The news of the discovery of Mexico, a country evidently much richer in gold than the West Indies, greatly delighted everyone in Cuba. Life in the island was pleasant enough for the Spaniards with estates, serf labour and gold washings. Yet, there was a shortage of labour, for the native inhabitants ran away, committed suicide or died of heart-break and overwork owing to the intolerable way they were treated. And the gold did not amount to much. So, to hear of a country where quantities of gold could be had in exchange for worthless beads was very attractive. For those with no estates, the news was of course more exciting still.
Since their arrival in the New World the Spaniards had seized by force everything they could. Their right to do so rested on the Borgia’s Bull, which had given them America. Had they doubted their right to take other people’s lands, their consciences would have been salved by the reflection that in bringing Christianity they were bringing salvation. Moreover, they were sure that the European way of life they introduced was superior to the native cultures they destroyed, as were afterwards the British in India or Africa. For all these reasons it was natural that they were in a fever to get all they could out of this wonderful new kingdom of Mexico.
But how to do it? The Spaniards in Cuba were very few in numbers. Mexico was seemingly much stronger than any place they had gone against. A large population, stone towns, a great king in the mountains, well-armed forces. Such a prize was not easily to be had. That the most daring and adventurous spirits in the island believed that Cortés could conduct so difficult an enterprise with success is the explanation of his sudden rise to leadership at this time.
Bernal Díaz gives a portrait sketch of him, and though it was written after he had become a great figure, the parts of it I quote here describe him as he was in 1518. ‘He was a tall man, well proportioned and robust. His face had little colour and was inclined to be greyish. His eyes were grave, though not without kindness. His hair and beard were black and rather thin. He had a deep chest and broad shoulders, was lean and slightly bow-legged. Both as a horseman and a swordsman he was very skilful. Above all he had courage and spirit, which is what matters most of all. As a youth in Hispaniola he was somewhat dissolute about women, and fought with knives several times with strong and agile men, and always won. There was a knife scar near his under lip and, if one looked hard at it, he was inclined to cover it up more with his beard. He was very affable to his companions, was a Latin scholar and something of a poet. Every morning he recited prayers from a Book of Hours and heard Mass with devoutness. He was fond of cards and dice and excessively fond of women.’
This lively and gallant young man was thirty-two years of age when Grijalva’s messenger, Pedro de Alvarado, arrived with the great news about Mexico. ‘Alvarado,’ says Bernal Díaz, ‘knew very well how to tell his story, and they say that Diego Velázquez could do nothing but embrace him, and order great rejoicings and sports for eight days.’ Velázquez determined to send a new expedition, large enough this time to make a settlement. It would be impossible to keep the secret from the Viceregal court in Hispaniola, but the expedition could be represented to the authorities there as bent on no more than exploring the coast again. He would send another emissary to the Court of Spain, urging afresh that he be made Governor of the new lands and independent of Hispaniola. That would entitle him, under the prevailing custom, to a fifth of all the loot or profits, after the Royal Fifth had been paid. He would become an enormously rich man and in five years or so could return home with a good chance of a title and a high office at Court. But, as we shall see, Cortés thought otherwise. He determined that the fortune and the honours should be his.
To make sure of success, Velázquez ought to have led the expedition himself. But he was not a soldier and had no taste for hardships. The undertaking, he knew, was very hazardous. Better to send a trusted commander, who would do the hard work and run the risks, while he sat in Cuba and, if all went smoothly, reaped the reward. He must be prudent, too, about how much of his own money he put in. Quite a lot would be required, as the force needed would have to be bigger than on the two previous occasions. He would do well to chose as commander a man of means, able and ready to subscribe a substantial sum. With these requirements in mind, he turned for advice to his staff and the members of his household.
Various names were put forward. To begin with, there were three Velázquez relations who wanted the command. And why not Grijalva again? asked his companions of the late voyage, who liked him as a captain. But Cortés knew how to play the winning card. Velázquez had two favourites, his secretary and his accountant. Cortés made a bargain with them: ‘Get me the command and you share in the proceeds.’ They persuaded Velázquez against his better judgment, for though reconciled with Cortés and even the godfather of his daughter, he had not forgotten that some years before Cortés had tried to get the better of him. Nevertheless, when urged by his favourites, he appointed him. The written instructions Cortés received were framed so widely that, in effect, he had discretion to do whatever he thought best. Velázquez, however, arranged to send along with him some of his own partisans to keep him under observation.
Once in command, Cortés set to work to collect men and stores at Santiago, the capital. He made it quite clear that his object was more than exploration and barter. It was an expedition to conquer Mexico. The bait of so splendid and lucrative an adventure attracted the most resolute and daring men in Cuba. Says Bernal: ‘He issued a proclamation that whoever went with him to the newly discovered lands to conquer them and settle there should receive his share of the gold, silver and riches, which might be gained.’ To finance the venture, he mortgaged his estate for eight thousand gold pieces. At his request his friends sold their farms, bought weapons and horses, prepared cassava bread and salt pork and made quilted cotton armour. As there was no corn, cassava flour made of pounded manioc root had to serve. Quilted armour, suggested by those who had seen the Mayas using it, was made because there was not nearly enough steel armour to go round. Search was made for cannon, guns, powder and crossbows, and particularly for horses, which were very scarce. Neither Córdoba nor Grijalva had taken horses, but Cortés, having heard there were none in America, foresaw the enormous advantage which even a small troop of mailed cavalry would give him.
