Conquest of Mexico
The first of these authors had access to some contemporary sources, the chronicle of the old soldier, Ojeda, for example, not now to be met with. It is strange, that so valiant an exploit should not have been communicated by Cortés himself, who cannot be accused of diffidence in such matters.
Page 86 (1).—Captain Diaz, a little loth sometimes, is emphatic in his encomiums on the valour shown by his commander on this occasion. "Here Cortés showed himself very much of a man, as he always was. O, what a fight! What a desperate battle we won there, and what a memorable thing it was to see all of us streaming with blood, covered with wounds, and with more than forty of our men slain." (Hist, de la Conquista, cap. 126.) The pens of the old chroniclers keep pace with their swords in the display of this brilliant exploit;—"colla penna e colla spada," equally fortunate.—See Rel. Seg. de Cortés, ap. Lorenzana, p. 138.—Gomara, Crónica, cap. 106.—Sahagun, Hist, de Nueva España, MS., lib. 12, cap. 22.—Herrera, Hist. General, dec. 2. lib. 10, cap. 9.—Oviedo, Hist, de las Ind., MS., lib. 33, cap. 13.—Torquemada, Monarch. Ind., lib. 4, cap. 69.
Page 86 (2).—Archbishop Lorenzana is of opinion that this image of the Virgin is the same now seen in the church of Nuestra Señora de los Remedios! (Rel. Seg. de Cortés, ap. Lorenzana, p. 138, nota.) In what way the Virgin survived the sack of the city, and was brought to light again, he does not inform us. But the more difficult to explain, the more undoubted the miracle.
Page 86 (3).—No achievement in the war struck more awe into the Mexicans than this storming of the great temple, in which the white men seemed to bid defiance equally to the powers of God and man. Hieroglyphical paintings minutely commemorating it were to be frequently found among the natives after the Conquest. The sensitive Captain Diaz intimates that those which he saw made full as much account of the wounds and losses of the Christians as the facts would warrant. (Ibid., ubi supra.) It was the only way in which the conquered could take their revenge.
Page 86 (4).—In the number of actions and their general result, namely, the victories, barren victories of the Christians, all writers are agreed. But as to time, place, circumstance, or order, no two hold together. How shall the historian of the present day make a harmonious tissue out of these motley and many-coloured threads?
Page 88 (1).—It is the name by which she is still celebrated in the popular minstrelsy of Mexico. Was the famous Tlascalan mountain, sierra de Malinche,—anciently " Mattalcueye,"—named in compliment to the Indian damsel? At all events, it was an honour well merited from her adopted countrymen.
Page 88 (2).—According to Cortés, they boasted, in somewhat loftier strain, they could spare twenty-five thousand for one, "twenty-five thousand of their men might die for every one of ours."—Rel. Seg. de Cortés, ap. Lorenzana, p. 139.
Page 88 (3).—"That all the roads leading to the city were destroyed, as in fact they were."— Rel. Seg. de Cortés, ap. Lorenzana, p. 139.—Oviedo, Hist, de las Ind., MS., lib. 33, cap. 13.
Page 90 (1).—Notwithstanding this, in the petition or letter from Vera Cruz, addressed by the army to the Emperor Charles V., after the Conquest, the importunity of the soldiers is expressly stated as the principal motive that finally induced their general to abandon the city.—Carta del Exército, MS.
Page 90 (2).—"Food was so scarce that the Indians were given only one tortilla as a daily ration, the Spaniards receiving fifty grains of maize apiece."—Herrera, Hist. General, dec. 2 lib. 10, cap. 9.422
