Part 2 — Chapter III. (These four articles abrogated by the four articles following them, 118-122.) Article 118. The Federal Constitution may at any time be amended. (continued 110)

H. H. Bancroft, Native Races of the Pacific States, volume 5, chapter 3.

See, also, AMERICAN ABORIGINES: MAYAS; and AZTEC AND MAYA PICTURE-WRITING.

MEXICO: Ancient: The Toltec empire and civilization. Are they mythical?

"The old-time story, how the Toltecs in the 6th century appeared on the Mexican table-land, how they were driven out and scattered in the 11th century, how after a brief interval the Chichimecs followed their footsteps, and how these last were succeeded by the Aztecs who were found in possession,—the last two, and probably the first, migrating in immense hordes from the far north-west,—all this is sufficiently familiar to readers of Mexican history, and is furthermore fully set forth in the 5th volume of this work. It is probable, however, that this account, accurate to a certain degree, has been by many writers too literally construed; since the once popular theory of wholesale national migrations of American peoples within historic times, and particularly of such migrations from the northwest, may now be regarded as practically unfounded. The 6th century is the most remote period to which we are carried in the annals of Anáhuac by traditions sufficiently definite to be considered in any proper sense as historic records. … At the opening … of the historic times, we find the Toltecs in possession of Anáhuac and the surrounding country. Though the civilization was old, the name was new, derived probably, although not so regarded by all, from Tollan, a capital city of the empire, but afterward becoming synonymous with all that is excellent in art and high culture. Tradition imputes to the Toltecs a higher civilization than that found among the Aztecs, who had degenerated with the growth of the warlike spirit, and especially by the introduction of more cruel and sanguinary religious rites. But this superiority, in some respects not improbable, rests on no very strong evidence, since this people left no relics of that artistic skill which gave them so great traditional fame; there is, however, much reason to ascribe the construction of the pyramids at Teotihuacan and Cholula to the Toltec or a still earlier period. Among the civilized peoples of the 16th century, however, and among their descendants down to the present day, nearly every ancient relic of architecture or sculpture is accredited to the Toltecs, from whom all claim descent. … So confusing has been the effect of this universal reference of all traditional events to a Toltec source, that, while we can not doubt the actual existence of this great empire, the details of its history, into which the supernatural so largely enters, must be regarded as to a great extent mythical. There are no data for fixing accurately the bounds of the Toltec domain, particularly in the south. There is very little, however, to indicate that it was more extensive in this direction than that of the Aztecs in later times, although it seems to have extended somewhat farther northward. On the west there is some evidence that it included the territory of Michoacan, never subdued by the Aztecs; and it probably stretched eastward to the Atlantic. … During the most flourishing period of its traditional five centuries of duration, the Toltec empire was ruled by a confederacy, similar in some respects to the alliance of later date between Mexico, Tezcuco and Tlacopan. The capitals were Culhuacan, Otompan, and Tollan, the two former corresponding somewhat in territory with Mexico and Tezcuco, while the latter was just beyond the limits of the valley toward the north-west. Each of these capital cities became in turn the leading power in the confederacy. Tollan reached the highest eminence in culture, splendor, and fame, and Culhuacan was the only one of the three to survive by name the bloody convulsions by which the empire was at last overthrown, and retain anything of her former greatness. Long-continued civil wars, arising chiefly from dissensions between rival religious factions, … gradually undermine the imperial thrones. … So the kings of Tollan, Culhuacan, and Otompan, lose, year by year, their prestige, and finally, in the middle of the 11th century, are completely overthrown, leaving the Mexican tableland to be ruled by new combinations of rising powers."

H. H. Bancroft, Native Races of the Pacific States, volume 2, chapter 2.

{2158}

"Long before the Aztecs, a Toltec tribe called the Acolhuas, or Culhuas, had settled in the valley of Mexico. The name is more ancient than that of Toltec, and the Mexican civilization might perhaps as appropriately be called Culhua as Nahua. The name is interpreted 'crooked' from coloa, bend; also 'grandfather' from colli. Colhuacan might therefore signify Land of Our Ancestors."

H. H. Bancroft, History of the Pacific States, volume 4, page 23, foot-note.

"The most venerable traditions of the Maya race claimed for them a migration from 'Tollan in Zuyva.' … This Tollan is certainly none other than the abode of Quetzalcoatl. … The cities which selected him as their tutelary deity were named for that which he was supposed to have ruled over. Thus we have Tollan and Tollantzinco ('behind Tollan') in the Valley of Mexico, and the pyramid Cholula was called 'Tollan-Cholollan,' as well as many other Tollans and Tulas among the Nahuatl colonies. The natives of the city of Tula were called, from its name, Tolteca, which simply means 'those who dwell in Tollan.' And who, let us ask, were these Toltecs? They have hovered about the dawn of American history long enough. To them have been attributed not only the primitive culture of Central America and Mexico, but of lands far to the north, and even the earthworks of the Ohio Valley. It is time they were assigned their proper place, and that is among the purely fabulous creations of the imagination, among the giants and fairies, the gnomes and sylphs, and other such fancied beings which in all ages and nations the popular mind has loved to create. Toltec, Toltecatl, which in later days came to mean a skilled craftsman or artificer, signifies, as I have said, an inhabitant of Tollan—of the City of the Sun—in other words, a Child of Light. … In some, and these I consider the original versions of the myth, they do not constitute a nation at all, but are merely the disciples or servants of Quetzalcoatl. They have all the traits of beings of supernatural powers."

D. G. Brinton, American Hero-Myths, chapter 3, section 3.

ALSO IN: D. G. Brinton, Essays of an Americanist, pages 83-100.

A recent totally contrary view, in which the Toltecs are fully accepted and modernized, is presented by M. Charnay.

D. Charnay, Ancient Cities of the New World.

MEXICO: A. D. 1325-1502. The Aztec period. The so called empire of Montezuma.

"The new era succeeding the Toltec rule is that of the Chichimec empire, which endured with some variations down to the coming of Cortes. The ordinary version of the early annals has it, that the Chichimecs, a wild tribe living far in the north-west, learning that the fertile regions of Central Mexico had been abandoned by the Toltecs, came down in immense hordes to occupy the land. … The name Chichimec at the time of the Spanish conquest, and subsequently, was used with two significations, first, as applied to the line of kings that reigned at Tezcuco, and second, to all the wild hunting tribes, particularly in the broad and little-known regions of the north. Traditionally or historically, the name has been applied to nearly every people mentioned in the ancient history of America. This has caused the greatest confusion among writers on the subject, a confusion which I believe can only be cleared up by the supposition that the name Chichimec, like that of Toltec, never was applied as a tribal or national designation proper to any people, while such people were living. It seems probable that among the Nahua peoples that occupied the country from the 6th to the 11th centuries, a few of the leading powers appropriated to themselves the title Toltecs, which had been at first employed by the inhabitants of Tollan, whose artistic excellence soon rendered it a designation of honor. To the other Nahua peoples, by whom these leading powers were surrounded, whose institutions were identical, but whose polish and elegance of manner were deemed by these self-constituted aristocrats somewhat inferior, the term Chichimecs, barbarians, etymologically 'dogs,' was applied. After the convulsions that overthrew Tollan, and reversed the condition of the Nahua nations, the 'dogs' in their turn assumed an air of superiority and retained their designation, Chichimecs, as a title of honor and nobility."

H. H. Bancroft, Native Races of the Pacific States, volume 2, chapter 2.

"We may suppose the 'Toltec period' in Mexican tradition to have been simply the period when the pueblo-town of Tollan was flourishing, and domineered most likely over neighbouring pueblos. One might thus speak it as one would speak of the 'Theban period' in Greek history. After the 'Toltec period,' with perhaps an intervening 'Chichimec period' of confusion, came the 'Aztec period;' or, in other words, some time after Tollan lost its importance, the city of Mexico came to the front. Such, I suspect, is the slender historical residuum underlying the legend of a 'Toltec empire.' The Codex Ramirez assigns the year 1168 as the date of the abandonment of the Serpent Hill by the people of Tollan. We begin to leave this twilight of legend when we meet the Aztecs already encamped in the Valley of Mexico. Finding the most obviously eligible sites preoccupied, they were sagacious enough to detect the advantages of a certain marshy spot through which the outlets of lakes Chalco and Xochimilco, besides sundry rivulets, flowed northward and eastward into Lake Tezcuco. Here in the year 1325 they began to build their pueblo, which they called Tenochtitlan,—a name whereby hangs a tale. When the Aztecs, hard pressed by foes, took refuge among these marshes, they came upon a sacrificial stone which they recognized as one upon which some years before one of their priests had immolated a captive chief. From a crevice in this stone, where a little earth was imbedded, there grew a cactus, upon which sat an eagle holding in its beak a serpent. A priest ingeniously interpreted this symbolism as a prophecy of signal and long-continued victory, and forthwith diving into the lake he had an interview with Tlaloc, the god of waters, who told him that upon that very spot the people were to build their town. The place was therefore called Tenochtitlan, or 'place of the cactus-rock,' but the name under which it afterward came to be best known was taken from Mexitl, one of the names of the war-god Huitzilopochtli. The device of the rock and cactus, with the eagle and serpent, formed a tribal totem for the Aztecs, and has been adopted as the coat-of-arms of the present Republic of Mexico.

