Hernando Cortes

by Joachim Heinrich Campe

In the meantime some of the Indians approached the two caciques and whispered something in their ears which greatly astonished them. They sprang up affrighted, and left the spot trembling. Uncertain what might be the cause of their fear, they were followed, and the reason was soon discovered. Six splendidly clad representatives of Montezuma accompanied by a considerable number of slaves, holding feather umbrellas over their heads, passed the Spanish quarters with glances of contempt at Cortes and his officers. Their haughtiness so enraged the soldiers that they were restrained with difficulty from violently assaulting the Mexicans. Marina, who had been sent to gather information, returned with the news that they had bitterly reproached the two caciques for their treachery in receiving strangers, who were the declared enemies of their sovereign. As a penalty for their disloyalty, besides the customary tribute, twenty Indians should be delivered over to them as a sacrifice to the offended deities. Cortes was enraged but wisely refrained from giving expression to his wrath. He assured the caciques they need have no fear of harm and instructed them to bring Montezuma’s messengers before him in chains to give an account of themselves. The caciques, who had been used to absolute obedience to their master, hesitated, but Cortes, leaving them no time for reflection, repeated his orders so emphatically that they dared not offer objection. The messengers were arrested, the Spaniards, for appearances’ sake, taking no part in it. Having gone thus far, the caciques would have gone still further and done to the fettered messengers what Montezuma proposed to do to the Indians, but Cortes objected to such inhumanity and ordered that the prisoners should be guarded by his own men.

Cortes desired, if possible, to conceal the appearance of open hostility to the powerful Montezuma. He cunningly planned to put him under obligations to himself by making him believe he had not the least connection with what had occurred. With this purpose in view he summoned two of the prisoners at night, announced to them that they were free, and instructed them to inform their master that he would strive to secure the liberty of the others, and with this dismissed them. The Indians were told the next day that the prisoners had escaped. Shortly after this, the other prisoners were permitted to join their companions. This tricky dealing had the effect which Cortes expected. In the meantime other caciques were found in the neighboring mountainous region who shared the same hatred toward their Emperor and were equally desirous of escaping his tyrannical rule. All these heads of Indian tribes, bearing the general name of Totonacs, entered into agreements with Cortes, disavowed the authority of Montezuma, and declared themselves vassals of the King of Spain.

Steps were now taken for the founding of a city at the new settlement. The name of Villa Rica de la Vera Cruz was retained for the city, but the name to-day has been abbreviated to Vera Cruz. Every one in the Spanish army assisted in laying the walls and constructing the buildings of the new city. No one refused, and Cortes set an example for all by assisting personally. The work went on with incredible swiftness and in a short time the enclosed place was sufficiently secure against Indian assaults. Meanwhile Montezuma’s messengers had returned and performed the favorable offices expected by Cortes. Their report considerably mitigated the anger of the monarch, who in his first heat of passion had ordered the mustering of a mighty army to extirpate these strangers and their Indian auxiliaries by fire and sword. Now, however, he was greatly concerned and decided to employ kind measures to induce these dreaded strangers, if possible, to go away peacefully. To this end he sent messengers with gifts of great value, two young princes, relatives of the Emperor, being the bearers. They reached the Spanish camp just at the time of the completion of the fortifications. They discharged their duty, presented the costly gifts, thanked Cortes for the assistance he had rendered in releasing the prisoners, and concluded with the request that he would be pleased to leave the territory of their sovereign.

Cortes showed them the greatest honor and made the following reply: He was sorry that the Emperor had been caused trouble by the imprisonment of his messengers, and yet it must be acknowledged that they had brought it upon themselves by an inhuman demand, which he hoped had been made without the Emperor’s knowledge. In any event he must declare that the Christian religion did not recognize the cruel practice of human sacrifice and that he felt himself bound to prevent it wherever and however he could. As for the wrong which had been done the Emperor, that had been compensated for by the release of the prisoners, and, as he was under obligations to the allies he had accepted, he flattered himself that the Emperor would overlook the hasty act of the caciques of Zempoala and Chiahuitzlan, and pardon them. He was obliged to take these vassals of the Emperor under his protection for they had striven to make amends for Teutile’s incivility by giving him a hospitable reception. As to his departure from the country, he had already had the honor to assure their master that a mission of the utmost consequence bound him not to return to his fatherland until he had had a personal interview. A European soldier never feared to perform any duty imposed upon him by his superiors. The messengers, amazed at the cool and stately manner in which Cortes delivered his reply, returned, filled with admiration at his courageous firmness and with secret contempt for their own sovereign, to whom they reported all they had seen and heard.