So the preparations went on. Cortés, as Bernal says, ‘began to adorn himself and be more careful of his appearance, wearing a plume of feathers and a medal, a gold chain and a velvet cloak trimmed with knots of gold.’ He had banners woven, on which, worked in gold, were the royal arms and a cross, with the legend: ‘We shall conquer under the sign of the Cross.’ These he set up in front of his house.
All this began to disquiet Velázquez. Could he be sure of Cortés? At the head of his force, when it was complete, Cortés would be the most powerful man in the island. If he could hardly be controlled in Cuba, how could he be controlled at all in Mexico? He might very well keep the conquest for himself. Perhaps it was not too late to revoke his appointment.
When Cortés heard rumours of this, he hastened his preparations, while he used all his charm to allay the Governor’s suspicions. He used to show himself frequently at the palace and assure Velázquez how rich a man he would soon make him. It became clear, however, that the Governor, urged by his household to displace Cortés, was about to do so. Advised of this, Cortés, though his preparations were not complete, sent his force secretly on board the ships one night and sailed from Santiago the next morning.
There are two accounts of the final scene. Bernal says that Cortés, supported by his friends, called on Velázquez to say good-bye the evening before leaving, and that the next morning Velázquez was at the wharf to see him off, but on neither occasion came to the point of cancelling his commission. The other account is that there was no farewell on the eve of departure and Velázquez was entirely ignorant that Cortés was leaving. Hearing early in the morning that the fleet was about to sail, he rushed down to the harbour to stop it. Cortés was already on board his flagship, but seeing Velázquez on the wharf, he thought it best to take a boat and get within speaking distance. Velázquez reproached him for stealing away and Cortés replied over the intervening water that there were moments in life when it was necessary to act first and talk afterwards. Velázquez, being powerless to apprehend him, had to let him go. This lively story is preferred by some leading historians to Bernal’s, but the objection to it is that while Bernal was on the spot, for he had joined the expedition, Las Casas, a Dominican friar, the author of the story, was not in Cuba at the time. I prefer Bernal’s account also because it is truer to Cortés’ character. His way was always to keep up appearances as long as possible. To have defied Velázquez at this stage would have been to put himself in the wrong and shocked at least some of his soldiers, who had no wish to be called rebels. Nor would Velázquez’s partisans have sailed with him. It seems more likely, as Bernal suggests, that Cortés was clever enough to know, when he said good-bye to Velázquez, how by charm, flattery and loyal protestations to make him hesitate to revoke the appointment.
So Cortés got away from Santiago. But as he had not completed his preparations, he put into Trinidad, a town 350 miles further west along the Cuban coast. There he added substantially to his force. It was from the estates in this neighbourhood that the most famous of his paladins came to join him, Pedro de Alvarado with his brothers, and Juan de Escalante, Cristóbal de Olid, Alonso Puertocarrero and Gonzalo de Sandoval. These men, mostly between thirty and thirty-five, Cortés’ age, were all of good birth. Of the rank and file we know nothing. But they were not mercenaries; they brought their own arms and equipment, and were rather a brotherhood of adventurers than soldiers in any modern sense. Yet, they were not like the buccaneers of a succeeding age, for they thought of themselves as the King of Spain’s men and were to be scrupulous in laying aside for him his customary due, the Royal Fifth.
When Velázquez heard that Cortés was at Trinidad, he sent word to the chief magistrate there to detain and send him back to Santiago. It seems that he had at last made up his mind that he must take this drastic step, as he had become convinced that Cortés was setting off as an independent adventurer. But Cortés, surrounded by his brilliant staff, had no difficulty in talking over the chief magistrate. The answer sent back to Santiago was that Cortés spoke and acted as Velázquez’s faithful servant, and that in any case it would be imprudent to meddle with him, for his soldiers might revenge him by sacking the town. And Cortés himself wrote a most loyal and flattering letter (which he could hardly have done had he broken with Velázquez in Santiago harbour).
After ten days the ships moved to Havana, a little further along the coast, where the local gentlemen received Cortés with acclamations and more hidalgos joined him. ‘It was here in Havana,’ says Bernal, ‘that Cortés began to organize a House hold and to be treated as a Lord.’ Velázquez made one more attempt to prevent him from leaving, sending a yet more urgent demand for his arrest. But who was going to arrest the man whom everybody in Cuba now believed would enrich the island with the spoils of Mexico? Bernal sums it up: ‘The Alvarados, Puertocarrero, Olid, Escalante, all of us would have given our lives for Cortés.’
When the expedition left Havana on 10th February 1519, it consisted of 11 ships, the largest being about a hundred tons,
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508 swordsmen |
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100 sailors |
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32 crossbowmen |
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13 musketeers; |
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and carried |
10 brass cannon |
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4 small cannon |
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16 horses |
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and a quantity of powder, ball, crossbow arrows and spare parts, and a number of dogs. |
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