Charmed by this display of justice on the part of the Spaniards, and impressed as well by their ever increasing prestige, the chiefs of the district came in and tendered allegiance. A lasting friendship was established between them and the Cempoalans;[228] after which the army returned to Cempoala by a new route,[229] and was received with demonstrations of joy by the populace. With a view of binding more closely such powerful allies, Chicomacatl proposed intermarriages. And as a beginning he presented eight young women,[230] richly dressed, with necklaces and ear-rings of gold, and each attended by servants. “Take them,” said he to Cortés. “They are all daughters of caciques. Seven are for your captains, and this, my niece, is for yourself, for she is the ruler of towns.”
Matters were becoming interesting. Cortés and some of his captains had wives in Cuba, and nearly all of them had mistresses here. The damsels of Cempoala were not famed for their beauty; the one offered Cortés was particularly ill-favored. With regard to captives and slaves, of course no marriage vow was necessary, but with princesses the case was different. But even here there was little difficulty. The aboriginal form of marriage, while it satisfied the natives, rested lightly on the Spaniards. Indeed, with them it was no marriage at all; and so it has been throughout the New World; in their marital relations with foreigners the natives have felt themselves bound, while the Europeans have not. To the ceremony in this instance no objection was offered.
At this happy consummation, though the rite is not yet performed, serious meditation takes possession of the mind of Cortés, who bethinks himself that he is doing little of late for his God, who is doing so much for him. Success everywhere attends his strategies. And these female slaves and princesses! While trying to quiet his conscience for accepting this princess, he was exceedingly careful in regard to taking unto himself real wives, as we have seen in Cuba. But here marriage after the New World fashion would surely advance his purposes. And so they are compelled to submit to the stronger, who by the right of might proceeds to rob them of their gold and to desolate their homes; and now assumes the higher prerogative of requiring them to relinquish the faith of their fathers and embrace the religion of their enemies. It would please God to have these Cempoala people worship him; Cortés can make them do so. True, they love their gods as much as Cortés loves his. Their gods likewise help them to good things, among others to the Spaniards themselves, who in return now determine their overthrow. And shall they consent! Alas, they are weak, and their gods are weak!
Heathenism, with its idolatry, and bloody sacrifices, and cannibalism, is horrible, I grant you. “For daily they sacrificed three or five Indians,” says Bernal Diaz, “offering the heart to idols, smearing the blood upon the walls, and cutting off the limbs to be eaten. I even believe they sold the flesh in the market.”[231] But equally horrible, and far more unfair, are the doings of the superior race, which with the advance of the centuries, and the increase of knowledge and refinement, are often guilty of deeds as bloodthirsty and cruel as these. With the most powerful of microscopic aids to vision, I can see no difference between the innate goodness and badness of men now and two or five thousand years ago; the difference lies merely in a change of morality fashions, and in the apparent refining and draping of what conventionally we choose to call wickedness. What is the serving of dainty dishes to the gods in the form of human sacrifices, of carving before them a few thousand fattened captives, to the extirpation of a continent of helpless human beings; and that by such extremes of treachery and cruelty as the cannibals never dreamed of, entrapping by fair words only to cut, and mangle, and kill by steel, saltpetre, and blood-hounds; stealing at the same time their lands and goods, and adding still more to their infamy by doing all this in the name of Christ; when in reality they violate every principle of religion and disregard every injunction of the church; just as men to-day lie and cheat and praise and pray, and out of their swindlings hope to buy favor of the Almighty!
And now these poor people must give up their poor gods, for their masters so decree. The chiefs and native priests protest. The Spaniards are benefactors and friends, but the gods are superior to men. To them they owe health, prosperity, existence; and sacrifices are but the necessary slight returns for so great blessings. The sacrificed are by no means injured, say the Aztecs, but are sent to heaven and enfolded at once in the bosom of their god. Verily there are curious articles of faith among the heathen worshipers as well as among our own, but if we look for all the good in ours we shall be mistaken. In vain the men of Cempoala beg to retain the religion of their forefathers and the sacred emblems of their faith. Carried away by the fierce zeal which more than once in these annals overcomes his prudence and brings him to the brink of ruin, Cortés cries: “Christians and soldiers, shall these things be—these idolatries and sacrifices, and other impious doings? No! First down with the images, then to arguments, and the granting of entreaties. Our lives on work rewarded with eternal glory!” Shouts of earnest approval was the response, and on they marched toward the temple. Priests and people rushed to the defence of their deities. With a scornful gesture the ruler was waived aside, as he interposed with the warning that to lay hands on the idols was to bring destruction alike on all. “You are not my friends,” exclaimed Cortés, “if you do not as I wish! Choose ye; and I will leave you your gods to save you from the threatened vengeance of Montezuma.” This was by far too practical an application of their piety. The fact is, their gods had not done exactly right by them in the matter of the Aztec imposition. These white strangers, after all, seemed to be better gods than their idols. “Well, work your will,” at length said Chicomacatl, “but do not ask our aid in such detestable doings.” So the thing was accomplished, as before this had been determined. In a moment fifty soldiers were on the temple summit, and down came the worshipful wooden things, shattered and clattering along the steps, while with bleeding hearts their makers stood by, their faces covered to exclude the sacrilegious sight. Ah, how they wailed, how they lamented, calling on the misshapen blocks to pity their inability to stop the deed![232]
