consist of thirty clauses, and the document reflects no credit on the scrivener.[1]
Man and his character are subject to environment. Neither is finished until decay has well set in. Long before the receipt of his commission the adolescent Cortés was a creation of the past; even the adult Cortés was a different being before and after his appointment. His action now was the expression of new intuitions. Always under the influence of turbulent emotions, his ambition had suddenly become more aggressive. In pure impulses, in refined feelings, in noble instincts, he was essentially defective. He harbored no ideal of duty, such as we have seen in the mind of Grijalva. His code of ethics was neither broad nor catholic. And notwithstanding his great respect for religion, so great indeed as to excite suspicion that he cared very little for it; notwithstanding his outward piety, and his devotion to the church, the lighter immoralities fitted him with an case and grace that hampered his movements not in the least. Yet for all this the alcalde of Santiago suddenly became a great man, not in name only, but actually; wellnigh revolutionizing the society of which he himself was the product. To him, and to others, his commission was a match applied to explosive material, letting loose the latent force. The leaders of the first gulf-shore expeditions, Córdoba, Grijalva, and Cortés, present themselves before us in relatively increasing proportions. Córdoba, the first, was least, though a
- ↑ The full text of the instructions is to be found in Pacheco and Cárdenas, Col. Doc., xii. 225-46; Col. Doc. Inéd., i. 385, 406; Alaman, Disert, i. App. ii. 1-27, with notes, reproduced in Zamacios, Hist. Méj., ii. 791-815. The Muñoz copy, given in Prescott's Mex., iii. 434-9, preserved the original spelling in the preamble, but the clauses are abbreviated, though Prescott does not appear to be aware of it.
Hist. Verdad., 13, refers to promises of Indian repartimientos in the new regions as an inducement for volunteers. Cortés' statement at Vera Cruz, that he had no order to settle, means nothing in view of the motives then actuating him. Secret agreements between governors and lieutenants for defrauding the crown and promoting their own aims were only too common; and this is overlooked by those who trust merely to the instructions for arguments on this point.
