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Show • I H I S !f 0 R Y 0 F M ... E X 1 C 0. DISSERT. • Mexi~o, which· is found in fhe collcetion lof Mehl.loza, nor in the re~. gifi:b.l f the ttlbtitnry cities expl:tii16d iu th:1t coi1t:C:1:ion, Cl\n we find any f6hndation 'for afienti·ug to that 'arbitrary e11largemcnt of the Mexi-a: n dominions;' bur, on the contrary, it is entirely contradicted by "Bernal Diaz. Tie, in the xciiid ch.apter of. hi hiil:ory f.1ys, '·' tlic 'great · " MontdLlhna had {( vcral garrii6ns and people ofil war on the frontiovs ' r of1 h1s<ftak . He ·had one in Soc~ nufco, to ·clof1 Jld ·hi(nfelf on th tt fldc of ·ouat-tmala and Chiapa; another to defl nd J hit 1fclf fi·om tho tt Panuchefc, between Tuzapan and that })lace, which' we call Abmrt'c1 ; " :1nother in Coat~ac ual o, and another in Mf ·l~tHlO<\IJll ~c)." ·~~ We are certain, therefore~ i'n the firil: place, tHat , the Mexic~u~ do- · miuions did not extend' it'l the fout JifJbeyot'ld Xo~onoch0, :thd that. none of ~11 the provinces which at prcfcl1t are ' con1prohended in the diotcfcs ef Gu~timala, Nicaragua, and Honduras, belonged to the Mexican empire. In our ivth book we have faid, •that Thltot()t/, a cze]ebrated. Mexican general, in the 1at1: years of king 'Ahuitzotl; cart·jed his vic-. toribuiS arms as far as Guatimala; but theter we alfo add, that it is not ki1~wn that that c6uhtry remained fubjctl:· to the crown of Mexico; the contrary appears rather from hifiory to be the truth. Torquemada, i.n book ii. c. 8 I . makes mention of tlu: conquefrof Nicaragua by the· Mexibns, but what he affirm there of an army of the Mexica-ns in the. time of Montezuma, is if) book ·iii. c. 1 o. attribu;ed by. him t.o a·cotony; which had •gone out many years before, by orcler of the . gods, frorn the neighbourhood of Xocon.ocho; wherefore ,his account is not to be.· depended upon. . Berna] Diaz, in chap. clxvi. exprcmy affirms, thf\t- 'the Chiapanef~. were never fubdued by the Mex.icans; but this is not to bo underil:obd. of their whole eountry,. but· of a part only ; becaufe we k 11bw fi-om: Re~ezal, . Chronicler of that province, that the Me"i~ans had.atgalild! on m Ta10acantla; and it is. ccr.tain, from the tt:ib1,1te liil:, thatTocht-· lan, and other cities of that country, were tributaries of the :Mexicans. In the north, t'~e Mex leans. did nQt aov~I~CGfl fanher1 t~an Tur;a .•. ~an, as ":rc arc told ul the 1 0: quoted paff~gc, ofc>Jt:li~ ·~ ,f\nd we kn~w. for certam, that the .J?anachcfe were never fubjetl:cd to tl?~P1· · • In (r) What we lulV.c to f:ty of the boundaries of the: kingdoms of Anahuac will 'b'c bctt'er uu. dtrilood by con(ulung c>~.u· chnru, I r j 1 the · H I S t 0 R y· 0 1~ M E X r c o. the ·afl:, we have already fixed their boundaries at the river Cdatzucu- :1 1 l~'W.l T. alco. Diaz fays, that the country of Coatzacualco was not a provin ·c ~ of Mexico; on the other hand we find, among the tributary ci-ties of th(lt •crown, Tochtlan; Michnpan, ahd 'othcr 'places •of ~that •province. We afe, ' 1\o~Jever perfuaded, that the Mexicans poffcJl<xl. all that was to the wefl: of the 'river Coat?