{2159}

The pueblo of Tenochtitlan was surrounded by salt marshes; which by dint of dikes and causeways the Aztecs gradually converted into a large artificial lake, and thus made their pueblo by far the most defensible stronghold in Anahuac,— impregnable, indeed, so far as Indian modes of attack were concerned. The advantages of this commanding position were slowly but surely realized. A dangerous neighbour upon the western shore of the lake was the tribe of Tecpanecas, whose principal pueblo was Azcaputzalco. The Aztecs succeeded in making an alliance with these Tecpanecas, but it was upon unfavourable terms and involved the payment of tribute to Azcaputzalco. It gave the Aztecs, however, some time to develop their strength. Their military organization was gradually perfected, and in 1375 they elected their first tlacatecuhtli, or 'chief-of-men,' whom European writers, in the loose phraseology formerly current, called 'founder of the Mexican empire.' The name of this official was Acamapichtli, or 'Handful-of-Reeds.' During the eight-and-twenty years of his chieftancy the pueblo houses in Tenochtitlan began to be built very solidly of stone, and the irregular water-courses flowing between them were improved into canals. Some months after his death in 1403 his son Huitzilihuitl, or 'Humming-bird,' was chosen to succeed him. This Huitzilihuitl was succeeded in 1414 by his brother Chimalpopoca, or 'Smoking Shield,' under whom temporary calamity visited the Aztec town. The alliance with Azcaputzalco was broken, and that pueblo joined its forces to those of Tezcuco on the eastern shore of the lake. United they attacked the Aztecs, defeated them, and captured their chief-of-men, who died a prisoner in 1427. He was succeeded by Izcoatzin, or 'Obsidian Snake,' an aged chieftain who died in 1436. During these nine years a complete change came over the scene. Quarrels arose between Azcaputzalco and Tezcuco; the latter pueblo entered into alliance with Tenochtitlan, and together they overwhelmed and destroyed Azcaputzalco, and butchered most of its people. What was left of the conquered pueblo was made a slave mart for the Aztecs, and the remnant of the people were removed to the neighbouring pueblo of Tlacopan, which was made tributary to Mexico. By this great victory the Aztecs also acquired secure control of the springs upon Chepultepec, or 'Grasshopper Hill,' which furnished a steady supply of fresh water to their island pueblo. The next step was the formation of a partnership between the three pueblo towns, Tenochtitlan, Tezcuco, and Tlacopan, for the organized and systematic plunder of other pueblos. All the tribute or spoils extorted was to be divided into five parts, of which two parts each were for Tezcuco and Tenochtitlan, and one part for Tlacopan. The Aztec chief-of-men became military commander of the confederacy, which now' began to extend operations to a distance. The next four chiefs-of-men were Montezuma, or 'Angry Chief,' the First, from 1436 to 1464; Axayacatl, or 'Face-in-the-Water,' from 1464 to 1477; Tizoc, or 'Wounded Leg,' from 1477 to 1486; and Ahuizotl, or 'Water-Rat,' from 1486 to 1502. Under these chiefs the great temple of Mexico was completed, and the aqueduct from Chepultepec was increased in capacity until it not only supplied water for ordinary uses, but could also be made to maintain the level of the canals and the lake. In the driest seasons, therefore, Tenochtitlan remained safe from attack. Forth from this well-protected lair the Aztec warriors went on their errands of blood. Thirty or more pueblo towns, mostly between Tenochtitlan and the Gulf coast, scattered over an area about the size of Massachusetts, were made tributary to the Confederacy; and as all these communities spoke the Nahua language, this process of conquest, if it had not been cut short by the Spaniards, might in course of time have ended in the formation of a primitive kind of state. This tributary area formed but a very small portion of the country which we call Mexico. If the reader will just look at a map of the Republic of Mexico in a modern atlas, and observe that the states of Queretaro, Guanaxuato, Michoacan, Guerrero, and a good part of La Puebla, lie outside the region sometimes absurdly styled 'Montezuma's Empire,' and surround three sides of it, he will begin to put himself into the proper state of mind for appreciating the history of Cortes and his companions. Into the outlying region just mentioned, occupied by tribes for the most part akin to the Nahuas in blood and speech, the warriors of the Confederacy sometimes ventured, with varying fortunes. They levied occasional tribute among the pueblos in these regions, but hardly made any of them regularly tributary. The longest range of their arms seems to have been to the eastward, where they sent their tax-gatherers along the coast into the isthmus of Tehuantepec, and came into conflict with the warlike Mayas and Quiches. … Such was, in general outline, what we may call the political situation in the time of the son of Axayacatl, the second Montezuma, who was elected chief-of-men in 1502, being then thirty-four years of age."

J. Fiske, The Discovery of America, chapter 8 (volume 2).

MEXICO: A. D. 1517-1518. First found by the Spaniards.

See AMERICA: A. D. 1517-1518.

MEXICO: A. D. 1519 (February-April). The coming of Cortes and the Spaniards.

Some time in the latter part of the year 1517, the Spaniards in Cuba had acquired definite knowledge of a much civilized people who inhabited "terra firma" to the west of them, by the return of Hernandez de Cordova from his involuntary voyage to Yucatan (see AMERICA: A. D. 1157-1518). In the spring of 1518 the Cuban governor, Velasquez, had enlarged that knowledge by sending an expedition under Grijalva to the Mexican coast, and, even before Grijalva returned, he had begun preparations for a more serious undertaking of conquest and occupation in the rich country newly found. For the command of this second armament he selected Hernando Cortes, one of the boldest and most ambitious of the adventurers who had helped to subdue and settle the island of Cuba. Before the fleet sailed, however, a jealous distrust of his lieutenant had become excited by some cause in the governor's mind, and he attempted to supersede him in the command, Cortes slipped out of port, half prepared as he was for the voyage, defied the orders of his superior, and made his way (February, 1519) to the scene of his future conquests, actually as a rebel against the authority which commissioned him. "The squadron of Cortés was composed of eleven small vessels. {2160} There were 110 sailors, 553 soldiers, of which 13 were armed with muskets, and 32 with arquebuses, the others with swords and pikes only. There were 10 little field-pieces, and 16 horses. Such were the forces with which the bold adventurer set forth to conquer a vast empire, defended by large armies, not without courage, according to the report of Grijalva. But the companions of Cortes were unfamiliar with fear. Cortés followed the same route as Grijalva. … At the Tabasco River, which the Spanish called Rio de Grijalva, because that explorer had discovered it, they had a fight with some natives who resisted their approach. These natives fought bravely, but the fire-arms, and above all the horses, which they conceived to be of one piece with their riders, caused them extreme terror, and the rout was complete. … The native prince, overcome, sent gifts to the conqueror, and, without much knowing the extent of his agreement, acknowledged himself as vassal of the king of Spain, the most powerful monarch of the world." Meantime, tidings of a fresh appearance of the same strange race which had briefly visited the shores of the empire the year before were conveyed to Montezuma, and the king, who had sent envoys to the strangers before, but not quickly enough to find them, resolved to do so again. "The presents prepared for Grijalva, which had reached the shore too late, were, alas! all ready. To these were now added the ornaments used in the decoration of the image of Quetzalcoatl, on days of solemnity, regarded as the most sacred among all the possessions of the royal house of Mexico. Cortés accepted the rôle of Quetzalcoatl and allowed himself to be decorated with the ornaments belonging to that god without hesitation. The populace were convinced that it was their deity really returned to them. A feast was served to the envoys, with the accompaniment of some European wine which they found delicious. … During the feast native painters were busy depicting every thing they saw to be shown to their royal master. … Cortes sent to Montezuma a gilt helmet with the message that he hoped to see it back again filled with gold. … The bearer of this gift and communication, returning swiftly to the court, reported to the monarch that the intention of the stranger was to come at once to the capital of the empire. Montezuma at once assembled a new council of all his great vassals, some of whom urged the reception of Cortés, others his immediate dismissal. The latter view prevailed, and the monarch sent, with more presents to the unknown invader, benevolent but peremptory commands that he should go away immediately. … Meanwhile the Spanish camp was feasting and reposing in huts of cane, with fresh provisions, in great joy after the weariness of their voyage. They accepted with enthusiasm the presents of the emperor, but the treasures which were sent had an entirely different effect from that hoped for by Montezuma; they only inflamed the desire of the Spaniard to have all within his grasp, of which this was but a specimen. It was now that the great mistake in policy was apparent, by which the Aztec chieftain had for years been making enemies all over the country, invading surrounding states, and carrying off prisoners for a horrible death by sacrifice. These welcomed the strangers and encouraged their presence."

S. Hale, The Story of Mexico, chapter 13.

ALSO IN: Bernal Diaz del Castillo, Memoirs, chapter 2-39 (volume 1).

J. Fiske, The Discovery of America, chapter 8 (volume 2).

MEXICO: A. D. 1519 (June-October). The advance of Cortés to Tlascala.

"Meanwhile Cortés, by his craft, quieted a rising faction of the party of Velasquez which demanded to be led back to Cuba. He did this by seeming to acquiesce in the demand of his followers in laying the foundations of a town and constituting its people a municipality competent to choose a representative of the royal authority. This done, Cortés resigned his commission from Velasquez, and was at once invested with supreme power by the new municipality. The scheme which Velasquez had suspected was thus brought to fruition. Whoever resisted the new captain was conquered by force, persuasion, tact, or magnetism; and Cortés became as popular as he was irresistible. At this point messengers presented themselves from tribes not far off who were unwilling subjects of the Aztec power. The presence of possible allies was a propitious circumstance, and Cortés proceeded to cultivate the friendship of these tribes. He moved his camp day by day along the shore, inuring his men to marches, while the fleet sailed in company. They reached a large city [Cempoalla, or Zempoalla, the site of which has not been determined], and were regaled. Each chief told of the tyranny of Montezuma, and the eyes of Cortés glistened. The Spaniards went on to another town, slaves being provided to bear their burdens. Here they found tax-gatherers of Montezuma collecting tribute. Emboldened by Cortés' glance, his hosts seized the Aztec emissaries and delivered them to the Spaniards. Cortés now played a double game. He propitiated the servants of Montezuma by secretly releasing them, and added to his allies by enjoining every tribe he could reach to resist the Aztec collectors of tribute. The wandering municipality, as represented in this piratical army, at last stopped at a harbor where a town (La Villa Rica de Vera Cruz) sprang up, and became the base of future operations." At this point in his movements the adventurer despatched a vessel to Spain, with letters to the king, and with dazzling gifts of gold and Aztec fabrics. "Now came the famous resolve of Cortés. He would band his heterogeneous folk together— adherents of Cortés and of Velasquez—in one common cause and danger. So he adroitly led them to be partners in the deed which he stealthily planned. Hulk after hulk of the apparently worm-eaten vessels of the fleet sank in the harbor, until there was no flotilla left upon which any could desert him. The march to Mexico was now assured. The force with which to accomplish this consisted of about 450 Spaniards, six or seven light guns, fifteen horses, and a swarm of Indian slaves and attendants. A body of the Totonacs accompanied them. Two or three days brought them into the higher plain and its enlivening vegetation. When they reached the dependencies of Montezuma, they found orders had been given to extend to them every courtesy. They soon reached the Anahuac plateau, which reminded them not a little of Spain itself. They passed from cacique to cacique, some of whom groaned under the yoke of the Aztec; but not one dared do more than orders from Montezuma dictated. {2161} Then the invaders approached the territory of an independent people, those of Tlascala, who had walled their country against neighboring enemies. A fight took place at the frontiers, in which the Spaniards lost two horses. They forced passes against great odds, but again lost a horse or two,— which was a perceptible diminution of their power to terrify. The accounts speak of immense hordes of the Tlascalans, which historians now take with allowances, great or small. Cortés spread what alarm he could by burning villages and capturing the country people. His greatest obstacle soon appeared in the compacted army of Tlascalans arrayed in his front. The conflict which ensued was for a while doubtful. Every horse was hurt, and 60 Spaniards were wounded; but the result was the retreat of the Tlascalans. Divining that the Spanish power was derived from the sun, the enemy planned a night attack; but Cortés suspected it, and assaulted them in their own ambush. Cortés now had an opportunity to display his double-facedness and his wiles. He received embassies both from Montezuma and from the senate of the Tlascalans. He cajoled each, and played off his friendship for the one in cementing an alliance with the other. But to Tlascala and Mexico he would go, so he told them. The Tlascalans were not averse, for they thought it boded no good to the Aztecs, if he could be bound to themselves. Montezuma dreaded the contact, and tried to intimidate the strangers by tales of the horrible difficulties of the journey. Presently the army took up its march for Tlascala, where they were royally received, and wives in abundance were bestowed upon the leaders. Next they passed to Cholula, which was subject to the Aztecs."

