but when the spaniards carried him to the spot, he alleged that “his only motive for saying so was the hope of dying on the road!” the soldiers, disappointed in their expectations, now, with the usual caprice of an unlicensed mob, changed their tone, and openly accused their commander of cruelty to his captive. the charge was well deserved,—but not from them.[138]{132}

the tidings of the fall of mexico were borne on the wings of the wind over the plateau, and down the broad sides of the cordilleras. many envoys made their appearance from the remote indian tribes, anxious to learn the truth of the astounding intelligence and to gaze with their own eyes on the ruins of the detested city. among these were ambassadors from the kingdom of michoacán, a powerful and independent state, inhabited by one of the kindred nahuatlac races, and lying between the mexican valley and the pacific. the embassy was soon followed by the king of the country in person, who came in great state to the castilian quarters. cortés received him with equal parade, astonished him by the brilliant evolutions of his cavalry and by the thunders of his ordnance, and escorted him in one of the brigantines round the fallen city, whose pile of smouldering palaces and temples was all that now remained of the once dread capital of anahuac. the indian monarch gazed with silent awe on the scene of desolation, and eagerly craved the protection of the invincible beings who had caused it.[139] his example was followed by ambas{133}sadors from the remote regions which had never yet had intercourse with the spaniards. cortés, who saw the boundaries of his empire thus rapidly enlarging, availed himself of the favorable dispositions of the natives to ascertain the products and resources of their several countries.

two small detachments were sent into the friendly state of michoacán, through which country they penetrated to the borders of the great southern ocean. no european had as yet descended on its shores so far north of the equator. the spaniards eagerly advanced into its waters, erected a cross on the sandy margin, and took possession of it, with all the usual formalities, in the name of their catholic majesties. on their return, they visited some of the rich districts towards the north, since celebrated for their mineral treasures, and brought back samples of gold and californian pearls, with an account of their discovery of the ocean. the imagination of cortés was kindled, and his soul swelled with exultation, at the splendid prospects which their discoveries unfolded. “most of all,” he writes to the emperor, “do i exult in the tidings brought me of the great ocean. for in it, as cosmographers, and those learned men who know most about the indies, inform us, are scattered the rich isles teeming with gold and spices and precious stones.”[140] he at once{134} sought a favorable spot for a colony on the shores of the pacific, and made arrangements for the construction of four vessels to explore the mysteries of these unknown seas. this was the beginning of his noble enterprises for discovery in the gulf of california.

although the greater part of anahuac, over-awed by the successes of the spaniards, had tendered their allegiance, there were some, especially on the southern slopes of the cordilleras, who showed a less submissive disposition. cortés instantly sent out strong detachments under sandoval and alvarado to reduce the enemy and establish colonies in the conquered provinces. the highly colored reports which alvarado, who had a quick scent for gold, gave of the mineral wealth of oaxaca, no doubt operated with cortés in determining him to select this region for his own particular domain.

the commander-in-chief, with his little band of spaniards, now daily recruited by reinforcements from the islands, still occupied the quarters of cojohuacan, which they had taken up at the termination of the siege. cortés did not immediately decide in what quarter of the valley to establish the new capital which was to take the place of the ancient tenochtitlan. the situation of the latter, surrounded by water and exposed to occasional inundations, had some obvious disadvantages. but there was no doubt that in some part of the elevated and central plateau of the valley the new metropolis should be built, to which both european and indian might look up as to the head of the{135} colonial empire of spain. at length he decided on retaining the site of the ancient city, moved to it, as he says, “by its past renown, and the memory”—not an enviable one, surely—“in which it was held among the nations;” and he made preparations for the reconstruction of the capital on a scale of magnificence which should, in his own language, “raise her to the rank of queen of the surrounding provinces, in the same manner as she had been of yore.”[141]

