Moctezuma II

“ An enemy killed in combat field was a blunder and a loss to their gods; for the spanish on the other hand, war meant the extermination of the infidel on the battlefield, with the help of Santiago Apostle in favor of Christianity and the Crown.
Moctezuma and the Tlatócan, were dealing with magical and divine beings, Quetzalcoatl messengers and ambassadors. They were not cowards but diplomats. They were looking for a negotiation. They never stopped believing in the Huitzilopochtli validity and force against Quetzalcoatl. The mexicas believed to be in a religious and magical fight ”

“ For the European culture the King was the representation of God on earth and his succession was hereditary through the Royal houses. Cortés believed that by taking Moctezuma prisoner he had control of the Aztec people and didn't understand how the Aztecs could dismiss their ruler. To date, the system of social organization and the legal regime of ancient Mexico are still not understood and scholars continue to talk about "Kings, kingdoms and pre-Hispanic princesses". ”

“ Tezcatlipoca—Tlacaelel. The aztecs sought an honorable religious—ideological negotiation; the spaniards sought destruction—domination—wealth. One side had noble and educated people; the others were ignorant, unscrupulous people, eager for wealth at any cost.
The delivery of the Mexicas to the Spaniards.
Finally, and against the popular will and of many mexica leaders and priests, the Tlatócan ordered Moctezuma to receive Cortes in Tenochtitlan, the captain of Quetzalcoatl. It is documented by Cortés and Bernal Díaz, a fact that clearly reveals what happened in the conquest. ”

“ Pueblo Indians of New Mexico at the present day,—a military democracy, with a mighty and complicated religious organization as its "power behind the throne." Moctezuma was merely Tlacatécutle, or head war-chief of the Nahuatl (the ancient Mexicans) , and neither the supreme nor the only executive. Of just how little importance he really was may be gathered from his fate.
Having founded Vera Cruz, Cortez caused himself to be elected governor and captain-general (the highest military rank) [6] of the new country ”

“ He then proceeded to Tampico to unite his forces with those of Moctezuma, and not finding him there, [41] joined Santa Anna at Vera Cruz.
Moctezuma made a rapid march toward San Luis Potosí, and at Pozo de los Carmelos defeated the government force under Colonel Otero on the 3d of August, [42] which opened to him at once the gates of the state capital. The authorities created by a revolution on the 21st and 22d of July and the comandante general Zenon Fernandez took to flight, leaving as governor Felipe Manjarrez, a member of the city council. ”

“ Peace was preserved in that quarter till March, when the standard of revolt was raised in Tamaulipas by Francisco Vital Fernandez, who was supported by the comandante at Tampico, General Estévan Moctezuma. [29] Teran prevailed on the legislature to set Fernandez aside, and restore the authority of the government, and after some conferences with Moctezuma, finding conciliatory action unavailing, he attacked him at Tampico on the 13th of May, and met with a disastrous repulse, which necessitated his retreat to Villerías, whereupon Moctezuma marched into the interior. ”

“ With the aztecs victorious, Tlacaelel took several measures that transformed the thinking and the life of his people. Tlacaelel never wanted to be king. He preferred to act only as an adviser, first to Itzcóatl and then Moctezuma Ilhuicamina and Axayacatl... The happy Tlacaelel conjunction and these two extraordinary monarchs, Itzcóatl and Moctezuma Ilhuicamina, certainly were the beginning and consolidation of the ancient mexicas. ”

“ Well, the fireworks have begun again over in Chihauhua—Orozco and Salazar and that bunch—but it seems there was something to this Moctezuma scare, after all. I was talking to an American mining man from down that way and he told me that the Federals marched out to where the rebels were and then sat down and watched them cross the river without firing on them—some kind of an understanding between Bernardo Bravo and these black-leg Federals. ”

“ As a result, an aide rescued Murguía from the claws of the Tiger.
Maximilian looked the weazened old man over in disappointment. Here, then, was the lord of Moctezuma, an hacendado, and hence one of the heavy timbers for his empire building. Don Anastasio scraped awkwardly and craved many pardons for not being on hand to welcome His Majesty. Overcoming a curious aversion to the man, the emperor straightway invested him with the newly created order of Civil Merit, and Don Anastasio, without a peon to till his fields or to oil his machinery, quaked under the honor of a copper medal. ”

