CORTES. 



&53 



Cortes, board this fleet were 617 men ; of whom 508 belonged 

 "•"""V"™'' to the land service, and 1 09 were seamen or artificers. 

 Only 13 of the soldiers were armed with muskets, 32 

 with cross-bows, and the rest with swords and spears. 

 •They had 16 horses, 10 small field pieces, and four 

 -falconets. 



Such was the expedition fitted out by a few private 

 adventurers to make war on a monarch, whose domi- 

 nions exceeded in extent, all the kingdoms subject to 

 the Spanish crown. They did not however engage in 

 this enterprise with any fears, or with any doubts of 

 their success : they were stimulated by avarice, and en- 

 thusiasm; the first, made them submit to any hardship 

 -and encounter every danger, whilst the second made 

 them believe that they were fighting for the glory of 

 God, and, on this account, sure of his protection. They 

 erected the cross as their standard, with this inscrip- 

 tion, Let us follow the cross, for under this sign we shall 

 conquer. Thus, under the great emblem of peace on 

 -earth, they commenced an expedition of bloodshed and 

 plunder. 



Cortes touched at the island of Cozumel, where he 

 had the good fortune to redeem Jerome de Aguilar, a 

 -Spaniard, who had been eight years a prisoner among 

 -the Indians, and who was afterwards extremely useful 

 as an interpreter. Having left Cozumel he proceeded 

 ■to Tabasco, where he found the natives unfriendly, and 

 from thence he sailed to St Juan de Ulua. As he en- 

 tered the harbour, a canoe full of people, among whom 

 appeared to be some persons of distinction, approached 

 his ship with signs of peace and friendship. They 

 came on board without fear or distrust, and addressed 

 him in a language totally unknown to Aguilar his in- 

 terpreter. This circumstance caused great embarrass- 

 ment, from which, however, he was fortunately relie- 

 ved by a female slave, whom he had received from the 

 Cazique of Tabasco. She perfectly understood the 

 Mexican language, as she was a native of Mexico, but 

 had fallen into the hands of the Tabascans, among whom 

 she had resided long enough to learn their language, 

 without losing her own. She was afterwards called 

 Donna Marina, and makes a conspicuous figure in the 

 history of the new world. She explained the words of 

 the Mexicans in the Yucatan tongue, which Aguilar 

 translated into Spanish. The strangers proved to be 

 deputies sent by Teutile and Pilpatoe, two officers en- 

 trusted with the government of that province, by 1 Mon- 

 tezuma, emperor of Mexico : and the object of their 

 mission was to enquire into the intention of Cortes in 

 visiting their coast, and to offer him assistance in pro- 

 secuting his voyage. Cortes landed his troops, horse, 

 and artillery ; and the unsuspecting natives, with a fa- 

 tal alacrity, assisted him in fortifying a camp, and erect- 

 ing huts for his men. 



Next day the two governors of the province entered 

 the camp with a numerous retinue, and Cortes received 

 them with much formal ceremony. He told them that 

 he was the ambassador of Don Carlos of Austria, king 

 of Castile, the greatest monarch in the East, and that he 

 was entrusted with propositions of such importance, 

 that he would impart them to none but the emperor 

 himself. The officers were much disturbed at this in- 

 telligence, which they knew would not be agreeable to 

 their master. They endeavoured, however, to conci- 

 liate the affections of the Spaniards by presents, consist- 

 ing of fine cotton cloth, plumes of various colours, and 

 ornaments of gold. These were fatal presents; they 

 tended only to whet the avarice of Cortes and his com- 

 panions, and he demanded in a more determined mun^ 



ner than ever, to be admitted to a personal audience 

 with their sovereign. During this interview, several 

 painters, in the train of the Mexican chiefs, were em- 

 ployed in delineating the ships, horses, artillery, sol- 

 diers, &c. on white cotton cloth, which Cortes was in- 

 formed, was to be sent to the emperor, to give him a 

 proper idea of what words could not represent. Oh 

 learning this, he made his men go through their va- 

 rious evolutions, exhibited the power and agility of his 

 horses, an animal till then unknown to the Mexicans, 

 and last of all displayed the terrific thunder of his ar- 

 tillery. They beheld all the rest with astonishment, 

 but when they heard the explosion - of the guns, and 

 saw the dreadful havoc which the balls made among 

 the trees, they were filled with dread and horror : some 

 ran away, others fell to the ground, and it was with 

 some difficulty that Cortes could regain their confi- 

 dence. 



An account of all these things was sent to Monte- 

 zuma, who immediately dispatched messengers to Cortes 

 with rich presents, but with a peremptory order to leava 

 his dominions. The Spanish commander on his part 

 still insisted on a personal interview. Whilst negocia- 

 tions were carrying on between the Mexicans and Spa- 

 niards, Cortes was not perfectly easy on his part. He 

 was sensible that he only held an usurped authority ; 

 and was afraid lest the representations of Velasquez 

 should induce the Spanish court to recal him from the 

 great enterprise which he had in view. To obviate 

 these difficulties, he founded the colony of Vera Cruz, 

 in the king's name; pretended to resign his authority 

 into the hands of the new magistrates whom he him- 

 self had constituted, and was, as might be expected, 

 conjured by them to resume the command. At the 

 same time he prevailed on the magistrates of the new 

 colony to write a letter to the king, requesting the con- 

 firmation of what they had done. Cortes himself wrote 

 on the same occasion ; and whilst he gave a most ex- 

 aggerated account of the country which he was about 

 to conquer for the crown of Spain, he was fortunate in 

 having it in his power to accompany his representations 

 with valuable specimens of its productions. 



All his measures, however, had nearly been thwarted 

 by the mutinous spirit of his followers. The partizahs 

 of Velasquez, several of whom were among his troops, 

 were continually endeavouring to excite sedition ; and 

 many of his soldiers became alarmed at the prospect of 

 the dangers which they must encounter. A conspiracy 

 was formed in consequence against Cortes, which he 

 had the good fortune to discover and defeat when it 

 was on the eve of being earned into execution. 



To engage his followers completely in the enterprise 

 on which his own heart was so fully set, and to cut oft* 

 the very possibility of abandoning it, he formed the re- 

 solution of destroying his fleet. It was of the utmost 

 consequence, however, not to estrange the affections of 

 his adherents, by any seemingly rash or despotic act 

 originating in his own views and feelings : And his ad- 

 dress and power over the minds of his followers are 

 conspicuously displayed, in making them voluntarily 

 consent to such a sacrifice. He pointed out the leaky 

 and unserviceable state of the ships, the great accession 

 of strength they would derive from the sailors who 

 manned them ; and above all, he pressed upon them 

 the necessity of fixing their hopes on the rich country 

 which lay before them. In consequence of these repre- 

 sentations, the ships were drawn ashore, stript of their 

 sails, rigging, iron-work, &c. and broken in pieces. 

 And thus 500 men consented to shut themselves up in 



Corte". 