Not such dastards were these people, however, that not one among them would strike a blow for their faith. For presently the court-yard was filled with armed men, headed by infuriated priests in long hooded robes of dark material, with slashed ears and faces clotted with blood, determined, if not to prevent, at least to avenge the outrage. What was sworn allegiance, or even life, beside the momentous question of religion? Seeing the danger, Cortés with characteristic promptness seized the lord, together with several leading men, and declared if a single Spaniard was so much as scratched they should immediately die. Chicomacatl accordingly spoke to the people and made them retire. Nor was wholly lost on them the mute argument of the shattered idols lying powerless at their feet. Hence when the images were burned, the natives looked on with comparative calmness. “Surely these beings are superior to our gods, whom they have thus vanquished,” they said one to another. Sweetly and serenely Cortés now smiled on them, called them brethren, and preached the European doctrines. The pagan temple was cleansed, the blood-smeared walls were whitewashed, and in their place was erected a Christian altar, decorated with flowers and surmounted with a cross. Here, before the assembled natives, Olmedo preached the Christian faith, and celebrated mass. The contrast between the simple beauty of this impressive ceremony and their own bloody worship made a deep impression on the minds of the natives, and at the conclusion those who desired were baptized. Among them were the eight brides, the ill-favored ruler of towns who had been given to Cortés being called Catalina, probably in honor of his wife in Cuba, whose place she was to occupy for a time. Lucky Puertocarrero’s second pretty prize, the daughter of Cacique Cuesco, was named Francisca.[233]
Accompanied by the brides and a large escort the army now returned to Villa Rica. There they found just arrived from Cuba a vessel commanded by Francisco de Salcedo, nicknamed ‘the dandy,’ who with Luis Marin, an able officer, and ten soldiers, all well provided with arms, and with two horses, had come in quest of fortune under Cortés.[234] Salcedo reported that Velazquez had received the appointment of adelantado over all lands discovered by him or at his cost, with one fifteenth of all royal revenues thence arising.[235]
Benito Martin, the chaplain, who had been sent to obtain the commission, was rewarded with the benefice of the new discovery at Ulua, which really comprised all Mexico, while the lately appointed bishop of Cuba, the Dominican Julian Garcés, confessor to the bishop of Búrgos, the patron of Velazquez, was promoted to the insignificant see of Cozumel. These preferments, based on an insufficient knowledge of the country, were corrected at a later time, when Garcés was made bishop of Tlascala, while Martin received other compensation.[236] Before the issue of these grants it appears that Yucatan at least had a narrow escape from slipping entirely out of Spanish hands. At the first news of Córdoba’s discoveries the admiral of Flanders was induced to ask for the land in grant, in order to settle it with Flemings, and also to petition for the governorship of Cuba as a means to promote the colony. This was supported by Xèvres, the chief adviser in such matters, who knew little of the Indies and the vast tracts referred to, and so the promise was given. Las Casas was in Spain at the time, and being consulted by the admiral as to the means for colonizing, became indignant at the rash concession of Cuba, which he considered as belonging to Columbus. He remonstrated, and warned those interested to do the same. The result was the withdrawal of the grant, greatly to the disappointment of the admiral, for whose account several vessels had already reached San Lúcar, laden with Flemish settlers.[237]
Cortés was fully aware that Velazquez, possessed of a commission, would not long delay in asserting his claim with all the power at his command upon the islands, and with all his influence at court; this spurred on the captain-general to lose no time in bringing forward his own pretensions, and in seeking to obtain royal approval of his acts. Therefore at this juncture he determined to gain authority for effectually supplanting the Cuban governor in the field wherein he had already openly ignored him, and to despatch messengers to the king. The men of Cortés needed no prompting to see how necessary to their interest it was to procure his confirmation as general to the exclusion of Velazquez, and to support Cortés by writing reports in corroboration of his own statements. Yet, in view of the flowing in of exaggerated accounts concerning new discoveries, little would avail descriptions of conquests and resources, however glowing, and recommendations however warm, unless made real by specimens of the treasures which were the main attraction alike to king and subject. For gifts can move gods, says Hesiod. To the crown was due one fifth of the wealth so far obtained, but fearing that this would hardly produce the effect desired, Cortés proposed to surrender the one fifth due himself, and prevailed on his friends, and with their aid on all members of the expedition, to give up their share in the finer pieces of wrought gold and silver, and in all choice articles, so that a gift worthy of themselves and the country might be presented to the king.[238]
The flag-ship was prepared for the voyage, and the navigation intrusted to Alaminos and another pilot called Bautista, with fifteen sailors and the necessary outfit. Four Indians, rescued from the sacrificial cage at Cempoala, where they had been kept to fatten, were also sent on board, together with native curiosities, including specimens of picture-writing. The difficult task of out-manœuvring Velazquez and securing the aims of their party was intrusted to the alcaldes Puertocarrero and Montejo, the former being selected chiefly because of his high connections, which might serve him at court, the latter for his business talent. Three thousand castellanos were given them from the treasury for expenses, together with the necessary power and instructions, and three letters in duplicate for the king. One of these was the first of the celebrated letters of Cortés on the conquest. He related at length all that had occurred since he left Santiago; the difficulties with Velazquez, the hardships of the voyage, and the progress of conquest for God and the king. He dwelt on the vast extent and wealth of the country, and expressed the hope of speedily subjecting it to the crown, and of seizing the person of the great Montezuma. And he trusted that in return for his services and loyal devotion he would be remembered in the cédulas to be issued for this new addition to the empire.[239]