to the Mexicans in manfully losing their city. Quauhtemotzin as a patriot and a skilful general was fully alive to the perils of his position, but he was prepared to use to best advantage all the resources at his command, and that is all any one can do. Stern as Saturnius, and passionately patient, from the day of the capture of Montezuma his nature had been proof against all pleasure. Of an imperious temper, haughty and overbearing as Coriolanus, yet was he as faithful to defend the city as any Hector or Horatius. I hold that Spaniards of the sixteenth century were no worse than their neighbors. It was a bigoted and cruel age; though for that matter enough of bigotry yet remains, and there is sufficient cruelty in our latter-day fightings to keep us humble. And while we see much to condemn in the motives that brought hither these foreigners, and much in their conduct that was cruel and unjust, yet we are constrained to admit that the work which they accomplished was in the pathway of destiny. The conquest of the county, the destruction of its barbarous and inhuman rites, and the establishment of the religion of Christ in their place were the inevitable consequences of the discovery of America. Once brought face to face with the sacrificial stone, and other brutal atrocities of the Aztecs, and Christianity had no alternative but to eradicate these evils or be itself overthrown.
The victorious advance into the heart of the city had been a pleasant surprise to the Spaniards, while to the Mexicans it was incomprehensible. If such were the results of the first day’s doings, what would the days following bring forth? Quauhtemotzin immediately issued orders to reopen the channels and construct fresh intrenchments and pitfalls. Such were the forces employed, and such their zeal, that when the morning dawned the causeways and streets presented even greater difficulties than before.