evitable, the Indian emperor had ordered his treasures to be thrown into the lake. The Tlascalans carried off the greater part of the remaining spoil. The sum divided by the soldiers was so small that they became highly exasperated against Guatimozin, who still refused to discover where he had hidden his treasure. Entreaties and threats were alike wasted upon him. To pacify his brutal followers the miscreant Cortez put the unhappy sovereign and his chief favorite to the torture, which they bore with inflexible fortitude, and finally stretched them upon a bed of living coals. Overcome by the extreme agony his fellow-sufferer turned an imploring eye upon the monarch, as if to ask permission to reveal all he knew. The royal sufferer understood it and scornfully asked "Am I on a bed of roses ?" The reproach was enough--the favorite was silent and expirThe monarch himself was released and reserved for other indignities and sufferings.

ed.

We have now done with the greatest of Indian wars. It presents the melancholy spectacle of a powerful empire subverted, a whole nation decimated and thrown back from a high state of civilization into barbarism, and a paradise changed into a den of blight, blood and desolation—a hell upon earth and for what? To gratify the lust, avarice, bigotry and ferocity of a handful of vagabonds, miscreants and bloodhounds. Have mankind been the gainers by the event. O no !

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"Freedom shrieked when Guatimozin fell."

May that bloodiest page in the book of History, the conquest of Mexico be forever blotted out. Or if man must still be benefitted by the accursed record, let it remain. Let the modern Spaniard blush as he reads the crimes of his countrymen. Let Cortez live in story, let his name be remembered, but only to be mentioned with abhorrence. The vagabond cut-throat who knew no law but that of the strongest, who acknowledged no right, who respected no tie, who possessed no virtue or kindly feeling, the invader, the robber, the murderer by wholesale, the hypocrite, the monster, may well serve as a beacon of everlasting infamy to future ages. All

his talents, all his fortitude, all his valor are insufficient to wipe out the shame of the least of his actions.

Turn we to a brighter picture; to the heathen and barbarian Guatimozin, who was all that Cortez was not. A wise statesman, a true patriot, a skilful general and a heroic warrior. He slew none unjustly, he robbed none, he invaded none, he oppressed none. Called to the helm at a stormy crisis, he did not shrink from it, or spare to oppose his naked breast to the mail clad Spaniards. His spirit never failed him, not even in tortures at which humanity shudders. The warrior and patriot king is forgotten, and his atrocious oppressor is remembered with admiration. Such is human perversity.

THE CONQUEST OF PERU.

In 1524, three extraordinary men lived in Panama, in New Spain, viz: Francisco Pizarro, Diego de Almagro and Hernando Luque. Pizarro was a bastard, and in early life a swine herd, after which he became a soldier. He was a very brave man, but so ignorant that he could neither write nor read. Almagro was a foundling, and a soldier also. He was a man of intrepid valor, great activity and likewise of an open and generous character; but he lacked the craft and cunning of Pizarro. Luque was a priest and school-master, and very rich withal. All of them had heard of a great and rich country on the shore of the South Sea, and they agreed to attempt the conquest of it. Pizarro engaged to command the armament, Almagro offered to conduct the supplies and reinforcements, and Luque contributed his gold. The agreement was ratified by a solemn mass, and they entered into a contract to commit rapine and murder in the name of the Prince of Peace.

Small were the means with which this great enterprize was undertaken. Pizarro set sail in a small vessel, with only a hundred and twelve men. Contrary winds kept him beating about seventy-two days, during which his scanty band suffered much from hunger, fatigue and frequent rencontres with the natives. He

was at last obliged to retire to Chuchama, where he was overtaken by Almagro, with seventy men, who had suffered as much, and from the same causes, as the followers of Pizarro. Almagro himself had lost an eye, in a contest with the natives. After the meeting, Almagro returned to Panama to recruit, but with all his exertions, he could only raise eighty men. With this small reinforcement the adventurers landed at Tacamez, on the coast of Quito, where they found the natives clad in cotton, and adorned with trinkets of gold and silver. They dared not, however, with their small force, invade so populous a country, and retired to the island of Gallo. Here an order from the governor of Panama reached them; commanding the expedition to return. So much had the private men suffered, that they were very willing to obey. Pizarro drew a line in the sand with his sword, and having declared that all who wished to leave him were permitted to do so, found himself left with only thirteen soldiers.

