The Aztecs believed in one supreme invisible creator of all things, the ruler of the universe, named Taotl—E1 belief, it is conjectured, not native to them, but derived from their predecessors, the Toltecs. Under this supreme being stood 13 chief and 200 infe rior divinities, each of whom had his sacred day and festival. At their head was the patron god of the Aztecs. the frightful Huitzliopochtli, the Mexican Mars. His temples were the most splendid and imposing; in every city of the empire his altars were drenched with the blood of human sacrifice. Cortes and his companions (see Da.z) were perrnitted by Montezuma to enter that hi the city of Mexico, and to behold the god himself. " He had a broad face, wide mouth, and terrible eyes. He MIS covered with. gold, pearls, and precious stones; and was girt about with golden serpents Oa his neck, a fitting ornament were the faces of men wrought in silver, and their hearts iii gold. Close by were braziers with incense, and on the braziers 3 real hearts of men who had that day been sacrificed " (Helps's Spanish Conquest in America, vol. ii., book x., chap. 4). The sinell of the place, we arc told, was like that of a slaughter-house. To supply victims for these sacrifices, the emperors made war on.all the neighboring and subsidiary states, or in case of revolt in any city of their dominions, and.leviecl certain number of men, women, and children by way of indemnity. The victims were borne in triumphal processions and to the sound of rausic, to the summit of the .great temples, where the priests, in sight of assembled crowds, bound them to the sacrificial stone, and opening the breast, tore from it the bleeding heart, which was either laid before the image of their gods, or eaten by the worshipers, after having been carefully cut up and mixed with maize. In the years itnmediately preceding the Spanish con quest not less than 20,000 victims were annually immolated. These atrocities were incongruously blended with milder forrns of worship, in which fruits, flowers, and per fumes were offered up amid joyous outbursts of song and dance. According to their mythology, Toot', who delighted in these purer sacrifices, had 011CC reigned in Anahuac (a name which at first probably applied ouly.to the counti7 in theinunediate vicinity ef the capital, though afterwards it was applied to the whole Aztec empire) in the golden age of the world, but being obliged, from some unexplained cause, to retire from earth, he departed by way of the'Mexican gulf, promising to return. This tradition accelerated the success of the Spaniards, whose light skins and long dark hair and beards were regarded as evidences of their affinity with the long-looked-for divinity. The Mexican priesthood formed a rich and powerful order of the state, arid were so numerous that Cortes found as many as 5,000 attached to the great temple of Mexico. The education of the young of both sexes remained till the age of puberty in the hands of the priests and priestesses; and the sacerdotal class were thus able to exercise a widely-diffused influence, which, under the later rulers, was almost equal to that of the emperor him self. The women shared in all the occupations of the men, and were taught, like them, the arts of reading, writing, ciphering, singing in chorus, dancing, etc., and even initiated in the secrets of astronomy and astrology.
On the arrival of Cortes in 1519, the Aztec throne was occupied by Montezuma, an energetic prince, who, after his election to the throne, which for several generations had been occupied by his ancestors, made successful war on the powerful and highly-civilized neighboring state of Tlascala, and on Nicaragua and Honduras; after a time, however, he g-rew indolent, and alienated the affections of his subjects by his arrogance and exac tions, and by his unremitting devotion to the services of the temples. According to the oracles which he frequently consulted, great changes were impending over the empire, the return of Quetzalcoatl was near at hand, and the fall of his race was impend ing. The tidings of the arrival on the coast of the expedition of Grigalva in 1518 terri lied Montezuma and his priestly councilors; and when the hieroglyphic reports of his provincial officers announced the landing in the following year of Cortes and his com panions, he endeavored to propitiate the dreaded strangers by sending an embassy charged with valuable gifts to meet them. The road to success was thus open to the Spanish captain, who, with a handful of men, advanced from St. Juan de Ulloa to Mexico, and gradually subdued the entire empire of the Aztecs, whose power crumbled to dust before the greater energy and superior civilization of their Christian invaders. In 1540 Mexico was united with other American territories under the name of New Spain, and governed by viceroys appointed by the mother-country. The intolerant spirit of the Catholic clergy led to the suppression of almost every trace of the ancient Aztec nationality and civilization, while the strict system of sequestration enforced in Mexico crippled the resources of the colony; yet notwithstanding these drawbacks, llflexico ranked first among all the Spanish colonies in regard to population, material riches. and natural products. It may be said to have vegetated for nearly three centuries in a state of semi-quiescent prosperity, interrupted by few disturbances of any kind until the year 1810, when the discontent, which had been gaining ground against the vice-reg,a1 power during the war of the mother-country with Napoleon, broke into open rebellion under the leadership of a country priest named Hidalgo. The defeat and sub sequent execution of the latter in 1811 put a partial stop to the insurrection; but the atrocities committed under the sanction of the new viceroy, Calleja, exasperated the people, and gave an irresistible impulse to the revolutionary cause. Guerrero and
Iturbide in turn gained si,,e.nal advantages over the Spaniards. For a time Iturbide maintained a self-established imperial rule over the colony; but on the downfall conse quent on his tyrannical abuse of power, a constitutional mode of government was inaugurated, and in 1824 the independence of Mexico, which had chosen a federal republican form of government, was finally established, and in the following year definitely- recognized by every foreign power except Spain. The Mexican war was stained with excesses and atrocities on both sides; but it must be confessed that the Spaniards gained an unenviable pre-eminence in regard to the wanton cruelty which characterized their method of conducting hostilities. With them the war was one of extermination, every commander being allowed, at his own discretion, to hunt down and slaughter the insurgents like brutes.
