Francis Augustus MacNutt

“ I thought that the labour of my youth would have procured me repose in my old age, and thus for forty years I have given myself to God's service, deprived of sleep, eating poorly, and even at times not eating at all, with my arms always at my side, myself exposed to dangers and my fortune sacrificed to bring into His fold the sheep of a distant and unknown hemisphere, of which we even had no record, and to magnify the name, and extend the patrimony of my King by conquering and bringing under his royal yoke and sceptre the great kingdoms and dominions of barbarous peoples. ”

“ To wish to make slaves of the natives of the New World in order to subject them to the Faith and the King's obedience, is undoubtedly iniquitous, and God has forbidden men all abominations, even though the greatest good should result from them. Sacrifice is never acceptable if offered with unclean hands. It were a lesser evil if not a single inhabitant of the New World were ever converted to our Holy Faith, and that the King's sovereignty should be lost forever, than that these people should be brought to the one or the other by slavery" (Fr. Andres Calvo, Apud Bustamante) . ”

“ They were the children of the generation which had expelled the last Moor from Spain, and had brought centuries of religious and patriotic warfare to a triumphant close, in which their country was finally united under the crown of Castile. From such forebears the generation of Cortes received their heritage of Christian chivalry. The discovery of a new world, peopled by barbarians, opened a new field to Spanish missionary zeal, in which the kingdom of God upon earth was to be extended, and countless souls rescued from the obscene idolatries and debasing cannibalism which enslaved them. ”

“ Many of the best men in modern Mexico trace with pride their descent from Aztec kings and nobles. A uniform and rich language with its system of phonetic writing, the introduction of horses and beasts of burden, the use of iron and leather, improved systems of mining and agriculture which have brought under civilisation vast tracts of land, and increased the variety and quality of crops — these and countless other resources, unknown and unknowable to the Mexicans, have revolutionised the conditions of their existence beyond anything their ancestors could have dreamed. ”

“ And that captain who was with me, called Antonio de Quinomes, said to me, "Let us go away from here and save yourself, as you know that without you none of us can escape"; but seeing that he could not prevail upon me to go, he grasped me by the arms, to force me to retire. Although I would have rejoiced more in death than in life, by the importunity of that and of my other companions, we began to withdraw, fighting with our swords and bucklers against the enemy, who surrounded us. ”

“ Our friends accompanied us, armed with swords and shields, and such was the slaughter done that day on water and on land, that with prisoners taken they numbered in all more than forty thousand men; and such were the shrieks and the weeping of the women and children that there was none whose heart did not break; and we had more trouble in preventing our allies from killing and inflicting tortures than we had in fighting with the Indians, for no such inhuman cruelty as the natives of these parts practice was ever seen amongst any people. ”

“ He has also a large garden round his house, in which there is a terrace with many beautiful corridors and rooms, and, within the garden, is a great pool of fresh water, very well built with sides of handsome masonry, around which runs an open walk with well laid tile pavements, so broad that four persons can walk abreast on it, and four hundred paces square, making, in all, sixteen hundred paces. On the other side of this promenade, towards the wall of the garden, it is all surrounded by a lattice work of canes, behind which are arbours, planted with fragrant shrubs. ”

“ A pathetic figure is that of this Aztec king, gifted with some of the highest qualities of his race, venerated during a long and prosperous reign almost as a demi-god, only to be humbled to the very dust. The starting point of his downfall was his superstition, for had he listened to his generals rather than to his priests Cortes and his handful of adventurers would never have left the sea-coast alive. ”

“ These naked barbarians, weakened by famine and confronted by inevitable defeat, fought against a steel-clad foe, armed with guns both on land and on their ships, which mowed down a very harvest of death at every discharge. Never did they so much as name surrender thus verifying literally the words with which Quauhtemotzin answered the Spanish overtures for peace, that they would all perish to the last man in the city and he would die fighting. ”

