The news of this was received in New Spain with general acclamation.  The mind of Cortes was set at ease as to the past, and he saw opening before him a noble theatre for future enterprise.  His career, ever one of adventure and of arms, was still brilliant and still chequered.  He fell once more under suspicion in Spain, and at last determined to present himself in person before his sovereign, to assert his innocence and claim redress.  Favourably received by Charles V., he subsequently returned to Mexico, pursued difficult and dangerous voyages of discovery, and ultimately returned to Spain, where he died in 1547.

The history of the Conquest of Mexico is the history of Cortes, who was its very soul.  He was a typical knight-errant; more than this, he was a great commander.  There is probably no instance in history where so vast an enterprise has been achieved by means apparently so inadequate.  He may be truly said to have effected the conquest by his own resources.  It was the force of his genius that obtained command of the co-operation of the Indian tribes.  He arrested the arm that was lifted to smite him, he did not desert himself.  He brought together the most miscellaneous collection of mercenaries who ever fought under one standard,—­men with hardly a common tie, and burning with the spirit of jealousy and faction; wild tribes of the natives also, who had been sworn enemies from their cradles.  Yet this motley congregation was assembled in one camp, to breathe one spirit, and to move on a common principle of action.

As regards the whole character of his enterprise, which seems to modern eyes a bloody and at first quite unmerited war waged against the Indian nations, it must be remembered that Cortes and his soldiers fought in the belief that their victories were the victories of the Cross, and that any war resulting in the conversion of the enemy to Christianity, even as by force, was a righteous and meritorious war.  This consideration dwelt in their minds, mingling indeed with the desire for glory and for gain, but without doubt influencing them powerfully.  This is at any rate one of the clues to this extraordinary chapter of history, so full of suffering and bloodshed, and at the same time of unsurpassed courage and heroism on every side.

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History of the Conquest of Peru

The “History of the Conquest of Peru,” which appeared in 1847, followed Prescott’s “History of the Conquest of Mexico.”  It is a vivid and picturesque narrative of one of the most romantic, if also in some ways one of the darkest, episodes in history.  It is impossible in a small compass to convey a tithe of the astonishing series of hairbreadth escapes, of conquest over tremendous odds, and of rapid eventualities which make up this kaleidoscopic story.

I.—­The Realm of the Incas