Chapter XVI

Tapia, Commissioned to Depose Cortes, is Induced to Return to Cuba—Cortes is Confirmed as Governor of New Spain—He Goes to Spain and is Ennobled—A Second Visit to Spain Discloses the Fickleness of the Court—He Vainly Begs the Emperor’s Favor—His Death

The conquest of imperial provinces shortly followed the capture of the city. One after another surrendered and their people suffered the same hard fate which the American islanders had endured for twenty years. They were enslaved and cruelly treated. Cortes in the meantime received no reply from Spain and was uncertain how his operations were regarded there. At last a vessel arrived at Vera Cruz, having on board a certain Tapia, who had been sent to depose Cortes, bring him to trial, and fill his position. Fortunately for Cortes, this man was both weak and cowardly. He cunningly interposed so many obstacles and intimidated him in so many ways that Tapia thought the safest course for him was to return home without making any attempt to carry out the object of his mission. Cortes also knew that he was a very covetous man and offered to purchase his horses, slaves, and entire outfit indeed, at a handsome price. Tapia was willing to sell and returned to Cuba with a goodly amount of gold.

The storm impending over Cortes’ head, however, soon began to gather again. In hopes of escaping it, he sent other messengers to Spain to lay before the Emperor, Charles the Fifth, a complete report of his operations and present him with his share of the booty. The brilliancy of his deeds and the greatness and importance of his conquest both rejoiced and amazed the young monarch. He not only approved of all that Cortes had done but invested him with the dignity of Governor of New Spain, and appointed a commission to investigate the pretensions of Velasquez. As might have been expected, this commission made a report in accordance with their master’s wishes. Velasquez’ complaint of Cortes’ disloyalty and his claims of governorship over the newly conquered territory were pronounced null and void, and he was declared entitled to no further compensation than the legitimate cost of the expedition. This twofold disgrace was more than the proud and passionate Velasquez could endure. It cost him his life and Cortes now found himself at the very summit of fortune’s pinnacle.

He began to raise Mexico from its ruins and to consolidate the Spanish power in the Empire. In carrying out his plans he resorted to the most cruel and arbitrary measures, which invited the Mexicans to revolt again. This revolt was speedily crushed, however, and inhuman penalties were inflicted upon caciques and nobles. Upon the mere rumor that Guatemozin had encouraged the Mexicans, that brave, magnanimous prince and also the caciques of Tezcuco and Tacuba were hanged. Some Spanish officials who had been sent to Mexico to administer the royal revenues attempted to exercise authority without recognizing Cortes. But Cortes was not in the habit of allowing his inferiors to treat him contemptuously. He laughed at their efforts to weaken his authority. The officials, however, sent to the Spanish Court a description of Cortes’ character and his administration. Their statements made such an impression that it was decided to send a commissioner to Mexico to investigate Cortes’ transactions, and if his findings warranted it, to send him to Spain. When the commissioner arrived, however, he was taken ill and died.

Cortes’ danger was not yet over. The officials continued sending unfavorable reports to Spain and a new commission was appointed with absolute power to investigate and punish him. Cortes was informed of its purposes. He was furiously indignant to find the arduous and important service he had rendered the fatherland thus requited, and his friends counselled him, in view of such shameful treatment, to meet force with force. He hesitated, however, to take a step which would conflict with the loyalty and obedience he owed his sovereign, and at last decided to suffer ungrateful and shameful treatment rather than resist the legal authority of his country. He resolved to go to Spain and entrust his fate to the mercy and justice of the King.

As he appeared before his sovereign, all eyes were turned with admiration and respect upon the man whose achievements seemed to eclipse those of the great heroes. The modesty with which he plead his cause before the high judges removed the suspicions they had entertained. The King received him with expressions of the highest respect and gratitude and showered favors upon him. He decorated him with the order of St. Iago, elevated him to the rank of count, and conferred upon him a broad stretch of territory in Mexico which would yield him a large revenue. But when they came to the confirmation of his governorship, it was clearly apparent they considered it dangerous to invest him anew with the power he might misuse. All that he received was his recognition as general and permission to make new discoveries. The entire administration of civil affairs was entrusted to a viceroy.

Cortes went back to Mexico, but from that time forward his career was marked by an unbroken series of troubles. He was so hampered by the viceroy’s strictness and so humiliated by his loss of authority that his only relief was found in the discovery and conquest of new regions. He fitted out an expedition on the west coast of Mexico for making discoveries in the great South Sea and succeeded in finding the peninsula of Lower California. Upon his return his life became so embittered that he decided to go to Spain again, appeal to the justice and former favor of the King, and lay his grievances before him in person. He little anticipated the still greater troubles he must endure. During his restless and martial life he had had little chance to know the fickleness of a court and the unreliability of the favor of the great. He was now to discover it.

