spain under charles v—progress of discovery—colonial policy—conquest of cuba—expeditions to yucatan

1516-1518

in the beginning of the sixteenth century, spain occupied perhaps the most prominent position on the theatre of europe. the numerous states into which she had been so long divided were consolidated into one monarchy. the moslem crescent, after reigning there for eight centuries, was no longer seen on her borders. the authority of the crown did not, as in later times, overshadow the inferior orders of the state. the people enjoyed the inestimable privilege of political representation, and exercised it with manly independence. the nation at large could boast as great a degree of constitutional freedom as any other, at that time, in christendom. under a system of salutary laws and an equitable administration, domestic tranquillity was secured, public credit established,{278} trade, manufactures, and even the more elegant arts, began to flourish; while a higher education called forth the first blossoms of that literature which was to ripen into so rich a harvest before the close of the century. arms abroad kept pace with arts at home. spain found her empire suddenly enlarged by important acquisitions both in europe and africa, while a new world beyond the waters poured into her lap treasures of countless wealth and opened an unbounded field for honorable enterprise.

such was the condition of the kingdom at the close of the long and glorious reign of ferdinand and isabella, when, on the 23d of january, 1516, the sceptre passed into the hands of their daughter joanna, or rather their grandson,[459] charles the{279} fifth, who alone ruled the monarchy during the long and imbecile existence of his unfortunate mother. during the two years following ferdinand’s death, the regency, in the absence of charles, was held by cardinal ximenes, a man whose intrepidity, extraordinary talents, and capacity for great enterprises were accompanied by a haughty spirit, which made him too indifferent as to the means of their execution. his administration, therefore, notwithstanding the uprightness of his intentions, was, from his total disregard of forms, unfavorable to constitutional liberty; for respect for forms is an essential element of freedom. with all his faults, however, ximenes was a spaniard; and the object he had at heart was the good of his country.

it was otherwise on the arrival of charles, who, after a long absence, came as a foreigner into the land of his fathers. (november, 1517.) his manners, sympathies, even his language, were foreign, for he spoke the castilian with difficulty. he knew little of his native country, of the character of the people or their institutions. he seemed to care still less for them; while his natural reserve precluded that freedom of communication which might have counteracted, to some extent, at least, the errors of education. in everything, in short,{280} he was a foreigner, and resigned himself to the direction of his flemish counsellors with a docility that gave little augury of his future greatness.

on his entrance into castile, the young monarch was accompanied by a swarm of courtly sycophants, who settled, like locusts, on every place of profit and honor throughout the kingdom. a fleming was made grand chancellor of castile; another fleming was placed in the archiepiscopal see of toledo. they even ventured to profane the sanctity of the cortes, by intruding themselves on its deliberations. yet that body did not tamely submit to these usurpations, but gave vent to its indignation in tones becoming the representatives of a free people.[460]

the deportment of charles, so different from that to which the spaniards had been accustomed under the benign administration of ferdinand and isabella, closed all hearts against him; and, as his character came to be understood, instead of the spontaneous outpourings of loyalty which usually greet the accession of a new and youthful sovereign, he was everywhere encountered by opposi{281}tion and disgust. in castile, and afterwards in aragon, catalonia, and valencia, the commons hesitated to confer on him the title of king during the lifetime of his mother; and, though they eventually yielded this point, and associated his name with hers in the sovereignty, yet they reluctantly granted the supplies he demanded, and, when they did so, watched over their appropriation with a vigilance which left little to gratify the cupidity of the flemings. the language of the legislature on these occasions, though temperate and respectful, breathes a spirit of resolute independence not to be found, probably, on the parliamentary records of any other nation at that period. no wonder that charles should have early imbibed a disgust for these popular assemblies,—the only bodies whence truths so unpalatable could find their way to the ears of the sovereign![461] unfortunately, they had no influence on his conduct; till the discontent, long allowed to fester in secret, broke out in that sad war of the comunidades, which shook the state to its foundations and ended in the subversion of its liberties.{282}[462]

the same pestilent foreign influence was felt, though much less sensibly, in the colonial administration. this had been placed, in the preceding reign, under the immediate charge of the two great tribunals, the council of the indies, and the casa de contratacion, or india house, at seville. it was their business to further the progress of discovery, watch over the infant settlements, and adjust the disputes which grew up in them. but the licenses granted to private adventurers did more for the cause of discovery than the patronage of the crown or its officers. the long peace, enjoyed with slight interruption by spain in the early part of the sixteenth century, was most auspicious for this; and the restless cavalier, who could no longer win laurels on the fields of africa or europe, turned with eagerness{283} to the brilliant career opened to him beyond the ocean.

