VII. BOOK perfonal merit and accomplishments that diftinc tion can be acquired. The form of fociety was very different among the Mexicans. The great body of the people was in a moft humiliating state. A confiderable number, known by the name of Mayeques, nearly refembling in condition those peasants who, under various denominations, were confidered, during the prevalence of the feudal fyftem, as inftruments of labour attached to the foil. The Mayeques could not change their place of refidence without permiffion of the fuperior on whom they depended. They were conveyed, together with the lands on which they were fettled, from one proprietor to another; and were bound to cultivate the ground, and to perform feveral kinds of fervile work'. Others were reduced to the lowest form of fubjection, that of domestic fervitude, and felt the utmost rigour of that wretched state. Their condition was held to be fo vile, and their lives deemed to be of fo little value, that a perfon who killed one of these flaves was not fubjected to any punifhment". Even thofe confidered as freemen were treated by their haughty lords as beings of an inferior fpecies. The nobles, poffeffed of ample territories, were divided 1 Herrera, dec. 3. lib. iv. c. 17. Corita, MS. sa Herrera, dec. 3. lib. iv. c. 7. VII. into various claffes, to each of which peculiar BOOK titles of honour belonged. Some of these titles, like their lands, defcended from father to fon in perpetual fucceffion. Others were annexed to particular offices, or conferred during life as marks of perfonal diftinction". The monarch, exalted above all, enjoyed extenfive power, and fupreme dignity. Thus the diftinction of ranks was completely established, in a line of regular fubordination, reaching from the highest to the lowest member of the community. Each of thefe knew what he could claim, and what he owed. The people, who were not allowed to wear a dress of the fame fashion, or to dwell in houfes of a form fimilar to thofe of the nobles, accofted them with the utmost fubmiffive reverence. In the presence of their fovereign, they durft not lift their eyes from the ground, or look him in the face. The nobles themselves, when admitted to an audience of their fovereign, entered bare-footed, in mean garments, and, as his flaves, paid him homage approaching to adoration. This refpect due from inferiors to those above them in rank, was prescribed with fuch ceremonious accuracy, that it incorporated with the language, and influenced its genius and Herrera, dec. 3. lib. iv. c. 15. Gorita, MS. • Herrera, dec. 3. lib. ii. c. 14. VOL. III. U idiom. BOOK idiom. The Mexican tongue abounded in exVII. preffions of reverence and courtefy. The stile and appellations, used in the intercourse between equals, would have been fo unbecoming in the mouth of one in a lower fphere, when he accofted a perfon in higher rank, as to be deemed an infult P. It is only in focieties, which time and the institution of regular government have moulded into form, that we find fuch an orderly arrangement of men into different ranks, and fuch nice attention paid to their various rights. THE fpirit of the Mexicans, thus familiarized and bended to fubordination, was prepared for fubmitting to monarchical government. But the defcriptions of their policy and laws, by the Spaniards who overturned them, are fo inaccurate and contradictory, that it is difficult to delineate the form of their conftitution with any precision. Sometimes they reprefent the monarchs of Mexico as abfolute, deciding according to their pleasure, with refpect to every operation of the state. On other occafions, we difcover the traces of established cuftoms and laws, framed in order to circumfcribe the power of the crown, and we meet with rights and privileges of the nobles which feem to be ? See NOTE XXXI. oppofed VII. oppofed as barriers against its encroachments. BOOK This appearance of inconfiftency has arisen from inattention to the innovations of Montezuma upon the Mexican policy. His afpiring ambition fubverted the original fyftem of government, and introduced a pure defpotifm. He difre garded the ancient laws, violated the privileges held most facred, and reduced his fubjects of every order to the level of flaves. The chiefs, or nobles of the first rank, fubmitted to the yoke with such reluctance, that, from impatience to fhake it off, and hope of recovering their rights, many of them courted the protection of Cortes, and joined a foreign power against their domeftic oppreffor '. It is not then under the dominion of Montezuma, but under the government of his predeceffors, that we can discover what was the original form and genius of Mexican policy. From the foundation of the monarchy to the election of Montezuma, it feems to have fubfifted with little variation. That body of citizens, which may be diftinguished by the name of nobility, formed the chief and most refpectable order in the ftate. They were of various ranks, as has been already observed, and VII. BOOK their honours were acquired and tranfmitted in different manners. Their number feems to have been great. According to an author accustomed to examine with attention what he relates, there were in the Mexican empire thirty of this order, each of whom had in his territories about an hundred thousand people, and fubordinate to thefe, there were about three thousand nobles of a lower clafs. The territories belonging to the chiefs of Tezeuco and Tacuba were hardly inferior in extent to thofe of the Mexican monarch. Each of thefe poffeffed complete territorial jurifdiction, and levied taxes from their own vaffals. But all followed the ftandard of Mexico in war, ferving with a number of men in proportion to their domain, and moft of them paid tribute to its monarch as their fuperior lord. IN tracing those great lines of the Mexican conftitution, an image of feudal policy, in its most rigid form, rifes to view, and we difcern its three distinguishing characteristics, a nobility poffeffing almost independent authority, a people depreffed into the lowest state of fubjection, and a king entrusted with the executive power of the |