During the first two hours of the slaughter over three thousand men perished, if we may believe Cortés, and for three hours more he continued the carnage, raising the number of deaths according to different estimates to six thousand or more.[391] The loss of life would have been still greater but for the strict orders issued to spare the women and children, and also the less hostile wards,[392] and for the eagerness of the Tlascaltecs to secure captives as well as spoils, and of the Spaniards to hunt for treasures. The hostile wards had besides been pretty well cleared of inhabitants by the time Cortés returned to his quarters forbidding further butchery. When the amnesty was proclaimed, however, numbers appeared from hiding-places, even from beneath the heaps of slain, while many who had pretended death, to escape the sword, arose and fled.
The pillage was continued for some time longer,[393] and as the Tlascaltecs cared chiefly for fabrics, feathers, and provisions, particularly salt, the Spaniards were allowed to secure all the gold and trinkets they could, though these were far less in amount than had been expected.[394] When the real work was over, Xicotencatl appeared with twenty thousand men and tendered his services; but Cortés could offer him only a share in the booty for his attention, and with this he returned to Tlascala to celebrate the downfall of the hated and boastful neighbor.[395]
The prayers of the chiefs who had been spared, supported by the neighboring caciques, and even by the Tlascalan lords, prevailed on Cortés to stop the pillage after the second day, and to issue a pardon, although not till everything of value had been secured. Some of the chiefs were thereupon sent forth to recall the fugitive inhabitants, and with such good effect that within a few days the city was again peopled. The débris and gore being removed, the streets speedily resumed their accustomed appearance, and the shops and markets were busy as before, though blackened ruins and desolated homes long remained a testimony of the fearful blow.[396] Impressed no less by the supposed divine penetration of the white conquerors than by their irresistible prowess and terrible revenge, the natives were only too ready to kiss with veneration the hand red with the blood of their kindred. To this they were also impelled by finding that the Spaniards not only allowed no sacrifice of captives, but ordered the Tlascaltecs to release the prisoners they had hoped to carry into slavery. This was a most trying requirement to the allies, but at the instance of Maxixcatzin and other lords they obeyed in so far as to restore the greater proportion of the thousands who had been secured.
The intervention of the Tlascaltec lords and chiefs in behalf of the Cholultecs tended to promote a more friendly feeling between the two peoples, particularly since the one had been satiated with revenue and the other humbled, and Cortés took advantage of this to formally reconcile them. Whatever may have been their sincerity in the matter, they certainly found no opportunity to renew their feud.
The captain-general having fallen, the people, with Cortés’ approval, chose a successor from the ranks of the friendly chiefs.[397] Cortés assured them of his goodwill and protection so long as they remained the loyal subjects they now promised to be, and he hoped that nothing would occur hereafter to mar their friendly intercourse. He explained to them the mysteries of his faith, and its superiority over the superstitious worship of the idols which had played them false during the late conflict, counselling them to cast aside such images, and let their place be occupied by the redeeming emblems of Christianity. The terrified natives could only promise obedience, and hasten to aid in erecting crosses, but the idols nevertheless retained their places. Cortés was quite prepared to take advantage of his power as conqueror to compel the acceptance of his doctrines by the now humbled people, but Padre Olmedo representing the futility of enforced conversion, he contented himself with breaking the sacrificial cages and forbidding the offering of human victims. As it was, idolatry had suffered a heavy blow in this terrible chastisement of the holy city, rich as she was in her sanctuaries and profound in her devotion. The gods had proved powerless! Although a number of temples were speedily restored to their worship, the great pyramid was never again to be graced by pagan rites. Twice had this temple shared in the destruction of the city, only to rise more beautiful than ever in its delusive attractions; now a simple stone cross stood upon the summit, erected by Cortés to guard the site on behalf of the church which was there to rise a few years later. This was dedicated to the Vírgen de los Remedios, whose image is said to have been left in the city by her conquerors.[398]
The massacre of Cholula forms one of the darkest pages in the annals of the conquest, and has afforded much ground for reproach against Cortés, but it is to be regarded from different stand-points. The diabolical doctrines of the day may be said to have forced on adventurers in America the conquest of her nations, and cruel deeds were but the natural result, particularly when the task was undertaken with insufficient forces. According to their own admission, made also before the later investigating committee, the Cholultecs had plotted to destroy their invited guests, whom they sought first to lull into fancied security, and in this they acted as treacherously and plotted as cruelly as did their intended victims in retaliating. True, they had been forced by threats, and by the exhibition of an apparently superior force, into a submission which they could ill brook, and were justified in striking a blow for liberty, especially when encouraged, or bidden, by the great monarch; but they had no right to complain if they suffered the penalty everywhere affixed to treachery; and the Cholultecs did bear an unenviable reputation in this respect. The native records naturally assert their innocence; but even if we ignore the confession of the Indians, as prompted by fear of their judges and masters, or as colored by Franciscans whose patron Cortés was, and if we disregard all official testimony, we must still admit that there was evidence enough to justify the general in a measure which he regarded as necessary for the safety of his men.[399]
It might be claimed that by holding captive the chiefs their safety would have been assured; but treason was rife everywhere, and a lesson was needed. Here among the greatest plotters, and in the holy city, the lesson would be most effective. It might also be claimed that the chiefs were the guilty ones, and should alone have suffered, not the citizens and soldiers; but they were also in arms, even if subordinate, and such discrimination is not observed in our own age.
Outrages equally as cruel are to-day exculpated throughout Christendom as exigencies of war. If we, then, overlook such deeds, how much more excusable are they in the more bloody times of Cortés? But neither now nor then can war, with any of its attendant atrocities, be regarded by right-thinking, humane men as aught but beastly, horrible, diabolical.
FOOTNOTES
[362] ‘Hiço sacrificar treynta muchachos el dia que se partieron.’ Oviedo, iii. 497.