Part 64

Continuing his course to the westward, he landed at San Juan d'Ulloa. Here he was most respectfully addressed by a deputation on board of his ship, but in a language altogether unknown to him, and even to Aguilar. Fortunately, one of his female slaves, received at Tabasco, well understood the Mexican language, and explained what had been said in the Yucatan tongue, with which Aguilar was unacquainted. This woman, who was known afterwards by the name of Donna Marina, informed him that the persons who addressed him were the officers of a great monarch, whom they called Montezuma, and that they were sent to inquire what his intentions were in visiting their coast, and to offer any assistance he might need in order to continue his voyage. Cortez, having thus learned the purport of the message, assured the officers that he approached their country with the most friendly sentiments, and came to propose matters of great moment to their prince, which should soon be more fully unfolded. Next morning he landed his men, horses, and artillery, by the assistance of the natives, who unconsciously were admitting among them the instruments of their own destruction.

On the 26th of March, Cortez commenced his march towards the Mexican capital, having first destroyed his vessels, that his soldiers, deprived of the means of retreat, might rely solely on their valor. On his way thither, by consummate address, he alienated from Montezuma several of the petty states with their caziques. Others he compelled, by force of arms, to join him. By degrees, he marched into the country, and, with the addition of the natives, he found himself at the head of an army consisting of several thousand persons.

_Arrival of Cortez in the Mexican Capital._--As Cortez approached the Mexican capital, a great retinue of persons came to meet him, adorned with plumes and clad in mantles of fine cotton. Each of these saluted Cortez in the most respectful manner. They announced the approach of Montezuma himself; and soon after, the harbingers, two hundred in number, in a uniform dress, appeared in sight. These were followed by a company of higher rank, in splendid apparel, in the midst of whom was Montezuma, carried in a litter richly ornamented with gold and feathers of various colors. The king and Cortez met, and the most respectful salutations passed between them. Montezuma conducted Cortez to the quarters that had been prepared for his reception, and took leave of him, saying, "You are now with your brothers in your own house; refresh yourselves after your fatigue, and be happy until I return."

The first care of Cortez, however, was to take precautions for his security, by planting the artillery so as to command the different avenues which led to the place allotted for his reception.

In the evening, Montezuma returned to visit his guests, and again made them magnificent presents. Various conferences passed between them; and the next day Cortez and some of his principal attendants were admitted to an audience of the emperor.

While these events were happening, Cortez formed a plan no less extraordinary than daring. This was to seize Montezuma in his palace, and to carry him prisoner to the Spanish quarters. He communicated his plan to his principal officers, and almost instantly put it into execution.

_The Abdication of Montezuma._--Although Montezuma was permitted to exercise the functions of royalty, yet he was guarded with the utmost vigilance by the Spaniards. The king's brave son, with several of the principal officers, on the slightest pretext, was burned alive by the command of Cortez. The monarch himself was, at length, bound with fetters. Having both the monarch and his subjects under this temporary authority, Cortez availed himself of it to the utmost. He appointed commissioners to survey the empire, and to prepare the minds of the people for submitting to the Spaniards; and, in the end, he persuaded Montezuma to acknowledge himself a vassal to the Spanish crown, and to pay an annual tribute. The fallen prince, at the instance of Cortez, accompanied this profession of fealty and homage, with a magnificent present to the king of Spain, and, after his example, his subjects brought in liberal contributions.

_War, and the Death of Montezuma._--About this time Velasquez, piqued by the success of his subaltern, had sent a force into Mexico to take him and his principal officers prisoners; but the good fortune of Cortez triumphed again; for overcoming his enemies in battle, he induced the greater part of them to join his standard; and when he had least of all expected it, he was placed at the head of a thousand Spaniards, ready to aid him, at any hazard, in his enterprises.

This additional force had but just time to enroll themselves under their new leader, before the Mexicans attacked them in all directions.

Cortez now found himself environed with the most imminent dangers. The only resource which remained to him was to try what effect the interposition of Montezuma might have upon his enraged subjects. When, the next morning, they approached to renew the assault, that unfortunate prince was compelled to advance to the battlements, and exhort his people to discontinue hostilities. But the fury of the multitude could not be repressed, and it was now directed momentarily against their prince. Flights of arrows and volleys of stones poured in so violently upon the ramparts, that before the Spanish soldiers had time to lift their shields for Montezuma's defence, two arrows wounded the unhappy monarch, and a blow of a stone on his temple struck him to the ground.

Most bitterly did these poor men lament the consequences of their displeasure, as they witnessed the fate of their sovereign. As for Montezuma, in a paroxysm of rage he tore the bandage from his wounds, and so obstinately refused to take any nourishment, that he soon ended his days, rejecting with disdain all the urgency of the Spaniards that he should embrace the Christian faith.

