Page:The Conquest of Mexico Volume 1.djvu/467



Page 22 (4).—Ixtlixochitl, Hist. Chich., MS., ubi supra.—Zurita, Rapport, ubi lupra.—Clavigero, Stor. del Messico, tom. ii. pp. 121-114.—Torquemada, Monarch. Ind., lib. 14, cap. 17—Gomara, Crónica de Nueva España, cap. 199, ap. Barcia, tom, ii.—Boturini (Idea, p. 165) carries back the origin of fiefs in Anahuac, to the twelfth century. Carli says, "Le système politique ètait fèodal." In the next page he tells us, "Personal merit alone made the distinction of the nobility!" (Lettres Amèricaines, trad. Fr. [Paris, 1788], tom. i. let. ii.) Carly was a writer of a lively imagination.

Page 23 (1).—This magistrate, who was called cihuacoatl, was also to audit the accounts of the collectors of the taxes in his district. (Clavigero, Stor. de Messico, tom. ii. p. 127.—Torquemada, Monarch. Ind., lib. II, cap. 25.) The Mendoza Collection contains a painting of the courts of justice, under Montezuma, who introduced great changes in them. (Antiq. of Mexico, vol. i, Plate 70.) According to the interpreter, an appeal lay from them, in certain cases to the king's council.—Ibid. vol. vi. p. 79.

Page 23 (2).—Clavigero, Stor. del Messico, tom. ii. pp. 127, 128.—Torquemada, Monarch Ind., ubi supra.—In this arrangement of the more humble magistrates we are reminded of the Anglo-Saxon hundreds and tithings, especially the latter, the members of which were to watch over the conduct of the families in their districts, and bring the offenders to justice. The hard penalty of mutual responsibility was not known to the Mexicans.

Page 23 (3).—Zurita, so temperate, usually, in his language, remarks that, in the capital. "Tribunals were instituted which might compare in their organisation with the royal audience of Castile." (Rapport, p. 93.) His observations are chiefly drawn from the Tezcucan courts, which, in their forms of procedure, he lays, were like the Aztec.—(Loc. cit.)

Page 23 (4).—Boturini, Idea, p. 87.—Torquemada, Monarch. Ind., lib. 11, cap. 26.—Zurita compares this body to the Castilian córtes. It would seem, however, according to him, to have consisted only of twelve principal judges, besides the king. His meaning is somewhat doubtful. (Rapport, pp. 94, l01, 106.) M. de Humboldt, in his account of the Aztec courts, has confounded them with the Tezcucan.—Comp. Vues des Cordillères et Monumens des Peuples Indigènes de l'Amerique (Paris, 1810), p. 55, and Clavigero, Stor. del Messico, tom. ii. pp. 128, 129.

Page 25 (1).—Zurita, Rapport, pp. 95, 100, 103.—Sahagun, Hist, de Nueva España, loc. cit.— Humboldt, Vues des Cordilleres, pp. 55, 56.—Torquemada, Monarch. Ind., lib. ii, cap. 25. Clavigero says, the accused might free himself by oath: "il reo poteva purgarsi col giuramento." (Stor. del Messico, tom. ii. p. 129.) What rogue, then, could ever have been convicted?

Page 25 (2).—Ixtlilxochitl, Hist. Chich., MS., cap. 36. These various objects had a symbolical meaning, according to Boturini, Idea, p. 84.

Page 27 (1).—Paintings of the Mendoza Collection, Plate 72, and Interpretation ap. Antiq. of Mexico, vol. vi. p. 87.—Torquemada, Monarch. Ind., lib. 12, cap. 7.—Clavigero, Stor. del Messico, tom. ii. pp. 130-134.—Camargo, Hist, de Tlascala, MS. They could scarcely have been an intemperate people, with these heavy penalties hanging over them. Indeed, Zurita bears testimony that those Spaniards, who thought they were, greatly erred. (Rapport, p. 112.) Mons. Ternaux's translation of a passage of the Anonymous Conqueror, "aucun peuple n'est aussi sobre" (Recueil de Pièces Rélatives à la Conquéte du Mexique, ap. Voyages, etc. [Paris, 1838], p. 44), may give a more favourable impression, however, than that intended by his original, whose remark is confined to abstemiousness in eating.—See the Relatione, ap. Ramusio, Raccolta delle Navigationi et Viaggi. (Venetia, 1554-1565.)

Page 27 (2).—In Ancient Egypt the child of a slave was born free, if the father were free, (Diodorus, Bibl. Hist., lib. i, sec. 80.) This, though more liberal than the code of most countries, fell short of the Mexican.