empire, it occasioned universal terror among the natives, and the people
of Tontonacapan immediately returned to submission to our garrison at
Villa Rica.--Let me now pause, and request my readers to consider the
train of our heroic acts which I have already related. _First_, we
destroyed our ships, by which we cut off all hope of retreat. _Secondly_,
we entered the city of Mexico, in spite of the many alarming warnings we
had received. _Thirdly_, we made Montezuma, the sovereign of that great
and populous empire, a prisoner, in the midst of his own palace and
capital, surrounded by numerous guards. _Fourthly_, we publickly burnt his
officers in front of his palace, and put the king in irons during the
execution. I now frequently revolve upon these great events in my old age,
which still appear as fresh in my memory as if they had only happened
yesterday. I say to myself, it was not we who did those mighty things, but
we were guided therein by the hand of God. For without his direction, how
was it to be conceived that so small a number as we were, not amounting to
four hundred and fifty men, should have dared to seize and put in irons,
and publickly burn his officers for obeying his orders, in a city larger
and more populous than Venice, and 1500 leagues from our own country.

It was necessary to appoint a successor in the command at Villa Rica, and
accordingly Cortes gave the command to Alonzo de Grado, an indifferent
soldier, but a good speaker, a handsome man, a musician, and a ready
writer, who had always been adverse to our marching to Mexico, and was the
chief orator on these occasions, in conveying the sentiments of the
opposite party to Cortes. On notifying this appointment, Cortes said to
him jocularly, "Senior de Grado, you are now commandant of Villa Rica. See
that you fortify it well; but I charge you not to go to war with the
wicked Indians, lest they kill you as they have done Juan de Escalente."
This was said ironically, as Cortes well knew he would not venture out of
his garrison for any consideration. As we noticed the concealed meaning of