by the obligation of
military service. In him resided the legislative power, yet he was
subject to the laws of the realm. The judges held their office
independently of him, and were not liable to removal by him. The laws
were reduced to writing, which, though only a system of hieroglyphics,
served its purpose so well that the Spaniards were obliged to admit its
validity in their courts, and to found a professorship for perpetuating
a knowledge of it. Marriage was regarded as an important social
engagement. Divorces were granted with difficulty. Slavery was
recognized in the case of prisoners of war, debtors, and criminals, but
no man could be born a slave in Mexico. No distinction of castes was
permitted. The government mandates and public intelligence were
transmitted by a well-organized postal service of couriers able to make
two hundred miles a day. The profession of arms was the recognized
avocation of the nobility; the military establishments, whether in
active service in the field, or as garrisons in large towns, being
supported by taxation on produce or manufactures. The armies were
divided into corps of 10,000, and these again into regiments of 400.
Standards and banners were used; the troops executed their evolutions to
military music, and were provided with hospitals, army surgeons, and a
medical staff. In the human hives of Europe, Asia, and America, the bees
were marshalled in the same way, and were instinctively building their
combs alike.

[Sidenote: Its religion, priesthood, and ceremonies.] The religious
state is a reflexion of that of Europe and Asia. The worship was an
imposing ceremonial. The common people had a mythology of many gods, but
the higher classes were strictly Unitarian, acknowledging one almighty,
invisible Creator. Of the popular deities, the god of war was the chief.
He was born of a virgin, and conceived by mysterious conception of a
ball of bright-coloured feathers floating on the air. The priests
administered a rite of baptism to infants for the purpose of washing
away their sins, and taught that there are rewards and punishments in a
life to come--a paradise for the good, a hell of darkness for the
wicked. The hierarchy descended by due degrees from the chief priests,
who were almost equal to the sovereign in authority, down to the humble
ecclesiastical servitors. Marriage was permitted to the clergy. They had
monastic institutions, the inmates praying thrice a day and once at
nigh