46

Conspiracy of the Mexican Chiefs.

fault, and the whole army would probably have perished but for the use that was made of the mariner's compass. Such was the country, abounding in dense forests, wide morasses, broad, unfordable rivers,* and not without stony mountains, over which Cortez had to lead his motley band of Spanish horsemen, musicians, jugglers, and Mexican attendants. It was not likely that his prisoners-the captive monarchs of Mexico, Tlacuba, and Tezcuco-could fail to observe the inevitable relaxation of discipline, and to commune with themselves and with each other upon the advantage which they might derive from it. They accordingly conspired. Their plan was, after destroying those Spaniards who were with them, to raise the standard of revolt and march for Mexico. The time was very favorable for their design. Part of the Spanish troops were with Pedro de Alvarado in Guatemala; another part in Honduras with Cristoval de Olid, and the captains who had gone to subdue him. Other Spaniards, again, had gone into the province of Mechoacan, where some gold mines, according to report, had been discovered. Mexico itself was comparatively de

que dijeron que iban desatinados, que no sabian á donde iban; y era la montaña de tal calidad que no se via otra cosa sino donde poniamos los piés en el suelo, ó mirando arriba, la claridad del cielo: tanta era la espesura y alteza de los árboles, que aunque se subian en algunos, no podian descubrir un tiro de piedra."-Doc. Inéd., tom. iv., p.

34. *The bridges that were thrown over these formidable marshes and rivers, which chiefly owed their construction to the skill of the Mexican artificers, remained for years; and when these provinces were at peace, the admiring traveler was wont to exclaim, "These are the bridges of Cortez." "Y despues que aquellas tierras, y Provincias estuvieron de paz, los Españoles que por aquellos caminos estavan y passavan, y hallavan algunas de las puentes sin se aver deshecho al cabo de muchos años, y los grandes árboles que en ellas poniamos, se admiran dello, y suelen dezir agora, Aquí son las puentes de Cortés, como si dixessen, las colunas de Hércules."-BERNAL DIAZ, cap. 178.

Conspiracy betrayed to Cortez.

47

fenseless, and at no period since the Conquest would a revolt have been more formidable. The Mexican troops who accompanied Cortez amounted to three thousand. Death was imminent from starvation; why should they not die to save their monarch and to recover their country?

The conspiracy was betrayed to Cortez by Mexicatzincatl, the same man, as I imagine, whom Cortez had set over the work of constructing and governing the Indian quarters of Mexico. This man probably understood better than his countrymen the solid basis upon which the power of Cortez rested, and the speed with which a common danger would compel the Spaniards to resume their accustomed wariness and discipline. The traitor showed to Cortez a paper whercon were painted the faces and names of the Mexican lords. and princes who were concerned in the conspiracy. The Spanish commander immediately seized upon them separately, and examined them one by one, telling each that the others had confessed the truth.

According to BERNAL DIAZ, and also to an ancient Tezcucan history,* it appears as if the King of Mexico did not confess to more than being aware of the conspiracy, and declared that he had refused to entertain it. This may be dubious; but, at any rate, the cruel practical wisdom of Cortez would make but little difference between a conspiracy suggested by the monarch himself or by others on his behalf. The result would have been the same. And Cortez saw that the sure way of putting an immediate stop to such conspiracies was to make a great example of the principal offenders. Accordingly, the Kings of Mexico and Tlacuba were condemned to death. When led to

* Referred to by TORQUEMADA.

Kings of Mexico and Tlacuba put to Death. 49

66

execution, the King of Mexico exclaimed, "O Malinché, it is long that I have known the falseness of your words, and have foreseen that you would give me that death which, alas! I did not give myself, when I surrendered to you in my city of Mexico. Wherefore do you slay me without justice? May God demand

it of you.'

The King of Tlacuba said that he looked upon his death as welcome, since he was to die with his lord, the King of Mexico. After confession and absolution, the two kings were hanged upon a ceyba-tree in Izzancanac, in the province of Acalán, on one of the carnival days before Shrovetide in the year 1525. Thus ended the great Mexican dynasty—itself a thing compacted by so much blood, and toil, and suffering of countless human beings. The days of deposed monarchs-victims alike to the zeal of their friends and the suspicions of their captors—are mostly very brief; and perhaps it is surprising that the King of Mexico should have survived so long as four years the conquest of his capital, and have been treated during the greater part of that time with favor and honor.*

Some writers have supposed that Cortez was weary of his captives, and wished to destroy them, and that the charge of conspiracy was fictitious. Such assertions betray a total ignorance of the character of this great Spaniard. Astute men seldom condescend to lying. Now Cortez was not only very astute, but, according to his notions, highly honorable. A genuine hidalgo, and a thoroughly loyal man, he would as soon have thought of committing a small theft as of uttering a falsehood in a dispatch addressed to his sovereign.†

* For an account of this conspiracy, see Torquemada, lib. iv., cap. 104. + His own account of the betrayal of the conspiracy to him is in the VOL. III.-C

50.

Ignorance of the Character of Cortez.

Cortez could well afford to be satisfied with the deaths of the two principal kings, and to spare the oth

following words: "Aquí en esta provincia de Acalan acaeció un caso que es bien que V. M. lo sepa, y es que un ciudadano honrado de esta ciudad de Temixtitan, que se llamaba Mecicalcingo, y despues que se bautizó se llama Cristóval, vino á mí una noche muy secretamente y me trajo cierta figura en un papel de lo de esta tierra, y queriéndome dar á entender lo que significaba me dijo que Guatemacin, señor que fué de esta ciudad de Temixtitan, á quien yo despues que la gané he tenido siempre preso, teniéndole por hombre bullicioso, y le llevé conmigo aquel camino con todos los demas señores que me parecian que eran partes para la seguridad y revuelta de estas partes, é díjome aquel Cristóval que él y Guanacasin, señor que fué de Tescuco, y Tetepanguecal, señor que fué de Tacuba, y un Tacatelz que á la sazon era en esta ciudad de Méjico en la parte del Tatetulco, habian hablado muchas veces y dado parte de ello á este Messicalcingo, que agora se llama Cristóval, diciendo como estaban desposeidos de sus tierras y señorío y las mandaban los españoles, y que seria bien que buscasen algun remedio para que ellos las tornasen á señorear y poseer; y que hablando en esto muchas veces en este camino, les habia parecido que era buen