-.tcualco, but. not ~hat which was to the •ca!l: 'of it; and that this river was their boundary in that ·quurteJ. Towards the nbrth, tlicir poflefilot~s were bounded by the tabuJHry of the Huaxteca.; who were uever fubdued by he Mexican&. Towatd1s the north-wcfl: ·the cni}.,irc did not extend bey@nd tho province of Tulba; all that ·gnxlt 'tract bf land which was bey011d this province, was occupied L1y ·the barbarous Otomies and Chcchemecas, who had ·no fociety, noe ol5eyed any f vcrcign. In the weft it is known -that the empir~ termin~\'tcd a~ Tk1xir'nalojan, the frontier of the kingdom•of .1\1;.:. chuacan ; but ori the fen-::oafl: is e'xtencle l as far as the wcll:ern ·extremity of the province of Coliman, and no f.-trther. In the catalogue of the tributary cities, Coliman,· and other places of that province appear, bBt none that are ·beyond it: nor arc they mentioned in the hifl:ory of Mexico. T he ·Mexic:Uls hhd 1othingrt6 do with ' Cttlifornia, nor could ehey eA:' p~Cl: a1,Y adv~nta~~ fr·~m the COJ.tlll~O: ' of a 'country fo diftant~ [oJ un' peopled, and miferablc. • If"'th.i.t ·Hry a:Md 'Jrocky peninft.tli!f h'ad ever been a province of the Mcx ic ~: n empire, fomc populat.ion wou.ld have been found ·thet·e> J• t;u(£t is tB1 ' 'in}'tha'fthcte was not ~ding1e h<:> ufc met with upon: i~ 'Yl'Or~ the leaf¥ ~tharri~ bPtrb'&s· of· h~Babita·rrf§t. 'Uaf.Hy; in th~ to h~ tlie:.IVfdtc(ans 11aCf .n1ad~ th~lr~lelve's mrtil:e 's of ltl~"thofegt:elt fiatd r. \\rl1ic1~ wer'c between the Va,le of' Mexico and'the Paci11·c Ocear;·, T·he grcatcfl: ·Jepgth of th~ir·dmnln'idns \.vas on the [e,i co~· frotn Xo-conochco to Colii111an. 1 • • 1 • ' J • '' ' , • •\'•riP. R"ob. 1 ttfo~:· lf.!ys/ h';H'ltHe tcrrrtb r!e'~· !Jcton!!l~g "~6 the chiefs ;of '¥' ~cutW &rn ~a~lb:t~·''fcR~cf?ty ')Yrt1'dcd ''~r1 d:t~nt~td~ thOfe --~f the' ~o.t. vdrclgri ot· ' rvt'exlcb '( d~. : 1BH t thi's ' is verj' ~r £" m ·beidg: ~iL1e, · an.tl ~oht~ary alfo ~o ~vhat all' ·d1c i1iftori~ns of ~ ~e~i~o , ~"1y~r:·: rr~e lcitigdorh 6f Tezc'ucot br Acalhmcan; Wc.ts houn·Jed oli1 ~lle .wd1: part'ly ~y th 'I )J J 4 ., ~ ,~ _), ~~· .,; j l' J ' d I '' 'd l'.i '! J)rJOJ ... ) 1Jd !.h I 11 0Jt ·JA:l\ o~h i'P.Ifflr rtJn~e:,J:U!•c l lr!te ju~rncJof z~~~~.~ ~ ·\~ d J9Y;!Yl~~j~fllirnJ~ ' N~ln).:~~~ H,J " • • · • · 1 fn !1 i 1 thj _prov1n ·c Qt. qu.t !Xll lit e Il.C <'0UJ .u· ) ·X,< l c' on ocho 0 · ot·o:dul cp O.thl th~ tlllld 111 C:o- 1 l ., r ' 1 , ·•s I • l ' . 'I f ' T '!'lJI,• (JJl,f'(Jl 1l l' JL. f.1, 1, .UOJU• • u • •• w•• 1 at:r.n oat . (J ' II ] l 1· 1• I! .~0 •. d ) ,l 2 •lAC |