the labor was to be performed by the indian population, drawn from all quarters of the valley, and including the mexicans themselves, great numbers of whom still lingered in the neighborhood of their ancient residence. at first they showed reluctance, and even symptoms of hostility, when called to this work of humiliation by their conquerors. but cortés had the address to secure some of the principal chiefs in his interests, and under their authority and direction the labor of their countrymen was conducted. the deep groves of the valley and the forests of the neighboring hills supplied cedar, cypress, and other durable woods for the interior of the buildings, and the quarries of tetzontli and the ruins of the ancient edifices furnished abundance of stone. as there were no beasts of draught employed by the aztecs, an immense number of hands was necessarily required for the work. all within the immediate control of cortés were pressed into the service. the{136} spot so recently deserted now swarmed with multitudes of indians of various tribes, and with europeans, the latter directing, while the others labored. the prophecy of the aztecs was accomplished.[142] and the work of reconstruction went forward with a rapidity like that shown by an asiatic despot, who concentrates the population of an empire on the erection of a favorite capital.[143]

yet the condition of cortés, notwithstanding the success of his arms, suggested many causes for anxiety. he had not received a word of encouragement from home,—not a word, indeed, of encouragement or censure. in what light his irregular course was regarded by the government or the nation was still matter of painful uncertainty. he now prepared another letter to the emperor, the third in the published series, written in the same simple and energetic style which has entitled his commentaries, as they may be called, to a comparison with those of c?sar. it was dated at cojohuacan, may 15th, 1522, and in it he recapitulated the events of the final siege of the capital, and his subsequent operations, accompanied by many sagacious reflections, as usual, on the character and{137} resources of the country. with this letter he purposed to send the royal fifth of the spoils of mexico, and a rich collection of fabrics, especially of gold and jewelry wrought into many rare and fanciful forms. one of the jewels was an emerald, cut in a pyramidal shape, of so extraordinary a size that the base was as broad as the palm of the hand![144] the collection was still further augmented by specimens of many of the natural products, as well as of animals peculiar to the country.[145]{138}

the army wrote a letter to accompany that of cortes, in which they expatiated on his manifold services and besought the emperor to ratify his proceedings and confirm him in his present authority. the important mission was intrusted to two of the general’s confidential officers, qui?ones and avila. it proved to be unfortunate. the agents touched at the azores, where qui?ones lost his life in a brawl. avila, resuming his voyage, was captured by a french privateer, and the rich spoils of the aztecs went into the treasury of his most christian majesty. francis the first gazed with pardonable envy on the treasures which his imperial rival drew from his colonial domains; and he intimated his discontent by peevishly expressing a desire “to see the clause in adam’s testament which entitled his brothers of castile and portugal to divide the new world between them.” avila found means, through a private hand, of transmitting his letters,{139} the most important part of his charge, to spain, where they reached the court in safety.[146]

while these events were passing, affairs in spain had been taking an unfavorable turn for cortés. it may seem strange that the brilliant exploits of the conqueror of mexico should have attracted so little notice from the government at home. but the country was at that time distracted by the dismal feuds of the comunidades. the sovereign was in germany, too much engrossed by the cares of the empire to allow leisure for those of his own kingdom. the reins of government were in the hands of adrian, charles’s preceptor; a man whose ascetic and studious habits better qualified him to preside over a college of monks than to fill, as he successively did, the most important posts in christendom,—first as regent of castile, afterwards as head of the church. yet the slow and hesitating adrian could not have so long passed over in silence the important services of cortés, but for the hostile interference of velasquez, the governor of cuba, sustained by fonseca, bishop of burgos, the chief person in the spanish colonial department. this prelate, from his elevated station, possessed paramount authority in all matters relating to the indies, and he had exerted it from the first, as we have already seen, in a manner most prejudicial to the interests of cortés. he had now the address to obtain a warrant from the regent, which was designed to ruin the conqueror at the very moment when his great enterprise had been{140} crowned with success. the instrument, after recapitulating the offences of cortés in regard to velasquez, appoints a commissioner with full power to visit the country, to institute an inquiry into the general’s conduct, to suspend him from his functions, and even to seize his person and sequestrate his property, until the pleasure of the castilian court could be known. the warrant was signed by adrian, at burgos, on the 11th of april, 1521, and countersigned by fonseca.[147]

the individual selected for the delicate task of apprehending cortés and bringing him to trial on the theatre of his own discoveries and in the heart of his own camp was named cristóval de tápia, veedor, or inspector, of the gold founderies in st. domingo. he was a feeble, vacillating man, as little competent to cope with cortés in civil matters as narvaez had shown himself to be in military.

