5 crowded with spectators. It was the mid- From Ferdinand and Isabella, 1837. QUEEN ISABELLA miliarity; yet the respect which she imposed was mingled with the strongest feelings of devotion and love. She showed great tact in accommodating herself to the peculiar situation and character of those around her. She appeared in arms at the head of her troops, and shrunk from none of the hardships of war. During the reforms introduced into the religious houses, she visited the nunneries in person, taking her needlework with her, and passing the day in the society of the inmates. When traveling in Galicia, she attired herself in the costume of the country, borrowing for that purpose the jewels and other ornaments of the ladies there, and returning them with liberal additions. By this condescending and captivating deportment, as well as by her higher qualities, she gained an ascendency over her turbulent subjects which no king of Spain could ever boast. She spoke the Castilian with much elegance and correctness. She had an easy fluency of discourse, which, though generally of a serious complexion, was occasionally seasoned with agreeable sallies, some of which have passed into proverbs. She was temperate even to abstemiousness in her diet, seldom or never tasting wine, and so frugal in her table, that the daily expenses for herself and family did not exceed the moderate sum of forty ducats. She was equally simple and economical in her apparel. On all public occasions, in35 deed, she displayed a royal magnificence; but she had no relish for it in private; and she freely gave away her clothes and jewels as presents to her friends. Naturally of a sedate, though cheerful temper, she had little taste for the frivolous amusements which make up so much of a court life; and, if she encouraged the presence of minstrels and musicians in her palace, it was to wean her young nobility from the coarser and less intellectual pleasures to which they were addicted. Her person was of the middle height, and well proportioned. She had a clear, fresh complexion, with light blue eyes and auburn hair,- a style of beauty exceed- 40 ingly rare in Spain. Her features were regular, and universally allowed to be uncommonly handsome. The illusion which attaches to rank, more especially when united with engaging manners, 45 might lead us to suspect some exaggeration in the encomiums so liberally lavished on her. But they would seem to be in a great measure justified by the portraits that remain of her, which combine a fault- 50 less symmetry of features with singular sweetness and intelligence of expression. Her manners were most gracious and pleasing. They were marked by natural dignity and modest reserve, tempered by 55 an affability which flowed from the kindliness of her disposition. She was the last person to be approached with undue fa Among her moral qualities, the most conspicuous, perhaps, was her magnanimity. She betrayed nothing little or selfish in thought or action. Her schemes were vast, and executed in the same noble spirit in which they were conceived. She never employed doubtful agents or sinister measures, but the most direct and open policy. She scorned to avail herself of advantages offered by the perfidy of others. Where she had once given her confidence, she gave her hearty and steady support; and she was scrupulous to redeem any pledge and is said to have been present himself in nine pitched battles. He was greatly renowned for his martial prowess, for he belonged to the Quachictin, the highest 5 military order of his nation, and one into which but few even of its sovereigns had been admitted. In later life, he preferred intrigue to violence, as more consonant to his character and priestly education. In this he was as great an adept as any prince of his time, and, by arts not very honorable to himself, succeeded in filching away much of the territory of his royal kinsman of Tezcuco. Severe in the administration of justice, he made important reforms in the arrangement of the tribunals. He introduced other innovations in the royal household, creating new offices, introducing a lavish magnificence and forms of courtly etiquette unknown to his ruder predecessors. He was, in short, most attentive to all that concerned the exterior and pomp of royalty. Stately and decorous, he was careful of his own dignity, and might be said to be as great an actor of majesty' among the barbarian potentates of the New World, as Louis the Fourteenth was among the polished princes of Europe. But the principle which gave a peculiar coloring to every feature of Isabella's 25 mind was piety. It shone forth from the very depths of her soul with a heavenly radiance, which illuminated her whole character. Fortunately, her earliest years had been passed in the rugged school of 30 adversity, under the eye of a mother who implanted in her serious mind such strong principles of religion as nothing in afterlife had power to shake. At an early age, in the flower of youth and beauty, she was 35 introduced to her brother's court; but its blandishments, so dazzling to a young imagination, had no power over hers, for she was surrounded by a moral atmosphere