d on Montezuma's ankles. The great Emperor seemed struck with
stupor and spoke never a word. Meanwhile the Aztec chiefs were executed
in the courtyard without interruption, the populace imagining the
sentence had been passed upon them by Montezuma, and the victims
submitting to their fate without a murmur.

Cortes returning then to the room where Montezuma was imprisoned,
unclasped the fetters and said he was now at liberty to return to his
own palace. The Emperor, however, declined the offer.

The instinctive sense of human sympathy must have frequently been not
only repressed but extinguished by all the great conquering generals who
have crushed nations under foot. Besides those of prehistoric times in
Asia and Europe, we have examples in Alexander the Greek, Julius Caesar
the Roman, Cortes and Pizarro the Spaniards, Frederick the Prussian, and
Napoleon the Corsican.

The great French general consciously aimed at dramatic effect in his
exploits, but how paltry his seizing the Duc d'Enghien at dead of night
by a troop of soldiers, or his coercing the King of Spain to resign his
sovereignty after inducing him to cross the border into France. In the
unparalleled case of Cortes, a powerful emperor is seized by a few
strangers at noonday and carried off a prisoner without opposition or
bloodshed. So extraordinary a transaction, says Robertson, would appear
"extravagant beyond the bounds of probability" were it not that all the
circumstances are "authenticated by the most unquestionable evidence."

The nephew of Montezuma, Cakama, the lord of Tezcuco, had been closely
watching all the motions of the Spaniards. He "beheld with indignation
and contempt the abject condition of his uncle; and now set about
forming a league with several of the neighboring caziques to break the
detested yoke of the Spaniards." News of this league reached the ears
of Cortes, and arresting him with the permission of Montezuma, he
deposed him, and appointed a younger brother in his place. The other
caziques were seized, each in his own city, and brought to Mexico, where
Cortes placed them in strict confinement along with Cakama.

The next step taken by Cortes was to demand from Montezuma an
acknowledgment of the supremacy of the Spanish Emperor. The Aztec
monarch and chief caziques easily granted this; and even agreed that a
gratuity should be sent by each of them as proof of loyalty. Collectors
were sent out, and "in a few weeks most of them re