HISTORICAL ASPECTS OF THE CONQUEST. 



79 



destroy rather than to sustain him, and when not only their alle- 

 giance but their religion invoked a dreadful vengeance on the sac- 

 religious hands that despoiled their temples, overthrew their Gods, 

 and made a jest of their most sacred rites. It was, indeed, not 

 only a victory over the judgments, but over the superstitions, of 

 an excitable, ardent and perhaps unreflective nation ; and, in what- 

 ever aspect we regard the man who effected it solely by the 

 omnipotence of his will, we are more and more forced to admire 

 the majesty of his genius and the fortune or providence that made 

 him a chosen and conspicuous instrument in the development of 

 our continent. 



The conquest of Mexico, — in its relation to the rest of the 

 world, — has a double aspect, worthy of examination. The sub- 

 sequent history and condition of the country, which we design to 

 treat in the following pages, will develope one of these topics; — 

 the condition of the country, at the period of the conquest, will 

 disclose another, whilst it palliates, if it does not altogether 

 apologize for the cruelties and apparent rapine by which the 

 subjugation of the empire was effected. 



