318 



HISTORY OF MEXICO. 



liity for being crowned. Cacamatzin availed himfelf of 

 this wife counfel, and came to the court accompanied by 

 Cuitlahuazin the brother of Montezuma, and lord of 

 Iztapalapan, and many of the Mexican nobility. Cuit- 

 lahuazin, without lofmg any time, affembled the Tez- 

 cucan nobility in the Hueidecpan^ or the great palace of 

 the king of Acolhuacan, and prefented prince Cacamat- 

 zin to be acknowledged by them as their lawful fovc- 

 reign. He was received as fach by them all, and the 

 day for the ceremony of the coronation was fixed ; but 

 this was interrupted by intelligence arriving at court, 

 that the prince Ixtlilxochitl was defcending from the 

 mountains of Meztitlan at the head of a great army. 



This turbulent youth as foon as he arrived at Mez- 

 titlan, alTembled all the lords of the places fituated in 

 thofe great mountains, and made them acquainted with 

 his defign of oppofmg his brother Cacamatzin, pretend- 

 ing that it was his zeal for the honour and liberty of the 

 Chechemecan and Acolhuan nations which moved him ; 

 that it would be difgraceful, and even dangerous, to pay 

 obedience to a king, fo pliant to the will of the monarch 

 of Mexico ; that the Mexicans had forgot what they 

 owed to the Acolhuan nation, and were defirous of in- 

 creafing their unjuft ufurpations with the kingdom of 

 Acolhuacan ; that he for his part was refolved to exert 

 all the courage which God had given him, to defend and 

 fave his country from the tyranny of Montezuma. 

 With thefe arguments, which were probably fuggefted 

 to him by his tutors, he fo fired the minds of thofe lords, 

 that they all profefled themfelves willing to ferve him 

 with all their forces, and raifed fo many troops that 

 when the prince defcended from the mountains his army 

 it is faid amounted to upwards of one hundred thoufand 



men; 