J. Winsor, Narrative and Critical History of America, volume 2, chapter 6.

MEXICO: A. D. 1519 (October). The Massacre at Cholula. The march to Mexico.

"The distance from Tlascala to Chololan [or Cholula] is but from 15 to 20 miles. It was a kind of holy place, venerated far and wide in Anahuac; pilgrimages were made thither, as the Mahometans go to Mecca, and Christians to Jerusalem or Rome. The city was consecrated to the worship of Quetzalcoatl, who had there the noblest temple in all Mexico, built, like all the temples in the country, on the summit of a truncated pyramid. The traveller of the present day beholds this pyramid on the horizon as he approaches Puebla, on his route from Vera Cruz to Mexico. But the worship of the beneficent Quetzalcoatl had been perverted by the sombre genius of the Aztecs. To this essentially good deity 6,000 human victims were annually immolated in his temple at Chololan. … The Spaniards found at Chololan an eager and, to all appearance at least, a perfectly cordial welcome." But this hospitality masked, it is said, a great plot for their destruction, which Montezuma had inspired and to aid which he had sent into the neighborhood of the city a powerful Mexican army. The plot was revealed to Cortez—so the Spanish historians relate—and "he took his resolution with his accustomed energy and foresight. He made his dispositions for the very next day. He acquainted the caciques of Chololan that he should evacuate the city at break of dawn, and required them to furnish 2,000 porters or 'tamanes,' for the baggage. The caciques then organized their attack for the morrow morning, not without a promise of the men required, whom, in fact, they brought at dawn to the great court in which the foreigners were domiciled. The conflict soon began. The Spaniards, who were perfectly prepared, commenced by massacring the caciques. The mass of Chololans that attempted to invade their quarters were crushed under the fire of their artillery and musketry, and the charges of their cavalry. Hearing the reports, the Tlascalans, who had been left at the entrance of the city, rushed on to the rescue. … They could now glut their hatred and vengeance; they slaughtered as long as they could, and then set to work at plunder. The Spaniards, too, after having killed all that resisted, betook themselves to pillage. The unfortunate city of Chololan was thus inundated with blood and sacked. Cortez, however, enjoined that the women and children should be spared, and we are assured that in that he was obeyed, even by his cruel auxiliaries from Tlascala. … To the praise of Cortez it must be said that, after the victory, he once more showed himself tolerant: he left the inhabitants at liberty to follow their old religion on condition that they should no longer immolate human victims. After this signal blow, all the threats, all the intrigues, of Montezuma, had no possible effect, and the Aztec emperor could be under no illusion as to the inflexible intention of Cortez. The latter, as soon as he had installed new chiefs at Chololan, and effaced the more hideous traces of the massacre and pillage that had desolated the city, set out with his own troops and his Indian auxiliaries from Tlascala for the capital of the Aztec empire, the magnificent city of Tenochtitlan."

M. Chevalier, Mexico, Ancient and Modern, part 2, chapter 4 (volume 1).

MEXICO: The Capital of Montezuma as described by Cortés and Bernal Diaz.

"This Province is in the form of a circle, surrounded on all sides by lofty and rugged mountains; its level surface comprises an area of about 70 leagues in circumference, including two lakes, that overspread nearly the whole valley, being navigated by boats more than 50 leagues round. One of these lakes contains fresh, and the other, which is the larger of the two, salt water. On one side of the lakes, in the middle of the valley, a range of highlands divides them from one another, with the exception of a narrow strait which lies between the highlands and the lofty Sierras. This strait is a bow-shot wide, and connects the two lakes; and by this means a trade is carried on between the cities and other settlements on the lakes in canoes without the necessity of travelling by land. As the salt lake rises and falls with its tides like the sea, during the time of high water it pours into the other lake with the rapidity of a powerful stream; and on the other hand, when the tide has ebbed, the water runs from the fresh into the salt lake. This great city of Temixtitan [Tenochtitlan—Mexico] is situated in this salt lake, and from the main land to the denser parts of it, by whichever route one chooses to enter, the distance is two leagues. There are four avenues or entrances to the city, all of which are formed by artificial causeways, two spears' length in width. The city is as large as Seville or Cordova; its streets, I speak of the principal ones, are very wide and straight; some of these, and all the inferior ones, are half land and half water, and are navigated by canoes. {2162} All the streets at intervals have openings, through which the water flows, crossing from one street to another; and at these openings, some of which are very wide, there are also very wide bridges, composed of large pieces of timber, of great strength and well put together; on many of these bridges ten horses can go abreast. … This city has many public squares, in which are situated the markets and other places for buying and selling. There is one square twice as large as that of the city of Salamanca, surrounded by porticoes, where are daily assembled more than 60,000 souls, engaged in buying and selling; and where are found all kinds of merchandise that the world affords, embracing the necessaries of life, as for instance articles of food, as well as jewels of gold and silver, lead, brass, copper, tin, precious stones, bones, shells, snails, and feathers. … Every kind of merchandise is sold in a particular street or quarter assigned to it exclusively, and thus the best order is preserved. They sell everything by number or measure; at least so far we have not observed them to sell any thing by weight. There is a building in the great square that is used as an audience house, where ten or twelve persons, who are magistrates, sit and decide all controversies that arise in the market, and order delinquents to be punished. … This great city contains a large number of temples, or houses for their idols, very handsome edifices, which are situated in the different districts and the suburbs. … Among these temples there is one which far surpasses all the rest, whose grandeur of architectural details no human tongue is able to describe; for within its precincts, surrounded by a lofty wall, there is room enough for a town of 500 families. Around the interior of this enclosure there are handsome edifices, containing large halls and corridors, in which the religious persons attached to the temple reside. There are full 40 towers, which are lofty and well built, the largest of which has 50 steps leading to its main body, and is higher than the tower of the principal church at Seville. The stone and wood of which they are constructed are so well wrought in every part that nothing could be better done. … This noble city contains many fine and magnificent houses; which may be accounted for from the fact that all the nobility of the country, who are the vassals of Muteczuma, have houses in the city, in which they reside a certain part of the year; and, besides, there are numerous wealthy citizens who also possess fine houses."

H. Cortés, Despatches [Letters] (translated by G. Folsom), letter 2, chapter 5.

"We had already been four days in the city of Mexico, and neither our commander nor any of us had, during that time, left our quarters, excepting to visit the gardens and buildings adjoining the palace. Cortes now, therefore, determined to view the city, and visit the great market, and the chief temple of Huitzilopochtli. … The moment we arrived in this immense market, we were perfectly astonished at the vast numbers of people, the profusion of merchandise which was there exposed for sale, and at the good police and order that reigned throughout. … Every species of goods which New Spain produces were here to be found; and everything put me in mind of my native town Medina del Campo during fair time, where every merchandise has a separate street assigned for its sale. … On quitting the market, we entered the spacious yards which surround the chief temple. … Motecusuma, who was sacrificing on the top to his idols, sent six papas and two of his principal officers to conduct Cortes up the steps. There were 114 steps to the summit. …Indeed, this infernal temple, from its great height, commanded a view of the whole surrounding neighbourhood. From this place we could likewise see the three causeways which led into Mexico. … We also observed the aqueduct which ran from Chapultepec, and provided the whole town with sweet water. We could also distinctly see the bridges across the openings, by which these causeways were intersected, and through which the waters of the lake ebbed and flowed. The lake itself was crowded with canoes, which were bringing provisions, manufactures and other merchandise to the city. From here we also discovered that the only communication of the houses in this city, and of all the other towns built in the lake, was by means of drawbridges or canoes. In all these towns the beautiful white plastered temples rose above the smaller ones, like so many towers and castles in our Spanish towns, and this, it may be imagined, was a splendid sight."

Bernal Diaz del Castillo, Memoirs (translated by Lockhart), chapter 92 (volume 1).

MEXICO: The same as viewed in the light of modern historical criticism.