of purity, 'Driving far off each thing of sin and guilt.' He was deeply tinctured, moreover, with that spirit of bigotry which threw such a shade over the latter days of the French monarch. He received the Spaniards as the beings predicted by his oracles. The anxious dread, with which he had evaded their proffered visit, was founded on the same feelings which led him so blindly to resign himself to them on their approach. He felt himself rebuked by their 40 superior genius. He at once conceded all that they demanded,- his treasures. his power, even his person. For their sake, he forsook his wonted occupations, his pleasures, his most familiar habits. He might be said to forego his nature, and, as his subjects asserted, to change his sex and become a woman. If we cannot refuse our contempt for the pusillanimity of the Aztec monarch, it should be miti50 gated by the consideration that his pusillanimity sprung from his superstition, and that superstition in the savage is the substitute for religious principle in the civilized man. Such was the decorum of her manners that, though encompassed by false friends 45 and open enemies, not the slightest reproach was breathed on her fair name in this corrupt and calumnious court. From Ferdinand and Isabella, 1837. THE CHARACTER AND FATE OF MONTEZUMA When Montezuma ascended the throne, he was scarcely twenty-three years of age. Young, and ambitious of extending his empire, he was continually engaged in war, 55 It is not easy to contemplate the fate of Montezuma without feelings of the strongest compassion,- to see him thus borne along the tide of events beyond his power 5 to avert or control; to see him, like some stately tree, the pride of his own Indian forests, towering aloft in the pomp and majesty of its branches, by its very eminence a mark for the thunderbolt, the first victim of the tempest which was to sweep over its native hills! When the wise king of Tezcuco addressed his royal relative at his coronation, he exclaimed, 'Happy the empire, which is now in the meridian of its 10 prosperity, for the scepter is given to one whom the Almighty has in his keeping; and the nations shall hold him in reverence!' Alas! the subject of this auspicious invocation lived to see his empire 15 melt away like the winter's wreath; to see a strange race drop, as it were, from the clouds on his land; to find himself a prisoner in the palace of his fathers, the companion of those who were the enemies of 20 his gods and his people; to be insulted, reviled, trodden in the dust, by the meanest of his subjects, by those who, a few months previous, had trembled at his glance; drawing his last breath in the 25 halls of a stranger,— a lonely outcast in the heart of his own capital! He was the sad victim of destiny,— a destiny as dark and irresistible in its march as that which broods over the mythic legends of an- 30 tiquity! From The History of the Conquest of Mexico, 1843. THE BATTLE OF OTUMBA pomp and rude splendor of his military equipment. As far as the eye could reach, were to be seen shields and waving banners, fantastic helmets, forests of shining spears, the bright feather-mail of the chief, and the coarse cotton panoply of his followers, all mingled together in wild con-fusion, and tossing to and fro like the billows of a troubled ocean. It was a sight to fill the stoutest heart among the Christians with dismay, heightened by the previous expectation of soon reaching the friendly land which was to terminate their wearisome pilgrimage. Even Cortés as he contrasted the tremendous array before him with his own diminished squadrons, wasted by disease and enfeebled by hunger and fatigue, could not escape the conviction that his last hour had arrived. But his was not the heart to despond; and he gathered strength from the very extremity of his situation. He had no room for hesitation; for there was no alternative left to him. To escape was impossible. He could not retreat on the capital, from which he had been expelled. He must advance,- cut through the enemy, or perish. He hastily made his dispositions. for the fight. He gave his force as broad a front as possible, protecting it on each flank by his little body of horse, now reduced to twenty. Fortunately, he had not allowed the invalids, for the last two days, to mount behind the riders, from a desire 35 to spare the horses, so that these were now in tolerable condition; and, indeed, the whole army had been refreshed by halting, as we have seen, two nights and a day in the same place, a delay, however, which had allowed the enemy time to assemble in such force to dispute its prog As the army was climbing the mountain steeps which shut in the valley of Otompan, the vedettes came in with the intelli- 40 gence, that a powerful body was encamped on the other side, apparently awaiting their approach. The intelligence was soon confirmed by their own eyes, as they turned the crest of the sierra, and saw spread out, 45 below, a mighty host, filling up the whole depth of the valley, and giving to it the appearance, from the white cotton mail of the warriors, of being covered with snow. It consisted of levies from the surround- 50 ing