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his days were cut short by the small-pox. This distemper, which raged at that time in New Spain with fatal malignity, was unknown in that quarter of the globe until it was introduced by the Europeans, and may be reckoned among the greatest calamities brought upon them by their invaders. In his stead the Mexicans raised to the throne Guatimozin, nephew and son-in-law of Montezuma, a young man of such high reputation for abilities and valour, that in this dangerous crisis his countrymen, with one voice, called him to the supreme command.

During the siege, which was long, and attended with heavy loss on both sides, the Mexicans, in their own defence, displayed valour which was hardly inferior to that with which the Spaniards attacked them. On land, on water, by night and by day, one furious conflict succeeded to another. Once the Spaniards committed an error, which Guatimozin instantly discerned, and prepared to take advantage of. On a signal which he gave, the priests in the principal temple struck the great drum consecrated to the god of war. No sooner did the Mexicans hear its doleful solemn sound, calculated to inspire them with contempt of death and enthusiastic ardour, than they rushed upon the enemy with frantic rage. The Spaniards, unable to resist men urged on no less by religious fury than hope of success, began to retire at first leisurely; but as the enemy pressed on, and their own impatience to escape increased, the terror and confusion became so general, that when they arrived at the gap of the causeway, Spaniards, Tlascalans, horsemen and infantry, plunged in promiscuously, while the Mexicans, rushed upon them fiercely from every side. In vain did Cortes at

tempt to stop and rally his flying troops; fear rendered them regardless of his entreaties or commands. Finding all his endeavours to renew the combat fruitless, his next care was to save some of those who had thrown themselves into the water; but while thus employed, with more attention to their situation than to his own safety, six Mexican captains suddenly laid hold of him, and were hurrying him off in triumph; and though two of his officers rescued him at the expense of their own lives, he received several dangerous wounds before he could break loose. Above sixty Spaniards perished in the rout, forty of whom fell alive into the hands of an enemy, never known to show mercy to a captive.

The approach of night, though it delivered the dejected Spaniards from the attacks of the enemy, ushered in, what was scarcely less grievous, the noise of their barbarous triumph, and of the horrid festival with which they celebrated their victory. Every quarter of the city was illuminated; the great temple shone with such peculiar splendour, that the Spaniards could plainly see the people in motion, and the priests busy in hastening the preparations for the death of the prisoners. Through the gloom they fancied that they discerned their companions by the whiteness of their skins as they were stript naked and compelled to dance before the image of the god to whom they were to be offered. They heard the shrieks of those who were sacrificed, and thought that they could distinguish each unhappy victim, by the well-known sound of his voice. Imagination added to what they really saw or heard, and augmented its horror. The most unfeeling melted into tears of compas

sion, and the stoutest heart trembled at the dreadful spectacle which they beheld.

The Mexicans, elated with their victory, sallied out next morning to attack Cortes in his quarters. But they did not rely on the efforts of their own arms alone. They sent the heads of the Spaniards whom they had sacrificed, to the leading men in the adjacent provinces, and assured them that the god of war, appeased by the blood of their invaders, had declared with an audible voice, that in eight days time those hated enemies should be finally destroyed, and peace and prosperity re-established in the empire.

A prediction uttered with such confidence gained universal credit, among a people prone to su perstition. The zeal of those who had already declared against the Spaniards augmented; and those who had hitherto been inactive took arms with enthusiastic ardour to execute the decree of the gods. The Indian auxiliaries who had joined Cortes abandoned his army as a race of men devoted to certain destruction. Even the fidelity of the Tlascalans was shaken, and the Spanish troops were left almost alone in their stations. Cortes, finding that he attempted in vain to dispel the superstitious fears of his confederates by argument, took advantage from the imprudence of those who had framed the prophecy, in fixing its accomplishment so near at hand, to give a striking demonstration of its falsity. He suspended all military operations during the period marked out by the oracle. Under cover of the brigantines, which kept the enemy at a distance, his troops lay on the lake in safety, and the fatal term expired without any disaster.

Many of his allies, ashamed of their own cre

dulity, returned to their station. Other tribes, judging that the gods, who had now deceived the Mexicans, had decreed finally to withdraw their protection from them, joined his standard; and so striking was the levity of this simple people, moved by every slight impression, that in a short time after such a general defection of his confederates, Cortes saw himself at the head of a hundred and fifty thousand Indians. Notwithstanding this immense force, Cortes proceeded against the city with great caution; nor could he make any impression till the stores, which Guatimozin had laid up, were exhausted by the multitudes which had crowded into the capital, to defend their sovereign and the temples of their gods. Then people of all ranks felt the utmost distresses of famine. What they suffered brought on infectious and mortal diseases, the last calamity that visits besieged cities, and which filled up the measure of ther woes.

But, under the pressure of so many and such various evils, the spirit of Guatimozin remained firm and unsubdued. He rejected with scorn every overture of peace from Cortes; and, disdaining the idea of submitting to the oppressors of his country, determined not to survive its ruin. At the earnest solicitations of several of his chiefs he attempted to escape, but was taken by the Spaniards. When brought before Cortes he appeared with a dignified countenance: "I have done," said he, "what became a monarch. I have defended my people to the last extremity. Nothing now remains but to die. Take this dagger," laying his hand on one which Cortes wore, plant it in my breast, and put an end to a life which can no longer be useful to my country.”

A. D. 1521.

As soon as the fate of their sovereign was known, the resistance of the Mexicans ceased, and Cortes took possession of that small part of the capital which yet remained undestroyed. Thus terminated the siege of Mexico, the most memorable event in the conquest of America. The exultation of the Spaniards on the accomplishment of this arduous enterprise was at first excessive; but this was quickly damped by finding so small a quantity of booty, the gold and silver amounting to much less than 30,0001. sterling. The murmurs and sullen discontent of the Spanish soldiers led Cortes to the commission of a deed which stains the glory of all his great actions. Without regarding the former dignity of Guatimozin, or feeling any reverence for the virtues which he had displayed, he subjected the unhappy monarch, together with his chief favourite, to torture, in order to force from them a discovery of the royal treasures, which it was supposed they had concealed. The monarch bore whatever his tormentors could inflict with invincible fortitude, till Cortes, ashamed of a scene so horrid, rescued the royal victim from the hands of his torturers, and prolonged a life reserved for new indignities and sufferings.

The fate of the capital, as both parties had foreseen, decided that of the empire. The provinces submitted one after another to the conquerors. Small detachments of Spaniards, marching through them without interruption, penetrated in different quarters to the great Southern Ocean, which according to the ideas of Columbus, they imagined would open a short as well as easy passage to the East-Indies, and secure to the crown of Castile all

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