“ A respectable woman whose husband had accompanied Cortes, having declared in her grief that the news was false, and that all were well, was ordered by Salazar to receive twenty lashes in public, as a sorceress. He was absolute master of the country, which he governed like a tyrant, and he had enriched his partisans with the Indians and spoils of Fernando Cortes and his companions: for he counted upon their self-interest to defend and support him should the latter reappear; all of which the former friends of Diego Velasquez who had joined his party were quite ready to do. ”

“ Seeing that the people of the city were so rebellious, and displayed such determination to die as no race had ever shown, I knew not what means to adopt to relieve our dangers and hardships, and to avoid utterly destroying them and their city, which was the most beautiful thing in the world. ”

“ Cortes daily renewed his offers of honourable terms for the Emperor and his people if the city would surrender. Day after day, with infinite patience, he made appointments which Quauhtemotzin never kept; time after time, he wasted hours in waiting for better counsels to prevail; but nothing he could say or do sufficed to allay the distrust of Quauhtemotzin, or bring the Mexicans to terms. Their choice was made; they had had enough of the Spaniards, whose semi-divine character was an exploded myth, and whose presence in the land was felt to be incompatible with the Aztec sovereignty. ”

“ The Spaniards whom I found there, some seventy men and twenty women, brought thither by Gil Gonzales de Avila, were in such a plight that it excited the greatest compassion merely to behold them, aside from seeing their rejoicing at my coming; for, of a truth, had I not arrived, everyone would have perished. For, besides being few, unarmed, and without horses, they were very ill, suffering from want and starvation, as their provisions from the island, and what they had captured from the natives when they took the town, were exhausted ”

“ Lesser men would have been content with the worldwide fame, the great title, and vast estates to which from modest beginnings Cortes had 'risen in a few brief years, but a lesser man would never have accomplished such vast undertakings, and it was his curse that his ambitions kept pace with his achievements. From the fall of Mexico until his death, his life was a series of disappointments, unfulfilled ambitions, and petty miseries, due to the malice of rivals, and the faithlessness of friends, relieved only by some brief periods of splendid triumph, illumined by royal favour. ”

“ For magnitude of the undertaking, distance of transport, number of men engaged, with no beasts of burden to help them, and the importance of the issue at stake, the achievement of Cortes and the Tlascalans stands alone. The arrival of the convoy at Texcoco was rightly made the occasion of a triumphal entry, to the sound of music and salutes, while the crowds enthusiastically cheered for Castile and Tlascala. It was found necessary to build a canal in which to join the parts of the brigantines together, and from which to launch them safely on the waters of the lake. ”

“ Thus we parted from each other to meet again in this port, and, during our march, we had some encounters with the natives who killed two Spaniards and some of the Indians whom we had brought for our service.
Upon arriving in a dreadful plight at this port, the horses unshod, but all of us happy in the expectation of rinding the captain with our baggage and arms, we were more than afflicted to find nothing at all, while we were ourselves almost stark naked, destitute of arms and iron tools, all of which the captain had taken in the caravel. ”

“ More than five hours had passed in these parleyings, and the inhabitants of the city were all treading on the dead, others in the water were swimming, and others drowning themselves in the large lake where the canoes were collected. Such was the plight in which they were, that no understanding could conceive how they could endure it; and an infinite number of men, women, and children kept coming towards us, who, in their haste, pushed one another back into the water and were drowned amidst the multitude of dead. ”

“ When I learned, from the Spaniards who visited that province, of its adaptability for settlement, and of the harbour they had found, I rejoiced greatly; for, ever since I came to this country, I have sought to find a harbour on its coast, where I might found a settlement. I had never succeeded, however; nor is one to be found on the whole coast, from the river of San Antonio, which is next the Grijalba to that of Panuco which is down the coast, where certain Spaniards settled by order of Francisco de Garay, as I shall hereafter recount to Your Highness. ”

“ The priests proclaimed that the war-god was appeased by the savour of so many Spanish victims and within eight days would give his faithful a complete victory over the impious invaders. This oracle was published amongst the allies, and shook their wavering faith in the Spaniards; they saw that the city stubbornly held out, they perceived that the strangers were neither invincible nor immortal, and, as the ancient superstitious fear of their gods reasserted itself, tens of thousands quietly detached themselves from the Spanish camp and marched off homewards. ”