_Retreat and Return of Cortez._--The death of Montezuma filled the Mexicans with surprise and terror; but added to, rather than diminished, their hostility. They determined to reduce by famine a foe which they could not subdue by force. This coming to the knowledge of Cortez, he perceived, situated as he was, that his safety lay in instant retreat from the city. Preparations were accordingly made to march out of Mexico that very night. Each soldier took such booty as he was able; yet a large quantity of silver was left behind. At midnight, the troops abandoned their quarters, and proceeded in silence along the causeway that led to Tacubaya.

The Mexicans were watching the retreating foe. At length, the latter reached a breach which had been made in the causeway, when in an instant they were astounded by a tremendous roar of martial instruments. Clouds of arrows were showered upon them. Yet they struggled on to a second breach, where they were obliged to wade through the mud and water. All was darkness, confusion, dismay. Many were so heavily laden with spoils, that they sunk to rise no more. The carnage was dreadful. It was a night of blood--or what is known in the Mexican history as the _Noche triste_, or "doleful night." Cortez lost some five or six hundred Spaniards, and of his allies, the Tlascalans, above two thousand. Only a small portion of the pillaged treasures was saved--horses, ammunition, baggage, nearly all were gone. In the morning, although his troops needed rest and his wounded care, Cortez pursued his march towards Tlascala, where he was received with kindness by his allies.

Some interval of tranquillity was now absolutely necessary, not only that the Spaniards might give attention to the cure of their wounds, but in order to recruit their strength, exhausted by a long succession of fatigues and hardships. When these objects had been attained, and his forces were considerably augmented, on the 28th of December, 1520, Cortez commenced his return towards Mexico.

In his progress towards it, he took possession of Tezcuco, the second town in the empire, situated on the lake about twenty miles from the capital. He had already prepared the materials for building several brigantines, so that they might be carried thither in pieces ready to be put together, and launched when they were needed. Here he established his head-quarters, as it was the most suitable place to launch the brigantines. With the launching of these, all was in readiness for the great enterprise.

Nor were the Mexicans unprepared. Upon the death of Montezuma, his brother, Quetlavaca, a man distinguished for his courage and capacity, was raised to the throne. But in the midst of his preparations to meet the invaders, he was fatally attacked by the small-pox, a scourge which had been introduced into the country by the Spaniards. Gautimozin, nephew and son-in-law of Montezuma, was next chosen emperor, nor could the choice have fallen on a more deserving man.

Great bravery was displayed by the Mexicans during the siege. Cortez found it necessary to proceed with caution in all his measures. His chief prospect of success lay in cutting off supplies from the city; at length, in that, he succeeded, so that the public stores were exhausted, and the sufferings in the city became extreme.

_Fall of the City and Empire._--At this crisis, Gautimozin, in an attempt to escape to the provinces, with a view to arouse his people more effectually for his defence, was captured and conducted to Cortez.

He appeared with singular composure and self-respect, requesting of Cortez, that no insult should be offered to the empress or his children. "I have done," said he to his conqueror, "what became a monarch. I have defended my people to the last extremity. Nothing now remains but to die. Take this dagger," (laying hold of one which Cortez wore,) "plant it in my heart, and put an end to a life which can be no longer useful to my country." Before he left the city, he had been careful to disappoint the expectations of the Spaniards, by throwing all his treasures into the lake.

When the fate of their sovereign was known, the Mexicans laid down their arms, and Cortez took possession of that small part of the capital which yet remained, three-fourths of it having been reduced to ashes during the conflict. In this manner terminated the memorable siege of Mexico.

The fate of the capital decided that, also, of the empire. The provinces submitted, one after another, to the conquerors. Small parties of Spaniards, marching through them without interruption, penetrated in different quarters to the Pacific ocean. Thus a great and rich empire was secured to Spain, through the almost incredible efforts of a single man at the head of a small band of adventurers.

_Fate of Cortez._--As a reward for his bold and surprising achievements, Cortez was warmly eulogized by his countrymen at home, and the Emperor Charles V. appointed him captain-general and governor of New Spain, with other tokens of favor. But a bitter cup was at last pressed to his lips. After returning to America, and continuing there for a time in his command, he came back, in 1540, to his native country. But in consequence of his ambition and usurpations, his reception at home was ill-suited to the character of his heroic deeds. "The emperor behaved to him with cold civility, his ministers treated him sometimes with neglect, sometimes with insolence. His grievances received no redress; his claims were urged without effect; and, after several years spent in fruitless application to ministers and judges, he ended his days on the 2d of December, in the sixty-second year of his age."

