Page:Vol 2 History of Mexico by H H Bancroft.djvu/96

76 were inflicted which were long remembered in New Spain. Some of the minor culprits were suspended by the noose among the ruins left by the invaders, while the leaders, according to the native historian, Ixtlilxochitl, were exposed in an amphitheatre, like bulls, to the attacks of infuriated blood-hounds, which tore them in pieces, and even devoured their flesh.

At Tututepec and Meztitlan the uprising was soon smothered by a large force of Spaniards and allies. A. few encounters brought the inhabitants to their knees, and Cortés was even induced to pardon the captured caciques. The revolt appears to have been long planned by the Quauhtemotzin party, probably since his torture, and had in view his restoration and the quick disposal of the Spanish leaders, so as to make the soldiers a readier prey. Nevertheless it could not have been of great extent, though Cortés seeks to make the most of it, and to connect it with the presence of Tapia, a man wholly unfit and inexperienced to cope with such movements, as he pointedly observes. While influenced by purely selfish motives, there is no doubt that his procedure served the best interests of the crown, for at this early period a man of his sagacity, influence, and skill as ruler and leader, was needed to maintain and advance the conquest of the country. The toleration of factions would have been dangerous. Of this Velazquez and his patron and adherents were fully aware; but envy and ambition blinded them to their own inefficiency, and to prudence.

The revolt was not the only danger to Cortés ascribed to the Tapia episode, if we may credit Herrera. Disgusted with the disposal of the commissary, and encouraged by the evident wishes of the