CORTES
4*2
CORTLAND
Mr. Cortelyou was chairman of the Republican National Committee.
Cortes (kdr'tez}, Hernando, the con-
§eror of Mexico, was born in Medellin, ain, in 1485. At 19 his longing for venture sent him on a voyage to San Domingo, and soon after he joined Velasquez in the conquest of Cuba. Alvarado's glowing description of Mexico induced Velasquez to place Corte*s at the head of a new expedition. On Nov. 18, 1518, Corte*s sailed on one of the most daring adventures of history. He had 550 Spaniards, two or three hundred Indians, twelve or fifteen horses, ten brass guns and a few small cannon. At Trinidad he was astounded by orders from Velasquez to give up the command. Cortes refused to do this, and so cut himself from all hope, save in success. Landing, he fought his first battle at To-basco, where he captured the beautiful and faithful Donna Marina, who became his interpreter. Soon messengers came from the king, Moctezuma, bringing rich presents but forbidding him to visit the capital. Here some of his men, who were friendly to Velasquez, wanted to turn back, but, taking them into his confidence, the commander told them that conquest, not mere trade, was what he was after, and so won them over. Founding Vera Cruz and burning his ships behind him, he marched to Tlascala, and after hard fighting subdued the country. Soon after, with some thousands of Tlascalans, now his allies, he set set out for Mexico. On Nov. 8, 1519, Corte*s reached the capital, which seemed to the Spaniards like a dream or an enchanted castle. They saw before them a city of 300,000 people, in the middle of a great salt lake, approached by three causeways of solid masonry, from three to six miles long, with many wooden drawbridges. He had hardly been a week in the city, when, on the ground that Vera Cruz had been attacked, Moctezuma was carried to the Spanish quarters and put in irons. At first the Mexicans were stricken with fear of these strange men, with horses and cannon; but they soon saw that they were only men after all, and very few at that; so when Moctezuma had been imprisoned some five months, he begged the Spaniards to leave. Corte*s asked for time, and learning that 18 ships had landed, sent by Velasquez, he left Alvarado in command, and with a handful of men set out for the coast. At Cholula, by a night-attack in a blinding storm, he defeated 800 fresh Spaniards, who gladly joined his troops. Two weeks later came the news that the Spanish quarter was besieged. On reaching the city, Cortes found himself. face to face with the whole nation, led by Mocte-zuma's brother. After driving back with difficulty a fierce attack, he saw that he must leave the city. At midnight began
the retreat over the causeway. Its three bridges had been destroyed by the Mexicans; the first was crossed by a pontoon, but at once the lake was covered with canoes, and so hot was the attack that at the second bridge the pontoon could not be raised. Soon the water was choked with struggling horses and men, and the retreat became a hopeless rout. Out of that fearful night a handful escaped to land, only to find themselves surrounded by a countless host. Yet they^ cut their way through, every man fighting as ten men would fight, and reached their friends, the Tlascalans. Six months later Corte"s, with 10,000 Tlascalans, marched on Mexico again. Brigantines were built, attacks along the causeway were made and a regular siege begun; 50,000 Mexicans died from famine and pestilence; yet the city had to be destroyed before it was taken. At last it fell, after 75 days' siege, which for bravery ranks with any in the annals of war. The Spaniards entered, but found only ruined houses filled with heaps of dead. In 1528 Cortes visited Spain and was highly honored, but, though appointed captain-general, he was not made governor of New Spain, as Mexico was now called. The next ten years he was forced to stand by and see another's bungling government of the rich empire he had won. Meanwhile he discovered Lower California (1533). Disappointed, poor and in ill-health, he went back to Spain in 1540. He accompanied Charles V on his disastrous Algerian expedition, and, touched to the heart by the emperor's refusal to allow him to capture Algiers, answered: "I am a man who has given you more provinces than your ancestors left you cities." Cortes was no common adventurer, but a captain of great military genius and, withal, a statesman of deep foresight. He was cruel sometimes, and passionate, but patient, religious, simple in life, and worshiped by his soldiers and Indian allies. He died near Seville, Dec. 2, 1547. %
Cor'tex (in plants). The tissues of stems and roots are arranged in three general regions. In the center is the woody cylinder, sometimes solid and sometimes containing a pith. Outside of the woody cylinder is the region of the cortex, containing the active cells; and about the cortex is the epidermis. In perennial plants, where bark is formed, the cork is developed in the cortex, and the epidermis disappears.
Cort'land, N. Y., a city, the county seat of Cortland County, on the Delaware, Lackawanna & Western and Lehigh Valley railroads, 35 miles south of Syracuse. Settled in the latter part of the 18th century, the city was in 1829 set off as Cortland-ville. It has a state normal school and other educational institutions, together with the Hatch Public Library. Its manufactures