the commissioner, clothed in his brief authority, landed, in december, at villa rica. but he was coldly received by the magistrates of the city. his credentials were disputed, on the ground of some technical informality. it was objected, moreover, that his commission was founded on obvious misrepresentations to the government; and, notwithstanding a most courteous and complimentary epistle which he received from cortés, congratulating him, as an old friend, on his arrival, the veedor soon{141} found that he was neither to be permitted to penetrate far into the country nor to exercise any control there. he loved money; and, as cortés knew the weak side of his “old friend,” he proposed to purchase his horses, slaves, and equipage, at a tempting price. the dreams of disappointed ambition were gradually succeeded by those of avarice and the discomfited commissioner consented to re?mbark for cuba, well freighted with gold, if not with glory, and provided with fresh matter of accusation against the high-handed measures of cortés.[148]

thus left in undisputed possession of authority, the spanish commander went forward with vigor in his plans for the settlement of his conquests. the panuchese, a fierce people on the borders of the panuco, on the atlantic coast, had taken up arms against the spaniards. cortés marched at the head of a considerable force into their country, defeated them in two pitched battles, and, after a severe campaign, reduced the warlike tribe to subjection.

a subsequent insurrection was punished with greater severity. they rose on the spaniards, massacred five hundred of their oppressors, and menaced with destruction the neighboring settlement of san estevan. cortés ordered sandoval to chastise the insurgents; and that officer, after a cam{142}paign of incredible hardship, completely routed the barbarians, captured four hundred of their chiefs, and, after the affected formalities of a trial, sentenced every man of them to the stake or the gibbet. “by which means,” says cortés, “god be praised! the safety of the spaniards was secured, and the province once more restored to tranquillity and peace.”[149] he had omitted to mention in his letter his ungenerous treatment of guatemozin. but the undisguised and na?ve manner, so to speak, in which he details these circumstances to the emperor, shows that he attached no discredit to the deed. it was the just recompense of rebellion; a word that has been made the apology for more atrocities than any other word,—save religion.

during this interval the great question in respect to cortés and the colony had been brought to a decisive issue. the general must have succumbed under the insidious and implacable attacks of his enemies, but for the sturdy opposition of a few powerful friends zealously devoted to his interests. among them may be mentioned his own father, don martin cortés, a discreet and efficient person,[150] and the duke de bejar, a powerful nobleman, who from an early period had warmly espoused the cause of cortés. by their representations the timid regent was at length convinced that{143} the measures of fonseca were prejudicial to the interests of the crown, and an order was issued interdicting him from further interference in any matters in which cortés was concerned.

while the exasperated prelate was chafing under this affront, both the commissioners tápia and narvaez arrived in castile. the latter had been ordered to cojohuacan after the surrender of the capital, where his cringing demeanor formed a striking contrast to the swaggering port which he had assumed on first entering the country. when brought into the presence of cortés, he knelt down, and would have kissed his hand, but the latter raised him from the ground, and, during his residence in his quarters, treated him with every mark of respect. the general soon afterwards permitted his unfortunate rival to return to spain, where he proved, as might have been anticipated, a most bitter and implacable enemy.[151]

