EH
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COHTKZ.
Vol. vii,
!
indeed, comparatiVclj, it would be just ns
unreasonable to judge thus of the nets of
Cortez; for did he not live more limn three
hundred years ago, when the Spaniards
were merely a semi-civilized nation?
Here is ft very good specimen of the
opinions which many hold in respect to
Cortez " An unprincipled adventurer, n
the head of n few hundred Spaniards, who
lauds in Mexico, is received in great
friendship by the unsuspecting momnrch,
Montezuma, who is soon after slain and
Mexico with its immense treasures is speed
ily subdued. Near a million of the iuof.
fensive Mexicans are butchered." Many
may take this for the exact truth. For
1113' part I cannot look at it in this light.
"An unprincipled adventurer." If ho
was unprincipled, what then shall we say
in regard to his cotemporaries; for in
judging a Spaniard, we must compare
him with other leading men of his nation
and time or the comparison amounts to
nothing. It would be impossible to find
another Spanish conqueror at that time
more, or even as humane as Cortez. Pizar.
ro turned his victories into inhuman
butcheries, for which he had no excuse;
while Cortez, on the other hand, never
shed more blood than was absolutely nee
cssary to accomplish his purpose, which
was merely to make the Mexicaus loyal
subjects of the Spanish crown and to es
tablish the Catholic faith.
Hut it may be asked what I intend to do
do with the thousands that were butch
ered while Cortez was in Mexico. To
make the conquest he necessarily slayed
his thousands; but the butchories were
done by his subordinates, in his absence
for which they were severely repn.
manded by their commander or else by
the victorious natives, fighting on the side
of Cortez, whom he was unable to restrain
when once in motion. To conquer the
natives and establish the Catholic faith,
was considered by Cortez as holy an un
dertaking as the conversion of sinners by
our ministers of to-day, and in this enter-
prise he cun be absolutely justified when I
we take into account all influences heal
ing upon him. The Catholic faith, the
national religion, was so instilled at that
time into the semi-civilized natures of the
Spaniards that the priests had absolute
control of the acts of the nation and also
of all individual adventurers. All Span
iards were taught to believe that the con
quering of infidel tribes and nations (as
they termed all others not of the Catholic
faith) was a holy cause. So we see that
he career of Cortez was shaped, to a great
extent, by religious infatuation. His first
attempt after subduing a tribe was its con
version, thus showing that he had this up
permost in his mind. Even from our
standpoint, the conquest of Mexico was
not so great un evil or act of inhumanity
as sonic imagine. The Mexicans were
not so highly civilized a race as some
would havens believe. Indeed, in one re
spect they were in the deepest stage of
barbarism and instead of advancing in
civilization were retrograding. They had
not generated their civilization, but had
merely received it by supplanting a na
tion much more advanced than they, and
from the day they received this enlighten,
incut they continued its debasement until
the custom of offering captives as sacrific
es and then turning cannibals by feasting
upon the bodies had become a national
institution. Then was it not a blessing to
turn a nation of cannibals into one of
Catholics even as the faith then existed!
We undoubtedly think it was.
If Cortez slayed his thousands, it was
in the belief that his cause was a holy
one. If he leveled the walls and edifices
of the ancient city, Mexico, it "was only
to build palaces and ereet a far more sub
stantial and imposing capital.
If he devastated the country and over
threw the ruler of the Mexicans, it was
not as an unprincipled adventurer, tor
mere personal glory and plunder, but
with the intention of forming the country
into a Spanish province, far more power,
full, Tar more civilized than the nation
under the cannibal rule of the Monti-zn-
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