492
THE MIXTON WAR.
We are not accustomed to seek long for the reason of insurrection and revolt among conquered nations. In this instance we need only call to mind that Nuño de Guzman had been there. As to more recent causes we have the testimony of Cortés that the trouble was due to Coronado's departure,[1] and Mendoza's extortion of men and provisions for that
Mixton War.
expedition. Beaumont declares it certain that the insurrection originated in the brutality of the encomenderos.[2]
- ↑ Peticion al Emperador, in Icazbalceta, Col. Doc., ii. 63-4. Cortés had complained as early as June 1540 that Coronado was leaving the country unprotected. Col. Doc. Inéd., iv. 214; see also Frejes, Hist. Breve, 79.
- ↑ And in the face of such evidence, together with assertions to the same effect by nearly all the old chroniclers, and the appalling expositions of Las Casas, Zamacois, Hist. Méj., iv. 669-72, stubbornly defends the Spaniards. He slurs Las Casas and the writers who credit such statements, and in a verbose and fallacious argument seeks to prove that the uprising took place because the natives would not accept the rites and customs of the Catholic