This small band established themselves in the island of Gorgona, till at last they were joined by a small reinforcement from Panama. They then stood to the south east, and in twenty days touched on the coast of Peru. At Tumbez, a place of some note, they first obtained an idea of the magnificence of the Peruvian empire. They beheld a thickly peopled country, well cultivated, the natives decently clothed, and farther advanced in civilization than the inhabitants of Mexico. They had even domestic animals. But what chiefly attracted their eyes, was the profusion of gold and silver. Not only were the people decorated with these metals, but even their common culinary utensils were formed of them.

Pizarro ranged along the coast, keeping up a peaceable intercourse with the natives, for he was not strong enough to attack them. He procured some of their Lamas, or tame cattle, some vessels of gold and silver and two young men, who, he intended should serve him as interpreters, and so returned to Panama, after an absence of about three years. Hence he repaired to Spain, where he had the address to secure the favor of the court Luque was nominated bishop of the country to

be conquered, Almagro only obtained the command of Tumbez, and Pizarro was appointed Governor and Captain-General, with supreme civil and military au thority. In return, he engaged to raise two hundred and fifty men, and to provide ships, arms and all things necessary for the conquest of Peru.

Small as the number of men he had engaged to raise and supply was, it was with great difficulty that Pizarro got together the half of them; and that only by the aid of Cortez. With these, however, he landed at Nombre de Dios and marched to Panama, accompanied by his three brothers. On his arrival, he found Almagro so exasperated at his conduct, that he refused to act longer in concert with him, and was endeavoring to get a new enterprize on foot, to thwart and rival him, for he justly considered that Pizarro had engrossed to himself all the honors, and had left him but a very humble part to play. Thus will thieves quarrel for their booty, even before it is won. The cunning of Pizarro, however, soon brought about a reconciliation. Nevertheless, their united endeavors could only equip three small vessels and a hundred and eighty soldiers, thirty six of whom were horsemen. Leaving Almagro at Panama, Pizarro landed his handful of troops in the north of Peru in thirteen days, and immediately marched southward. It would be of little avail to recount the wanton outrages committed by him and his followers on the harmless Peruvians. At length, after much suffering, they reached the province of Coaque, and, having taken the principal settlement of the natives by surprise, they found themselves in possession of gold and silver to the value of thirty thousand pesos and other booty of great value.

Pizarro hardly met with resistance till he reached the island of Puna, in the bay of Guyaquil; where the inhabitants defended themselves so bravely, that it cost him six months' exertion to reduce them. Thence he proceeded to Tumbez, where the sickness of his troops compelled him to remain three months,

In the mean while two reinforcements, amounting together to thirty men, under two leaders of great experi 4

ence and reputation, joined him from Nicaragua. With this accession of strength, he proceeded to the rive Piura and there founded St. Michael, the first Spanish settlement in Peru. As he advanced toward the centre of the empire, he became better informed concerning its affairs. At this time the dominions of the Incas extend ed fifteen hundred miles along the coast of the Pacific; while its breadth was much less considerable. The sovereigns, called Incas, were revered as persons of divine origin, and ruled with despotic sway. Their blood was deemed too pure to be mingled with that of any other race and others were treated with respect almost amounting to adoration. Nevertheless, they were of a gentle and benevolent disposition and ruled for the good of their subjects. At the first coming of the Spaniards, Huara Capoc sat upon the throne. He was distinguished no less for military talent than for the pacific virtues of his race. He had subdued the kingdom of Quito, by force of arms, resided in its capital, and contrary to the customs of his country, married the daughter of the van quished monarch. Atahualpa, his son, succeeded to his throne and his authority; soon to be despoiled of both by Pizarro.

of

Nevertheless, his title was disputed by his elder brother Huascar, who solicited the aid of the Spaniards, to whom this civil broil gave a manifest advantage. Pizarro left a small garrison in St. Michael, and marched against Atahualpa with sixty-two horsemen and a hundred and two infantry, of whom twenty were armed with cross-bows and three with muskets. To an envoy Atahualpa, who met him with a valuable present, and an offer of the Inca's friendship, he pretended that he came as an ambassador from a powerful monarch, to offer the Peruvian prince aid against the enemics who disputed his title. These professions, probably, induced the Peruvians to suffer the invaders to advance without molestation to Caxamalca; where they took possession of a fort and intrenched themselves. Here too, the Inca sent them new presents, and renewed his prof fers of friendship.