He was coldly received, indifferently listened to, and his complaints and appeals dismissed as of no consequence. He had grown old. What further important service could he promise? What he had accomplished for his King and country was forgotten or it was considered as already fully recompensed. He found himself at the close of his career, like Columbus, ignominiously treated by a thankless King and his malicious ministers, and obliged to beg for justice. Six long wretched years passed in solitude and neglect but at last grief and indignation at such treatment brought his life to an end. He died October 11, 1547,[15] in the sixty-third year of his age. His body at his express desire was taken to New Spain, perhaps because he considered his ungrateful fatherland unworthy to be its burial-place.[16]

Footnotes

[1]Diego Velasquez was born at Cúellar, Segovia, in 1465—some authorities say in 1458—and died at Havana, Cuba, in 1522 or 1523. He accompanied Columbus to Hispaniola (Haiti) in 1493.

[2]Francisco Hernandez de Cordova was born about 1475 and died at Leon, Nicaragua, in 1526. He was beheaded for attempting to set up an independent government in Honduras.

[3]Juan de Grijalva was born in Cuéllar in 1489 or 1490 and died in Nicaragua. He was a nephew of Velasquez and the discoverer of Mexico.

[4]Villa Rica has been a movable municipality. It was nominally founded on the present site of Vera Cruz and known as Villa Rica de la Vera Cruz. This was in 1519. Later, actual settlement was made farther north. In 1525 the site was changed to a place on the Rio de la Antigua. The final removal to the present site was made in 1599, the city being known by its present name, Vera Cruz.

[5]Picture-writing at this time was the means employed by the Mexican priesthood for recording religious festivals and legends, for keeping calendars of years, and for recording historical events, much after the manner of the Egyptian hieroglyphs.

[6]The Tlaxcalan Indians were less advanced in the arts than the Aztecs, but were very warlike and liberty-loving. Their principal pueblo was on the spot now occupied by the city of Tlaxcala. Some of their descendants still occupy that region.

[7]Cholula is a small town sixty miles southeast of the city of Mexico. Its principal feature is its so-called Pyramid, a lofty mound or series of mounds which was probably the site of the Indian village at the time of the conquest.

[8]Puebla is a Mexican State of about 12,000 square miles. Its capital is La Puebla de los Angeles, the second city in the Republic. It was the scene of many struggles during the conquest, and of revolts in the last century. The capital derives its name from the legend that angel hosts were seen in the heavens above its site before the conquest.

[9]Popocatepetl is a volcano forty-five miles southeast of the Mexican capital. Its crater is 5000 feet in width and the peak is 17,853 feet high. It is called the “smoking mountain,” from _popoca_, “to smoke,” and _tepetl_, “mountain.”

[10]Iztaccihuatl is an extinct volcano north of Popocatepetl, about 17,000 feet high. It derives the name of “the white lady” because its west side bears some resemblance to a woman in a white shroud.

[11]The City of Mexico at the time of the conquest was in all its splendor and, as described by Cortes, “a thing of fairy creation rather than the work of mortal hands.” It was about twelve miles in circumference, intersected by canals, and connected with the mainland by six causeways. The lake has diminished in depth and extent and is now two and a half miles away from the city.

[12]“Tenochtitlan” (_nopal_ or _cactus on a stone_) was the original name of the city, afterward changed to “Mexico” in honor of the war god Mexitli.

[13]Montezuma, in Aztec Matenczoma, was born in 1479. He was the son of Axayacatl and succeeded his uncle in 1503. Some of his descendants are said to be living in Mexico now, and his name is still held in great respect among the Indians.

[14]Quetzalcoatl in the Mexican religion represents the god of the air, and in legend a ruler and civilizer. He is described as a white man with long black hair and beard, who came from Yucatan and preached austerity and virtue as well as hatred of war. His name means “the feathered serpent.”

[15]Other authorities assign December 2, 1554, as the date of his death.

[16]Soon afterward he fell into neglect and could scarcely obtain an audience. One day, however, having forced his way through the crowd which surrounded the Emperor’s carriage and mounted on the doorstep, Charles, astonished at an act of such audacity, demanded to know who he was. “I am a man,” replied the conqueror of Mexico proudly, “who has given you more provinces than your ancestors left you cities.”

Appendix

The following is a chronological statement of important events in Cortes’ career:

1485 Birth of Cortes. 1504 Voyage to San Domingo. 1511 Accompanies Velasquez to Cuba. 1518 Expedition to Mexico. 1519 Founding of Vera Cruz. 1519 Defeat of the Tlaxcalans. 1519 Cholulan massacre. 1519 Interview with Montezuma. 1520 Montezuma made prisoner. 1520 Mexican revolt and Montezuma’s death. 1520 Battle of Otumba. 1520 Retreat from City of Mexico. 1521 City of Mexico retaken. 1521 Emperor Guatemozin hanged. 1522 Cortes confirmed as Governor of New Spain. 1523 Confirmation revoked and viceroy appointed. 1536 Cortes discovers peninsula of Lower California. 1547 Death of Cortes.

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End of Project Gutenberg's Hernando Cortes, by Joachim Heinrich Campe