, ferocity, fanaticism and
avarice, of their followers, that they were amply adequate to carry out
the vast schemes of conquest for which they were designed. It was hence
that Cortez marched to the conquest of Mexico,--a gigantic
undertaking--one a slight glance at which will recall to the reader the
period of history to which we would direct his attention. Landing upon
the continent, with a little band, scarcely more than half the
complement of a modern regiment, he prepared to traverse an unknown
country, thronged by savage tribes, with whose character, habits and
means of defence, he was wholly unacquainted. This romantic adventure,
worthy of the palmiest days of chivalry, was crowned with success,
though checkered with various fortune, and stained with bloody episodes,
that prove how the threads of courage and ferocity are inseparably
blended in the woof and warp of Spanish character. It must be
remembered, however, that the spirit of the age was harsh, relentless
and intolerant; and, that if the Aztecs, idolaters and sacrificers of
human victims, found no mercy at the hands of the fierce Catholics whom
Cortez commanded, neither did the Indians of our own section of the
continent fare much better at the hands of men professing a purer faith,
and coming to these shores, not as warriors, with the avowed purpose of
conquest, but themselves persecuted fugitives.

As the first words that greeted the ears of the Plymouth colonists were
"Welcome, Englishmen!" uttered by a poor native, who had learned them
from the fishermen off the northern coast, so were the Spaniards at
first kindly welcomed by the aborigines they encountered in the New
World. Yet, in the north-east and south-west the result was the same: it
mattered little whether the stranger was Roman Catholic or Protestant;
whether he came clad in steel, or robed in the garments of peace;
whether he spoke the harsh English, the soft French, or the rich
Castilian tongue. The inexorable laws which govern races were rigidly
enforced; the same drama was everywhere enacted, the white race enjoying
a speedy triumph. There were episodical struggles, fierce and furious,
but unavailing; here Guatimozin, there Philip of Pokanoket--here a
battle, there a massacre.

The Spanish general encountered a people who had attained a far higher
point of art and civilization than their red brethren of the north-east
part of the continent. Vast pyramids, imposing sculptures, curious arms,