"In the West India Islands the Spanish discoverers found small Indian tribes under the government of chiefs; but on the continent, in the Valley of Mexico, they found a confederacy of three Indian tribes under a more advanced but similar government. In the midst of the valley was a large pueblo, the largest in America, surrounded with water, approached by causeways; in fine, a water-girt fortress impregnable to Indian assault. This pueblo presented to the Spanish adventurers the extraordinary spectacle of an Indian society lying two ethnical periods back of European society, but with a government and plan of life at once intelligent, orderly, and complete. … The Spanish adventurers who captured the pueblo of Mexico saw a king in Montezuma, lords in Aztec chiefs, and a palace in the large joint-tenement house occupied, Indian fashion, by Montezuma and his fellow-householders. It was, perhaps, an unavoidable self-deception at the time, because they knew nothing of the Aztec social system. Unfortunately it inaugurated American aboriginal history upon a misconception of Indian life which has remained substantially unquestioned until recently. The first eye-witnesses gave the keynote to this history by introducing Montezuma as a king, occupying a palace of great extent crowded with retainers, and situated in the midst of a grand and populous city, over which, and much besides, he was reputed master. But king and kingdom were in time found too common to express all the glory and splendor the imagination was beginning to conceive of Aztec society; and emperor and empire gradually superseded the more humble conception of the conquerors. … To every author, from Cortes and Bernal Diaz to Brasseur de Bourbourg and Hubert H. Bancroft, Indian society was an unfathomable mystery, and their works have left it a mystery still. Ignorant of its structure and principles, and unable to comprehend its peculiarities, they invoked the imagination to supply whatever was necessary to fill out the picture. … {2163} Thus, in this case, we have a grand historical romance, strung upon the conquest of Mexico as upon a thread; the acts of the Spaniards, the pueblo of Mexico, and its capture, are historical, while the descriptions of Indian society and government are imaginary and delusive. … There is a strong probability, from what is known of Indian life and society, that the house in which Montezuma lived, was a joint-tenement house of the aboriginal American model, owned by a large number of related families, and occupied by them in common as joint proprietors; that the dinner [of Montezuma, in his palace, as described by Cortes and Bernal Diaz] … was the usual single daily meal of a communal household, prepared in a common cookhouse from common stores, and divided, Indian fashion, from the kettle; and that all the Spaniards found in Mexico was a simple confederacy of three Indian tribes, the counterpart of which was found in all parts of America. It may be premised further that the Spanish adventurers who thronged to the new world after its discovery found the same race of Red Indians in the West India Islands, in Central and South America, in Florida, and in Mexico. In their mode of life and means of subsistence, in their weapons, arts, usages, and customs, in their institutions, and in their mental and physical characteristics, they were the same people in different stages of advancement. No distinction of race was observed, and none in fact existed. … Not a vestige of the ancient pueblo of Mexico (Tenochtitlan) remains to assist us to a knowledge of its architecture. Its structures, which were useless to a people of European habits, were speedily destroyed to make room for a city adapted to the wants of a civilized race. We must seek for its characteristics in contemporary Indian houses which still remain in ruins, and in such of the early descriptions as have come down to us, and then leave the subject with but little accurate knowledge. Its situation, partly on dry land and partly in the waters of a shallow artificial pond formed by causeways and dikes, led to the formation of streets and squares, which were unusual in Indian pueblos, and gave to it a remarkable appearance. … Many of the houses were large, far beyond the supposable wants of a single Indian family. They were constructed of adobe brick, and of stone, and plastered over in both cases with gypsum, which made them a brilliant white; and some were constructed of a red porous stone. In cutting and dressing this stone flint implements were used. The fact that the houses were plastered externally leads us to infer that they had not learned to dress stone and lay them in courses. It is not certainly established that they had learned the use of a mortar of lime and sand. In the final attack and capture, it is said that Cortes, in the course of seventeen days, destroyed and levelled three-quarters of the pueblo, which demonstrates the flimsy character of the masonry. … It is doubtful whether there was a single pueblo in North America, with the exception of Tlascala, Cholula, Tezcuco, and Mexico, which contained 10,000 inhabitants. There is no occasion to apply the term 'city' to any of them. None of the Spanish descriptions enable us to realize the exact form and structure of these houses, or their relations to each other in forming a pueblo. … It is evident from the citations made that the largest of these joint·tenement houses would accommodate from 500 to 1,000 or more people, living in the fashion of Indians; and that the courts were probably quadrangles, formed by constructing the building on three sides of an inclosed space, as in the New Mexican pueblos, or upon the four sides, as in the House of the Nuns, at Uxmal."

L. H. Morgan, Houses and House-life of the American Aborigines (United States Geographical and Geological Survey of Rocky Mountain Region: Contribution to North American Ethnology, volume 4), chapter 10.

MEXICO: A. D. 1519-1520. Captivity of Montezuma, Cortés ruling in his name. The discomfiture of Narvaez. The revolt of the capital.

When Cortés had time to survey and to realize his position in the Mexican capital, he saw that it was full of extreme danger. To be isolated with so small a force in the midst of any hostile, populous city would be perilous; but in Mexico that peril was immeasurably increased by the peculiar situation and construction of the island-city—Venice-like in its insulation, and connected with the mainland by long and narrow, causeways and bridges, easily broken and difficult to secure for retreat. With characteristic audacity, the Spanish leader mastered the danger of the situation, so to speak, by taking Montezuma himself in pledge for the peace and good behavior of his subjects. Commanded by Cortés to quit his palace, and to take up his residence with the Spaniards in their quarters, the Mexican monarch remonstrated but obeyed, and became from that day the shadow of a king. "During, six months that Cortes remained in Mexico [from November, 1519, until May, 1520], the monarch continued in the Spanish quarters, with an appearance of as entire satisfaction and tranquillity as if he had resided there, not from constraint, but through choice. His ministers and officers attended him as usual. He took cognizance of all affairs; every order was issued in his name. … Such was the dread which both Montezuma and his subjects had of the Spaniards, or such the veneration in which they held them, that no attempt was made to deliver their sovereign from confinement, and though Cortes, relying on this ascendant which he had acquired over their minds, permitted him not only to visit his temples, but to make hunting excursions beyond the lake, a guard of a few Spaniards carried with it such a terrour as to intimidate the multitude, and secure the captive monarch. Thus, by the fortunate temerity of Cortes in seizing Montezuma, the Spaniards at once secured to themselves more extensive authority in the Mexican empire than it was possible to have acquired in a long course of time by open force; and they exercised more absolute sway in the name of another than they could have done in their own. … Cortes availed himself to the utmost of the powers which he possessed by being able to act in the name of Montezuma. He sent some Spaniards, whom he judged best qualified for such commissions, into different parts of the empire, accompanied by persons of distinction, whom Montezuma appointed to attend them both as guides and protectors. They visited most of the provinces, viewed their soil and productions, surveyed with particular care the districts which yielded gold or silver, pitched upon several places as proper stations for future colonies, and endeavoured to prepare the minds of the people for submitting to the Spanish yoke." At the same time, Cortes strengthened his footing in the capital by building and launching two brigantines on the lake, with an equipment and armament which his royal prisoner caused to be brought up for him from Vera Cruz. {2164} He also persuaded Montezuma to acknowledge himself a vassal of the King of Castile, and to subject his kingdom to the payment of an annual tribute. But, while his cunning conquest of an empire was advancing thus prosperously, the astute Spanish captain allowed his prudence to be overridden by his religious zeal. Becoming impatient at the obstinacy with which Montezuma clung to his false gods, Cortes made a rash attempt, with his soldiers, to cast down the idols in the great temple of the city, and to set the image of the Virgin in their place. The sacrilegious outrage roused the Mexicans from their tame submission and fired them with an inextinguishable rage. At this most unfortunate juncture, news came from Vera Cruz which demanded the personal presence of Cortes on the coast. Velasquez, the hostile governor of Cuba, to whom the adventurer in Mexico was a rebel, had sent, at last, an expedition, to put a stop to his unauthorized proceedings and to arrest his person. Cortes faced the new menace as boldly as he had faced all others. Leaving 150 men in the angry Mexican capital, under Pedro de Alvarado, he set out with the small remainder of his force to attack the Spanish intruders. Even after picking up some detachments outside and joining the garrison at Vera Cruz, he could muster but 250 men; while Narvaez, who commanded the expedition from Cuba, had brought 800 foot soldiers and 80 horse, with twelve pieces of cannon. The latter had taken possession of the city of Zempoalla and was strongly posted in one of its temples. There Cortes surprised him, in a night attack, took him prisoner, in a wounded state, and compelled his troops to lay down their arms. Nearly the whole of the latter were soon captivated by the commanding genius of the man they had been sent to arrest, and enlisted in his service. He found himself now at the head of a thousand well armed men; and he found in the same moment that he needed them all. For news came from Mexico that Alvarado, thinking to anticipate and crush a suspected intention of the Mexicans to rise against him, had provoked the revolt and made it desperate by a most perfidious, brutal massacre of several hundred of the chief persons of the empire, committed while they were celebrating one of the festivals of their religion, in the temple. The Spaniards at Mexico were now beleaguered, as the consequence, in their quarters, and their only hope was the hope that Cortes would make haste to their rescue,—which he did.

W. Robertson, History of America, book 5 (volume 2).

ALSO IN: H. H. Bancroft, History of the Pacific States, volume 4, chapters 17-23.

MEXICO: A. D. 1520 (JUNE-JULY). The return of Cortes to the Mexican Capital. The battle in the city. The death of Montezuma. The disastrous Retreat of the Spaniards.

