Hubert Howe Bancroft

“ A feeling of suffocation and deathly despair comes over the Spaniards as the dusky host fold them in closer and yet fiercer embrace. Hot falls the blood-reeking breath upon their faces, as, flushed with success and sure of their victims, the foe lay hold of the Spaniards to drag them away to the sacrifice. Rare offerings to the gods, indeed, are these magnificent men! And such they will surely become if Mary, Santiago, or the ready genius of Cortés appears not quickly to the rescue! ”

“ Even at this juncture Cortés does not fail to observe the increased firmness and spirit among the warriors as the banner approaches. Here, then, is the one chance more, which is all the brave man asks. With a quick motion to his mounted followers, pointing to the sacred insignia, and as if he would throw the whole might of Spain into his brief words, Cortés cries out: “Señores, let us break with them! In the name of God and St Peter, señores, let us close with them!” Not a man there but knew that the next moment would determine all, would determine the fate of every Spaniard in New Spain. ”

“ What were their sins more than those of others, that they should be so stricken, that they should be so ground to the dust while the conquerors flushed with victory were exulting before God because he had so ordered and accomplished? They had sacrificed human beings on the altars of their gods, sixty thousand in one year, some said. But what were these butcheries of the Spaniards but human sacrifices, of more than six times sixty thousand in one year! Behold them as they file along the causeway, the very sun striking black and stifling on their famine-stricken forms and agonized faces. ”

“ Struck on the summit of Tlatelulco temple, the sounds float over the contestants, sending a chill into the heart of the Spaniards and allies as they rush onward filled with visions of success. To the Mexicans, on the other hand, it comes as a magic appeal from Huitzilopochtli, stirring their spirit with fresh energy: a resistless appeal to make a supreme effort for imperilled home, and faith, and liberty. ”

“ And the same number perish in the fall of broken bridges, in the choked canals, and from the tread of their fellow fugitives. How glorious is war! How noble the vocation! How truly great the hero of such hellish deeds! Blush, oh sun! for making such to-morrows; for lending thy light to human intelligence by which to do such diabolical wickedness!
Observing no signs of surrender, Cortés opened fire with his cannon and gave the signal of attack. Another massacre followed, the Mexicans displaying the same apathy and sullen indifference to death as on other late occasions. ”

“ Circumstances certainly did as much for Cortés in promoting success as Spanish arms and superior civilization.
Civilization! What fools we are, pluming ourselves in its radiance, the radiance of ghastly electrical lights, adopted instead of the glorious sun of nature. For is not the unartificial nature, and nature God, while artifice is rather of the devil? And yet we persist in glorifying artifice and calling it deity. The human sacrifice of the Aztecs was a horrible rite, but in the hands of the Spaniards is not Christianity a bloody mistress? ”

“ Even after darkness had stilled the fury of the warriors the unhappy people remained before the Spanish quarters, and with outstretched arms and dishevelled hair they lifted up their voices, crying, “You are doomed, you vile things! But for your thunder and your fortress walls, curses on them, you would now be killed and cooked. And you shall be, unless you instantly release Montezuma and depart. You shall meet with holy death, and be cooked with chilmole, and be given as food to the eagles and the beasts, for your flesh is bitter, as we have found, and not fit for men to eat. ”

“ Why does not the earth swallow you alive? Oh ye gods! ye gods! unmoved all, all but the devilish gods of these devilish men. 422 But our mighty ones, whom you have outraged, shall yet give you your deserts. If they do not, we shall; nor shall they escape, the despicable ones of Tlascala, your slaves, who serve you as women and hire out the wives of their lords!” Thus raved the heart-broken.
So critical had become his condition on the second day that Alvarado appealed to Montezuma to exert his influence to stay the assailants, intimating that if the Spaniards perished so would the Aztec king. ”

“ In order to complete the reconnoissance, a north-westerly route was taken to Coyuhuacan, the centre of a series of inner towns which lay clustered within a radius of a league and a half, along the shores or upon islands in the lake, all picturesque in their pyramidal temples and their white walls, which gleamed amidst blooming orchards and shady groves. Coyuhuacan itself was a beautiful town, and Cortés felt so captivated with it that he afterward made it for some time his favorite residence. ”

“ Instructed by his native allies, Alvarado waits the time when the Indians shall install the war-god image in the chapel. And now the sanguinary moment has come. Falling on the assembly with pike and sword, some strike the idol and some its worshippers. They hew down the priests and drive the cruel steel through the bodies of the nobles. Few of the Indians possess any weapons with which to defend themselves from the sharp Toledo blades. Taken thus by surprise, panic-stricken, they tread one upon another, and then fall helpless under the merciless thrusts of the enemy. ”

“ While in the dire embrace of heathen hordes, midst thrust and slash and crash of steel and stone, the enemy hewn down and driven back only to give place to thrice the number, behold, upon a gray-spotted steed, a heavenly horseman appeared, and from a slight eminence overlooking the bloody field he frowned confusion on the foe. The heathen warriors were stricken powerless, enabling the Spaniards to form anew; but when the horseman vanished, the Indians rallied. ”

“ The Palatinate! ay, and a hundred million souls flung into the same fire, ere the one omnipotent soul shall suffer the least abridgment. It was a small matter, and he would do it; all the islands of the Western Inde he would uproot and fling into the face of the Cuban governor before he would yield one jot of his stolen advantage. Each for himself were Velazquez, Columbus, and Charles, and the rest of this world’s great and little ones, and Cortés would be for himself. Henceforth, like Themistocles, though he would die for his country he would not trust her. ”

