The most important missions were those to Michoacan and Tlascala, the former an independent kingdom of considerable extent, stretching westward beyond the lake region to the Pacific, over an undulating, well watered territory, which abounded in all the resources of a rich soil and a tropic climate. The inhabitants, the Tarascos, were distinct from the Aztecs in language, but fully their equals in culture, which was of the Nahua type, and as a rule successful in resisting the armed encroachments of the lake allies. The present ruler was Zwanga, who held court at Tzintzuntzan, on Lake Patzcuaro. He received the embassadors of Cuitlahuatzin with due attention, but hesitated about the answer to be given. The Aztecs had from time immemorial been the enemies of his people, and to aid them would surely bring upon him the wrath of the Spaniards, who must still be powerful, since the Mexicans came to plead for his alliance. In this dilemma it was resolved, with the advice of the council, to send plenipotentiaries to Mexico, in order to learn more fully the condition of affairs, and there determine what should be done.[913]
More decisive in its results was the mission to Tlascala. Regarded as the most important of all, it was intrusted to six prominent men, of acknowledged talent for negotiation. They came fortified with choice presents of robes, feathers, salt, and similar desirable commodities, and were received with customary courtesy by the assembled lords and council. The eldest was the first to speak. He recalled the intimate relationship between Mexico and Tlascala in blood and language, deplored the feud which had so long existed, and urged the establishment of permanent peace, for mutual benefit, whereby the Tlascaltecs would gain all the advantages of a long prohibited trade. One obstacle alone interposed to prevent a happy harmony, which was the presence of the Spaniards, to whom was due the unfortunate condition of the whole country. Their only aim was to make themselves masters, to overthrow the gods of the natives, to enslave the inhabitants, and impoverish them by exactions.
The Tlascaltecs would after rendering service be treated with the same base ingratitude and perfidy as the over generous Montezuma, and reap not only universal detestation, but the anger of the gods. Better, therefore, to seize the present favorable opportunity to deliver themselves from dreadful calamities, to establish prosperity and independence on a firm basis, and by a joint alliance recover the alienated provinces and share the revenues therefrom.[914] The first step to this desirable end was the destruction of the Spaniards, now at their mercy, whereby they would gain also the gratitude of neighboring peoples, the fame of patriots, and the blessing of the gods.
The speech delivered, together with the presents, the envoys withdrew to let the council deliberate. Bitter as was the enmity between the two peoples, intensified by the recent defeat, there were not wanting persons to whom the argument and offers seemed all that the most brilliant fortune could bring. What, indeed, had they in common with a strange race by whom they had been conquered, and whose presence portended many changes in their social and religious institutions, transmitted by their forefathers, and upheld with the blood of generations? Their independence would be endangered. Besides, the invaders had been shamefully defeated, and might never again hold up their heads. The whole country was mustering to drive them out, and, if successful, woe to Tlascala, as their ally. In any case a struggle was in prospect, wherein their sons and brethren would be sacrificed by the thousands. And for what? For the benefit of strangers, always ready with their yoke of slavery. On the other hand, they were offered the peace so long desired, with its accompanying blessings; deliverance from the trade blockade and seclusion which had so long afflicted them, together with the attractive adjunct of assured independence, and the triumphant and profitable position of conquering allies of the Mexicans.[915]
The strongest advocate of these views was Xicotencatl junior, who had never forgotten the several Spanish victories that checked his triumphal career as soldier and general, and humiliated him in the eyes of the whole people. Yet this feeling was tinged with love for the independence and welfare of the country, threatened, in his eyes, by the invaders. With the news of disaster at Mexico his party had assumed respectable proportions. Some of its members were impelled by motives similar to his own; some were bribed by Mexican gifts, and promises of wealth and preferment; some were tempted by the arms, baggage, and treasure of the fugitives, whom it seemed easy now to overcome. Not a few considered the burden of maintaining a horde of strangers, with the prospect of afterward yielding them service and blood for their aggrandizement. When the collectors of provisions for the Spaniards made their rounds they could not but observe the bitter feeling which prevailed in some quarters.[916] The elder Xicotencatl appears to have remonstrated with his son for breeding trouble; but this availed little, as may be supposed. During the deliberation of the council on the Mexican proposal the young chieftain stepped beyond the timid suggestions of those who inclined toward an Aztec alliance, and boldly advocated it as the only salvation for Tlascala.