country, and especially the populous territory of Tezcuco, drawn together at the instance of Cuitlahua, Montezuma's successor, and now concentrated on this point to dispute the passage of the Span- 55 iards. Every chief of note had taken the field with his whole array gathered under his standard, proudly displaying all the ress. Cortés instructed his cavaliers not to part with their lances, and to direct them at the face. The infantry were to thrust, not strike, with their swords; passing them, at once, through the bodies of their enemies. They were, above all, to aim at the leaders, as the general well knew how much depends on the life of the commander in the wars of barbarians, whose want of subordination makes them impatient of any control but that to which they are accustomed. He then addressed to his troops a few words of encouragement, as customary with him on the eve of an engagement. He reminded them of the victories they 266 5 ing, in little bodies of four and five abreast, deep into the enemy's ranks, riding over the broken files, and by this temporary adthe infantry. Not a lance was there vantage giving strength and courage to which did not reek with the blood of the infidel. Among the rest, the young captain Sandoval is particularly commemhis fiery steed with easy horsemanship, he orated for his daring prowess. Managing darted, when least expected, into the thickest of the mêlée, overturning the stanchest warriors, and rejoicing in danger, as if it were his natural element. had won with odds nearly as discouraging as the present; thus establishing the superiority of science and discipline over numbers. Numbers, indeed, were of no account, where the arm of the Almighty was on their side. And he bade them have full confidence, that He, who had carried them safely through so many perils, would not now abandon them and his own good cause, to perish by the hand of the infidel. 10 His address was brief, for he read in their looks that settled resolve which rendered words unnecessary. The circumstances of their position spoke more forcibly to the heart of every soldier than any eloquence 15 could have done, filling it with that feeling of desperation which makes the weak arm strong, and turns the coward into a hero. After they had earnestly commended themselves, therefore, to the protection of 20 God, the Virgin, and St. James, Cortés led his battalions straight against the enemy. It was a solemn moment,- that, in which the devoted little band, with steadfast countenances, and their usual intrepid 25 step, descended on the plain, to be swallowed up, as it were, in the vast ocean of their enemies. The latter rushed on with impetuosity to meet them, making the mountains ring to their discordant yells 30 and battle-cries, and sending forth volleys of stones and arrows which for a moment shut out the light of day. But, when the leading files of the two armies closed, the superiority of the Christians was felt, as 35 their antagonists, falling back before the charges of cavalry, were thrown into confusion by their own numbers who pressed on them from behind. fantry followed up the blow, and a wide 40 The Spanish inlane was opened in the ranks of the enemy, who, receding on all sides, seemed willing to allow a free passage for their opponents. But it was to return on them with accumulated force, as rallying they poured 45 upon the Christians, enveloping the little army on all sides, which, with its bristling array of long swords and javelins, stood firm, in the words of a contemporary,like an islet against which the breakers, 50 roaring and surging, spend their fury in vain. The struggle was desperate of man against man. The Tlascalan seemed to renew his strength, as he fought almost in view of his own native hills; as did the 55 Spaniard, with the horrible doom of the captive before his eyes. cavaliers do their duty on that day; chargWell did the 20 But these gallant displays of heroism served only to ingu!f the Spaniards deeper and deeper in the mass of the enemy, with battalions, than of hewing a passage with scarcely any more chance of cutting their way through his dense and interminable their swords through the mountains. Many of the Tlascalans and some of the ceived a second cut on the head, and his Spaniards had fallen, and not one but had been wounded. Cortés himself had rehorse was so much injured that he was compelled to dismount, and take one from of the day. The contest had now lasted the baggage train, a strong-boned animal, who carried him well through the turmoil several hours. The sun rode high in the heavens, and shed an intolerable fervor loss of blood, began to relax in their desover the plain. The Christians, weakened by previous sufferings, and faint with perate exertions. Their enemies, stantly supported by fresh relays from the redoubled force on the Spaniards. rear, were still in good heart, and, quick to perceive their advantage, pressed with horse fell back, crowded on the foot; and the latter, in vain seeking a passage amidst disorder. the dusky throngs of the enemy, who now closed up the rear, were thrown into some The tide of battle was setting rapidly against the