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Show THE CITIZEN Cortez in Mexico When Fear Was King The Indian to the Anvil d Moctezuma Counsels Peace. Indian Culture and Perspective. Cause of the Downfall. A Brave Attempt to Hurl Back The the Invader, Quauhtemotzin. The Spanish Conquest of Mexico can not be told without a knowledge of the Indian culture and perspective of the time. Without it the crumbling o fa populous nation before a mere battalion of invaders, however daring, must remain forever a sixteenth century miracle. From Veracruz Cortez had announced his coming, but Moctezuma W sent presents to keep him away. Behold now this persistent stranger at the palace gate! Soon Cortez had inveigled himself into the aged kings good graces. Moctezuma was persuaded. He counseled his people to render Cortez their allegiance. With his royal scepter, Moctezuma handed to Cortez not only the reins of government in Azteca, but also the master key to the whole of Mexico. True, Cortez was his own power and authority, and Moctezumas reins were of little permanent value to him. But, to be in Tenochtitlan and in the valley of Anahuac, coveted prize of many a tribe, meant something, fortified as it was by mountains all around, situated as it was high up on the central ' plateau. It was a stroke of rare good luck thus to lull the Aztecs into quietude, if only for a brief time. A strange event, without parallel in all history. What brought it about? The Background The American Indians, it is proven stock. conclusively, came of oriental Pioneers they were, in the truest sense of the word, especially those that migrated to Mexico. The very best blood coursed in their veins. Some of the tribes were recent arrivals in the mountain valley, which explains at peace; why not all of them were why some, notably the Hascaltecs, joined forces with Cortez. However, . chronicler with Cortez. A postal system was maintained, extending to remote parts, and there were improved highways. Their architecture, paintings and legends all speak eloquently of a fine culture. East is East However, reflective in mood, the Indian drifts into mystic abandon, as naturally as does his ahistoric forbear of the orient. Graceful, poetic and anarchic; given to worship of ances-t- r yand the elements, Apollo finds in him his true incarnation. There is not in him the quick spur to action that is characteristic of the western Dyonisius. Oriental man, Spengler tells us, forgets everything; western man remembers everything. The Indian in Mexico places his homely adobe at ones disposal with all the courtesy with which a king might welcome one to his castle. Greet 7 5 liiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiuiiiiiiiiuiiuiuiuiau,iui,ii!,a,ik Tlas-calte- c. Toltec god Quetzalcoatl, returning to visit his punishment upon the land that had persecuted him when in the flesh of a priest. Then, there was that menacing sign in the blood of the hibiscus blossom. And more: Without any tempest whatever, Lake Texcuco became suddenly agitated, pouring its angry waters into the streets of Tenochtitlan! One of the temples mysteriously caught an fire! Three comets appeared in the sky, all the same night! A strange light broke forth in the east! Aye, the heavens were speaking! The aged king reflected and feared. It was time for consulting predicted the They astrologers. speedy end of the empire. Fear is mans worst enemy. An astrologer makes a good prediction, when he predicts disaster, presently near; when the prediction can come easily true by the simple process of inducing a credulous listener, filled with fear, to lie down and let disaster I QUAUHTEMOTZIN TO CORTEZ I I and mine elect to die. We will entrust ourselves neither to the men who commit nor to the god who permits such atrocities ... Within one brief day and night the tireless orb returns. Why dost thou not also finish thy task as quickly? his. children with a pleasant How are you? and they will respond, Oh, very well, senor, thank you. And -- Was 4180 In the oriental, mystical nature of the Indian, lay the seed that, sprouting and growing, brought about the fall of Mexico. Moctezuma feared not the union of Spaniard and What he did fear was that Cortez might be none other than the jiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiMiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiMiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiin Only an Indian girl could tell you? of her mothers sunstroke in poetry like this: The sun wrapped his arms around her and loved her strength away. Hindu magic, even, found its way to Mexico. Following is an account written by