A. D.

As soon as the fate of their sovereign was known, the resistance of the Mexicans

1521. ceased, and Cortes took possession of that small part of the capital which yet remained undestroyed. Thus terminated the siege of Mexico, the most memorable event in the conquest of America. The exultation of the Spaniards on the accomplishment of this arduous enterprise was at first excessive; but this was quickly damped by finding so small a quantity of booty,' the gold and silver amounting to much less than 30,0001. sterling. The murmurs and sullen discontent of the Spanish soldiers led Cortes to the commission of a deed which stains the glory of all his great actions. Without regarding the former dignity of Guatimozin, or feeling any reverence for the virtues which he had displayed, he subjected the unhappy monarch, together with his chief favourite, to torture, in order to force from them a discovery of the royal treasures, which it was supposed they had concealed. The monarch bore whatever his tormentors could inflict with invincible fortitude, till Cortes, ashamed of a scene so horrid, rescued the royal victim from the hands of his torturers, and prolonged a life reserved for new indignities and sufferings.

The fate of the capital, as both parties had foreseen, decided that of the empire. The provinces submitted one after another to the conquerors. Small detachments of Spaniards, marching through them without interruption, penetrated in different quarters to the great Southern Ocean, which, according to the ideas of Columbus, they imagined would open a short as well as easy passage to the East Indies, and secure to the crown of Castile all

the envied wealth of those fertile regions; and the active mind of Cortes began already to form schemes for attempting this important discovery. He did not know, that during the progress of his victorious arms in Mexico, the very scheme of which he began to form some idea, had been undertaken and accomplished by Ferdinand Magellan*. Though an untimely fate deprived this great man of the satisfaction of accomplishing the undertaking, his contemporaries, just to his memory and talents, ascribed to him not only the honour of having formed the plan, but of having surmounted almost every obstacle to the completion of it; and in the present age his name is still ranked among the highest in the roll of eminent and successful navigators. The naval glory of Spain now eclipsed that of every other nation; and by a singular felicity she had the merit, in the course of a few years, of discovering a new continent almost as large as that part of the earth which was formerly known, and of ascertaining by experience the form and extent of the whole terraqueous globe.

At the time Cortes was acquiring such extensive territories for his native country, and preparing the way for new conquests, he was represented by ministers in the court of Spain as an undutiful and seditious subject. His conduct in assuming the government of New Spain was declared to be an irregular usurpation, in contempt of royal authority. A person was sent out with full powers to supersede him, and even to send him home prisoner. But Cortes soon prevailed on him to surrender his powers, and in the mean time dispatched deputies to Spain with a pompous account of the

* See Vol. XII. ch. V. of this work. VOL. XXIV.

success

1

success of his arms, with further specimens of the productions of the country, and with rich presents to the emperor, as the earnest of future contributions from his new conquest; requesting, in recompense for all his services, the approbation of his proceedings; and that he might be entrusted with the government of those dominions, which his conduct and the valour of his followers had added to the crown of Castile. The public voice declared warmly in favour of his pretensions, and the emperor appointed Cortes captain-general and governor of New Spain.

Even before his jurisdiction received this legal sanction, Cortes ventured to exercise all the powers of a governor, and endeavoured to render his conquest a secure and beneficial acquisition to his country. He determined to raise Mexico from its ruins; and having conceived high ideas concerning the future grandeur of the state of which he was laying the foundation, he began to rebuild its capital on a plan which hath gradually formed the most magnificent city in the New World.

It was not, however, without difficulty that the Mexican empire was reduced into the form of a Spanish colony. And to the everlasting infamy of the conquerors, they affected to consider every effort of the Mexicans to assert their own independence, as the rebellion of vassals against their sovereign, or the mutiny of slaves against their master. Under the sanction of those ill-founded maxims, they reduced the common people in the provinces to the most humiliating of all conditions, that of personal servitude. Their chiefs were punished with greater severity, and put to death by the most excruciating tortures. In almost every district of the Mexican empire, the progress of Spanish arms

is marked with blood, and with deeds so atrocious as disgrace the enterprising valour that conducted them to success. In the country of Panuco, sixty caziques and four hundred nobles were burnt at one time; and to complete the horror of the scene, the children and relations of the wretched victims were assembled, and compelled to be spectators of their dying agonies. But we will not enlarge on facts which are disgraceful to human nature. The passions of jealousy were revived with still stronger force against Cortes at home, and Ponce de Leon was sent out to seize his person and send him prisoner to Spain. The sudden death of this man, within a few days after his arrival in New Spain, prevented the execution of this commission. And Cortes immediately set out for Castile, and in the presence of his sovereign vindicated his conduct very successfully. His arrival in Spain removed from the monarch every suspicion and fear that had 1528.

A. D,

1525.

A. D.

been entertained with respect to his intentions. The sovereign presented him with the order of St. Jago, and the title of marquis del Valle de Guaxana, and a grant of an ample territory in New Spain. But amidst those external proofs of regard, symptoms of distrust appeared. Cortes returned to America, but in the remainder of his life nothing more is remarkable except the discovery of the peninsula of California. He returned to his native country. But his reception there was unworthy of his great merit. His antient exploits seemed to be already forgotten: the emperor behaved to him with cold civility; his ministers treated him, sometimes with neglect, sometimes with insolence. His grievances received no redress; his claims were urged without effect; and,

02

A. D.

1540.

and, after several years spent in fruitless application to ministers and judges, he ended his days on the second of December in the sixty-second year of his age. His fate was the same with A. D. that of all the persons who distinguished 1547. themselves in the discovery or conquest of the New World: envied by his contemporaries, and ill requited by the court which he served, he has been admired and celebrated by succeeding ages. Which has formed the most just estimate of his character, an impartial consideration of his actions must determine.

CHAP.