“ There were the few hundred Spaniards cooped up in their prison, and the four dykes which were the only approaches to it—for the City of Mexico was an American Venice—swarming with savage foes by the countless thousands. [Pg 63]
The Indian makes very few excuses for failure; and the Nahuatl had already elected a new head war-captain named Cuitlahuátzin in place of the unsuccessful Moctezuma. The latter was still a prisoner; and when the Spaniards brought him out upon the housetop to speak to his people in their behalf, the infuriated multitude of Indians pelted him to death with stones. ”

“ We have no quarrel with you. You are warriors: we know it, and respect you. We fight against the cowardly Mexicans, who robbed us of our country. We fight for Moctezuma!”
These words, uttered along the whole northern frontier of Mexico, are full of strange import.
The American commander prudently declined the Comanche alliance; and the result was the bitter triangular war in which, as already noticed, we were now engaged.
If, then, the approaching horsemen were Indians of the Comanche tribe, Rube’s forecast was correct; we had “got to fight.” ”

“ Bernardo Bravo has come over the mountains and he's marching to take Moctezuma!"
"Why, that doesn't make any difference to us!" answered Phil. "Moctezuma is eighty miles from here—and look at all the soldiers. How many men has Bernardo got?"
"Well, that I do not know," responded Don Juan; "some say more and some less, but if you boys hadn't come in I would have sent a man to fetch you. Just as soon as a revolution begins the back country becomes unsafe for Americans. Some of these low characters are likely to murder you if they think you have any money."
"Well, we haven't," put in Bud ”

“ Facio, who since Calderon's retreat from Vera Cruz and his own resignation as minister of war had been in command of the government troops in that state, could not boast of much progress in his operations against Santa Anna. The latter had been active in recruiting and instructing his army, and on the 29th of September was in a condition to assume the offensive. With the view of raising the spirits of his men, some of whom had become downcast on hearing of Moctezuma's defeat, he resolved to engage with Facio, and if victorious march forthwith on Puebla. ”

“ No one had any doubt of Muzquiz's honesty of purpose, but his identification with the party, now thrown out of power by late events, rendered it impossible for his government to satisfy the leaders of the revolution, who were demanding a legitimate authority.
The first efforts of the new administration were directed to the preparations for Bustamante's campaign. Guanajuato and Michoacan were in peril of meeting with the same fate as San Luis Potosí, the forces of Zacatecas and Jalisco now coöperating with those under General Moctezuma. ”

“ The traveler relates that at that time (1823) the people of Mexico called the monument reloj de Moctezuma ("Montezuma's watch") , a statement which Brantz Mayor repeats in his work Mexico as It Was and Is (1844) . Gama's drawing is reproduced in both books. (We may add that today excellent molds of the relief exist in the American Museum of Natural History of New York and in other foreign institutions.) There also was taken one of the most perfect existing photographs of the stone, which adorns the pages of the great work Monumentos del Arte Mexicano Antiguo ”

“ Miyares, Brigadier, services in Vera Cruz, 1816, iv. 640-1.
Mizteca, insurrection in, 1812, iv. 398; revolution in, 1811-12, iv. 433-40; 1814, iv. 583; 1816, iv. 642; map of, iv. 435; campaign in, 1817, iv. 653.
Miztecapan, Cortés explores, i. 320; map of, ii. 33; province of, created, 1534, ii. 391.
Miztec monarchies, brief account of, ii. 36-7.
Miztecs, early campaigns against, ii. 37-8.
Moctezuma, F., minister of war, 1829, v. 80; revolt of, 1832, v. Ill; occupies San Luis Potosí, v. 114-15; defeat at Fuerte del Gallinero, v. 117. ”