it is difficult for those of our time, as familiar from childhood with the most remote places on the globe as with those in their own neighborhood, to picture to themselves the feelings of the men who lived in the sixteenth century. the dread mystery which had so long hung over the great deep had, indeed, been removed. it was no longer beset with the same undefined horrors as when columbus launched his bold bark on its dark and unknown waters. a new and glorious world had been thrown open. but as to the precise spot where that world lay, its extent, its history, whether it were island or continent,—of all this they had very vague and confused conceptions. many, in their ignorance, blindly adopted the erroneous conclusion into which the great admiral had been led by his superior science,—that the new countries were a part of asia; and, as the mariner wandered among the bahamas, or steered his caravel across the caribbean seas, he fancied he was inhaling the rich odors of the spice-islands in the indian ocean. thus every fresh discovery, interpreted by this previous delusion, served to confirm him in his error, or, at least, to fill his mind with new perplexities.

the career thus thrown open had all the fascinations of a desperate hazard, on which the adventurer staked all his hopes of fortune, fame, and life itself. it was not often, indeed, that he won the rich prize which he most coveted; but then he was sure to win the meed of glory, scarcely less{284} dear to his chivalrous spirit; and, if he survived to return to his home, he had wonderful stories to recount, of perilous chances among the strange people he had visited, and the burning climes whose rank fertility and magnificence of vegetation so far surpassed anything he had witnessed in his own. these reports added fresh fuel to imaginations already warmed by the study of those tales of chivalry which formed the favorite reading of the spaniards at that period. thus romance and reality acted on each other, and the soul of the spaniard was exalted to that pitch of enthusiasm which enabled him to encounter the terrible trials that lay in the path of the discoverer. indeed, the life of the cavalier of that day was romance put into action. the story of his adventures in the new world forms one of the most remarkable pages in the history of man.

under this chivalrous spirit of enterprise, the progress of discovery had extended, by the beginning of charles the fifth’s reign, from the bay of honduras, along the winding shores of darien, and the south american continent, to the rio de la plata. the mighty barrier of the isthmus had been climbed, and the pacific descried, by nu?ez de balboa, second only to columbus in this valiant band of “ocean chivalry.” the bahamas and caribbee islands had been explored, as well as the peninsula of florida on the northern continent. this latter point had been reached by sebastian cabot in his descent along the coast from labrador, in 1497. so that before 1518, the period when our narrative begins, the eastern borders of both{285} the great continents had been surveyed through nearly their whole extent. the shores of the great mexican gulf, however, sweeping with a wide circuit far into the interior, remained still concealed, with the rich realms that lay beyond, from the eye of the navigator. the time had now come for their discovery.

the business of colonization had kept pace with that of discovery. in several of the islands, and in various parts of terra firma, and in darien, settlements had been established, under the control of governors who affected the state and authority of viceroys. grants of land were assigned to the colonists, on which they raised the natural products of the soil, but gave still more attention to the sugar-cane, imported from the canaries. sugar, indeed, together with the beautiful dye-woods of the country and the precious metals, formed almost the only articles of export in the infancy of the colonies, which had not yet introduced those other staples of the west indian commerce which in our day constitute its principal wealth. yet the precious metals, painfully gleaned from a few scanty sources, would have made poor returns, but for the gratuitous labor of the indians.

the cruel system of repartimientos, or distribution of the indians as slaves among the conquerors, had been suppressed by isabella. although subsequently countenanced by the government, it was under the most careful limitations. but it is impossible to license crime by halves,—to authorize injustice at all, and hope to regulate the measure of it. the eloquent remonstrances of the domini{286}cans,—who devoted themselves to the good work of conversion in the new world with the same zeal that they showed for persecution in the old,—but, above all, those of las casas, induced the regent, ximenes, to send out a commission with full powers to inquire into the alleged grievances and to redress them. it had authority, moreover, to investigate the conduct of the civil officers, and to reform any abuses in their administration. this extraordinary commission consisted of three hieronymite friars and an eminent jurist, all men of learning and unblemished piety.

