_I. The Mexican Empire_


Of all that extensive empire which once acknowledged the authority of
Spain in the New World, no portion, for interest and importance, can be
compared with Mexico--and this equally, whether we consider the variety
of its soil and climate; the inexhaustible stores of its mineral wealth;
its scenery, grand and picturesque beyond example; the character of its
ancient inhabitants, not only far surpassing in intelligence that of the
other North American races, but reminding us, by their monuments, of the
primitive civilisation of Egypt and Hindostan; and lastly, the peculiar
circumstances of its conquest, adventurous and romantic as any legend
devised by any Norman or Italian bard of chivalry. It is the purpose of
the present narrative to exhibit the history of this conquest, and that
of the remarkable man by whom it was achieved.

The country of the ancient Mexicans, or Aztecs as they were called,
formed but a very small part of the extensive territories comprehended
in the modern Republic of Mexico. The Aztecs first entered it from the
north towards the beginning of the thirteenth century, but it was not
until the year 1325 that, led by an auspicious omen, they laid the
foundations of their future city by sinking piles into the shallows of
the principal lake in the Mexican valley. Thus grew the capital known
afterwards to Europeans as Mexico. The omen which led to the choice of
this site--an eagle perched upon a cactus--is commemorated in the arms
of the modern Mexican Republic.

In the fifteenth century there was formed a remarkable league,
unparallelled in history, according to which it was agreed between the
states of Mexico, Tezcuco, and the neighbouring little kingdom of