“ This town of Chilapan is beautifully situated and very large. It is surrounded by plantations of fruit trees of the country and fields of maize, which, though not yet ripe, were of great comfort to us in our necessity. I remained there two days, laying in supplies for the journey, and sending out some expeditions into the neighbourhood to capture, if possible, some natives from whom I might learn about the road; but with the exception of two at first, who were found concealed in the village, all our searching was in vain. ”

“ A perpetual coming and going of Aztec ambassadors accompanied the march from Vera Cruz. These unfortunate messengers, burdened with conflicting and impossible instructions, must have felt themselves sent upon a fool's errand, pulled hither and thither according as Montezuma's hopes or fears happened to be in the ascendant. The task of turning back the obnoxious strangers, but without offending them, lest, being gods, they might wreak vengeance on the Empire, was laid upon them. ”

“ This country, Most Potent Princes, where we now are in the name of Your Majesties, has fifty leagues of coast on the one side and the other of this town, the seacoast being low with many sand-hills, some of which are two leagues or more in length. The country beyond these sand-hills is level, with many fertile plains, in which are such beautiful river banks, that in all Spain there can be found no better; these are as grateful to the sight as they are productive in everything sown in them, and very orderly and well kept with walks, and facilities for grazing all kinds of animals. ”

“ While I was there, some Spaniards opened a sepulchre and found in it more than fifteen hundred castellanos worth of articles in gold. At the hour of returning, I ordered that they should begin to withdraw in a compact body, and that from the first moment of leaving the square the horsemen should feign an attack, behaving as though they hardly dared to make it, choosing the time when they saw a great number of people in and about the whole square. The men posted in ambush longed for the hour to arrive, because they much desired to act their part well, and were already tired of waiting. ”

“ In response to their prayers, I came to the city, which is about six leagues distant from the dwelling place and camp I had occupied, and is so large and admirable that, although much of what I might say I shall omit, the little which I shall say is almost incredible; for it is much larger than Granada, and very much stronger, having very good buildings, and it contains a great many more people than Granada did when it was taken, and is much better supplied with provisions, such as bread, birds, game, and river-fish, and other good eatables and vegetables. ”

“ Finally there prevail good order and politeness, for they are a people full of intelligence and understanding, and such that the best in Africa does not equal them. This province contains many extensive and beautiful valleys, well tilled and sown, and none are uncultivated. The province is ninety leagues in circumference, and, as far as I have been able to judge about the form of government, it is almost like that of Venice, or Genoa, or Pisa, because there is no one supreme ruler. ”

“ Meeting no opposition, both Christians and Indians made three journeys to and fro that day, for the distance was short, carrying loads of grain, so that the brigantine being filled, as well as the boats, I went to the town myself, leaving them engaged in transporting the maize. I at once sent the two barques, another which had arrived there with a ship which had been lost on the coast coming to New Spain, and four canoes, to gather this great vest, which was a most providential supply, repaying the labour it cost; for, had it not been found, we would have all inevitably perished by starvation. ”

“ But even the equipment of the missionaries who undertake to carry evangelical doctrine amongst savage peoples presents some striking contrasts to the barefooted Spanish friars who first preached Christianity to the Mexicans. If the heathen are no longer brought by compulsion into the light, we make them pay a heavy indemnity for their privilege of sitting in darkness, and, whenever their opposition to the dissemination of Christian teaching amongst them emerges from quiesence into activity, a warship is ready to bombard their coasts while troops are at hand to annex a province. ”

“ The story of the conquest is, on the Indian side, a humiliating recital of treachery, mutual betrayals, and tribe plotting against tribe, each foolishly thinking to use the Spaniards as an instrument of vengeance against their neighbours, whereas the fact was that the astute Cortes saw with eminent satisfaction these enervating dissensions, all of which he deftly turned to his own profit. ”