Christians. of the day would soon be decided; and all The fate that now remained for them seemed to be to sell their lives as dearly as possible. con The At this critical moment, Cortés, whose restless eye had been roving round the field in quest of any object that might offer distance, in the midst of the throng, the him the means of arresting the coming ruin, rising in his stirrups, descried at a chief who from his dress and military cortége he knew must be the commander of the barbarian forces. He was covered 5 with a rich surcoat of featherwork; and a panache of beautiful plumes, gorgeously set in gold and precious stones, floated above his head. Rising above this, and attached to his back, between the shoulders, was a short staff bearing a golden net for a banner, the singular, but customary, symbol of authority for an Aztec commander. The cacique, whose name was Cihuaca, was borne on a litter, and a 10 body of young warriors, whose gay and ornamented dresses showed them to be the flower of the Indian nobles, stood round as a guard of his person and the sacred emblem. slow to avail themselves of the marvelous change in their affairs. Their fatigue, their wounds, hunger, thirst, all were forgotten in the eagerness for vengeance; and they followed up the flying foe, dealing death at every stroke, and taking ample retribution for all they had suffered in the bloody marshes of Mexico. Long did they pursue, till, the enemy having abandoned the field, they returned sated with slaughter to glean the booty which he had left. It was great, for the ground was covered with the bodies of chiefs, at whom the Spaniards, in obedience to the general's 15 instructions, had particularly aimed; and their dresses displayed all the barbaric pomp of ornament, in which the Indian warrior delighted. When his men had thus indemnified themselves, in some degree, for their late reverses, Cortés called them again under their banners; and, after offering up a grateful acknowledgment to the Lord of Hosts for their miraculous preservation, they renewed their march across the now deserted valley. The sun was declining in the heavens, but, before the shades of evening had gathered around, they reached an Indian temple on an eminence, which afforded a strong and commodious position for the night. The eagle eye of Cortés no sooner fell on this personage, than it lighted up with triumph. Turning quickly round to the cavaliers at his side, among whom were Sandoval, Olid, Alvarado, and Avila, he 20 pointed out the chief, exclaiming, 'There is our mark! Follow and support me!' Then crying his war-cry, and striking his iron heel into his weary steed, he plunged headlong into the thickest of the press. 25 His enemies fell back, taken by surprise and daunted by the ferocity of the attack. Those who did not were pierced through with his lance, or borne down by the weight of his charger. The cavaliers fol- 30 lowed close in the rear. On they swept, with the fury of a thunderbolt, cleaving the solid ranks asunder, strewing their path with the dying and the dead, and bounding over every obstacle in their way. 35 In a few minutes they were in the presence of the Indian commander, and Cortés, overturning his supporters, sprang forward with the strength of a lion, and, striking him through with his lance, hurled 40 him to the ground. A young cavalier, Juan de Salamanca, who had kept close by his general's side, quickly dismounted and despatched the fallen chief. Then tearing away his banner, he presented it to 45 Cortés, as a trophy to which he had the best claim. It was all the work of a moment. The guard, overpowered by the suddenness of the onset, made little resistance, but, flying, communicated their own 50 panic to their comrades. The tidings of the loss soon spread over the field. The Indians, filled with consternation, now thought only of escape. In their blind terror, their numbers augmented their confusion. They trampled on one another, fancying it was the enemy in their rear. The Spaniards and Tlascalans were not 55 Such was the famous battle of Ötompan, or Otumba, as commonly called, from the Spanish corruption of the name. It was fought on the eighth of July, 1520. The whole amount of the Indian force is reckoned by Castilian writers at two hundred thousand! that of the slain at twenty thousand! Those who admit the first part of the estimate will find no difficulty in receiving the last. It is about as difficult to form an accurate calculation of the numbers of a disorderly savage multitude, as of the pebbles on the beach, or the scattered leaves in autumn. Yet it was, undoubtedly, one of the most remarkable victories ever achieved in the New World. And this, not merely on account of the disparity of the forces, but of their unequal condition. For the Indians were in all their strength, while the Christians were wasted by disease, famine, and long protracted sufferings; without cannon or fire-arms, and deficient in the military apparatus which had so often struck terror into their barbarian foe,- deficient even in the terrors of a victorious name. But they had discipline on their side, desperate resolve, and implicit confidence in their |