these two personages, reinforced by the discontented prelate, brought forward their several charges against cortés with all the acrimony which mortified vanity and the thirst of vengeance could inspire. adrian was no longer in spain, having been called to the chair of st. peter; but charles the fifth, after his long absence, had returned to his dominions, in july, 1522. the royal ear was instantly assailed with accusations of cortés on the one hand and his vindication on the other, till the young monarch, perplexed, and unable to decide on the merits of the question, referred the whole subject to the decision of a board selected{144} for the purpose. it was drawn partly from the members of his privy council, and partly from the indian department, with the grand chancellor of naples as its president, and constituted altogether a tribunal of the highest respectability for integrity and wisdom.[152]

by this learned body a patient and temperate hearing was given to the parties. the enemies of cortés accused him of having seized and finally destroyed the fleet intrusted to him by velasquez and fitted out at the governor’s expense; of having afterwards usurped powers in contempt of the royal prerogative; of the unjustifiable treatment of narvaez and tápia, when they had been lawfully commissioned to supersede him; of cruelty to the natives, and especially to guatemozin; of embezzling the royal treasures, and remitting but a small part of its dues to the crown; of squandering the revenues of the conquered countries in useless and wasteful schemes, and particularly in rebuilding the capital on a plan of unprecedented extravagance; of pursuing, in short, a system of violence and extortion, without respect to the public interest or any other end than his own selfish aggrandizement.

in answer to these grave charges, the friends of cortés adduced evidence to show that he had defrayed with his own funds two-thirds of the cost of the expedition. the powers of velasquez ex{145}tended only to traffic, not to establish a colony. yet the interest of the crown required the latter. the army had therefore necessarily assumed this power to themselves; but, having done so, they had sent intelligence of their proceedings to the emperor and solicited his confirmation of them. the rupture with narvaez was that commander’s own fault; since cortés would have met him amicably, had not the violent measures of his rival, threatening the ruin of the expedition, compelled him to an opposite course. the treatment of tápia was vindicated on the grounds alleged to that officer by the municipality at cempoalla. the violence to guatemozin was laid at the door of alderete, the royal treasurer, who had instigated the soldiers to demand it. the remittances to the crown, it was clearly proved, so far from falling short of the legitimate fifth, had considerably exceeded it. if the general had expended the revenues of the country on costly enterprises and public works, it was for the interest of the country that he did so, and he had incurred a heavy debt by straining his own credit to the utmost for the same great objects. neither did they deny that, in the same spirit, he was now rebuilding mexico on a scale suited to the metropolis of a vast and opulent empire.

they enlarged on the opposition he had experienced throughout his whole career from the governor of cuba, and still more from the bishop of burgos, which latter functionary, instead of affording him the aid to have been expected, had discouraged recruits, stopped his supplies, seques{146}tered such property as from time to time he had sent to spain, and falsely represented his remittances to the crown as coming from the governor of cuba. in short, such and so numerous were the obstacles thrown in his path that cortés had been heard to say “he had found it more difficult to contend against his own countrymen than against the aztecs.” they concluded with expatiating on the brilliant results of his expedition, and asked if the council were prepared to dishonor the man who, in the face of such obstacles and with scarcely other resources than what he found in himself, had won an empire for castile such as was possessed by no european potentate![153]

this last appeal was irresistible. however irregular had been the manner of proceeding, no one could deny the grandeur of the results. there was not a spaniard that could be insensible to such services, or that would not have cried out “shame!” at an ungenerous requital of them. there were three flemings in the council; but there seems to have been no difference of opinion in the body. it was decided that neither velasquez nor fonseca should interfere further in the concerns of new spain. the difficulties of the former with cortés were regarded in the nature of a private suit; and, as such, redress must be sought by the regular course of law. the acts of cortés were confirmed in their full extent. he was constituted governor, captain-general, and chief justice of new{147} spain, with power to appoint to all offices, civil and military, and to order any person to leave the country whose residence there he might deem prejudicial to the interests of the crown. this judgment of the council was ratified by charles the fifth, and the commission investing cortés with these ample powers was signed by the emperor at valladolid, october 15th, 1522. a liberal salary was provided, to enable the governor of new spain to maintain his office with suitable dignity. the favor of his sovereign was rendered still more welcome by a letter of the same date, written by him to the general, in which, after expatiating on the services of cortés, he declares it to be his intention to make him such a requital as they well deserve.[154] the principal officers were recompensed with honors and substantial emoluments; and the troops, together with some privileges grateful to the vanity of the soldier, received the promise of liberal grants of land. the emperor still further complimented them by a letter written to the army with his own hand, in which he acknowledged its services in the fullest manner.[155]

