Page:Vol 2 History of Mexico by H H Bancroft.djvu/45

Rh been given was his own, since it had never been taken from him. After the services he had rendered, and the hardship he and his people had undergone for the Spaniards, it was but right that he and his successors should be left in undisturbed possession of the kingdom. Cortés recognized the justice of the claim, but he remembered Ixtlilxochitl's tardy extension of aid after the flight from Mexico, and was probably fully aware of the motives which prompted his alliance. All this afforded strong reasons for not yielding to the demands of this and other allies. 'To acknowledge every such claim would materially reduce his own credit and the value of the conquest. The native rulers had served his purpose, and being no longer indispensable they must gradually learn to recognize their true position as nothing more than leading personages among the half-civilized race he had conquered. In the present instance he gave no definite answer, and Ixtlilxochitl was left nominally in possession of what he claimed, till circumstances revealed the shadowy nature of his title and possessions.

On returning to his kingdom, after being released from further attendance at Mexico, he availed himself of his position to reward with grants and other honors the most deserving adherents, and others whom policy commended to his notice. He also employed the captive slaves that had fallen to his share to aid in repairing the damage inflicted on Tezcuco during its recent occupation as Spanish head-quarters, notably the destruction of the royal palace and other edifices by the Tlascaltecs on first entering the city and on passing through it after the fall of Mexico. All these efforts, however, failed to reconcile the inhabitants of the capital and lake districts, whose treatment by the Spaniards had made them more than ever averse