While we know our northern friends may not feel it, in the South, Spring is
here. So we thought we'd share a few of our gardening sites appropriate
for this time of the year. Along with gardening, there's grilling, and getting
ready to diet so that you can fit back into that bathing suit this summer!
Rebuilding Of The City. Extension
Of Spanish Power. The March To Honduras.
Execution Of Guatimozin Donna Marina. Modern Mexico.
"Now they
are gone gone as thy setting blaze
Goes down the west, while night is pressing
on,
And with them the old tale of better days,
And trophies of remembered power are gone."
Bryant.
Within a few years after the scenes we
have just de scribed, the royal city of the
Aztec monarchs rose from its ruins with
renewed splendor; but under what different
circumstances from those which attended its
first establishment ! The proud-spirited
nation, reduced to degrading servitude, was
compelled to build and plant for the benefit
of the victorious Spaniards, whose power
daily increased with the multitudes flocking
from the Old World to seek wealth or novelty
in the sunny climes of New Spain.
The modern city of Mexico presents a very
different aspect from that of the ancient
capital. By the drainage of the lake, it no
longer stands upon an island; and the
causeys, which led to it, still used as
public roads, are said to be scarcely
distinguishable from the other highways.
All the surrounding tribes who did not yield
implicitly to the dictates of the general,
when the great city was destroyed, were
promptly quelled and humbled. Confirmed in
his authority by royal commission for the
efforts of his enemies could avail little
against the universal acclamation which
followed the news of his successes Cortez
continued to increase the extent of Spanish
dominion, and still more effectually to
crush all spirit of opposition among the
miserable Mexicans. We cannot detail the
terrible examples of vengeance, which
followed any attempt to throw off the
galling yoke. With such coadjutors as
Alvarado, Sandoval, and other of his veteran
officers, resistance to his supremacy proved
worse than vain. The stake or the halter was
the ready instrument by which the crime of
rebellion was punished.
In October of 1524, Cortez, with a small
force of Spaniards, and a large body of
natives, undertook a long and difficult
march to Honduras. His purpose was to
chastise the rebellious de Olid, who had
thrown off his general s authority. Although
the details of the dangers, hardships, and
adventures in this expedition are minute and
interesting, we only refer to it as giving
occasion for the destruction of the last
Aztec monarch. Continually apprehensive of a
new revolt, Cortez had, ever since the
conquest, kept his royal prisoner a close
attendant on his person. Together with his
faithful vassal, the lord of Tacuba,
Guatimozin was taken to accompany the party
to Honduras. At Gueyacala, or Aculan, a
conspiracy of the Mexicans in the train to
fall upon and massacre the Spaniards, was
reported to the general, and attributed to
the influence of these two nobles. All
participation in this plot was denied by the
captives; but slight suspicion was
sufficient to furnish an excuse to the
unscrupulous Spaniard for ridding himself of
a constant source of anxiety.
Guatimozin and the Tacuban governor were
both hanged by his orders, Diaz affirms that
there was but one opinion among the company,
that this was "a most unjust and cruel
sentence." He proceeds to say that Cortez
suffered much in his conscience for this
act. "He was so distracted by these thoughts
that he could not rest in his bed at night,
and, getting up in the dark to walk about,
as a relief from his anxieties, he went into
a large apartment where some of the idols
were worshipped. Here he missed his way, and
fell from the height of twelve feet, to the
ground, receiving a desperate wound and
contusions in his head. This circumstance he
tried to conceal, keeping his sufferings to
himself, and getting his hurts cured as well
as he could."
An interesting incident occurred on this
march relative to the history of the
faithful interpreter Donna Marina. The
course taken led the army through her native
province, and it so chanced that, at a great
conclave of chiefs and principal inhabitants
to hold conference with the Spaniards, her
mother and brother were present. The
unnatural parent, who had so long before
sold her daughter as a slave, thought the
hour of retribution was at hand, but Marina
encouraged and caressed her, making her
offerings of jewels and other attractive
trifles. She avowed her attachment to the
Spaniards and their religion, expressing
great pride and satisfaction in the son and
the husband, for both of whom she stood
indebted to her noble master and friend.
We must now take leave of the historical
detail of Mexican chronicles, with a few
remarks upon the condition of the Indians
subsequent to the conquest, the changes
since wrought by lapse of time, the
introduction of a foreign population, and
the mixture of races.
For a long period the mass of the natives
were compelled to waste their lives in
hopeless toil on the plantations, in the
mines, or at the rising cities of their
oppressors.
Cortez felt and expressed some compunctious
visiting of conscience at the adoption of
this general system of slavery, but fell in
with it as being essential to the
maintenance of Spanish power and the speedy
growth of the colonies. He saw that the
mental capacity of the people was far
superior to that of the other North American
aborigines, and felt some natural regret
that their national pride should be entirely
humbled, and their opportunities for
civilization and improvement be so entirely
cut off. A better state of things was
gradually brought about, and the inhabitants
of pure native descent are now spoken of as
a cheerful, courteous race, busying
themselves in the simpler arts of
manufacture, cultivating their fields, and
enjoying the equable freedom from anxiety,
so congenial to the mild and delicious
climate of their country.
Pulque, the intoxicating drink of the
Mexicans, is productive of the evil effects
that such beverages always pro duce among
the Indians of America; and, in the large
cities, a disgusting horde of lazaroni
disfigures the public squares. In the city
of Mexico, these beggars are especially
numerous.
The half-breeds, who form at the present day
so extensive a portion of the population,
present every variety of social position.
Some of Montezuma s descendants married into
noble families of Spain, and their posterity
arrived at great wealth and dignity. The
wife of Guatimozin, after his execution,
married successively no less than three
Castilians of honorable family. She is
everywhere spoken of as a woman of charming
appearance and attractive manners. A
descendant of the former emperor of the
Aztecs held the office of Spanish viceroy in
Mexico as late as the close of the
seventeenth century.
This site
includes some historical materials that may imply negative stereotypes
reflecting the culture or language of a particular period or place. These
items are presented as part of the historical record and should not be
interpreted to mean that the WebMasters in any way endorse the stereotypes
implied .
Indian Races of North and South America, By Charles De Wolf Brownell, 1865
