MONTEZUMA A PRISONER HIS SUBMISSIVENESS. 41 



subordinate, and demanded the apprehension of the cacique to 

 answer for the slaughter of their inoffensive countrymen. Monte- 

 zuma, of course, immediately disavowed the treason and ordered 

 the arrest of the Governor ; but Cortez would not receive an 

 apology or verbal reparation of the injury, — although he professed 

 to believe the exculpation of Montezuma himself, — unless that 

 sovereign would restore the Spaniard's confidence in his fidelity by 

 quitting his palace and changing his residence to the quarters of 

 the invaders ! 



This was, indeed, an unexpected blow. It was one of those 

 strokes of unparalleled boldness which paralyzed their victim by 

 sheer amazement. After considerable discussion and useless 

 appeals, the entrapped Emperor tamely submitted to the sur- 

 prising demand, for he saw, in the resolved faces of his armed 

 and steel-clad foes, that resistance was useless, if he attempted to 

 save his own life, with the small and unprepared forces that were 

 at hand. 



For a while the most ceremonious respect was paid by the 

 conqueror and his men to their royal prisoner, who, under strict 

 surveillance , maintained his usual courtly pomp, and performed all 

 the functions of Emperor. But Cortez soon became his master. 

 The will of an effeminate king was no match for the indomitable 

 courage, effrontery and genius of the Spanish knight. The offending 

 cacique of Cempoalla was burned alive, either to glut hie vengeance 

 or inspire dread ; and when the traitor endeavored to compromise 

 Montezuma in his crime, fetters were placed for an hour on the limbs 

 of the imprisoned sovereign. Every day the disgraced Emperor 

 became, more and more, the mere minister of Cortez. He was forced 

 to discountenance publicly those who murmured at his confinement, 

 or to arrest the leading conspirators for his deliverance. He 

 granted a province to the Castilian crown and swore allegiance 

 to it. He collected the tribute and revenue from dependant cities 

 or districts in the name of the Spanish king ; and, at last, struck a 

 blow even at his hereditary and superstitious faith by ordering the 

 great Teocalli to be purged of its human gore and the erection of 

 an altar on its summit, on which, before the cross and the images 

 of the Virgin and her Son, the Christian mass might be celebrated 

 in the presence of the Aztec multitude. 



It was at this moment, when Cortez tried the national nerve 

 most daringly by interfering with the religious superstitions of a 

 dissatisfied town, and when every symptom of a general rebellion 

 6 