“ Montezuma was not more successful in his application to Cacama to come to Mexico and allow him to mediate his differences with the Spaniards, with whom he assured the prince he was residing as a friend. But the young lord of Tezcuco was not to be so duped. He understood the position of his uncle, and replied “that when he did visit his capital it would be to rescue it, as well as the emperor himself, and their common gods, from bondage. He should come, not with his hand in his bosom, but on his sword,—to drive out the detested strangers who had brought such dishonor on their country!” ”

“ Note.—Montezuma II., the last of the Aztec (or native Mexican) emperors, was born about 1480. He was taken prisoner by Hernando Cortes, the commander of the Spanish army which conquered Mexico, and, in the hope of quelling an insurrection which had arisen among his former subjects, he consented to address them from the walls of his prison. Stung by the apparent desertion of their leader to the cause of the enemy, the Mexicans assaulted him with stones and other missiles. He was struck on the temple by one of the stones, and died from the effects in a few days. ”

“ One day, Cortez ascended to the top of the great pyramid, and there Montezuma met him and pointed out to him the notable places in the valley and the chief buildings in his city. Here the Spaniard saw that grim old idol, Huitzilopochtli, with human hearts smoking before him on some coals, and other idols to which the Aztecs had been sacrificing for a hundred years and more. Cortez attempted to reason with Montezuma upon the folly and wickedness of worshipping such hideous images: "I wonder," said he, "that a monarch so wise as you are can adore as gods those abominable figures of the devil." ”

“ Montezuma's reign was a succession of campaigns against revolting provinces, interspersed with the erection of magnificent temples, frequent and extensive immolations of human victims, and omens of disaster sent by the gods to trouble the mind of the superstitious monarch. When at last the day drew near when Mexico must struggle single-handed for the retention of her supremacy against a combination of all the Nahua powers, the last chance for success in such an unequal contest disappeared with the re-inforcement of the enemy by Spanish valor, Spanish armor, and Spanish horses ”

“ In the meantime Motecusuma received the intelligence at Mexico, that his tax-gatherers had been imprisoned by our allies; that the latter had renounced obedience to him, and that all the Totonaque townships had revolted. He was excessively enraged against Cortes and the whole of us, and ordered one of his powerful chiefs to make war upon the tribes which had revolted, and extirpate them to a man. Against us he would march in person at the head of an immense army, commanded by many generals. ”

“ For the rest it was unnecessary to send any more messengers to Mexico, neither was there any further mention to be made of a personal interview between their monarch and Cortes.
Although, it was very unpleasant to the latter that his visit to Motecusuma should thus be declined in dry words, yet he thanked them most kindly; and added to some of us who were present: "Really this Motecusuma must be a great and rich gentleman; nevertheless, if God be willing, we shall one day visit him in his palace!" "We only wish, (returned we soldiers,) that we were once nicely engaged with him." ”

“ None trembled more than the Aztec emperor on his throne among the mountains. He read in these events the dark character traced by the finger of Destiny.2 He felt his empire melting away like a morning mist. He might well feel so. Some of the most important cities in the neighbourhood of Cholula, intimidated by the fate of that capital, now sent their envoys to the Castilian camp, tendering their allegiance, and propitiating the favour of the strangers by rich presents of gold and slaves. Montezuma, alarmed at these signs of defection, took counsel again of his impotent deities ”

“ The Spaniards had more than once proposed that he should return to his own palace, but the gods had decreed it otherwise. He could not allow his people to be needlessly exposed to war, or his capital to destruction. Remember Cholula. Their stay would not be long.
This message was not without its effect even among the Tezcucans, for, although the fate of the Aztec capital and king may have concerned them but little, there were many who could not forget that the impetuous and proud Cacama had obtained the throne by favor of Montezuma, to the prejudice of an elder brother, Tetlahuehuetquizitzin. ”

“ He ought to remember the inconstancy of the human mind in general, and of the Indians in particular; and not trust to the kindness and friendship which Motecusuma showed us. All this might change in an instant, and if Motecusuma did not exactly fall upon us with sword in hand, he had merely to cut off our supply of provisions and water, or break down some of the bridges, and we should be lost. He, Cortes, ought to consider what a large body of warriors always surrounded the monarch, and how powerless we should be and ill able to defend ourselves, since all the houses stood in the water. ”