Next spoke the wise Maxixcatzin, the leading representative of the republic. In his chivalrous nature devotion to the Spaniards exercised an influence, while as ruler of the richest district, in agriculture and trade, he had also an eye to the benefits which would accrue from an alliance with them. He recalled the many instances of treachery and want of good faith on the part of the Mexicans to show how little their promises could be relied on. It was merely the presence of the Spaniards that prompted their offer of alliance, which was to restore Mexico to its former terrorizing strength. This accomplished, the ancient enemy would not fail to remember that Tlascala, in addition to the old-standing enmity, had been one of the chief instruments in their late suffering and humiliation, and had figured as conqueror and master over them. They would lose no time in avenging themselves, and by the destruction of the republic remove forever so dangerous an enemy. Far better, then, to maintain the friendship of the Spaniards, whose good faith had been tried, and whose prowess was not broken by one defeat. Previous to their arrival they had been suffering from the want even of necessaries, and had been exposed to incessant ravages and warfare, which threatened their very existence. With the Spaniards’ aid they had been freed from this want and danger; they had enriched themselves with trade and spoils, and had raised the republic to the most prominent position it had ever occupied, all far beyond what the Mexicans would ever permit. What did the gods say? Oracles and omens had foretold the doom of the empire. It was in vain to struggle with fate, which had decreed the control to the new-comers. The interests of the state demanded the friendship of these destined victors, who offered them wealth and glory, while good faith and honor demanded loyalty to the invited guests, from whom so many benefits had already sprung.
Observing the effect of the appeal on the wavering members, young Xicotencatl hastened to defend his cherished plans, but with such imprudence as to rouse Maxixcatzin to strike him. He was thereupon jostled out of the council-chamber, badly bruised and with torn clothes.[917] Against this expulsion none of his supporters ventured to remonstrate, and the vote being unanimously in favor of Maxixcatzin’s views, the Aztec envoys were notified accordingly.[918] How momentous this discussion! And did the council of Tlascala realize the full import of their acts? For thereby they determined the present and permanent fate of many powerful nations besides themselves. Undoubtedly the country would at some time have fallen before the dominant power; but, had it been possible for the nations of the great plateau to combine and act in unison, very different might have been their ultimate condition. Cortés and his company owed their safety to a decision which kept alive discord between the native tribes, while the Tlascaltecs were saved from what probably would have been a treacherous alliance, perhaps from annihilation, only to sink into peaceful obscurity and merge into the mass of conquered people.[919] They endeavored to keep the disagreement in the council-chamber a secret from Cortés, but he heard of it, and failed not to confirm Maxixcatzin in his devotion by holding forth the most brilliant prospects as the result of this alliance. The words by which the council decided for Cortés were to him as drops of perspiration on the lately fevered brow, which tell that the crisis is passed.
There was another cloud about this time appearing on the horizon of the fortunes of Cortés. During his stay at Tlascala the men of Narvaez began again to moot the subject of return. The golden vision of Mexico’s treasures had been rudely dissipated, leaving only the remembrance of hardships and disgrace. The flowery Antilles appeared more alluring than ever to these gold-seekers, only too many of whom were more accustomed to the farm than to the camp. They could think of nothing but the ease and security of the fertile plantations, where nature unloaded its wealth, and where docile natives ministered to every want. In furtherance of this idea it was urged on Cortés, by Duero and other leaders, to retire, to Villa Rica before the Mexicans had succeeded in their efforts to cut off his retreat. There they would intrench themselves while awaiting aid from the islands and arranging a fresh campaign, having the vessels to fall back on, if necessary. But to these intimations Cortés would not for a moment listen. And there were many reasons for this—his ambition to be all or nothing in this enterprise, his crimes against Velazquez, his irregularities regarding the king’s interests, which only brilliant success could redeem. As well might they talk to the unyielding hills; he would join his dead comrades in the canals of Mexico, or voluntarily ascend to the sacrificial stone, but he would not turn back from this adventure.
