Page:About Mexico - Past and Present.djvu/61

Rh and Tlacopans. In gratitude for the valuable assistance rendered by the former tribe at a time when their nation was nearly crushed, the Tezcucans gave their once-despised neighbors the tribute they levied on the conquered Tepanacs, and henceforth the Aztecs were masters of the valley. The three allied tribes agreed to stand by each other under all circumstances. In any war in which all united the spoil was divided according to terms agreed upon among themselves, Tezcuco and Mexico, as the largest tribes, taking the lion's share. Each of the confederate powers was absolute in its own territory, and might carry on war and levy tribute for itself. These tribes lived in friendship for about one hundred years, when, as might have been expected, they fell out over their plunder. By this time the Aztecs had succeeded in bringing an immense territory under tribute, carrying their banners in triumph from the Atlantic to the Pacific and as far south as Guatemala and Yucatan. The whole government of their nation was organized on a strictly war-basis, with a general at its head.

The commander-in-chief of the Aztecs was elected for life or during good behavior. The office was not in any sense hereditary, although Montezuma, the chief in power at the time of the Spanish conquest, was the nephew of his predecessor, "the bold and bloody Ahuitzotl." The old warriors of the tribe, the head-chiefs of the confederate tribes and the leading priests were the electors of this officer. These electors constituted a tribal council, which was the fountain of all power, religious and civil. They not only elected the chief and deposed him if he displeased the tribe, but after his inauguration they decided all questions in peace or in war. The chief seems to have been an executive of their decrees, which, like those