The alarming intelligence which came to him from the Mexican capital called out in Cortés the whole energy of his nature. Hastily summoning back the various expeditions he had already sent out, and gathering all his forces together, he "reviewed his men, and found that they amounted to 1,300 soldiers, among whom were 96 horsemen, 80 cross-bowmen, and about 80 musketeers. Cortez marched with great strides to Mexico, and entered the city at the head of this formidable force on the 24th of June, 1520, the day of John the Baptist. Very different was the reception of Cortez on this occasion from that on his first entry into Mexico, when Montezuma had gone forth with all pomp to meet him. Now, the Indians stood silently in the doorways of their houses, and the bridges between the houses were taken up. Even when he arrived at his own quarters he found the gates barred, so strict had been the siege, and he had to demand an entry." The Mexicans, strangely enough, made no attempt to oppose his entrance into the city and his junction with Alvarado; yet the day after his return their attack upon the Spanish quarters, now so strongly reinforced, was renewed. "Cortez, who was not at all given to exaggeration, says that neither the streets nor the terraced roofs ('azoteas') were visible, being entirely obscured by the people who were upon them; that the multitude of stones was so great that it seemed as if it rained stones; and that the arrows came so thickly that the walls and the courts were full of them, rendering it difficult to move about. Cortez made two or three desperate sallies, and was wounded. The Mexicans succeeded in setting fire to the fortress, which was with difficulty subdued, and they would have scaled the walls at the point where the fire had done most damage but for a large force of cross-bowmen, musketeers, and artillery, which Cortez threw forward to meet the danger. The Mexicans at last drew back, leaving no fewer than 80 Spaniards wounded in this first encounter. The ensuing morning, as soon as it was daylight, the attack was renewed. … Again, and with considerable success, Cortez made sallies from the fortress in the course of the day; but at the end of it there were about 60 more of his men to be added to the list of wounded, already large, from the injuries received on the preceding day. The third day was devoted by the ingenious Cortez to making three movable fortresses, called 'mantas,' which, he thought, would enable his men, with less danger, to contend against the Mexicans upon their terraced roofs. … It was on this day that the unfortunate Montezuma, either at the request of Cortez, or of his own accord, came out upon a battlement and addressed the people." He was interrupted by a shower of stones and arrows and received wounds from which he died soon after. The fighting on this day was more desperate than it had been before. The Spaniards undertook to dislodge a body of the Indians who had posted themselves on the summit of the great temple, which was dangerously near at hand. Again and again they were driven back, until Cortez bound his shield to his wounded arm and led the assault. Then, after three hours of fighting, from terrace to terrace, they gained the upper platform and put every Mexican to the sword. But 40 Spaniards perished in the struggle. "This fight in the temple gave a momentary brightness to the arms of the Spaniards and afforded Cortez an opportunity to resume negotiations. But the determination of the Mexicans was fixed and complete. … They would all perish, if that were needful, to gain their point of destroying the Spaniards. They bade Cortez look at the streets, the squares, and the terraces, covered with people; and then, in a business-like and calculating manner, they told him that if 25,000 of them were to die for each Spaniard, still the Spaniards would perish first. … {2165} It generally requires at least as much courage to retreat as to advance. Indeed, few men have the courage and the ready wisdom to retreat in time. But Cortez, once convinced that his position in Mexico was no longer tenable, wasted no time or energy in parleying with danger. Terror had lost its influence with the Mexicans, and superior strategy was of little avail against such overpowering numbers. … Cortez resolved to quit the city that night [July 1, 1520]. … A little before midnight the stealthy march began. The Spaniards succeeded in laying down the pontoon over the first bridge-way, and the vanguard with Sandoval passed over; but, while the rest were passing, the Mexicans gave the alarm with loud shouts and blowing of horns. … Almost immediately upon this alarm the lake was covered with canoes. It rained, and the misfortunes of the night commenced by two horses slipping from the pontoon into the water. Then the Mexicans attacked the pontoon-bearers so furiously that it was impossible for them to raise it up again." After that, all seems to have been a confused struggle in the darkness, where even Cortez could do little for the unfortunate rear-guard of his troops. "This memorable night has ever been celebrated in American history as 'la noche triste.' In this flight from Mexico all the artillery was lost, and there perished 450 Spaniards, … 4,000 of the Indian allies, 46 horses, and most of the Mexican prisoners, including one son and two daughters of Montezuma, and his nephew the King of Tezcuco. A loss which posterity will ever regret was that of the books and accounts, memorials and writings, of which there were some, it is said, that contained a narrative of all that had happened since Cortez left Cuba. … In the annals of retreats there has seldom been one recorded which proved more entirely disastrous."

Sir A. Helps, Spanish Conquest in America, book 10, chapters 7-8 (volume 2).

MEXICO: A. D. 1520-1521. The retreat to Tlascala. Reinforcements and recovery. Cortes in the field again. Preparations to attack Mexico.

"After the disasters and fatigues of the 'noche triste,' the melancholy and broken band of Cortez rested for a day at Tacuba, whilst the Mexicans returned to their capital, probably to bury the dead and purify their city. It is singular, yet it is certain, that they did not follow up their successes by a death blow at the disarmed Spaniards. But this momentary paralysis of their efforts was not to be trusted, and accordingly Cortez began to retreat eastwardly, under the guidance of the Tlascalans, by a circuitous route around the northern limits of lake Zumpango. The flying forces and their auxiliaries were soon in a famishing condition, subsisting alone on corn or on wild cherries gathered in the forest, with occasional refreshment and support from the carcase of a horse that perished by the way. For six days these fragments of the Spanish army continued their weary pilgrimage, and, on the seventh, reached Otumba." At Otumba their progress was barred by a vast army of the Aztecs, which had marched by a shorter road to intercept them; but after a desperate battle the natives fled and the Spaniards were troubled no more until they reached the friendly shelter of Tlascala. The Tlascalans held faithfully to their alliance and received the flying strangers with helpful hands and encouraging words. But many of Cortez' men demanded permission to continue their retreat to Vera Cruz. "Just at this moment, too, Cuitlahua, who mounted the throne of Mexico on the death of Montezuma, despatched a mission to the Tlascalans, proposing to bury the hatchet, and to unite in sweeping the Spaniards from the realm." A hot discussion ensued in the council of the Tlascalan chiefs, which resulted in the rejection of the Mexican proposal, and the confidence of Cortez was restored. He succeeded in pacifying his men, and gave them employment by expeditions against tribes and towns within reach which adhered to the Mexican king. After some time he obtained reinforcements, by an arrival of vessels at Vera Cruz bringing men and supplies, and he began to make serious preparations for the reconquest of the Aztec capital. He "constructed new arms and caused old ones to be repaired; made powder with sulphur obtained from the volcano of Popocatopetl; and, under the direction of his builder, Lopez, prepared the timber for brigantines, which he designed to carry, in pieces, and launch on the lake at the town of Tezcoco. At that port, he resolved to prepare himself fully for the final attack, and, this time, he determined to assault the enemy's capital by water as well as by land." The last day of December found him once more on the shores of the Mexican lake, encamped at Tezcoco, with a Spanish force restored to 600 men in strength, having 40 horses, 80 arquebuses and nine small cannon. Of Indian allies he is said to have had many thousands. Meantime, Cuitlahua had died of smallpox—which came to the country with the Spaniards—and had been succeeded by Guatemozin, his nephew, a vigorous young man of twenty-five. "At Tezcoco, Cortéz was firmly planted on the eastern edge of the valley of Mexico, in full sight of the capital which lay across the lake, near its western shore, at the distance of about twelve miles. Behind him, towards the sea-coast, he commanded the country, … while, by passes through lower spurs of the mountains, he might easily communicate with the valleys of which the Tlascalans and Cholulans were masters." One by one he reduced and destroyed or occupied the neighboring towns, and overran the surrounding country, in expeditions which made the complete circle of the valley and gave him a complete knowledge of it, while they re-established the prestige of the Spaniards and the terror of their arms. On the 28th of April the newly built brigantines, 12 in number, were launched upon the lake, and all was in readiness for an attack upon the city, with forces now increased by fresh arrivals to 87 horse and 818 Spanish infantry, with three iron field pieces and 15 brass falconets.

B. Mayer, Mexico, Aztec, Spanish and Republican, book 1, chapters 6-8 (volume 1).

MEXICO: A. D. 1521 (May-July). The siege of the Aztec capital begun.

"The observations which Cortes had made in his late tour of reconnaissance had determined him to begin the siege by distributing his forces into three separate camps, which he proposed to establish at the extremities of the principal causeways," under three of his captains, Alvarado, Olid and Sandoval. The movement of forces from Tezcuco began on the 10th of May, 1521. {2166} Alvarado and Olid occupied Tacuba, cut the aqueduct which conveyed water from Chapoltepec to the capital, and made an unsuccessful attempt to get possession of the fatal causeway of "the noche triste." Holding Tacuba, however, Alvarado commanded that important passage, while Sandoval, seizing the city of Iztapalapan, at the southern extremity of the lake, and Olid, establishing himself near the latter, at Cojohuacan, were planted at the two outlets, it would seem, of another of the causeways, which branched to attain the shore at those two points. When so much had been accomplished, Cortés, in person, set sail with his fleet of brigantines and speedily cleared the lake of all the swarm of light canoes and little vessels with which the unfortunate Mexicans tried vainly though valorously to dispute it with him. "This victory, more complete than even the sanguine temper of Cortés had prognosticated, proved the superiority of the Spaniards, and left them, henceforth, undisputed masters of the Aztec sea. It was nearly dusk when the squadron, coasting along the great southern causeway, anchored off the point of junction, called Xoloc, where the branch from Cojohuacan meets the principal dike. The avenue widened at this point, so as to afford room for two towers, or turreted temples, built of stone, and surrounded by walls of the same material, which presented altogether a position of some strength, and, at the present moment, was garrisoned by a body of Aztecs. They were not numerous; and Cortés, landing with his soldiers, succeeded without much difficulty in dislodging the enemy, and in getting possession of the works." Here, in a most advantageous position on the great causeway, the Spanish commander fortified himself and established his headquarters, summoning Olid with half of his force to join him and transferring Sandoval to Olid's post at Cojohuacan. "The two principal avenues to Mexico, those on the south and the west, were now occupied by the Christians. There still remained a third, the great dike of Tepejacac, on the north, which, indeed, taking up the principal street, that passed in a direct line through the heart of the city, might be regarded as a continuation of the dike of Iztapalapan. By this northern route a means of escape was still left open to the besieged, and they availed themselves of it, at present, to maintain their communications with the country, and to supply themselves with provisions. Alvarado, who observed this from his station at Tacuba, advised his commander of it, and the latter instructed Sandoval to take up his position on the causeway. That officer, though suffering at the time from a severe wound, … hastened to obey; and thus, by shutting up its only communication with the surrounding country, completed the blockade of the capital. But Cortés was not content to wait patiently the effects of a dilatory blockade." He arranged with his subordinate captains the plan of a simultaneous advance along each of the causeways toward the city. From his own post he pushed forward with great success, assisted by the brigantines which sailed along side, and which, by the flanking fire of their artillery, drove the Aztecs from one barricade after another, which they had erected at every dismantled bridge. Fighting their way steadily, the Spaniards traversed the whole length of the dike and entered the city; penetrated to the great square; saw once more their old quarters; scaled again the sides of the pyramid-temple, to slay the bloody priests and to strip the idols of their jewels and gold. But the Aztecs were frenzied by this sacrilege, as they had been frenzied by the same deed before, and renewed the battle with so much fury that the Spaniards were driven back in thorough panic and disarray. "All seemed to be lost;—when suddenly sounds were heard in an adjoining street, like the distant tramp of horses galloping rapidly over the pavement. They drew nearer and nearer, and a body of cavalry soon emerged on the great square. Though but a handful in number, they plunged boldly into the thick of the enemy," who speedily broke and fled, enabling Cortés to withdraw his troops in safety. Neither Alvarado nor Sandoval, who had greater difficulties to overcome, and who had no help from the brigantines, reached the suburbs of the city; but their assault had been vigorously made, and had been of great help to that of Cortés. The success of the demonstration spread consternation among the Mexicans and their vassals, and brought a number of the latter over to the Spanish side. Among these latter was the prince of Tezcuco, who joined Cortés, with a large force, in the next assault which the latter made presently upon the city. Again penetrating to the great square, the Spaniards on this occasion destroyed the palaces there by fire. But the spirit of the Mexicans remained unbroken, and they were found in every encounter opposing as obstinate a resistance as ever. They contrived, too, for a remarkable length of time, to run the blockade of the brigantines on the lake and to bring supplies into the city by their canoes. But, at length, when most of the great towns of the neighborhood had deserted their cause, the supplies failed and starvation began to do its work in the fated city. At the same time, the Spaniards were amply provisioned, and their new allies built barracks and huts for their shelter. Cortés "would gladly have spared the town and its inhabitants. … He intimated more than once, by means of the prisoners whom he released, his willingness to grant them fair terms of capitulation. Day after day, he fully expected his proffers would be accepted. But day after day he was disappointed. He had yet to learn how tenacious was the memory of the Aztecs."

