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Show BOOK IV. ~ H I S T 0 R Y 0 F M E X I C 0. the judgment of other; however prevailed, who thought it would be better to declare w:1~· againl1: them before new conque.lts rendered them more formid·lble. T he king of Mexico no fooner heard of their refo- . Iution than he fct out a large army, under command of the celebrated Montezuma, and fent advice to the king of 1'acuba to join with his troops. The battle was fought on the confines of Xochimilco. Al' hough the number of the Xochimiicas was great, they did not however engage with fuch good order as the Mexicans, by which means they were quickly defeated, and retreated fo their city. The Mex1cans having purfued them, entered it, and fet fire 'to the turrets of the tern ... plcs and other edifices. The citizens not being able .to refill: their attack, fled to the mountains; but being even there befieged by the Mexicans, they at laft furrendered. Montezuma was received by the Xo .. chimilchan priefts with the mufic of flutes and drums; and the whole expedition completed in about eleven days . The king of Mexico went immediately to take pofiefiion of that city, which, as we have before mentioned, next to the royal refidence, was the Ihofi confiderable' in t he vale of Mexico, where he was acknowledged and proclaimed king, received the obedience of thefe new fubjecl:s, and ptomifed to love them as a father, and watch in future over their welfare. The bad fucce[s of the Xochimilcas was not fufficient to intimidate thofe of Cuitlahuac; on the contrary, the advantageous fituation of their city, which was built on a little ifland in the lake of Chalco, encoUl ·agcd thein to provoke the Mexicans to war. Itzcoatl was for pouring upon them with all the forces of Mexico; but Montezuma undertook to humble their pride with a fmaller body; for which pu.rpofe he raifed fome companies of youths, particularly thofe who had been bred in the feminaries of Mexico ; and after 'having exercifed them in arms, and inftruCted them in the order and mode which they were to follow in that war, he prepared a fuitab]e number of veifels, and fet out with this armament againft the Cuitlahuachefe. We are totally ignorant of the particulars of this expedition; but we know that in feven days the city was taken and reduced under the obedience of the king of M.exico, and that the youths returned loaded with fpoil s, and brought Wtth them a number of prifoners to be facrifi.ced to the god of war· W c do not know the year either in which this war happened, nor H I S T 0 R Y 0 F M E X I C 0. nor the time of that of ~auhnahuac, but it appears to have been towards the end of the reign of Itzcoatl. The lord of Xiuhtepcc, a city of the country. of t})e T.lahuicas more than thirty miles to the fouthward of JVIcxico, had req,uefl:ed ~f his . neighbour, the lord of~auhnahuac, one of his daugh~ers to wife, which demand was granted. The 1ord of Tla]texcal made afterwards the fame pretenfions, to whom fhe was immediately given, notwithfiandipg the promifes made to the .fidr, either on account of fo,:ne offence which he llad done to the father, or fome other reafon of which we are ignorant. Tl1e lord of Xiuhtepec being highly oftended at fuch an infult, defired to be revenged; but being unable for this himfelf, on account of his inft:ri~ rity in force~, he implored the affiftance of the king of Mexico, promtfing to be lus conftant friend find ally, and to ferve him whenever he fhou~d require it with his perfon and his people. ltzcoatl efteeming t,he war Jufi:, and the occafion .fit for the extenfion of his dominions armed his fubjects, and called upon thofe of Acolhuacan and Tacuba. So, great an army was certainly necelfary, the lord of Q_£auhnahuac b:::ing very powerful, and his city very firong, as the Spaniards afterwards ,experienced when they befieged it. Itzcoatl commanded that the whole army fhould attack the city at once, the Mexicans by Ocuilla on the we.ft iide, the Tepanecas by Tlatzacapulco on the north, and the Tezcucans together with the Xiuhtepechcie by Tlalquitcnanco on the ealt and f~uth. Th~ ~auhnahuach~fe trufting to the natural fl:rength of the c1ty, were w11lmg to ftand the attack. The firfi who began it were ~he Te~anecas, who were vigoroufly repulli.:d; but all the other troops unmed1ately advancing, the citizens were forced to furrendcr and fub jeet thcmfe~ves to the king of Mexico, to whom they paid annually, ft:o.m that .ttme forward, a tribute in cotton, pepper, and other commodities, wl11ch we fhall mention hereafter. By the conqudl: of that large, pleafant, and fl:rong city, which was the capital of the Tlahuicas, a great ~art of that country fell under the dominion of the Mexican king; a httle after to thefc conqueil:s were added ~antitit1an and Toltitlan, confidcrab.le cities fifteen miles to the northward of Mexico; but any other particulars we know not. In thi~ manner a city, which fomc /hort tim before was tributary to the Tepanecas, and not much efieemcd by other nations, in lc(s than I th~ \75, ~00~ I,V |