BOOK VII.

CONCLUSION.

SUBSEQUENT CAREER OF CORTÉS

CHAPTER I.

Torture of Guatemozin. — Submission of the Country. — Re-building of the Capital. — Mission to Castile. — Complaintsagainst Cortés. — He is confirmed in his Authority.

1521 — 1522 .

The history of the Conquest of Mexico termi-nates with the surrender of the capital. But thehistory of the Conquest is so intimately blendedwith that of the extraordinary man who achieved it,that there would seem to be an incompleteness inthe narrative, if it were not continued to the closeof his personal career. This part of the subject hasbeen very imperfectly treated by preceding writers.I shall therefore avail myself of the authentic mate-rials in my possession to give a brief sketch of thebrilliant, but chequered, fortunes which marked thesubsequent career of Cortes.

The first ebullition of triumph was succeeded inthe army by very different feelings, as they beheldvol. hi. 30