W. H. Prescott, History of the Conquest of Mexico, book 6, chapters 4-5.

MEXICO: A. D. 1521 (July). Disastrous repulse of the Spaniards.

"The impatience of the soldiers grew to a great height, and was supported in an official quarter—by no less a person than Alderete, the king's treasurer. Cortez gave way, against his own judgment, to their importunities" and another general attack was ordered. "On the appointed day Cortez moved from his camp, supported by seven brigantines, and by more than 3,000 canoes filled with his Indian allies. When his soldiers reached the entrance of the city, he divided them in the following manner. There were three streets which led to the market-place from the position which the Spaniards had already gained. Along, the principal street, the king's treasurer, with 70 Spaniards and 15,000 or 20,000 allies, was to make his way. His rear was to be protected by a small guard of horsemen. The other two streets were smaller, and led from the street of Tlacuba to the market-place. {2167} Along the broader of these two streets Cortez sent two of his principal captains, with 80 Spaniards and 10,000 Indians; he himself, with eight horsemen, 75 foot-soldiers, 25 musketeers, and an 'infinite number' of allies, was to enter the narrower street. At the entrance to the street of Tlacuba he left two large cannon, with eight horsemen to guard them, and at the entrance of his own street he also left eight horsemen to protect the rear. … The Spaniards and their allies made their entrance into the city with even more success and less embarrassment than on previous occasions. Bridges and barricades were gained, and the three main bodies of the army moved forward into the heart of the city." But in the excitement of their advance they left unrepaired behind them a great breach in the causeway, ten or twelve paces wide, although Cortez had repeatedly enjoined upon his captains that no such dangerous death-trap should be left to catch them in the event of a retreat. The neglect in this case was most disastrous. Being presently repulsed and driven back, the division which had allowed this chasm to yawn behind it was engulfed. Cortez, whose distrust had been excited in some way, discovered the danger, but too late. He made his way to the spot, only to find "the whole aperture so full of Spaniards and Indians that, as he says, there was not room for a straw to float upon the surface of the water. The peril was so imminent that Cortez not only thought that the Conquest of Mexico was gone, but that the term of his life as well as of his victories had come, and he resolved to die there fighting. All that he could do at first was to help his men out of the water; and, meanwhile, the Mexicans charged upon them in such numbers that he and his little party were entirely surrounded. The enemy seized upon his person, and would have carried him off but for the resolute bravery of some of his guard, one of whom lost his life there in succouring his master. … At last he and a few of his men succeeded in fighting their way to the broad street of Tlacuba, where, like a brave captain, instead of continuing his flight, he and the few horsemen who were with him turned round and formed a rear guard to protect his retreating troops. He also sent immediate orders to the king's treasurer and the other commanders to make good their retreat."

Sir A. Helps, The Spanish Conquest in America, book 11, book 1 (volume 2).

"As we were thus retreating, we continually heard the large drum beating from the summit of the chief temple of the city. Its tone was mournful indeed, and sounded like the very instrument of Satan. This drum was so vast in its dimensions that it could be heard from eight to twelve miles distance. Every time we heard its mournful sound, the Mexicans, as we subsequently learnt, offered to their idols the bleeding hearts of our unfortunate countrymen. … After we had at last, with excessive toil, crossed a deep opening, and had arrived at our encampment, … the large drum of Huitzilopochtli again resounded from the summit of the temple, accompanied by all the hellish music of shell trumpets, horns, and other instruments. … We could plainly see the platform, with the chapel in which those cursed idols stood; how the Mexicans had adorned the heads of the Spaniards with feathers, and compelled their victims to dance round the god Huitzilopochtli; we saw how they stretched them out at full length on a large stone, ripped open their breasts with flint knives, tore out the palpitating heart and offered it to their idols. Alas! we were forced to be spectators of all this, and how they then seized hold of the dead bodies by the legs and threw them headlong down the steps of the temple, at the bottom of which other executioners stood ready to receive them, who severed the arms, legs, and heads from the bodies, drew the skin off the faces, which were tanned with the beards still adhering to them, and produced as spectacles of mockery and derision at their feasts; the legs, arms, and other parts of the body being cut up and devoured. … On that terrible day the loss of the three divisions amounted to 60 men and 7 horses."

Bernal Diaz del Castillo, Memoirs, chapter 152 (volume 2).

MEXICO: A. D. 1521 (August). The last days of the Siege. The taking of the ruined city. The end of the Aztec dominion.

"Guatemozin's victory diffused immense enthusiasm among the Aztecs and those who remained united to them. The priests proclaimed that the gods, satiated by the sacrifice of the Spanish prisoners, had promised to rid the country of the foreigners, and that the promise would be fulfilled within eight days. This intelligence spread alarm among the allies of the Spaniards. They deserted in great numbers—not to go over to the Aztecs, whose anger they dreaded, but to return to their homes. Cortez had good watch kept in the camp. The sorties of the besieged were repulsed; the eight days passed without the Spaniards having lost more than a few marauders. The allies, seeing that the oracle was wrong, came back to their former friends. The aggressive ardour of the besieged grew cooler, and they soon found themselves assailed by the plagues that ordinarily attack troops massed in a city—not only famine, but epidemic diseases, the result of want and overcrowding. … Famine pinched them more cruelly day after day. Lizards and such rats as they could find were their richest nourishment; reptiles and insects were eagerly looked for, trees stripped of their bark, and roots stealthily sought after by night. Meanwhile, Cortez, seeing that there was no other means of bringing them to submission, pursued the work of destruction he had resolved on with so much regret. … Heaps of bodies were found in every street that was won from them; this people, so punctilious in their customs of sepulture, had ceased to bury their dead. … Soon there was left to the besieged but one quarter, and that the most incommodious of all, forming barely an eighth of the city, where there were not houses enough to give them shelter. … The 13th August, 1521, had now arrived, and that was to be the last day of this once flourishing empire. Before making a final assault, Cortez once more invited the emperor to his presence. His envoys came back with the 'cihuacoatl,' a magistrate of the first rank, who declared, with an air of consternation, that Guatemozin knew how to die, but that he would not come to treat. Then, turning towards Cortez, he added: 'Do now whatever you please.' 'Be it so,' replied Cortez; 'go and tell your friends to prepare; they are going to die.' In fact, the troops advanced; there was a last mêlée, a last carnage, on land and on the lake. … {2168} Guatemozin, driven to the shore of the lake, threw himself into a canoe with a few warriors, and endeavoured to escape by dint of rowing; but he was pursued by a brigantine of the Spanish fleet, taken and brought to Cortez, who received him with the respect due to a crowned head. … The Aztec empire had ceased to exist; Spanish sway was established in Mexico. The Cross was triumphant in that fine country, and there was no sharer in its reign. The number of persons that perished in the siege has been differently estimated. The most moderate calculation puts it at 120,000 on the side of the Aztecs. Very many Indians fell on the side of the besiegers. The historian Ixtlixochitl says there were 30,000 dead of the warriors of Tezcuco alone. All that were left alive of the Aztecs were, at the request of Guatemozin, allowed to leave the city in freedom, on the morning after it was taken. … They dispersed in all directions, everywhere spreading a terror of the Spaniards, and the feeling that to resist them was impossible. That conviction must have been established speedily and firmly, for there was no further attempt at resistance, unless it were at one point, in the territory of Panuco, near the Atlantic Ocean."

M. Chevalier, Mexico, Ancient and Modern, part 2, chapters 8-9 (volume 1).

ALSO IN: H. Cortes, Despatches [Letters] MEXICO, translated by G. Folsom, letter 3, chapter 5.

MEXICO: A. D. 1521-1524. The rebuilding of the capital. The completion and settlement of the Conquest.