When the general revealed his firm intention to renew the campaign as soon as possible, the outcry became loud. The Noche Triste and the narrow escape at Otumba had left impressions too horrible to be easily forgotten. They shuddered at the thought of renewing such risk, and cursed the gold which had allured them to former discomfitures. If the general wished to throw away his life he might do so, but they were not such madmen. Moreover, it was highly imprudent to place so much faith in the Tlascaltecs, who might at the first encounter with the enemy abandon or betray allies differing so greatly in language, religion, and customs. A formal demand was therefore addressed to him, through the notary, to return to Villa Rica, on the ground of their small number and dismembered condition, devoid as they were of clothing, arms, ammunition, and horses, and with so many maimed and wounded. They were wholly unfit to undertake any campaign, much less against an enemy who had just defeated them when they were far stronger in number and armament than now. Declared, as it was, in the name of the army, though in truth by the men of Narvaez only,[920] and headed by such persons as Duero, with invocation of the imperial name, the proposal placed Cortés in a dilemma. Yet it roused in him only a firmer determination. He was more master now than ever he could be under the new proposal; and Cortés loved to be master. The same reasons which had moved him before to advance into Mexico in quest of independent fame and wealth, and to evade the prospective disgrace and poverty, imprisonment and death, were reasons stronger now than ever.
Here was another of those delicate points on which the destiny of the Estremaduran seemed ever turning. Rousing himself to meet the issue, though still weak with disease, he summoned an audience. “What is this I hear?” he asked of the assembled soldiers. “Is it true that you would retire from the fertile fields of New Spain, you, Spaniards, Castilians, Christians! leave the ship-loads of gold which in the Aztec capital we saw and handled; leave still standing the abominable idols with their bloody ministers, and tamely summon others to enjoy the riches and glories which you are too craven to achieve? Alack! for your patriotism, for duty to your emperor, to God, for the honor of Spanish arms! Know you not that one step further in retreat than necessary is equivalent to the abandonment of all? Or perhaps the fault is my own. I have been too careful of mine ease, too cowardly to expose my person to the dangers into which I directed you; I have fled before the foe—help me to remember, friends—I have left my comrades to die unaided on the battle-field while I sought safety, I have fed while you starved, I have slept while you labored, or my too sluggish brain has refused the duty due by your commander.” The speaker paused, but only for a moment. At this, the very beginning of his plea, a hundred eyes were affectionately regarding him through their moisture, a hundred tongues were denying all insinuations of baseness as applied to him, their great and brave commander. Already their hearts were aflame with avarice and ambition; aflame, like St Augustine’s, with Christian zeal and fervency of devotion, soldier fanatics as they were, stern, forehead-wrinkled men—for fighting men, no less than fighting dogs, display a gravity in their every-day demeanor unknown to tamer spirits. “Are not my interests yours, and yours mine?” continued Cortés. “Therefore, I pray you, ascribe not my views to disregard of your wishes, but to a desire to promote the good of all. What people going to war that does not sometimes suffer defeat; but what brave men ever abandoned a glorious campaign because of one repulse? And do you not see that it is more dangerous to go than to remain—that to retreat further would only invite further attack? I will not allude before soldiers of mine,” concluded the speaker, “to the everlasting infamy of abandoning these brave Tlascaltecs to the enmity of the combined forces of the plateau for having stood the Spaniards’ friend in time of danger. Go, all of you who will! abandon your sacred trusts, and with them the riches in mines, and tributes here awaiting you, and fair encomiendas, with countless servants to attend before your new nobility; for myself, if left alone, then alone will I here remain and general Indians, since Spaniards have all turned cowards!”