Father Bautista, in sixteen it does not follow that tribal antag- hundred: There are magicians . . . onisms would have continued; that who conjure the clouds when there is justitherefore was conquest foreign danger of hail. . . . They can also fied. For it is definitely established make a stick look like a serpent, a that the older and more settled tribes mat like a centipede, a piece of stone 1 ong in other parts did sustain the like a scorpion. . . Others will transperiods of uninterrupted peace, form themselves to all appearances a thousand years! Zapotecs ' Anahuac. into a tiger, a dog or a weazel. OthAgriculture flourished in ers, again, will take the form of an themVillages and cities engaged owl, a cock or a weasel; and, when selves in industry. Clothing, zarapes, one is preparing to seize them, they tapestries and curtains were made; will appear now as a cock, now as an furniture and rugs; pottery; copper owl, and again as a weasel. and tin ware; cut stones; gold and Considered by the West a dreamer, silver ornaments, and even paper, The a child, among the backward of the from the fiber of the maguey. comearth, oriental man might answer, if markets of Tenochtitlan were inclined to answer at all: You travel parable to the markets of European toward a goal; you are forever cities of the time, wrote Bernal Diaz,. fast in a state of transition; yours is but the joy of anticipation. We are perMerchant , 1 Doctor, Lawyer, haps a maturer people; we are beother pursuit aon in ff i or enaed will find s come; ours is the joy of fulfillment you and abandon, of renunciation. What 2 I Everythin for Your Office at i you attain in one way we attain in KELLY COMPANY i another, and so in a sense we both are Waa 4181 . S right. I Rulers of state fare ill when they confide in unwise counsel. The destiny of their people then hangs by a weak thread. Aztec aristocracy lacked vigor. It had been too long in the saddle. Peasants were no longer welcome in its councils. The plumed and perfumed knights, the dusky belles in gay costume, cared not for the odor of the soil. They wanted no rural Indians around. They craved ease and splendor. Cortez did not send his dagger into Quauhtemotzins heart. In the hope that treasures believed to be hidden in the ancient capital might be thereas by disclosed, Quauhtemotzin taken to Coyoacan, his feet soaked in oil, then held over a fire. His agony was so terrible; his attitude so stoical, that even Cortez was affected. He ordered the torture to cease. Yet it was not the end. Quauhtemotzin must now be carried away with a military expedition, as an hostage to control the Indians, and, when no longer needed, hanged to a ceiba tree, his body left dangling from a limb, for vultures to consume! Mans cruelty to man oft knows no limit. Unspeakable were the cruelties inflicted upon the Indians in this ferocious attempt to make them divulge fancied stores of gold and silver. Tenochtitlan became a pile of ruins. Unleashed were the forces of greed and murder. With Cortez it was, sure enough, a case of crush or be crushed. Maybe the Indians too wtve cruel, but one needs to be skeptical of the accounts of chroniclers who had the known faculty of hiding what they did to the other fellow by dwelling upon what he did to them. By what right did Cortez enter Mexico; by what right was he in Tenochtitlan ? That is more to the point. Under such auspieces of coarse might did a vast region come under the dominion of Spain. But Quauhtemotzin still lives. His last words to Cortez were: Malinchc, many a day have I suspected the falsity of thy words and that thou had destined this end to my life. Why dost thou kill me without justice. God will demand of thee thy answer. slow-burni- ng JLK. come. SEND IT TO THE LAUNDRY A Bitter End. The mistake was realized, but too late. In vain did the young Quauhtelemotzin hurl his quickly-gathere- d gions against the invaders, now reinforced. Blood ran in Tenochtitlan. Aztec troops fell by the thousands. They fought as only men fight when they repel invasion. Cortez and his men fought as only men fight when there is no retreat. Quauhtemotzin had chosen his course, rejecting all offers of an ignoble peace. His brave heart pierced with the sting of defeat; his eyes telling in tears the bitter anguish of his soul, he implored Cortez: Now run your dagger through my heart! New Spain! The conquest was complete. Thus, as if by some magic wand, was drawn the curtain upon cultures and civilizations that now have naught bu the charm of antiquity to sustain them. Distinctive Work Hyland 190 mm Fish and Feel Fit The Season is Now Open dont Forget your FISHING TACKLE |