"The first ebullition of triumph was succeeded in the army by very different feelings, as they beheld the scanty spoil gleaned from the conquered city;" and Cortés was driven, by the clamors and suspicions of his soldiers, to subject his heroic captive, Guatemozin, to torture, in the hope of wringing from him a disclosure of some concealment of his imagined treasures. Its only result was to add another infamy to the name and memory of the conquerors. "The commander-in-chief, with his little band of Spaniards, now daily recruited by reinforcements from the Islands, still occupied the quarters of Cojohuacan, which they had taken up at the termination of the siege. Cortés did not immediately decide in what quarter of the Valley to establish the new capital which was to take the place of the ancient Tenochtitlan. … At length he decided on retaining the site of the ancient city, … and he made preparations for the reconstruction of the capital on a scale of magnificence which should, in his own language, 'raise her to the rank of Queen of the surrounding provinces, in the same manner as she had been of yore.' The labor was to be performed by the Indian population, drawn from all quarters of the Valley, and including the Mexicans themselves, great numbers of whom still lingered in the neighborhood of their ancient residence. … In less than four years from the destruction of Mexico, a new city had risen on its ruins, which, if inferior to the ancient capital in extent, surpassed it in magnificence and strength. It occupied so exactly the same site as its predecessor that the 'plaza mayor,' or great square, was the same spot which had been covered by the huge 'teocalli' and the palace of Montezuma; while the principal streets took their departure as before from this central point, and, passing through the whole length of the city, terminated at the principal causeways. Great alterations, however, took place in the fashion of the architecture." Meantime, Cortés had been brought into much danger at the Spanish court, by the machinations of his enemies, encouraged by Bishop Fonseca, the same minister who pursued Columbus with hostility. His friends in Spain rallied, however, to his support, and the result of an investigation, undertaken by a board to which the Emperor Charles V. referred all the charges against him, was the confirmation of his acts in Mexico to their full extent. "He was constituted Governor, Captain-General, and Chief Justice of New Spain, with power to appoint to all offices, civil and military, and to order any person to leave the country whose residence there he might deem prejudicial to the interests of the Crown. This judgment of the council was ratified by Charles V., and the commission investing Cortés with these ample powers was signed by the emperor at Valladolid, October 15th, 1522. … The attention of Cortés was not confined to the capital. He was careful to establish settlements in every part of the country which afforded a favourable position for them. … While thus occupied with the internal economy of the country, Cortés was still bent on his great schemes of discovery and conquest." He fitted out a fleet to explore the shores of the Pacific, and another in the Gulf of Mexico—the prime object of both being the discovery of some strait that would open one ocean to the other. He also sent Olid in command of an expedition by sea to occupy and colonize Honduras, and Alvarado, by land, at the head of a large force, to subdue Guatemala. The former, having partly accomplished his mission, attempted to establish for himself an independent jurisdiction, and his conduct induced Cortés to proceed to Honduras in person. It was in the course of this expedition that Guatemozin, the dethroned Mexican chief, who had been forced to accompany his conqueror, was accused of a plot against the Spaniards and was hung to a tree. 'We have the testimony of Bernal Diaz, one of the Spaniards on the spot, that the execution "was most unjust, and was thought wrong by all of us." "Within three short years after the Conquest [Cortés] had reduced under the dominion of Castile an extent of country more than 400 leagues in length, as he affirms, on the Atlantic coast, and more than 500 on the Pacific; and, with the exception of a few interior provinces of no great importance, had brought them to a condition of entire tranquillity."

W. H. Prescott, History of the Conquest of Mexico, book 7, chapters 1-3.

ALSO IN: H. H. Bancroft, History of the Pacific States, volume 5 (Mexico, volume 2), chapters 1-8.

MEXICO: A. D. 1535-1540. Introduction of Printing.

See PRINTING, &C: A. D. 1535—1709.

MEXICO: A. D. 1535-1822. Under the Spanish viceroys.

"Antonio de Mendoza, Conde de Tendilla, was the first viceroy sent by Charles V. to New Spain. He arrived in the autumn of 1535. … He had a well-balanced and moderate character, and governed the country with justice and generosity combined. He … set himself to reform the abuses which had already appeared, protected the Indians from the humiliations which the newly arrived Spaniards were disposed to put upon them; he stimulated all branches of agriculture, and finding the natives were already well informed in the cultivation of land, he encouraged them in this pursuit by all possible efforts. … {2169} To the religious orders in Mexico is due in great measure the firm base upon which the government of Spain was established there. The new viceroy fully recognized this, and encouraged the foundations of colleges and schools already undertaken by them. In every way he promoted the prosperity and growth of the country, and had the satisfaction in the course of his government, which lasted 15 years, to see everything bear the marks of his judgment and enterprise. It was he who founded two cities [Guadalajara and Valladolid] which have reached great importance. … Cortés was away when the Viceroy Mendoza arrived in Mexico. He still retained his title as governor, with the same powers always conferred upon him; but his long absences from the capital made it necessary, as he fully recognized, that some other strong authority should be established there. Nevertheless, he never got on very well with such other authorities, and on his return soon became at odds with Mendoza, who, in his opinion, interfered with his prerogatives. It was then that Cortés bade farewell to his family, and taking with him his eldest son and heir, Don Martin, then eight years old, he embarked for Spain, leaving Mendoza undisturbed in the execution of his office. … In 1536 was issued the first book printed in Mexico, on a press imported by Mendoza, and put into the hands of one Juan Pablos. … In 1550 this good ruler [Mendoza] sailed away from Mexico. … He passed on to take charge of the government of Peru, by a practice which came to be quite common—a sort of diplomatic succession by which the viceroys of New Spain were promoted to the post at Peru. Don Luis de Velasco, second viceroy of New Spain, made his entrance into the capital with great pomp, at the end of the year 1550. He, like his predecessor, had been selected with care by the orders of Charles V. … His first decree was one liberating 150 Indians from slavery, who were working chiefly in the mines. … He established in Mexico, for the security of travellers upon the highway, the tribunal of the Holy Brotherhood, instituted in Spain for the same purpose in the time of Isabella. He founded the Royal University of Mexico, and the Royal Hospital for the exclusive use of the natives. … The good Viceroy Velasco died in 1564, having governed the country for 14 years. … During the government of this ruler and his predecessor all the administration of New Spain, political, civil, and religious was established upon so firm a foundation that it could go on in daily action like a well regulated machine." In the meantime, Charles V. had resigned the burden of his great sovereignty, transferring all his crowns to his narrow-souled son, Philip II., who cared nothing for the New World except as a source of gold and silver supply and a field for religious bigotry. Under Philip "the character of the viceroys was lowered from the high standard adhered to when Charles the Emperor selected them himself. To follow the long list of them would be most tedious and useless, as they passed in rotation, governing according to the best of their lights for several years in Mexico, and then passing on, either by death or by promotion to Peru. In 1571 the Inquisition was fully established … and the next year the Jesuits arrived. … The first 'auto-da-fé' was celebrated in the year 1574, when, as its chronicler mentions cheerfully, 'there perished 21 pestilent Lutherans.' From this time such ceremonies were of frequent occurrence, but the Inquisition never reached the point it did in Old Spain. … The viceroys of New Spain under Philip III. [1578-1621] were, for the most part, men of judgment and moderation. While the government at home, in the hands of profligate favorites, was growing weaker and weaker, that of Mexico was becoming more firmly established." It was not shaken nor disturbed by the War of the Spanish Succession, during the early years of the eighteenth century; but the Revolution in France, which convulsed Europe before that century closed, wrought changes which were lasting in the New World as well as the Old. "There were in all 64 viceroys, beginning with Don Antonio de Mendoza, 1535, and ending with Juan O'Donoju in 1822."

S. Hale, The Story of Mexico, chapters 20-22.

ALSO IN: H. H. Bancroft, History of the Pacific States, volumes 5-6 (Mexico, volumes 2-3).

MEXICO: A. D. 1539-1586. Expeditions of Niza, Coronado, and others to the North. Search for the Seven Cities of Cibola.

See AMERICAN ABORIGINES: PUEBLOS.

MEXICO: A. D. 1810-1819. The first Revolutionary movement. Hidalgo. Allende. Morelos.

"The causes of the coming revolution were not hidden. The law that excluded Spaniards born in America from equal rights with those who were immigrants was a natural, not to say necessary, source of discontent among people whose good-will was much needed by any viceroy. There was inevitably not a little mutual repugnance between the Mexican and Spanish stocks, and the home government did nothing to mollify such asperities. There were commercial monopolies militant against public interests. The clergy were alienated, and since they were not thus so serviceable as formerly in the part of mediators in enforcing governmental aims, it was found necessary to use force where the people were not accustomed to it. The Viceroy Jose de Iturrigaray practised a seeming condescension that deceived no one, and he pursued his exactions partly by reason of self-interest, and partly in order to supply Madrid with means to meet the financial troubles that the Napoleonic era was creating. After some years of these conditions in New Spain, a conspiracy, resulting from a reaction, sent the viceroy back to Spain a prisoner. This gave strength to revolutionary sentiments, and a few trials for treason increased the discontent. The men who were now put successively in the vice-regal place had few qualities for the times, and a certain timidity of policy was not conducive to strength of government. … The outbreak, when it came, brought to the front a curate of Dolores, a native priest, Miguel Hidalgo, who commanded the confidence of the disaffected, and was relied upon to guide the priesthood. Ignacio de Allende had some of the soldierly qualities needed for a generalissimo. The purpose of these men and their allies, before they should openly proclaim a revolt, was to seize some of the leading Spaniards; but their plot being discovered, they hastily assembled at Dolores and raised the standard of revolt (1810). Thus banded together, but badly organized and poorly armed, a body of 5,000 insurgents marched from Dolores, headed by Hidalgo and Allende, and approached Guanajuato, where the intendente Riaña had intrenched himself in a fortified alhondiga, or granary. {2170} The attack of the rebels was headlong and bloody. The gates were fired with flaming rubbish, and through the glowing way the mad throng rushed, and after a hand-to-hand conflict (September 28, 1810) the fortress fell. The royalist leader had been killed, and scenes of pillage and riot followed. Meanwhile the viceroy in Mexico prepared to receive the insurgents, and his ally, the church, excommunicated their leaders. The military force of the royalists was inconsiderable, and what there was, it was feared, might prove not as loyal as was desirable. As Hidalgo marched towards the capital, he tried to seduce to his side a young lieutenant, Augustin Iturbide, who was in command of a small outlying force. The future emperor declined the offer, and, making his way to the city, was at once sent to join Trujillo, who commanded a corps of observation which confronted the insurgents, and who finally ran the chances of a battle at Las Cruces. … The insurgents soon surrounded him, and he was only able to reach the city by breaking with a part of his force through the enveloping line. Hidalgo had lost 2,000 men, but he had gained the day. He soon intercepted a despatch and learned from it that General Calleja had been put in motion from San Luis Potosi, and it seemed more prudent to Hidalgo that, instead of approaching Mexico, he should retreat to be nearer his recruiting ground. The retrograde movement brought the usual result to an undisciplined force, and he was already weakened by desertions when Calleja struck his line of march at Aculco. Hidalgo felt it important for the revolution to have time enough to spread into other parts of the province, and so he merely fought Calleja to cover his further retreat. The rebel leader soon gathered his forces at Celaya, while Allende, his colleague, posted himself at Guanajuato. Here the latter was attacked by Calleja and routed, and the royal forces made bloody work in the town. Hidalgo, moving to Valladolid, reorganized his army, and then, proceeding to Guadalajara, he set up a form of government, with Ignacio Lopez Rayon as Secretary-general. At this time the insurgents held completely the provinces of Nueva Galicia, Zacatecas, and San Luis Potosi, a belt of country stretching from sea to sea in the latitude of Tampico. … In January, 1811, the signs were not very propitious for the royalists. … At this juncture … Hidalgo moved out from Guadalajara with his entire force, which was large enough, consisting of 60,000 foot, 20,000 horse, and 100 cannon; but it was poorly armed, and without effective discipline; while Calleja commanded a well-equipped and well-organized force, but in extent it only counted 3,000 foot, with as many horse, and ten guns. At the bridge of Calderon, 10 or 11 leagues from the city, Hidalgo prepared to stand. Here Calleja attacked him," and won the day, entering Guadalajara as a victor on the 21st of January, 1811. "Hidalgo fled with his broken army, and soon resigned the command to Allende. This general had scarcely 4,000 or 5,000 men left when he reached Saltillo, where he joined Jimenes. The disheartenment of defeat was spreading through the country. Town after town was heard from as yielding to the victors. The leaders, counselling together at Saltillo, resolved to escape to the United States; but, as they were marching,—about 2,000 in all, with 24 guns and a money-chest,—they fell into an ambush planned in the interest of a counter-revolution by one Elizondo, and, with nothing more than a show of resistance, the party was captured, one and all. The judgment of death upon Hidalgo, Allende, and Jimenes soon followed. The main force of the insurgents had thus disappeared, but a small body still remained in arms under the lead of Jose Maria Morelos." Morelos was uneducated, but capable and energetic, and he kept life in the rebellion for two years. He captured Orizaba in October, 1812, Oajaca in the following month, and Acapulco in the spring of 1813. In November of that year he appeared before Valladolid, the capital of Michoacan, but was attacked there by Iturbide and routed. "In January, 1814, Morelos made a final stand at Puruaran, but Iturbide still drove him on. Disaster followed upon disaster, till finally Morelos was deposed by his own congress. This body had adherents enough to make it necessary for Calleja to appeal to the home government for a reinforcement of 8,000 troops. … Morelos, meanwhile, commanding an escort which was protecting the migratory congress, was intercepted and captured by a force of royalists, and, after the forms of a trial, he was executed December 22, 1815. The campaign of 1816 was sustained by the insurgents against a force of 80,000 men which Calleja had collected. … Neither side had much success, and the war was simply tedious. At last, in August, a new viceroy, Juan Riaz de Apodaca, succeeded to Calleja, and uniting a more humane policy with vigor in disposing his forces, the leading rebel officers … surrendered in January, 1817. … A certain quixotic interest is lent to the closing months of the revolution by the adventurous exploits of Espoz y Mina. He had fitted out a small expedition in the United States, which, landing on the Gulf coast, for a while swept victoriously inland. … But Mina was finally surprised and executed. Other vagrant rebel leaders fell one by one into the hands of the royalists; but Guadalupe Victoria held out, and concealed himself in the wilds for two years."