_Extent of New Spain._--This country, under the Spaniards, embraced a more extensive region than the empire of Mexico, or the dominions of Montezuma and his predecessors. It included, in addition to the Mexican empire proper, New Navarre, a vast territory, extending to the north and west; the provinces of California, as also the peninsula of California; and, moreover, the provinces of Yucatan and Honduras, stretching from the Bay of Campeachy to beyond Cape Gracias a Dios. At an early period, most of these countries had been visited and subjugated by Spanish adventurers. The peninsula of California, which had been discovered by Cortez in 1536, began to be explored by the Jesuits towards the close of the seventeenth century. Here they established an important mission, but, after a time, were expelled from the country.

_Introduction of the Catholic Religion._--The conquerors of New Spain carried with them the Catholic faith, which became the established religion; and, indeed, was the only religion that was tolerated, until the revolution in the beginning of the present century. The establishment was instituted as an auxiliary branch of the government, on a similar model to that in Spain. In attempts to convert the natives, they made use of the same unjustifiable means that have been resorted to by the Jesuits. But notwithstanding all that was done, their spiritual character and condition were unchanged. Of real Christianity, they remained wholly ignorant, and retained all their veneration for their ancient superstitions. This mixture of Christianity with their own heathenish rites and notions, was transmitted to their posterity, and has never been eradicated. That device of the infernal pit, the Inquisition, was established in America by the bigoted zeal of Philip II., in the year 1570. This measure completed the ecclesiastical apparatus for fastening Catholicism on the new world.

_Native Spanish Population under the Colonial Government._--For nearly three centuries, down to the year 1810, Mexico was governed by viceroys, appointed by the court of Spain, all of whom, with one exception, were European Spaniards. Every situation in the gift of the crown was bestowed upon a European, nor is there an instance, for many years before the revolution, either in the church, the army, or the law, in which the door of preferment was opened to a Spaniard, Mexican-born. Through this policy, a privileged _caste_ arose, distinct from the Mexican Spaniards in feelings, habits, and interests--the paid agents of a government whose only aim was to enrich itself, without any regard to the abuses perpetrated under its authority.

_Classes of the Inhabitants._--Anterior to the revolution in 1810, the population of Mexico was divided into distinct castes, as follows: 1, The old Spaniards, born in Spain, designated _Chapetones_. 2, _Creoles_ or Whites, of pure European race, born in America, and regarded by the first class as natives. 3, The _Indians_, or indigenous copper-colored race. 4, The _Mestizos_, or mongrel breeds of Whites and Indians, in the purer descent approaching to the Creoles. 5, _Mulattoes_, or descendants of Whites and Negroes. 6, The _Zambos_, descendants of Negroes and Indians. And 7, The _African Negroes_, whether manumitted or slaves.

The pure races were the old Spaniards, Creoles, Indians, and Negroes, and gave rise, in their various combinations or divisions, to the others. The remaining three races were impure or mixed, and were sub-divided, without any assigned limits. Upon the breaking out of the revolution, the distinctions of caste were all absorbed in the name of Americans and Europeans.

_Causes of the First Mexican Revolution._--For more than a century, Spain had been on the decline, when, in 1808, the Emperor Napoleon gave a finishing stroke to her degradation, by seizing upon the royal family, and placing his brother Jerome upon the throne. To this revolution, the Spanish chiefs, who were assured of their places, were disposed to yield, excepting the viceroy of Mexico. But the _people_, indignant at the foul treatment which their sovereign had received, were determined not to submit to it. A general revolt against the authority of Buonaparte, soon disclosed itself in old Spain, intelligence of which reaching Mexico on the 29th of July, 1808, the feelings of the people were excited to the highest pitch of enthusiasm. At this time, the Cabildo, or municipality of Mexico, presented a petition to Iturrigaray the viceroy, to assemble a junta, or representatives of the province, for self-government. The viceroy, however, hesitated, fearing the Spanish population, who opposed the measure. Apprised of his inclination to gratify the people, the Spaniards seized the viceroy, and delivered him over to the prison of the Inquisition. The conspirators were principally Spanish merchants in Mexico, and were secretly favored in their designs by the court of the Audiciencia, the highest judicial tribunal of Mexico.

The European Spaniards, both in the capital and in the interior, now formed patriotic associations for the defence of what they termed their rights, and armed themselves against the Creoles, who had favored the project of assembling the junta. The latter, though by far the most numerous, were unused to arms, and submitted for the moment; but their spirit was aroused, and it became an absorbing question whether themselves or the small clique of Europeans should possess the right of administering the government during the captivity of their king. A general impatience to shake off the yoke of foreign domination, began to seize the minds of all. There was wanting only a leader to make the occasion and to strike the blow.

