On acquainting Montezuma with his intention, the monarch questioned him as to the reason of the hostility shown by the other force. Cortés well knew that it was useless wholly to conceal the state of affairs. He had been silent, he replied, in order not to give him pain. He and his men had been sent by their king on this mission, and were from the royal province of Castile, whilst the forces on the coast were a rebellious horde from the outside province of Biscay, and inferior to them, as Otomís, for instance, were inferior to the nobler Aztecs. They had come with the design of injuring the natives, and Cortés as their protector; but with the aid of his patron saint he would have no trouble in chastising them, and in securing their vessels for his speedy departure.[1] Alvarado, the tonatiuh, would remain in Mexico, and him he recommended to the monarch's consideration, requesting that supplies be provided and peace maintained. Any attempt at revolt would react with terrible effect on himself and his people. The emperor promised that this should be done, and offered not only guides, but an army to aid him. The latter was declined, chiefly because Aztec troops could not be relied on.[2]
- ↑ 'Debia ser alguna mala gente, y no vasallos de V. A.,' is Cortés' version of the reply, Cartas, 119-20, while his interpreter, Aguilar, gives it more literally as 'una gente vizcaynos e que no los enbiava el enperador.' Testimonio, in Cortés, Residencia, ii. 47, 184. Gomara adds that Cortés said he was going to. protect Montezuma's subjects, and to keep the strangers on the coast till he was ready to depart. The emperor probably dissimulated, 'holgando que vnos Christianos a otros se matassen.' Hist. Mex., 145. Forgetting that the declared purposes of Narvaez were well known in Mexico, Herrera renders the answer that this captain was a brother of Cortés, sent with a present from their king. Both would come up to the capital and then leave the country. The rumored enmity was due to an order from Spain to avenge any injury suffered at the hands of the natives. dec. ii. lib. x. cap. i. Brasseur de Bourbourg follows him.
- ↑ 'Aquellos españoles le dejaba enconiendados con todo aquel oro y joyas que él me habia dado. . . .yle dí muchas joyas yropas á él,' et seq. Cortés, Cartas, 19-20. 'Aun prometiò, que embiaria en nuestra ayuda cinco mil hombres de guerra, e Cortes. . . .bien entendiò que no los auia de embiar, e le dixo, que no auia menester.' Bernal Diaz, Hist. Verdad., 91; Vetancvrt, Teatro Mex., pt. iii. 135. Ixtlilxochitl assumes in one place that Cortés asked for men, and was told that Aztecs dared not fight Spaniards, but would go as carriers. In another version the confederate kings grant the auxiliaries. Hist. Chich., 300; Relaciones, 389, 412. Solis assumes that Montezuma is devoted to Cortes; so