J. Winsor, Spanish North America (Narrative and Critical History of America, volume 8, chapter 4).

ALSO IN: W. D. Robinson, Memoirs of the Mexican Revolution.

MEXICO: A. D. 1819. Texas occupied as a province.

See TEXAS: A. D. 1819-1835.

MEXICO: A. D. 1820-1826. Independence of Spain. The brief empire of Iturbide and its fall. Constitution of the Republic of the United Mexican States.

"The establishment of a constitutional government in Spain, in 1820, produced upon Mexico an effect very different from what was anticipated. As the constitution provided for a more liberal administration of government in Mexico than had prevailed since 1812, the increased freedom of the elections again threw the minds of the people into a ferment, and the spirit of independence, which had been only smothered, broke forth anew. Moreover, divisions were created among the old Spaniards themselves; some being in favor of the old system, while others were sincerely attached to the constitution. Some formidable inroads on the property and prerogatives of the church alienated the clergy from the new government, and induced them to desire a return to the old system. {2171} The Viceroy, Apodaca, encouraged by the hopes held out by the Royalists in Spain, although he had at first taken the oath to support the constitution, secretly favored the party opposed to it, and arranged his plans for its overthrow. Don Augustin Iturbide, the person selected by the Viceroy to make the first open demonstration against the existing government, was offered the command of a body of troops on the western coast, at the head of which he was to proclaim the re-establishment of the absolute authority of the king. Iturbide, accepting the commission, departed from the capital to take command of the troops, but with intentions very different from those which the Viceroy supposed him to entertain. Reflecting upon the state of the country, and convinced of the facility with which the authority of Spain might be shaken off,—by bringing the Creole troops to act in concert with the old insurgents, —Iturbide resolved to proclaim Mexico wholly independent of the Spanish nation. Having his head quarters at the little town of Iguala, on the road to Acapulco, Iturbide, on the 24th of February, 1821, there proclaimed his project, known as the 'Plan of Iguala,' and induced his soldiers to take an oath to support it. This 'Plan' declared that Mexico should be an independent nation, its religion Catholic, and its government a constitutional monarchy. The crown was offered to Ferdinand VII, of Spain, provided he would consent to occupy the throne in person; and, in case of his refusal, to his infant brothers, Don Carlos and Don Francisco. A constitution was to be formed by a Mexican Congress; … all distinctions of caste were to be abolished. … The Viceroy, astonished by this unexpected movement of Iturbide, and remaining irresolute and inactive at the capital, was deposed, and Don Francisco Novello, a military officer, was placed at the head of the government; but his authority was not generally recognized, and Iturbide was left to pursue his plans in the interior without interruption. Being joined by Generals Guerrero and Victoria as soon as they knew that the independence of their country was the object of Iturbide, not only all the survivors of the first insurgents, but whole detachments of Creole troops flocked to his standard, and his success was soon rendered certain. The clergy and the people were equally decided in favor of independence; … and, before the month of July, the whole country recognized the authority of Iturbide, with the exception of the capital, in which Novello had shut himself up with the European troops. Iturbide had already reached Queretaro with his troops, on his road to Mexico, when he was informed of the arrival, at Vera Cruz, of a new Viceroy. … At Cordova, whither the Viceroy had been allowed to proceed, for the purpose of an interview with Iturbide, the latter induced him to accept by treaty the Plan of Iguala, as the only means of securing the lives and property of the Spaniards then in Mexico, and of establishing the right to the throne in the house of Bourbon. By this agreement, called the 'Treaty of Cordova,' the Viceroy, in the name of the king, his master, recognized the independence of Mexico, and gave up the capital to the army of the insurgents, which took possession of it, without effusion of blood, on the 27th of September, 1821. All opposition being ended, and the capital occupied, in accordance with a provision of the Plan of Iguala a provisional junta was established, the principal business of which was to call a congress for the formation of a constitution suitable to the country. At the same time a regency, consisting of five individuals, was elected, at the head of which was placed Iturbide. … When the congress assembled [February 24, 1822], three distinct parties were found amongst the members. The Bourbonists, adhering to the Plan of Iguala altogether, wished a constitutional monarchy, with a prince of the house of Bourbon at its head; the Republican, setting aside the Plan of Iguala, desired a federal republic; while a third party, the Iturbidists, adopting the Plan of Iguala with the exception of the article in favor of the Bourbons, wished to place Iturbide himself upon the throne. As it was soon learned that the Spanish government had declared the treaty of Cordova null and void, the Bourbonists ceased to exist as a party, and the struggle was confined to the Iturbidists and the Republicans." By the aid of a mob demonstration in the city of Mexico, on the night of May 18, 1822, the former triumphed, and Iturbide was declared emperor, under the title of Augustin the First. "The choice was ratified by the provinces without opposition, and Iturbide found himself in peaceable possession of a throne to which his own abilities and a concurrence of favorable circumstances had raised him. Had the monarch elect been guided by counsels of prudence, and allowed his authority to be confined within constitutional limits, he might perhaps have continued to maintain a modified authority; but forgetting the unstable foundation of his throne, he began his reign with all the airs of hereditary royalty. On his accession a struggle for power immediately commenced between him and the congress." After arbitrarily imprisoning the most distinguished members of that body, Iturbide, at last, proclaimed its dissolution and substituted a junta of his own nomination. "Before the end of November an insurrection broke out in the northern provinces, but this was speedily quelled by the imperial troops." It was followed in December by a more formidable revolt, led off by Santa Anna (or Santana), a young general who had supported Iturbide, but who had been haughtily dismissed from the government of Vera Cruz. Santa Anna was joined by Victoria and other old Republican leaders, and the power of Iturbide crumbled so rapidly that he resigned his crown on the 19th of March, 1823, promising to quit the country, on being assured a yearly allowance of $25,000 for his support. "With his family and suite he embarked for Leghorn on the 11th of May. … From Italy he proceeded to London, and made preparations for returning to Mexico; in consequence of which, congress, on the 28th of April, 1824, passed a decree of outlawry against him. He landed in disguise at Soto la Marina, July 14th, 1824; was arrested by General Garza, and shot at Padillo by order of the provincial congress of Tamaulipas, on the 19th of that month. … On the departure of Iturbide, a temporary executive was appointed, consisting of Generals Victoria, Bravo, and Negrete, by whom the government was administered until the meeting of a new congress, which assembled at the capital in August, 1823. {2172} This body immediately entered on the duties of preparing a new constitution, which was submitted on the 31st of January, 1824, and definitively sanctioned on the 4th of October following. By this instrument, modeled somewhat after the constitution of the United States, the absolute independence of the country was declared, and the several Mexican Provinces were united in a Federal Republic. The legislative power was vested in a Congress, consisting of a Senate and a House of Representatives. … The supreme executive authority was vested in one individual, styled the 'President of the United Mexican States.' … The third article in the constitution declared that 'The Religion of the Mexican Nation is, and will be perpetually, the Roman Catholic Apostolic. The nation will protect it by wise and just laws, and prohibit the exercise of any other whatever.' … On the 1st of January, 1825, the first congress under the federal constitution assembled in the city of Mexico; and, at the same time, General Guadalupe Victoria was installed as president of the republic, and General Nicholas Bravo as vice-president. The years 1825 and 1826 passed with few disturbances; the administration of Victoria was generally popular; and the country enjoyed a higher degree of prosperity than at any former or subsequent period."