XIII.
CORTÉS.
Fernando Cortés was born in 1485 at Medellin, the principal town of the province of Estramadura, in Spain. His father was a gentleman of old blood, but poor. He sent his son to the University of Salamanca, but Fernando had no taste for study, and of his own will entered the army, with the intention of serving under the great captain Gonsalvo of Cordova in the campaign of Naples, but an injury caused by falling from a roof prevented his starting with the fleet. As soon as he was well enough he set off in quest of adventure for the West Indies, then a new and tempting discovery, and joined a relative in St. Domingo, who happened to be governor there. This was in 1504. He passed several years there, and in 1511 accompanied Diégo Velasquez to Cuba when the latter was appointed to colonize that island.
The contemporaries of Fernando Cortés draw an attractive portrait of him. He was well built and skilful in all manly exercises. The wonderful beauty of his glance enhanced the charm to his fine and regular features. With unequalled bravery he combined wonderful penetration which never failed him. He was eloquent and persuasive, with the faculty of making himself beloved and respected by all who surrounded him, over whom he exercised an irresistible influence. His conceptions were vast; he never renounced a project after he had recognized it as practicable, but he tempered his audacity of design with an extreme prudence in execution. Reverses he endured with heroism, while he never suffered himself to be made giddy by his successes. The inviolable fidelity which Cortés preserved towards his legitimate sovereigns tempered his personal ambition, great as it was, and his love of money though great did not prevent his showing liberality when the interest of his glory demanded it.
This is the bright side of the picture: great defects of character tarnish it. His acts of cruelty towards his enemies, and his greed of plunder are not to be overlooked in forming an estimate of this wonderful man.
Velasquez had already sent an expedition of discovery towards the west, and Grijalva, its leader, had entered the river of Tabasco, where he disembarked, but, feeling he had no authority to treat with the natives, he returned to report what he had seen and ask further instructions.
Velasquez was displeased with Grijalva for this moderation, without appreciating a loyalty which he regarded as stupidity; and excited by the accounts of the new country, he resolved upon another undertaking in the same direction. He sent to Spain to ask for wider powers, and to obtain for himself the government of the lands he expected to conquer. He offered the command of this expedition to several of his relatives. They all refused it. It was then that he addressed himself to Fernando Cortés.
There is a story that Cortés was in love with a young lady named Doña Catalina Juarez, who afterwards became his wife, and that the governor, Velasquez, also devoted to the Doña, subjected his brilliant rival to a terrible persecution, and even had him seized and put in prison, that Cortés escaped and took refuge in the church, a few days afterwards he was again seized, and then incarcerated in a ship with a chain about his foot. Escaping in a skiff and afterwards by swimming he reached the shore and again hid himself in a sanctuary. In the end he married Doña Catalina, goes this tale, was reconciled with the governor, and made Alcalde of Santiago de Cuba.
However this may have been, Cortés received and accepted the commission now offered. His reputation for bravery and great popularity gathered about him young and old, the bold spirits of Cuba, some among them former companions of Grijalva in his expedition; Bernal Diaz, the first historian of the Conquest, Olid, Alvarado, and other men of the greatest bravery, destined to play great parts in the epic of the New World.
Velasquez, even before the departure of his commander, began to distrust him, jealous again of his great powers, but they parted on good terms, and Cortés embarked at San Jago de Cuba on the 18th November, 1518. He had not gone far when an emissary of Velasquez was sent after the expedition to arrest Cortés, but encouraged by his companions, who urged him to remain at their head, he sent off the messenger and started without taking any further notice of the jealousy of his chief.