they conducted the inquiry in a very dispassionate manner, but, after long deliberation, came to a conclusion most unfavorable to the demands of las casas, who insisted on the entire freedom of the natives. this conclusion they justified on the grounds that the indians would not labor without compulsion, and that, unless they labored, they could not be brought into communication with the whites, nor be converted to christianity. whatever we may think of this argument, it was doubtless urged with sincerity by its advocates, whose conduct through their whole administration places their motives above suspicion. they accompanied it with many careful provisions for the protection of the natives. but in vain. the simple people, accustomed all their days to a life of indolence and ease, sank under the oppressions of their masters, and the population wasted away with even more frightful rapidity than did the aborigines in our own country under the operation of other causes. it is not necessary to pursue these details further,{287} into which i have been led by the desire to put the reader in possession of the general policy and state of affairs in the new world at the period when the present narrative begins.[463]

of the islands, cuba was the second discovered; but no attempt had been made to plant a colony there during the lifetime of columbus, who, indeed, after skirting the whole extent of its southern coast, died in the conviction that it was part of the continent.[464] at length, in 1511, diego, the son and successor of the “admiral,” who still maintained the seat of government in hispaniola,[465] finding the mines much exhausted there, proposed to occupy the neighboring island of cuba, or fernandina, as it was called in compliment to the spanish monarch.[466] he prepared a small force for the conquest, which he placed under the command of don diego velasquez; a man described by a contemporary as “possessed of considerable{288} experience in military affairs, having served seventeen years in the european wars; as honest, illustrious by his lineage and reputation, covetous of glory, and somewhat more covetous of wealth.”[467] the portrait was sketched by no unfriendly hand.

velasquez, or rather his lieutenant, narvaez, who took the office on himself of scouring the country, met with no serious opposition from the inhabitants, who were of the same family with the effeminate natives of hispaniola. the conquest, through the merciful interposition of las casas, “the protector of the indians,” who accompanied the army in its march, was effected without much bloodshed. one chief, indeed, named hatuey, having fled originally from st. domingo to escape the oppression of its invaders, made a desperate resistance, for which he was condemned by velasquez to be burned alive. it was he who made that memorable reply, more eloquent than a volume of invective. when urged at the stake to embrace christianity, that his soul might find admission into heaven, he inquired if the white men would go there. on being answered in the affirmative, he exclaimed, “then i will not be a christian; for i would not go again to a place where i must find men so cruel!”[468]

after the conquest, velasquez, now appointed{289} governor, diligently occupied himself with measures for promoting the prosperity of the island. he formed a number of settlements, bearing the same names with the modern towns, and made st. jago,[469] on the southeast corner, the seat of government.[470] he invited settlers by liberal grants of land and slaves. he encouraged them to cultivate the soil, and gave particular attention to the sugar-cane, so profitable an article of commerce in later times. he was, above all, intent on working the gold-mines, which promised better returns than those in hispaniola. the affairs of his government did not prevent him, meanwhile, from casting many a wistful glance at the discoveries going forward on the continent, and he longed for an opportunity to embark in these golden adventures himself. fortune gave him the occasion he desired.

an hidalgo of cuba, named hernandez de cordova, sailed with three vessels on an expedition to one of the neighboring bahama islands, in quest of indian slaves.[471] (february 8, 1517.) he{290} encountered a succession of heavy gales which drove him far out of his course, and at the end of three weeks he found himself on a strange and unknown coast. on landing and asking the name of the country, he was answered by the natives, “tectetan,” meaning, “i do not understand you,”—but which the spaniards, misinterpreting into the name of the place, easily corrupted into yucatan. some writers give a different etymology.[472] such mistakes, however, were not uncommon with the early discoverers, and have been the origin of many a name on the american continent.[473]

cordova had landed on the northeastern end of the peninsula, at cape catoche. he was astonished at the size and solid materials of the buildings, constructed of stone and lime, so different from the frail tenements of reeds and rushes which formed the habitations of the islanders. he was struck, also, with the higher cultivation of the soil, and with the delicate texture of the cotton garments and gold ornaments of the natives. everything indicated a civilization far superior to anything he had before witnessed in the new world. he saw the evidence of a different race, moreover,{291} in the warlike spirit of the people. rumors of the spaniards had, perhaps, preceded them, as they were repeatedly asked if they came from the east; and wherever they landed they were met with the most deadly hostility. cordova himself, in one of his skirmishes with the indians, received more than a dozen wounds, and one only of his party escaped unhurt. at length, when he had coasted the peninsula as far as campeachy, he returned to cuba, which he reached after an absence of several months, having suffered all the extremities of ill which these pioneers of the ocean were sometimes called to endure, and which none but the most courageous spirit could have survived. as it was, half the original number, consisting of one hundred and ten men, perished, including their brave commander, who died soon after his return. the reports he had brought back of the country, and, still more, the specimens of curiously wrought gold, convinced velasquez of the importance of this discovery, and he prepared with all despatch to avail himself of it.[474]

