Page:Vol 1 History of Mexico by H H Bancroft.djvu/812

692 Spaniards; they did not know, poor simpletons, that all along the days and nights of this terrible siege, with sword and lance on Aztec breast, they had been forging their own fetters, which they and their children long must wear.

The conquest of Mexico was less a subjugation by Spanish soldiers than their skilful manœuvring of New World forces against one another. Had Anáhuac been united it would have succumbed less readily, perhaps never. As it was, while the native nations were slaying each other, fighting out their ancient feuds, the astute Spaniards laid their all-possessing hand upon the country.

Nor was any apology on their part needed before christendom. Mankind to this day have not become so humane and just as not to find excuse for any wrong within the realms of strength and inclination. What then could be expected of an age and nation wherein it was not uncommon to cloak crime under the fair garb of religion. Hitherto came the Spaniards to murder and to rob: to rob and murder in the name of charity and sweet heaven. No excuses were necessary, however convenient to that end came the appeals of the Cempoalans groaning under terrible oppression at the hand of a race delighting in blood and extortion; a race which within two centuries had risen from a degrading servitude largely by means of intrigue and treachery; a race stamped with ignoble characteristics born of serfdom, and eager to retaliate on others for their past humiliation, yet energetic, enterprising, and advancing with rapid strides along the pathway of indigenous culture.