From Clavigero, Storia del Messico—from Solis, Boturini, Herrera, Bernal Dias, and other authors, we learn the state of the arts in Mexico prior to the invasion of the Spaniards; the progress made by that people in science; the form of their government, and of their hierarchy: and from the simple and unaffected narrative of Cortez, contained in his letters to Charles the Fifth, we may gather pretty accurate knowledge of their resources, and of the number and character of the population.
Some idea may be formed of the civilization of a people, by the nature of their government, their civil institutions, and the laws by which they are governed. In Mexico, the monarch was elected from among the members of the reigning family, by six electors, chosen from among the thirty princes of the first rank. The political system was feudal. The first class of nobles, consisting of thirty families, had each one hundred thousand vassals. There were more than three thousand families in the second class. The vassals were serfs attached to the soil, over whom the lord exercised the right of life and death. All the lands were divided into allodial, hereditary, and contingent estates—the latter depending upon places in the gift of the crown.
The priests were charged with the education of the youth; and on their testimony of the merit of their scholars, depended their future rank. Each province was subject to a tribute, except certain nobles who were compelled to take the field, in case of a war, with a stated number of followers. The tribute was paid in kind, and was fixed at one thirtieth part of the crop. Besides which, the governors of provinces vied with each other in the magnificence of the presents which they sent to the emperor.
In the quarto edition of Lorenzano, there are plates of the figures, by means of which the receivers and administrators kept an account of the tribute due by each province.
There was an Octroi upon provisions, levied in every city. Posts were established between the capital and the remotest provinces of the empire.
Sacrilege, treason, and murder, were punished with death; and Cortez protests that the Mexicans respected the laws of the empire fully as much as the Spaniards did those of Spain.
The emperor was served with great magnificence and Asiatic pomp.
The attention of the government was principally directed toward the internal commerce, so as to secure an abundant supply to the people.
A court of ten magistrates determined the validity of contracts; and officers were constantly employed to examine the measures and the quality of the goods exposed for sale.
Under Montezuma, the government was despotic, and, in his turn, he was governed by the high-priest. It will be recollected that at the last siege of the capital, when the emperor and his council had resolved to accept any terms rather than prolong a hopeless contest, the high-priest opposed them and broke off the treaty.