or any other part of the continent. After the
marvelous experience of Grijalva in Yucatan, then considered an island,
and his report that its inhabitants were quite a civilized community
compared with the natives of the isles, Velasquez, the Governor of Cuba,
resolved at once to invade the new country for purposes of annexation
and plunder.

Velasquez prepared a large expedition for this adventure, consisting of
eleven ships with more than 600 armed men on board; and after much
deliberation chose Fernando Cortes to be the commander. Who was this
Cortes, destined by his military genius and unscrupulous policy to be
comparable to Hannibal or Julius Caesar among the ancients, and to Clive
or Napoleon Bonaparte among the moderns? Velasquez knew him well as one
of his subordinates in the cruel conquest of Cuba; before that Cortes
had distinguished himself in Hayti as an energetic and skilled officer.
Of an impetuous and fiery temper which he had learned to keep thoroughly
in command, he was characterized by that quality possessed by all
commanders of superior genius, the "art of gaining the confidence and
governing the minds of men." As a youth in Spain he had studied for the
bar at the University of Salamanca; and in some of his speeches on
critical occasions one can find certain traces of his academical
training in the adroit arguments and clever appeals.

Other qualifications as an officer were his manly and handsome
appearance, his affable manners, combined with "extraordinary address in
all martial exercises, and a constitution of such vigor as to be capable
of enduring any fatigue."

Cortes on reviewing his commission from the Governor, Velasquez, was too
shrewd not to be aware of the importance of his new position. The "Great
Admiral," with reference to the discovery of the New World, had said: "I
have only opened the door for others to enter"; and Cortes was conscious
that now was the moment for that entrance. Filled with unbounded
ambition he rose to the occasion.

Velasquez somewhat hypocritically pretended that the object he had in
view was merely barter with the natives of New Spain--that being the
name given by Grijalva to Yucatan and the neighboring country. He
ordered Cortes

to impress on the natives the grandeur and goodness of his royal
master; to invite them to give in their allegiance to him, and to
manifest it by regaling him with such comfortable presents of gold,
pearls, and p