Hernando Cortez / Makers of History

by John S. C. Abbott

Religious ceremonies.

"Cortez, discreet in all his actions, immediately went to Father Olmedo, and, affecting to disapprove of the whole affair, requested that he would order a solemn mass and thanksgiving, and preach a sermon to the soldiers of the moral and religious duties. Father Olmedo was highly pleased at this, thinking it had originated spontaneously from Cortez, and not knowing that the hint had been given him by Sandoval. Accordingly, the crucifixes and the image of Our Lady were borne in solemn procession, with drums and standards. The Litany was sung during the ceremony. Father Olmedo preached and administered the sacrament, and we returned thanks to God for our victory."

Discontent.
Clamors of the army.

But now came the hour for discontent and murmuring. The excitement was over, the din of arms was hushed, the beautiful city was entirely destroyed, and two hundred thousand of the wretched inhabitants, whose only crime against the Spaniards was that they defended their wives, their children, and their homes, were festering in the grave. In counting up their gains, these guilty men found that the whole sum amounted to but about one hundred and twenty thousand dollars. Their grievous disappointment vented itself in loud complainings, and was soon turned into rage. They accused Guatemozin of having secreted the treasure which had been hoarded up, and demanded that he should be put to the torture to compel him to disclose the place of concealment. Cortez, for a time, firmly refused to yield to this atrocious demand; but the clamor of the disaffected grew louder and louder, until at last Cortez was accused of being in agreement with Guatemozin, that he might appropriate to his own use the secreted treasure.

Cortez yields.
Guatemozin's tortures.
Cortez rescues him.

Thus goaded, Cortez infamously consented that the unhappy captive monarch should be put to the torture. The cacique of Tacuba, the companion of Guatemozin, and his highest officer, was put to the torture with him. A hot fire was kindled, and the feet of the wretched victims, drenched in oil, were exposed to the burning coals. Guatemozin had nothing to reveal. He could merely assert that the treasures of the city were thrown into the lake. With extraordinary fortitude he endured the agony, adding additional lustre to a name already ennobled by the heroism with which he conducted the defense. His companion died upon this bed of agony. In the extremity of his torment, he turned an imploring eye toward the king. Guatemozin, it is recorded, observing his look, replied, "Am I, then, reposing upon a bed of flowers?" Cortez, who had reluctantly yielded to this atrocity, at last interposed, and rescued the imperial sufferer. Cortez has much to answer for before the bar of this world's judgment. For many of his criminal acts some apology may be framed, but for the torture of Guatemozin he stands condemned without excuse. No voice will plead his cause. Cortez seemed to be fully aware that it was not a creditable story for him to tell, and in his dispatches to the King of Spain he made no allusion to the event.

The divers.

It was a grievous disappointment to Cortez that so little treasure was obtained, for his ambition was roused to send immense sums to the Spanish court, that he might purchase high favor with his monarch by thus proving the wealth and grandeur of the kingdom he had subjugated. Cortez himself accompanied a party of practiced divers upon the lake, and long and anxiously conducted the search; but the divers invariably returned from the oozy bottom of the lake empty-handed: no treasure could be found.

Nature of the Mexican empire.

It has before been mentioned that the empire of Mexico consisted of a conglomeration of once independent nations, which had been in various ways annexed to the mammoth empire. It was somewhat like Austria, having many Hungarys and Polands ripe for revolt. Cortez had adroitly availed himself of these disaffections in accomplishing his wonderful conquest. The Zempoallans and Tlascalans augmented his ranks with fierce warriors nearly two hundred thousand in number. There were many provinces of the empire on the north and the west which as yet no European foot had ever entered. It was a question whether these remote provinces would band together in hostility to the Spaniards, and thus indefinitely protract the conflict, or whether, seeing the capital in ruins and their monarch a captive, they would admit the hopelessness of the strife, and yield to their conquerors.