ced along the causeways, the Indian allies repaired the breaches behind them; and as soon as they got possession of any part of the city, the houses were immediately levelled with the ground. Incredible numbers of the Mexicans fell in the conflicts that were every day renewed; and the survivors experienced all the horrors of famine, as their stores were exhausted by the multitudes that had flocked to the capital to defend their sovereign and the temples of their gods, and the Spaniards, with their allies, were masters of the lake, and of all the avenues that led to the city. The Spaniards continuing their progress, all the three divisions of their army at last met in the great square in the centre of the city, where they made a secure lodgement. Threefourths of Mexico were now laid in ruins; and the remaining quarter was so hard pressed, that it could not long resist the efforts of the assailants. At this jucture, Guatimozin was taken by the brigantines on the lake in attempting to make his escape in a canoe. As soon as the capture of the emperor was known, the resistance of the Mexicans ceased, and Cortez took possession of the small part of the city that was not destroyed. Thus terminated the siege of Mexico, after having continued seventy-five days, scarcely one of which passed without some extraordinary effort of attack or defence. The Spaniards, as may be expected, were elated with joy, by the completion of their difficult conquest, and the expectation of sharing immense spoils. But in the latter respect they were miserably disappointed. Guatimozin foreseeing his impending fate, had caused all the riches amassed by his ancestors to be thrown into the lake, and instead of becoming masters of the treasures of Montezuma and the spoils of the temples, the conquerors could collect only a small booty amidst ruins of desolation. The Spaniards exclaimed loudly against their general, whom they suspected of appropriating the greatest part of the spoils to his own use, as well as against Guatimozin, whom they accused of obstinately concealing his treasures. In order to allay this ferment, Cortez consented to a deed that sullied all the glory of his former actions. He suffered the royal captive, with his principal minister, to be put to the rack, in order to oblige him to discover the place where his riches were concealed. The unhappy monarch bore his sufferings with all the firmness of a hero; and when his minister uttered some complaint, he said, "Am I now reposing on a bed of roses." The favourite, stung with remorse, persevered in dutiful silence and expired. Cortez, ashamed of so horrid a scene, rescued the royal victim from the hands of his torturers. The unfortunate Guatimozin being sometime afterwards suspected of forming a scheme to throw off the Spanish yoke, was by Cortez condemned to be hanged, together with the Caziques of Tezeuco and Tacuba, two persons of the greatest eminence in the empire. The success of Cortez, and the splendour of his conquest, procured him from the emperor Charles V, the vice-royalty of Mexico, in spite of the claims of Velasquez, and the insinuations of his other enemies. Religion.]-The religion of the ancient Mexicans was the most horrid system of idolatry that ever existed in the world. Their worship appears to have been directed not to a benevolent, but a malignant deity, who delighted in destruction and whom they endeavoured to appease by horrid rites and human sacrifices. Their principal deities were thirteen in number; but they also acknowledged a variety of local divi nities, who presided over the mountains, the valleys, and other particular parts of nature, as well as over the affairs of life; but Mexitli, the god of war, seems to have been the chief object of adoration. They had numerous idols rudely formed of stone, wood, or clay, and sometimes decorated with gems and gold. Their priests were numerous, and had an almost unlimited influence over the people. They wore a black cotton mantle resembling a veil; and there seems to have been an order of monks, as in the eastern countries of Asia. The principal part of the Mexican worship seems to have consisted in human sacrifices. Every captive taken in war was cruelly tortured and immolated on the altars of the Mexican gods. The head and the heart were the portion of those blood-thirsty divinities; while the rest of the body was assigned to the captors, who feasted on the flesh. The number of human victims immolated to the Mexican idols has been variously stated, and undoubtedly often exaggerated. When Herrera tells us that 5000, nay, even 20,000, had sometimes been sacrificed in one day, we find ourselves obliged to suspend our belief. Zummurraga, first bishop of Mexico, Gomara, and Torquemada, concur in stating the annual number of victims at 20,000; and the last of these writers represents them as consisting chiefly of children. Barthol. de las Casas, the avowed advocate of the Americans, on the contrary, reduces the number to 50 or 100. The account given by Barthol. Dias, however, appears the most probable. This author informs us, that from an inquiry set on foot by the Franciscan friars immediately after the conquest, the number of human victims annually sacrificed in Mexico appeared to be about two thousand five hundred, a number sufficient to make humanity shudder.