Note XVIII-38 — Chapter XVIII · MARCH OF CORTÉS TO HONDURAS. 1524-1525.

It is not improbable that suspicions as to the thoughts and acts of the kings may have created a prejudice against them, but the suspicions existed already before they left Mexico, as proved by their being taken not only as hostages for the loyalty of their subjects, but as a precaution against their own possible disloyalty. Quauhtemotzin was evidently not the most submissive of men, for he had always been regarded as requiring a close watch, and Cortés brought him chiefly because of his 'bullicioso' character, as he expresses it. It may not be considered unpardonable for the Indian auxiliaries to relieve their feelings in mutinous expressions against the taskmasters and despoilers who were taking them away from home to meet an unknown fate, to endure toil, hunger, and danger. But such sentiments could not be overlooked in the kings. They, as captured leaders, existed only by sufferance, the condition being good behavior. For them even to listen was to encourage, and they were consequently guilty. Not that I blame them. Nay, I would rather blame them for not being more prompt and determined in the patriotic effort. But in resolving to listen, and to act, no doubt, they accepted a risk with a penalty well defined among all peoples. Cortés was not the man to hesitate at almost any deed when private or public interests demanded it; and it needed but little to rouse to blind fury the slumbering suspicions of the soldiers regarding Mexican loyalty. But here we have evidence—not groundless even from a native point of view—to justify the Spaniards in assuming that a conspiracy, or, at least, mutinous talk, was wide-spread, and this among a horde tenfold superior in number; a horde known ever to have cherished unfriendly feelings, and now doubly embittered by suffering. Under the circumstances even saints would not have disregarded testimony however doubtful; and the Castilians were but human. Self-preservation, ay, duty to king, and country, and God, whose several interests they were defending, demanded the prompt suppression of so ominous a danger. What were the best measures? A long campaign in Mexico had impressed Cortés with the belief that a people so trained to abject subservience as the Aztecs, and so bloody in their worship, could be controlled by severity alone, and that the lesson must fall on the leaders. Situated as they were the soldiers could not be expected to guard a large number of captives. Hence no course remained, except capital punishment. According to Bernal Diaz, Hist. Verdad., 201, Cortés' distress of mind at the sufferings of the expedition was so increased by this deed that he became sleepless, and, in wandering around one night in a temple forming the camp, he fell from a platform a distance of ten feet, hurting his head severely.