The new Spanish city was now in a satisfactory state of defence, and Cortes devoted himself in earnest to the completion of other necessary affairs. Fortune seemed decidedly in his favor, but his excessive religious zeal came near ruining everything. Word was brought to him that human sacrifices were to take place in one of the temples of his allies. Enraged at their cruel superstition and that such an enormity should be attempted under his very eyes, he rushed to the temple with some of his soldiers and threatened destruction by fire and sword if they did not instantly release the intended victims. His zeal did not stop with this. He demanded that the priests should pull down their idols, and renounce their false religion forever, although they did not yet know of a better one. The priests prostrated themselves at his feet, moaning and lamenting, and the caciques present trembled. As they refused to pull down their idols, he ordered his soldiers to do it by force. The priests rushed to arms and in a few moments Cortes and his little band were surrounded by a crowd big enough to appall the heart of the stoutest. But Cortes remained unmoved and announced to the assembled multitude that the first arrow fired by them would cost them the lives of their caciques and the destruction of them all. The soldiers advanced to carry out his orders. In an instant the idols were hurled down; the sacred vessels and the altar followed them. They were all destroyed, and the temple was cleaned. The human blood which adhered to the walls was washed off, and the image of the Virgin was set in the place of the idols. The astonished Indians expected that fire would descend from heaven any instant and revenge this indignity to their divinities. But not a spark was seen, and the temple-stormers continued their work audaciously and triumphantly before their very eyes. This weakened their faith and caused them to reflect, with the result that they gradually came to believe that the Spaniards were divinities themselves and mightier than their own gods. They did not long stop to consider, but, gathering up the remnants of their idols, contemptuously threw them into the fire. The temple was consecrated as a Christian church and upon the same day was dedicated with Roman Catholic ceremonies, which the Indians greatly wondered at though they did not understand them.

Cortes had hardly escaped the danger to which his religious ardor exposed him before another and no less threatening one confronted him. Some of the soldiers and sailors, tired of wandering about and alarmed at the prospect of fresh dangers on the march to the capital, had entered into a plot against the commander and decided to seize a vessel, make their escape to Cuba, and notify the governor of what Cortes had been doing. Fortunately the plot was discovered before it was too late. Cortes arrested the leaders and imposed a fitting penalty for the offence. As he was convinced that the source of disaffection had not entirely disappeared in his little army, he gave the matter serious consideration and at last hit upon a definite but dangerous plan of intimidating their small souls and causing them to recoil with terror from any thought of mutiny. He determined to remove the last hope of return and to leave them the alternative of an advance upon the Mexican capital or death, by destroying his fleet, thus convincing the fainthearted ones in his army that there was no middle course and that they must either conquer or die.

Great as was the courage necessary to accomplish this, still greater was the task of making it acceptable to his army. Fortunately Cortes was as tactful as he was brave. He began by dismantling his vessels. He had the rigging removed and all the material on board as well as the cannon brought ashore. The ships’ carpenters then examined the hulls of the vessels and reported that they were in such a wretched condition it would be impossible to repair them. Cortes now inspired his soldiers with such courage and zeal that they hastened of their own accord to destroy them—their last refuge should the expedition prove a failure—and to bring the boards and planks on shore. Only one of them was spared to carry out Cortes’ purpose. He had been appointed leader by the tribunal which he himself had chosen, but in reality this was not any more authoritative than if he had appointed himself. He was anxious to place his rights upon a secure footing, and, with this end in view, he decided to send a vessel to Spain to obtain the sanction of the Court for all his movements thus far, as well as relief from any further responsibility to Velasquez and his appointment as absolute governor of the empire to be conquered by him.

He knew of but one sure way to accomplish his purpose, and that was to send the government actual proofs of the treasure he would secure for it. To make these convincing he determined to send all the gifts which had been received from Montezuma, and that all concerned, officers, soldiers, and sailors, should contribute their share. It was a hard demand, but Cortes ventured it and carried his point. With these gifts Cortes sent a letter to the Emperor in which he gave a detailed account of all that had occurred—his various discoveries, his battles and dealings with the natives, their conversion to Christianity, his own dangers and hardships, and much information about the countries he had visited. He described his difficulties with the governor of Cuba, what had been done with regard to settlements, and besought the Emperor to confirm all that had been accomplished as well as his own authority. In the meantime he was thoroughly certain that with the help of his brave companions he could place the great Indian Empire in possession of the Castilian crown.

The officials of Villa Rica also wrote a letter similar to that of Cortes, and closed it with an emphatic statement of the maladministration of Velasquez, his venality, extortions, schemings for his own profit, and disregard for the advantage of his sovereign. With these two letters a third was sent in the name of the citizen soldiery of Villa Rica, expressing their loyalty to their sovereign and praying him to confirm the appointment of Cortes as their leader. The richly laden vessel, in charge of noblemen upon whom Cortes could depend, left Villa Rica de la Vera Cruz July 26, 1519, and, in pursuance of exact orders, anchored for a short time on the north coast of Cuba, but fortunately escaped the pursuers sent out by Velasquez.

Cortes now prepared to march. His army consisted of five hundred infantry, fifteen cavalrymen, and six field-pieces. The others, about fifty men, mostly invalids, besides two horses, remained as part of the garrison at Vera Cruz. Including his auxiliaries, Cortes had only thirteen hundred men and one thousand so-called tamanes, that is, porters, who had to carry the necessary baggage and subsistence. In that country, where there were no horses or pack animals of any kind, a class of men, named as above, carried things from one place to another. For the security of those he left behind Cortes took fifty of the leading Indians of the country with him, whom he kept as hostages, though they were not aware of it.