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or nothing of the power of the people whom they went to conquer. They knew not that jealousies and divisions existed among the native tribes; that the monarch was superstitious and irresolute; and that the Aztec oracles would be found in alliance with the invaders. Through a land of mystery, they marched on from the tropic climate of the lowlands to the temperate slopes or terraces; and still on, over the high table-lands and through the passes, where tempests of snow and arrowy sleet beat upon them. Here the larch, oak, and cypress appeared in place of the tropical aloes and bananas, and rich groves adorned a landscape which has been desolated by the Spaniards-a people whose taste in arboriculture equals their success in colonisation. After hard toil and suffering from cold, the invaders reached the summit of the mountain-chain of Ahualco. So far, the country had appeared less and less attractive as they had ascended the table-land.

"Their progress was now comparatively easy, and they marched forward with a buoyant step, as they felt they were treading the soil of Montezuma.

They had not advanced far, when, turning an angle of the sierra, they suddenly came on a view which more than compensated the toils of the preceding day. It was that of the valley of Mexico, or Tenochtitlan, as more commonly called by the natives; which, with its picturesque assemblage of water, woodland, and cultivated plains, its shining cities and shadowy hills, was spread out like some gay and gorgeous panorama before them. In the highly rarefied atmosphere of these upper regions, even remote objects have a brilliancy of colouring and a distinctness of outline which seem to annihilate distance. Stretching far away at their feet, were seen noble forests of oak, sycamore, and cedar, and beyond, yellow fields of maize, and the towering maguey, intermingled with orchards and blooming gardens ; for flowers, in such demand for their religious festivals, were even more abundant in this populous valley than in other parts of Anahuac. In the centre of the great basin were beheld the lakes, occupying then a much larger portion of its surface than at present; their borders thickly studded with towns and hamlets; and in the midst like some Indian empress with her coronal of pearls-the fair city of Mexico, with her white towers and pyramidal temples, reposing, as it were, on the bosom of the waters the far-famed "Venice of the Aztecs." High over all rose the royal hill of Chapoltepee, the residence of the Mexican monarchs, crowned with the same grove of gigantic cypresses which at this day fling their broad shadows over the land. In the distance, beyond the blue waters of the lake, and nearly screened by intervening foliage, was seen a shining speck, the rival capital of Tezcuco; and still further on, the dark belt of porphyry, girdling the valley around, like a rich setting which nature had devised for the fairest of her jewels. Such was the beautiful vision which broke on the eyes of the conquerors.

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bari wer hacis the assertion the levant ormel: at EN A THs Epci v as i às who followed This appeus a bid surement vien we look SON gian xuS & TE ABITA's me. I was rag and IN MUUN A CANdy crudel y de micike the of the mlappy dizas hy net dere ny vasilerable resistance me a moment of desperdon, vien ver their opita, they denied it with that Nurage which even the most modensive bird will display in ference of the nest which contains kr vol The other scaled bartles were so many massa. Tes, iše plat perperrated by Pizarry and his sexomplices at Caxamalca ; and he description of one night serve for the whole series. We see a mass va muarmed, naked, and timid Indians, amazed by the appearance of mounted troopers, with guns discharging deadly she with the noise of thunder. To the wretched Mexicans, these geriors seemed supernatural; and to offer battle was as hopeless d to wage wartare with the giants and demons of mythology. Pie dodaquerors, therefore, rode over their victims. A wolf in a sold of ads could scarcely have an easier task than many of 4.4 "Victories' of Cortes and his band. The rapidity of their med is suficient evidence of the nature of the adventure. In Josong 2018, they commenced the expedition against the city of

Mexico; they arrived here in November, and passed the winter. After reducing several places on the lake, gaining victories over various tribes, and waiting for reinforcements, they captured the city, and completed the conquest of an empire in August 1521. The fact that this was achieved by a small band of hardy adventurers, and in the course of two years, can be explained only by the passive character of the subjugated people, and the alliance formed by the Spaniards with the several Indian tribes, especially the republicans of Tlascala.

We cannot agree with the historian, either in his general estimate of the character of Cortés, or in his palliation of the gross superstition and cruelty of the Spaniards. It must not be forgotten that the same form of religion professed by the invaders of Mexico, had been found, in other men, compatible with feelings of humanity. False religion, or even the darkest superstition, has been in many cases rather the pretext and disguise than the real incentive to cruelty and oppression. It was not a religious zeal that led Cortés to Mexico, and Pizarro to Peru; it was the wild spirit of adventure, and that greedy love of gold which, in our own times, has made almost a pandemonium of California. With this protest, we give the more favourable character of Cortés, as described by Mr Prescott :

'Cortés was not a vulgar conqueror. He did not conquer from the mere ambition of conquest. If he destroyed the ancient capital of the Aztecs, it was to build up a more magnificent capital on its ruins. If he desolated the land, and broke up its existing institutions, he employed the short period of his administration in digesting schemes for introducing there a more improved culture and a higher civilisation. In all his expeditions, he was careful to study the resources of the country, its social organisation, and its physical capacities. He enjoined it on his captains to attend particularly to these objects. If he was greedy of gold, like most of the Spanish cavaliers in the New World, it was not to hoard it, nor merely to lavish it in the support of a princely establishment, but to secure funds for prosecuting his glorious discoveries. Witness his costly expeditions to the Gulf of California. His enterprises were not undertaken solely for mercenary objects, as is shewn by the various expeditions he set on foot for the discovery of a communication between the Atlantic and the Pacific. . . . .