“ The signal being given, volleys poured from cannon, arquebuses, and cross-bows upon the warriors confined in the court, and then the Spaniards rushed in with sword and lance thrusting and slashing at the packed masses. The high walls permitted no escape, and at the gates gleamed a line of lances above the smoking mouths of the guns. Pressing one upon another, the victims offered only a better mark for the ruthless slayers, and fell in heaps, dead and dying intermingled, while many were trampled underfoot. ”

“ Marina appears to have been still living in Mexico city in 1550, impressing her memory upon the hearts of the grateful people, over whose welfare she even now watches. Invoked by them, her spirit is frequently encountered in its twilight flights on errands of mercy and consolation, issuing from the ancient groves of Chapultepec, where centres the recollection of Aztec glories. Ballads still perpetuate her virtues, and many a nature’s monument bears proudly the beloved name of Malintzin. Tradition also transforms her into a naiad who daily rises from the pool of Chapultepec, singing divinely. ”

“ The conquest of Mexico was less a subjugation by Spanish soldiers than their skilful manœuvring of New World forces against one another. Had Anáhuac been united it would have succumbed less readily, perhaps never. As it was, while the native nations were slaying each other, fighting out their ancient feuds, the astute Spaniards laid their all-possessing hand upon the country.
Nor was any apology on their part needed before Christendom. Mankind to this day have not become so humane and just as not to find excuse for any wrong within the realms of strength and inclination. ”

“ During his stay at Tlascala the men of Narvaez began again to moot the subject of return. The golden vision of Mexico’s treasures had been rudely dissipated, leaving only the remembrance of hardships and disgrace. The flowery Antilles appeared more alluring than ever to these gold-seekers, only too many of whom were more accustomed to the farm than to the camp. They could think of nothing but the ease and security of the fertile plantations, where nature unloaded its wealth, and where docile natives ministered to every want. ”

“ With relations so lovingly established, and with a personal knowledge of the military genius of Cortés, and the strength and versatility of his character, it would seem that here would be the first instant choice of the governor for the command of the important expedition now in preparation. But the quality of the man required did not altogether hinge on merit. As we have seen, Velazquez required for his purpose an anomalous creation. He must be able but humble; able to command men, and able likewise to obey his chief; honest to Velazquez, but false, if necessary, to all the world else. ”

“ Scarcely is the order uttered before he sees his forces coming down the causeway in disorderly flight, led by the allies. Cortés makes frantic efforts to stay the current. None heed him. Fears lend wings and drown all appeal. On come the pressing throng, on to the frail bridge, which sinks with its living freight into the deep water. Still onward rush the mass behind, impelled by their mad momentum, tumbling 651 on the heads of these, scrambling and wading, adding their cries for help to the shrieks of despair beneath, while from the rear roll the terrifying shouts of hot pursuers. ”

“ Already the house-tops teem with slingers and archers; the lanes pour forth their warriors with swords and long pikes to pierce the flanks, and the canals are alive with canoes whose crews secure the struggling fugitives for sacrifice, or deal the more grateful coup de grace. The Spanish soldiers are among the last to come up, and a terrible gauntlet they have had to run. Regardless of the showering missiles or the pressing foe, Cortés stands on the brink to strike back the hungry crew and lend a helping hand to his floundering men. ”

“ They were setting out upon a career of conquest in the name of their God, who had always befriended the Spanish nation; and in the name of their emperor, for whom they would achieve greater deeds than any ever performed. Riches lay spread before them; but like good and brave men they must look with him to the higher and nobler reward of glory. “Nevertheless,” he archly added, “be true to me, as am I to you, and ere long I will load you with wealth such as you have never dreamed of. I will not say it is to be won without hardships; but who of you are afraid? We are few, but we are brave. ”

“ It is still more probable that Cortés invented the warning in order to be free before his followers, and before Narvaez, to carry out a more momentous project, which, with the increased knowledge of affairs in the enemy’s camp, and with the growth there of his party, had begun to unfold in his mind.
It was a grand conception; yet grander still the execution. It was a different matter with a small force to fall upon a well appointed army of countrymen; different from war on naked savages, to surprise them by night, or otherwise to vanquish them. Yet this was what Cortés now proposed to do. ”

“ Long before this the Spaniards had learned that the power which had arisen in Montezuma’s stead was of a different quality from that lately wielded by the poor caged monarch, whose proud spirit they had so blighted and brought low. No Quetzalcoatl or other personage, fair or dark, heaven-descended or of import infernal, might now interpose to prevent the killing and cooking of the strangers. Cortés had thought that the late spoliation of idols would fill the people with awe toward beings so superior to their gods. ”

“ The causeway is almost reached. Already they begin to breathe freer; a feeling of intense relief steals into their breasts, and—Mother of God! what noise is that? It is the piercing outcry of a woman [826] —may the foul fiend seize her!—breaking upon the stillness like a warning note from the watch-tower of Avernus. On the instant the war-drum of the Tlatelulco temple sends forth its doleful sound, chilling the fugitives to the very heart’s core. Quickly its tones are drowned by the nearer, shriller trumpet-blasts and shouts of warriors, echoed and reëchoed from every quarter. ”

“ The evidently dense population of the valley and the many fortified towns confirmed the mysterious warnings of the allies against a powerful and warlike people, and again the longing for the snug and secure plantations of Cuba found expression among the faint-hearted, as they shivered in the icy blast and wrapped themselves the closer in the absence of food and shelter. In this frame of mind the glistening farm-houses seemed only so many troops of savage warriors, lurking amidst the copses and arbors for victims to grace the stone of sacrifice and the festive board ”