Occupation of Mexico by the Spaniards. 13 Ch. 1. endeavour to see them in the guise in which B. XII. they stood when they were face to face with other great men, and immersed in the contests of life. Such as he has been described above was Cortes at the vigorous age of thirty-five, in the height of his unrivalled career, after one of the most memorable conquests made known to us in history. in New This is not the place for mentioning at any length the discoveries and conquests of which Dealings of Cortes with Cortes now laid the foundation. As was to be other States expected, ambassadors arrived at the Spanish Spain. Camp from neighbouring territories; and Cortes was enabled to give them a most significant illustration of his prowess, by taking them to behold the ruins of Mexico.* Their mode of describing events was pictorial; and here was a scene which, if well portrayed, needed little comment by words or hieroglyphics. of Mexico Cortes now prepared for the occupation of the site of Mexico by his own men, giving the usual Occupation quantities of land (solares) to those who wished by the to become residents. He then appointed the Spaniards. principal officers, the Alcaldes and Regidores. The building of the town was carried on with such rapidity, that in five months after its commencement, the new Mexico already gave promise of becoming, as the old had been, the principal and "Hícelos llevar á ver la destruccion y asolamiento de la Ciudad de Temixtitan, que de la ver, y de ver su fuerza, y forta leza, por estar en el Agua, que- 14 Occupation of Mexico by the Spaniards. B. XII. ruling city of those provinces.* It is a remarkCh. 1. able fact that the Tezcucans were largely emTezcucans ployed in this rebuilding, thus fulfilling, at employed. least partially, least partially, a prophecy made by the Mexicans in the height of the war. The labour was great, food was very scarce, and numbers of the workmen died from the effects of famine. It is worthy of note that they brought the materials for building on their shoulders, or dragged them along by sheer force, and their only comfort during these great exertions seems to have been in working to the sound of music. Cortes did not accomplish all these great works without the envy that belongs to such men and such deeds. The white walls of the palaces of Cuyoacan were blackened each morning by Pasquin- malicious pasquinades in poetry and prose. Some ades said that the sun, and the moon, and the stars, and the sea, had their courses, and if sometimes against Cortes. See ante, vol. 2, book II, * "Crea Vuestra Magestad, que cada dia se irá ennobleciendo p. 516. en tal manera, que como antes § The great architectural fue Principal, y Señora de todas works of nations in the olden estas Provincias, que lo será tam-time indicate an utter prodigality bien de aquí adelante."-LOREN- of human life, and declare the ZANA, p. 307. largeness of the despotic power under which men worked. "El trabajo fué grande; cá traian acuestas, ó arrastrando, la Piedra, la Tierra, la Madera, Cal, Ladrillos, í todos los otros materiales. Pero era mucho de ver los Cantares, í Musica que tenian. "Hiço Señor del Cuzco (Tezcuco) á Don Carlos Iztlixuchitl, con voluntad, í pedimento de la Ciudad, por muerte de Don Hernando su Hermano, í mandóle traer en la obra los mas de sus Vasallos, por ser Carpinteros, Canteros, í Obreros de Casas."- El apellidar su Pueblo, í Señor, GOMARA, Crónica de la Nueva-í el motejarse unos á otros."España, cap. 162. BARCIA, Historiadores, tom. 2. GOMARA, Crónica de la Nueva- Arrival of Christoval de Tapia. 15 Ch. I. they went out of these courses, they nevertheless B. XII. returned to their original state, and that so it would have to be with the ambition of Cortes. Others said that the soldiers should not call themselves the Conquistadores of New Spain, but the conquered of Cortes (conquistados de Hernando Cortés). Others wrote "Alas! how sad a soul I bear, Until I see what is my share.' Cortes, who could use his pen as well as his sword, was not backward in replying to his maligners; and he wittily wrote up "A white wall, the paper of fools" (Pared blanca, papel de necios). Finally, however, the practice of scribbling these things on the walls rose to such a height, that Cortes was obliged to exercise his authority in forbidding it altogether. supersede 1522. Another disagreeable episode in the affairs of Cortes was the arrival of an obscure man, named Arrival of Christoval de Tapia, as Governor of New Spain. Tapia to This appointment was the work of the Bishop of Cortes. Burgos, who, whether he thwarted Las Casas, or, with much less injustice, condemned the proceedings of Cortes, was always in the wrong. Cortes himself made some show of obeying Tapia, but the friends of Cortes would not listen to this man's taking upon him so important a charge, and he was obliged to quit New Spain. This transaction is worth mentioning only as showing amidst what interruptions and vexations Cortes worked Ch. I. pointed 16 Memorial of the "Conquistadores" B. XII. out his great achievements. It was not until three years and four months after Cortes had been Cortes ap- elected Captain-General by his followers, in the Governor council held at Vera Cruz,* that he was appointed Captain by the Court of Spain Governor and CaptainGeneral, General, in a despatch dated at Valladolid the 1522. 15th of October, 1522. and Oct. 15, A further trouble to the administration of Cortes, which also is worth mentioning only as showing the nature of the difficulties he had to Revolt of contend with, was the revolt of Panuco, a province to the north-east of Mexico. Cortes went to Panuco himself, and succeeded, after several encounters with the Indians, in subduing them and pacificating the province. Panuco. 1522. sent by his men Emperor, Dec. 20, Soon after his return from this expedition Cortes despatched messengers to Spain to urge his own claims and those of the Conquistadores; who also on their own account sent a memorial to the Emperor. These messengers did not go empty-handed. Messengers They were commissioned to take the Emperor Cortes and eighty-eight thousand pesos, in gold bars, and the to the wardrobe of the late monarch of Mexico, Montezuma, which was rich with jewels, amongst 1522. them some pearls the size of hazel-nuts. These treasures never reached the Court of Spain, for they were captured by a French corsair, named Jean Florin. They probably, however, did as much good to the Emperor as if they had been spent upon his armies, for they served to give * See vol. 2, book 10, p. 279. the King of France some intimation of the wealth which the King of Spain was likely to draw from the Indies. The despatches had been intrusted to a man of the name of Alonso de Avila, who, though taken prisoner, contrived to have these valuable documents conveyed to some friends of Cortes in Spain, whence they were forwarded to his Majesty the Emperor, in Flanders. The exact time of Alonso de Avila's departure from Vera Cruz was the 20th of December, 1522. The petition from the Conquistadores gave an account of the siege, besought his Majesty to Memorial send to New Spain a bishop, and monks of all the of the Conquistareligious Orders, explained their own conduct in dores. not receiving Tapia, prayed that the government of New Spain might be conferred upon Cortes (the news of his appointment as Governor had not yet reached them), and asked, on their own account, that all the royal offices in the new colony might be given to them. The above, however, are not the points in the memorial which are most curious, and which most require to be dwelt upon. upon which colonists The world is so torn by differences of opinion, that it is always very interesting, and somewhat delightful, to find any one subject upon which there is singular unanimity. Now there was One thing something wherein the Spanish conquerors and the Spanish colonists universally agreed. Biscayan, Estrema- agreed. duran, Andalucian, Castillian-men who had various points of difference, and numberless provincial jealousies, concurred in one request. As soon as any colony was in the least degree esta |