_Commencement of the Revolution._--The person was soon found, in Don Miguel Hidalgo Castilla, a clergyman, distinguished for his talents, learning, and liberality of sentiment. Perceiving the general disaffection of the people, and the prevailing animosities against the Spaniards, as also having private motives of discontent, Hidalgo conceived the plan of a general insurrection for the subversion of the colonial government.

Allende, a friend of Hidalgo, was the first to raise the standard of revolt in the little town of Dolores, on the 16th of September, 1810, where he seized and imprisoned seven Europeans, whose property he distributed among his followers. The Indians, under Hidalgo, now flew to arms; and being rëinforced by disaffected troops belonging to the government, Hidalgo marched to Guanaxuato, a wealthy town of eighty thousand inhabitants, of which, after a strenuous contest, he received the submission. This was an acquisition of signal importance, as he found in the treasury an amount of five millions of silver.

From this period, the insurrection spread rapidly, notwithstanding the efforts of Venegas, the new viceroy, to allay it. Many towns declared in favor of Hidalgo, who proceeded from Guanaxuato to Valladolid, where he was joyfully received as a deliverer. His pecuniary resources were increased by the donation of one million two hundred thousand dollars from the public authorities. His next step was to march towards the capital. He had made a great acquisition in having Morelos, a warlike priest, and highly celebrated in the revolution, come to his aid.

Mexico was, at this time, in a highly critical condition--the prevailing disaffection had reached it, and was producing its fruits of weakness and division. The forces collected for its defence were wholly inadequate to the object.

In this juncture of affairs, Hidalgo might doubtless have seized on the capital; indeed, many were anxiously awaiting his approach, as its deliverer. After an anxious night, great was the surprise the next morning, on the part of the people, when they saw the assailants retiring. The cause of Hidalgo's strange retrograde movement has never been satisfactorily ascertained.

From this period, sad reverses awaited him. When he had arrived at Aculco, on his retreat, he was attacked, on the 7th of November, by Calleja, who, with the main part of the Spanish army, had previously reached the capital. Of the royal troops, six thousand were disciplined veterans, and their imposing appearance alone was sufficient to frighten Hidalgo's Indians. These fled at the first fire; the regular troops being thus left unsupported, were unable long to stand the attack. Pursued by the royalists with great fury, the slaughter became immense; ten thousand of the independents, in the official report of Calleja, were said to have been killed, wounded, and taken prisoners. Hidalgo, having retreated to Guanaxuato, was, on the 29th of November, attacked again by Calleja, and driven from his position, with the loss of twenty-five pieces of cannon and several valuable officers.

"Hidalgo retreated to Valladolid, where he caused eighty Europeans to be beheaded, and proceeded thence to Guadalaxara; he made another triumphal entrance into that city, on the 24th of November. Here he committed another act of cold-blooded massacre, which has left a foul blot on his name. All the Europeans having been thrown into prison, Hidalgo determined to destroy them. Without trial or previous examination, they were taken out in small parties, and conducted under the veil of night to retired parts of the neighboring mountains, where between seven and eight hundred were butchered in secret. This remorseless act of barbarity, besides being wholly unjustifiable by the rules of war, was impolitic in the extreme. It prevented many respectable Creoles from joining the insurgents; and as it drove the Spaniards to despair, it furnished them at the same time with an excuse for any atrocities which they chose to commit."

Hidalgo continued to retreat towards Saltillo. By this time, his forces were reduced to about four thousand men; and arriving at Saltillo, a distance of nearly five hundred miles from the Mexican capital, he left the army, and with several officers sought the frontiers of the United States, with the intention of purchasing arms and military stores. He was destined, however, to be the victim of treachery. One of his subordinates in office had the baseness to arrest him, for the purpose of securing a pardon for himself. The leader, unsuspicious of danger when attacked, was easily overcome and taken. It was on the 21st of March, 1811, that Hidalgo and his followers were made prisoners. Many of them were executed on the field of action the next day. Hidalgo and a few others were not put to death until the 27th of July following.

_Continuation of the War by the Patriot Chiefs._--The revolution had evidently taken deep hold on the minds of the people. The fate of Hidalgo did not dispirit the chiefs of the patriot cause. The prominent of these, Rayon, a lawyer, Villagran, and Morelos, a priest, now assumed the responsibility of directing the storm. The principal of these was Morelos, and to an account of his movements we confine ourselves.

From small beginnings Morelos possessed, at length, an efficient army, and was obeyed throughout nearly the entire southern coast of Mexico. On taking the field, town after town was taken, and victory succeeded to victory. His course, moreover, was marked by the humane treatment of his prisoners in every instance. Morelos had now great reason to hope for success in his noble enterprise, while the inhabitants were ready to aid him in every possible way. In this state, it was deemed necessary to oppose to him the greatest captain of the governmental forces, and Calleja was summoned to defend the capital.