from this hour the influence of fonseca in the indian department was at an end. he did not{148} long survive his chagrin, as he died in the following year. no man was in a situation to do more for the prosperity of his country than the bishop of burgos. for more than thirty years, ever since the first dawn of discovery under columbus, he had held supreme control over colonial affairs; and it lay with him, therefore, in an especial degree, to give ardor to enterprise, and to foster the youthful fortunes of the colonies. but he lay like a blight upon them. he looked with an evil eye on the most illustrious of the spanish discoverers, and sought only to throw impediments in their career. such had been his conduct towards columbus, and such to cortés. by a wise and generous policy, he might have placed his name among the great lights of his age. as it was, he only served to bring these into greater lustre by contrast with his own dark and malignant nature. his career shows the overweening ascendency which the ecclesiastical profession possessed in castile in the sixteenth century; when it could raise a man to so important a station, for which he was totally unfit, and keep him there after he had proved himself to be so.[156]

the messengers who bore the commission of cortés to mexico touched on their way at cuba, where the tidings were proclaimed by sound of trumpet. it was a death-blow to the hopes of velasquez. exasperated by the failure of his{149} schemes, impoverished by the expense of expeditions of which others had reaped the fruits, he had still looked forward to eventual redress, and cherished the sweet hope of vengeance,—long delayed. that hope was now gone. there was slight chance of redress, he well knew, in the tedious and thorny litigation of the castilian courts. ruined in fortune, dishonored before the nation, the haughty spirit of the governor was humbled in the dust. he would take no comfort, but fell into a solemn melancholy, and in a few months died—if report be true—of a broken heart.[157]

the portrait usually given of velasquez is not favorable. yet las casas speaks kindly of him, and, when his prejudices are not involved, there can be no better authority. but las casas knew him when, in his earlier days, the missionary first landed in cuba. the governor treated him with courtesy, and even confidence; and it was natural that the condescension of a man of high family and station should have made its impression on the feelings of the poor ecclesiastic. in most accounts he is depicted as a haughty, irascible person, jealous of authority and covetous of wealth. he quarrelled with grijaiva, cortés’ predecessor, apparently without cause. with as little reason, he broke with cortés before he left the port. he proposed objects to himself in their nature incompatible. he proposed that others should fight his battles, and that he should win the laurels; that others should make discoveries, and that he should reap the fruits of them. none but a weak mind would have conformed to his conditions, and a weak mind could{150} not have effected his objects. his appointment of cortés put him in a false position for the rest of his life. his efforts to retrieve his position only made things worse. the appointment of cortés to the command was scarcely a greater error than the subsequent appointment of narvaez and of tápia. the life of velasquez was a series of errors.

narvaez had no better fate than his friend the governor of cuba. in the hope of retrieving his fortunes, he continued to pursue his adventurous career, and embarked in an expedition to honduras. it was his last; and las casas, who had little love for the conquerors, and who had watched the acts of cruelty perpetrated by narvaez, concludes the notice of his death with the assurance that the “devil took possession of his soul.”

the announcement of the emperor’s commission confirming cortés in the supreme authority of new spain was received there with general acclamation. the army rejoiced in having at last secured not merely an amnesty for their irregular proceedings, but a distinct acknowledgment of their services. the nomination of cortés to the supreme command put his mind at ease as to the past, and opened to him a noble theatre for future enterprise. the soldiers congratulated themselves on the broad powers conferred on their commander, and, as they reckoned up their scars and their services, indulged in golden dreams and the most vague and visionary expectations. it is not strange that their expectations should have been disappointed.