He was a knight-errant in the literal sense of the word. Of all the band of adventurous cavaliers, whom Spain, in the sixteenth century, sent forth on the career of discovery and conquest, there was none more deeply filled with the spirit of romantic enterprise than Hernando Cortés. Dangers and difficulties, instead of deterring, seemed to have a charm in his eyes. They were necessary to rouse him to a full consciousness of his powers. He grappled with them at the outset, and, if I may so express myself, seemed to prefer to

And even now, when so sad a change has come over the scene; when the stately forests have been laid low, and the soil, unsheltered from the fierce radiance of a tropical sun, is in many places abandoned to sterility; when the waters have retired, leaving a broad and ghastly margin white with the incrustation of salts, while the cities and hamlets on their borders have mouldered into ruins even now that desolation broods over the landscape, so indestructible are the lines of beauty which nature has traced on its features, that no traveller, however cold, can gaze on them with any other emotions than those of astonishment and rapture.

What, then, must have been the emotions of the Spaniards, when, after working their toilsome way into the upper air, the cloudy tabernacle parted before their eyes, and they beheld these fair scenes in all their pristine magnificence and beauty! It was like the spectacle which greeted the eyes of Moses from the summit of Pisgah, and in the warm glow of their feelings they cried out : " It is the promised land!"'

6

Mr Prescott lavishes the charms of his style to invest with dignity the marches and battles of the merciless freebooters who desolated Mexico. He feels the difficulty of describing massacres with the pomp of great actions of warfare, and therefore often turns aside from the direct course of events to relieve the tale of carnage by interspersed descriptions of cities, architecture, and the grandeurs of natural scenery. But he describes Cortés as a hero, and even hazards the assertion that he was not cruel; at least, not cruel as compared with most of those who followed his iron trade.' This appears a bold statement, when we look at the plain facts of the conqueror's career. It was rapid, and its success is easily explained by the unwarlike character of the unhappy Aztecs, who never offered any considerable resistance until the last moment of desperation, when, driven into their capital, they defended it with that courage which even the most inoffensive bird will display in defence of the nest which contains her brood. The other so-called battles were so many massacres, like that perpetrated by Pizarro and his accomplices at Caxamalca; and the description of one might serve for the whole series. We see a mass of unarmed, naked, and timid Indians, amazed by the appearance of mounted troopers, with guns discharging deadly fire with the noise of thunder. To the wretched Mexicans, these terrors seemed supernatural; and to offer battle was as hopeless as to wage warfare with the giants and demons of mythology. The conquerors, therefore, rode over their victims. A wolf in a fold of lambs could scarcely have an easier task than many of the victories' of Cortés and his band. 6 The rapidity of their march is sufficient evidence of the nature of the adventure. In August 1519, they commenced the expedition against the city of

Mexico; they arrived here in November, and passed the winter. After reducing several places on the lake, gaining victories over various tribes, and waiting for reinforcements, they captured the city, and completed the conquest of an empire in August 1521. The fact that this was achieved by a small band of hardy adventurers, and in the course of two years, can be explained only by the passive character of the subjugated people, and the alliance formed by the Spaniards with the several Indian tribes, especially the republicans of Tlascala.

We cannot agree with the historian, either in his general estimate of the character of Cortés, or in his palliation of the gross superstition and cruelty of the Spaniards. It must not be forgotten that the same form of religion professed by the invaders of Mexico, had been found, in other men, compatible with feelings of humanity. False religion, or even the darkest superstition, has been in many cases rather the pretext and disguise than the real incentive to cruelty and oppression. It was not a religious zeal that led Cortés to Mexico, and Pizarro to Peru; it was the wild spirit of adventure, and that greedy love of gold which, in our own times, has made almost a pandemonium of California. With this protest, we give the more favourable character of Cortés, as described by Mr Prescott :

'Cortés was not a vulgar conqueror. He did not conquer from the mere ambition of conquest. If he destroyed the ancient capital of the Aztecs, it was to build up a more magnificent capital on its ruins. If he desolated the land, and broke up its existing institutions, he employed the short period of his administration in digesting schemes for introducing there a more improved culture and a higher civilisation. In all his expeditions, he was careful to study the resources of the country, its social organisation, and its physical capacities. He enjoined it on his captains to attend particularly to these objects. If he was greedy of gold, like most of the Spanish cavaliers in the New World, it was not to hoard it, nor merely to lavish it in the support of a princely establishment, but to secure funds for prosecuting his glorious discoveries. Witness his costly expeditions to the Gulf of California. His enterprises were not undertaken solely for mercenary objects, as is shewn by the various expeditions he set on foot for the discovery of a communication between the Atlantic and the Pacific. . . . .

He was a knight-errant in the literal sense of the word. Of all the band of adventurous cavaliers, whom Spain, in the sixteenth century, sent forth on the career of discovery and conquest, there was none more deeply filled with the spirit of romantic enterprise than Hernando Cortés. Dangers and difficulties, instead of deterring, seemed to have a charm in his eyes. They were necessary to rouse him to a full consciousness of his powers. He grappled with them at the outset, and, if I may so express myself, seemed to prefer to

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