† The idolatrous systems of the ancient Egyptians, the Greeks, the Romans, and the modern Orientals, must be considered as innocent superstitions in compa rison of those horrid oblations. The Mexican religion was founded solely on fear, commanding rigid fasts, severe penances, voluntary wounds and tortures; and the temples were decorated with the figures of destructive animals. In fine, the whole apparatus of this barbarous religion was calculated to inspire terror. In no other part of the world does the human mind appear to have ever been so dreadfully disordered by terrific ideas. Government.]-The ancient government of Mexico was monarchical and hereditary in the royal family, although the succession was not strictly confined to lineal descent, as a brother or nephew of the deceased prince was sometimes preferred to his sons. There were several royal councils and classes of nobility, which were mostly hereditary; and despotism seems to have been first introduced by the celebrated Montezuma. Land, however, was not supposed to belong to the monarch, as in China, and some other Oriental countries, but was alienable by the proprietors. As writing was unknown, there was no code of laws; and all cases of litigation were determined by traditional rules and established customs. * One of Cortez' officers is said to have counted 136,000 skulls. See Dr. Robertson's Disquision on this subject in the notes to his second volume of the History of America, where the Spanish writers are quoted and compared. Military force."-If the Mexican armies were so numerous as they have been represented by the Spaniards, it seems that the whole effective population, according to the general cus tom of remote antiquity, was, in cases of emergency, brought into the field. Their arms and tactics, however, were extremely rude. Nothing can be said with any appearance of precision concerning the national revenue. Commerce, &c.]-The Mexicans seem to have had scarcely any idea of commerce, and had no manufactures except those of the first necessity.t Population.-From the relations of the Spanish writers, the population of Mexico, at the time of the conquest, would appear to have been immense. These accounts, however, were undoubtedly exaggerated, as it is commonly the case in respect of newly discovered countries. But in regard to the conquest of Mexico, and we might add, of Peru, particular sources of exaggeration existed. The Spanish conquerors exaggerated their own exploits, which certainly were extraordinary; and the Spanish authors amplified and embellished all their narrations. Every story relating to these new and singular countries was greedily swallowed in Spain, and soon gained implicit credit throughout Europe. Although no estimate can be made of the population of ancient Mexico, it was undoubtedly far less numerous than has been generally believed. Languages, &c.]-Grammars and dictionaries of the Mexican language have been published; and from these it appears to be radically different from the Peruvian, to which it is [According to Estalla, who published a very minute account of the force of the Spaniards in New Spain, the whole number of their troops was 43,000. Three-fourths of these were militia. Pinkerton supposes that the viceroyalty of New Spain could not send into the field 15,000 effective men. AM. ED.] [According to Estalla, the revenue amounts to about 4,000,000%. sterling. AM. ED.] t[The commerce of New Spain is at present of great extent and im portance. It is carried on principally with Old Spain, and the West Indies. One ship arrives every year from the Phillippine islands, laden with silks, printed cottons, wax, porcelain, &c. AM. ED.] sweetness and elegance. The Mexican words frequently ended in tl, and like those of the North American savages, are of an extraordinary length, some of them consisting of no less than fifteen syllables. Their poetry consisted of hymns in honour of their deities, with some heroic and amatory songs; and they had also a rude species of drama. Polite arts, &c.—In the arts of civilized life, the Mexicans were certainly far inferior to the Peruvians.* They seem, indeed, not to have surpassed in this respect the inhabitants of some of the islands in the Pacific Ocean. Their symbolical paintings exhibited brilliant colours; but the designs were extremely rude. Their edifices were meanly built of turf and stone, and generally thatched with reeds. Even the great temple of Mexico was only a square mound of earth, partly faced with stone. Each of its sides was ninety feet; and on the top was a quadrangle of thirty feet, on which was the shrine of the Deity. The very ruins of the Mexican buildings have perished, while the solid structures of the Peruvians yet remain. Manners.-The manners of the ancient Mexicans have been so often and so minutely described, that nothing more is here necessary than to sketch some particular features. They cultivated maize, and various kinds of vegetables; but their agriculture was rude. Their dress was a loose cloak, and a sash girt round the naked waist. Their wars were con stant and sanguinary, a circumstance which concurred with their religion in tincturing their manners with ferocity, as their principal warriors used to dance through the streets covered with the skins of the sacrificed captives. The dedication of their temples was solemnized by numerous human sacrifices. Clavigero, if credit may be given to his history, says, that 12,210 human victims were sacrificed at the consecration of two of their temples. On the death of a chief, a great number of his attendants were immolated. In fine, superstition and cruelty were the predominant features in the Mexican character. Robertson's Hist. of America, vol. 3. p. 209. |