Cortés, as commander, appointed the municipal officers,10 naming for alcaldes Puertocarrero and Montejo, a judicious selection, both for his own interests and as likely to meet general approval.
And here again is displayed the subtle policy of Cortés, who to this important position nominates but one from among his own faction, Montejo being for Velazquez. Thus of an opponent he made an adherent, conciliating at the same time the entire Velazquez party.11
The regidores were Alonso de Ávila, Pedro and Alonso de Alvarado, and Gonzalo de Sandoval; procurador general, Francisco Álvarez Chico; alguacil mayor, Juan de Escalante; escribano, Diego de Godoy. Beside these were appointed, in the interests of the military department, as capitan de entradas Pedro de Alvarado; maestre de campo, Cristóbal de Olid; alférez, Corral; alguaciles de real, Ochoa and Romero; tesorero, Gonzalo Mejía; contador, Alonso de Ávila.12
Nearly all these men were devoted to Cortés, and were therefore a powerful point d’appui for his project.
Thus far all was well. The men of Velazquez and the men of Cortés, Spaniards all, for the same God and the same king, had of their own volition determined here to plant a Spanish settlement, and had so planted it. By virtue of his office, and in the absence of any higher authority, the captain-general had chosen temporary officers for the new commonwealth. This was all. These men had elected to transform the army into a civil society, for temporary or permanent purposes as the case might be; and they had done so. But about their leader? What position did he occupy? A general without an army, de facto at the head of affairs, but by no legal right. Let him cut