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Show ·~40 H I s T 0 R y 0 F I M E X I c o. DlSSEl\'1'·• Cortes, tn his letters to Charles V. but many anacronif~s being com .. ~ mitted by the Spani1h l)iltorians, eithcrr 9.ecaufe they chd. not confult t,hofe letters, or becaufe tl~ey were indifferent about knowu1? on what days tl;e moveable .feftivals happened. in thore , ~cars of :Vh1ch Cor~es .!ometin;~.es 1n,ade mention, it is neceilary to fix f?;me ~omts ~f cht~~ n.ology, omitting others of fmal.ler importance, to av01d provmg ted1~ ous to our readers. 1 . • 'The adival of C,ortes's armament on the coaft of Chalclucuecan happened, as every one knows, on Holy Thur.fday, 1519. This wa~ on. the 2 dl. of Apr.il, for EaO:c:r was that year 011 the 24t~. The.entry of the Spaniards into the city ofTlafcala d1d npt h,appcn, as.Herrera and Gomer,a Cay, on the 23d .. ofSeptember, but.on the I~th, as Be;·nal Diaz Bet.an.cour.t, and Soli~ write. This is eafily ~emon.! l:rated bv making a calculation according to the account given by Corte.s of the days which. the Spaniards itaid in, Tlafcala ~nd Cholula, and thofe which they employed in their. journ~y to .MexiCO. Bernal Diaz fays, that before they entered Tlafcala they were twcn~y-four days in the territories of that republic, and afterwards t~enty m that city; as is alfo1 confirmed by the letters of Cortes. fh~y entered Cholula on the I 4th of OCtober, and in~o Mexico on the 8th, of November. Six days after Montezuma was made prifoner, as Cortes himfelf affirms.' This general remained in the ca1~ital until the begin-:ning of Mny. follow.ing, at which time he went to Chempo~lla, to oppof~ Narv.aez. He a{laulted and gained a vi~ory over his enemy on th~ Sunday of ·Pentecofi:, w_hich that.year (I 520) happened on ~he 27th of May. Tthe infu1TeCtion of the Mexicans, caufed by the.: violent proceedings of Alvarado, happened on the great feil:ival of the month Toxcatl, which began that year on the I 3th of May. Cortes returned to the capital after his vietorj', on the ~4th of'] une, as every one nttefis. In the accounts of the events which occurred in tho laft days of June, and the firil: days of July, we ~nd fomc confufion and nnacronifins among hiftorians. We have followed Cortes in his letters, which contain the moil: authentic ·account of tht conqueft. The death of Montezuma appears to have happened on the 3oth of June, for he died, according to Cortes, three days after he received the wound from a fione. This happened while thofe two machin<1,s of • H I S T 0 R Y 0 F M E X I C 0. of war were conil:ruCting, of which we have made mention in om hif~ · tory : thefe were conftruCtcd on the night of the 26,th of June and the day f-ollowing, as is to be gathered from the account of this conqucr0r. We -cannot fix the death of Montezuma therefore later nor fooJter thar1 the 30 h, without perploxing the feries of events . ' 'irhe fi·rfi: of Jnly 1we make tlic noche trifle, that)is, the night when the Spaniards came off defeated, for Cortes gives f<:ven days to their j-on~rney from Mexico to Tlafcala, and aflinns that they enten::d there on the 8th of July. Diaz and Betancourt fity, that the Spaniards left Mexico on the roth, and entered on the r6th into the lands of that republic; but ia this pnrti ular the greateft faith is due to Cortes. The events which happened from the 24th of June to the firi1: of July will appear many, confidering the l11ortners of tl1e time : but it is not wonderful that in circumfiances of fuch dilticul ty and danger aCtions ihoulti multiply, as the f.wing of lives called forth the greatell: efforts. The. wa1· made by the Spaniards in ~auhquechollan happened in the nionth 'of OCtober, by what appears from the account of Cortes. This e·poch becomes of importance to u·s, in order to know the time which Cuitlahuatzin reigned, for· a Mexican captain, of whom Cortes gai'ned information of the ll:ate of the .court, gave him inte1ligence of the diligence ufed by that king in preparations againil: the Spaniards. Thofe who do not allow uitlahuatzin to have, reigned mor~ than forty days, reject that information .as a falfehood; but as they alledge no rcafon to convince us of its falil.ty, we ought to believe it. Concerning the day on which the ficge of Mexico began, and the time of its duration, authors in general are mill:aken. They fay for the firfl: part that the fiege la!l:ed ninety-three days; but they l1ave not made the calculation. exaCtly, for Cortes made the review of his troops in the great fquare of Tezcuco, nnd afligncd the potts which the thre~ awifions were to occupy on the Monday of Pentccoil:, in the year I 52 I. But although we l110uld fuppofe, contrary to the truth of hiflory, that on the fame day of the review the liege was begun, there would not be ninety-three, but only eighty-five days; for that Monday happened on the 2oth of May, and it is univerfally known that the liege termin;ued with thl: taking of the capital on the 13th of Augun.. If they reckon the hofiilities committed on the cities of the la1 c to VoL. IL I i be ~41 'DISSI~RT. . ll. '--Y--J |