Note 797 — Chapter XXV · DEATH OF MONTEZUMA. June, 1520.

In a privilegio in favor of the daughter Isabel, Cortés refers to this interview, saying that three daughters were intrusted to him. No allusion is made to any son. The affectionate terms in which he herein speaks of Montezuma must be due to political reasons, and perhaps to a regard for the princesses. Panes, Vireyes, in Monumentos Domin. Esp., MS., 67-8. Ramirez ridicules the idea of an appeal by the emperor to Cortés, who was on unfriendly terms with him. Soc. Mex. Geog., Boletin, x. 359 et seq. But the effort of Montezuma to save the Spaniards shows that intercourse had been reëstablished; and was not Cortés, as the husband of one or more of his daughters, the proper person to protect their sisters?