he accordingly fitted out a little squadron of four vessels for the newly-discovered lands, and placed it under the command of his nephew, juan de grijalva, a man on whose probity, prudence, and attachment to himself he knew he could rely. the fleet left the port of st. jago de cuba, may 1,{292} 1518.[475][476] it took the course pursued by cordova, but was driven somewhat to the south, the first land that it made being the island of cozumel. from this quarter grijaiva soon passed over to the continent, and coasted the peninsula, touching at the same place as his predecessor. everywhere he was struck, like him, with the evidences of a higher civilization, especially in the architecture; as he well might be, since this was the region of those extraordinary remains which have become recently the subject of so much speculation. he was astonished, also, at the sight of large stone crosses, evidently objects of worship, which he met with in various places. reminded by these circumstances of his own country, he gave the peninsula the name of “new spain,” a name since appropriated to a much wider extent of territory.[477]

wherever grijalva landed, he experienced the same unfriendly reception as cordova; though he suffered less, being better prepared to meet it. in the rio de tabasco, or grijalva, as it is often called, after him, he held an amicable conference with a chief who gave him a number of gold plates fashioned into a sort of armor. as he wound round the mexican coast, one of his captains, pedro de alvarado, afterwards famous in the con{293}quest, entered a river, to which he, also, left his own name. in a neighboring stream, called the rio de vanderas, or “river of banners,” from the ensigns displayed by the natives on its borders, grijaiva had the first communication with the mexicans themselves.

the cacique who ruled over this province had received notice of the approach of the europeans, and of their extraordinary appearance. he was anxious to collect all the information he could respecting them and the motives of their visit, that he might transmit them to his master, the aztec emperor.[478] a friendly conference took place between the parties on shore, where grijalva landed with all his force, so as to make a suitable impression on the mind of the barbaric chief. the interview lasted some hours, though, as there was no one on either side to interpret the language of the other, they could communicate only by signs. they, however, interchanged presents, and the spaniards had the satisfaction of receiving, for a few worthless toys and trinkets, a rich treasure of jewels, gold ornaments and vessels, of the most fantastic forms and workmanship.[479]

grijalva now thought that in this successful traffic—successful beyond his most sanguine ex{294}pectations—he had accomplished the chief object of his mission. he steadily refused the solicitations of his followers to plant a colony on the spot,—a work of no little difficulty in so populous and powerful a country as this appeared to be. to this, indeed, he was inclined, but deemed it contrary to his instructions, which limited him to barter with the natives. he therefore despatched alvarado in one of the caravels back to cuba, with the treasure and such intelligence as he had gleaned of the great empire in the interior, and then pursued his voyage along the coast.

he touched at san juan de ulua, and at the isla de los sacrificios, so called by him from the bloody remains of human victims found in one of the temples. he then held on his course as far as the province of panuco, where, finding some difficulty in doubling a boisterous headland, he returned on his track, and, after an absence of nearly six months, reached cuba in safety. grijalva has the glory of being the first navigator who set foot on the mexican soil and opened an intercourse with the aztecs.[480]

on reaching the island, he was surprised to learn that another and more formidable armament had been fitted out to follow up his own discoveries, and to find orders, at the same time, from the governor, couched in no very courteous language, to repair at once to st. jago. he was received by that personage not merely with coldness, but with reproaches for having neglected so fair an opportunity of establishing a colony in the country he{295} had visited. velasquez was one of those captious spirits who, when things do not go exactly to their minds, are sure to shift the responsibility of the failure from their own shoulders, where it should lie, to those of others. he had an ungenerous nature, says an old writer, credulous, and easily moved to suspicion.[481] in the present instance it was most unmerited. grijalva, naturally a modest, unassuming person, had acted in obedience to the instructions of his commander, given before sailing, and had done this in opposition to his own judgment and the importunities of his followers. his conduct merited anything but censure from his employer.[482]

when alvarado had returned to cuba with his golden freight, and the accounts of the rich empire of mexico which he had gathered from the natives, the heart of the governor swelled with rapture as he saw his dreams of avarice and ambition so likely to be realized. impatient of the long absence of grijalva, he despatched a vessel in search of him under the command of olid, a cavalier who took an important part afterwards in the conquest. finally he resolved to fit out another armament on a sufficient scale to insure the subjugation of the country.

he previously solicited authority for this from{296} the hieronymite commission in st. domingo. he then despatched his chaplain to spain with the royal share of the gold brought from mexico, and a full account of the intelligence gleaned there. he set forth his own manifold services, and solicited from the court full powers to go on with the conquest and colonization of the newly-discovered regions.[483] before receiving an answer, he began his preparations for the armament, and, first of all, endeavored to find a suitable person to share the expense of it and to take the command. such a person he found, after some difficulty and delay, in hernando cortés; the man of all others best calculated to achieve this great enterprise,—the last man to whom velasquez, could he have foreseen the results, would have confided it.