Page:Mexico, Aztec, Spanish and Republican, Vol 1.djvu/91

Rh destroy rather than to sustain him, and when not only their allegiance but their religion invoked a dreadful vengeance on the sac-religious hands that despoiled their temples, overthrew their Gods, and made a jest of their most sacred rites. It was, indeed, not only a victory over the judgments, but over the superstitions, of an excitable, ardent and perhaps unreflective nation; and, in whatever aspect we regard the man who effected it solely by the omnipotence of his will, we are more and more forced to admire the majesty of his genius and the fortune or providence that made him a chosen and conspicuous instrument in the development of our continent.

The conquest of Mexico,—in its relation to the rest of the world,—has a double aspect, worthy of examination. The subsequent history and condition of the country, which we design to treat in the following pages, will develope one of these topics;—the condition of the country, at the period of the conquest, will disclose another, whilst it palliates, if it does not altogether apologize for the cruelties and apparent rapine by which the subjugation of the empire was effected.