Part 193

"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.