The welfare of the new republic was unhappily disturbed by constant outbreaks of civil war under the leadership of the escosses, or aristocratic faction, and the yorkinos, or democrats; and the history of the quarter of a century during which Mexico has exercised independent power, leaves little to recount beyOnd ever-recurring acts of violence, and the rapid and summar3, deposition of one president after another. In 1836 Texas secured its independence of the Mexican republic, for which it had struggled for several years, and at the same period differences arose with France, which were, how ever, brought to a peaceful conclusion after the taking of Vera Cruz in 1838 by the French troops. In 1841 gen. Santa Anna, on the retirement of Bustamente, succeeded in regaining the direction of affairs, from which he had been more than once deposed, and, under the title of dictator, exercised the power of an autocratic ruler. In 1845 Mexico was compelled to recognize the independence of Texas, which was incorporated with the United States, whose troops having entered the Mexican territory, provoked a declaration of war on the part of the -Mexican government. Hostilities were carried on with great energy by both parties until 1848, when peace was finally concluded, after several bloody engagements had been fought without any definite result on either side; and the city of Mexico had been stormed and taken by the Americans under gen. Scott. In 1852, after Santa Anna and Herrera bad been in turn deposed and recalled to power, •a, irolutionary movement of more than ordinary importance brought gen. Cevallos for a, time to the head of affairs; but, when the insubordination and arrogance of the soldiery threatened universal anarchy, Santa Anna was again recalled, 3Iar. 17, 1853. Having reorganized the army, and suppressed by the most cruel severity the insurrection of the federals, he declared himself president for life, and thus again rekindled civil war. In 1855 he had to flee from the country. Since then, utter confusion has prevailed. :Santa Anna was succeeded by gen. Alvarez, who held office for about two months, after -whom came gen. Comonfort, who was forced to resign in 1858; when a gen. Zulvago :assumed supreme power, but was almost immediately deposed by a gen. Robles. This person also proving a futility, Benito Juarez was elected; but his claims were contested by gen. Miramon—the head of the priestly and conservative party—and the country was -plunged in civil war. The acts of wanton aggression and flagrant injustice perpetrated .on foreigners in Mexico during this period of internal disorder, during which the cortes passed an act suspending all payments to foreigners for two years, could not fail to draw upon the Mexican government the serious remonstrance of those European powers whose subjects had just cause of complaint; and the result was to bring a tleet of English, French, and Spanish ships into the Mexican gulf for the purpose of enforcing satisfac tion. In Dec., 1861, the British minister left Mexico, and the Spaniard,s disembarked a force at Vera Cruz, and took possession of the fort of St. Juan d'Ulloa, a step which was soon followed by the arrival before the former city of the allied fleet. A proclamation, signed by the commanders-in-chief of the three naval divisions, and addressed by them to the Mexican people, elicited no satisfactory reply; and steps were accordingly taken to advance at once upon the capital. This measure alarmed the provisional government of Mexico, and brought about an armistice, with a view of negotiating a treaty for the future regulation of commercial. intercourse between Mexico and the great European powers. This treaty was drawn up and provisionally ratified by the different command ers, but not confirmed on the part of France, and consequently the French troops retained occupation of the Mexican territory after the English and Spaniards had .declined to join in further hostile demonstrations. In April, 1862, the French emperor formally declared war against the government of Juarez, who had assumed arbitrary rule as president of the republic. The French, who spent a,000,000 on the Mexican. expedition, did not meet with the sympathy and welcome from the people at large which. -the assumed unpopularity of Juarez had led them to anticipate; and, although the taking of Puebla and other decided successes gave them a firmer footing in the country, it was evident that whatever grievances the Mexican nation had against their govern ment, they entertained a deeply rooted hatred against foreigners, and were certainly not prepared to welcome with cordial unanimity the thorough reorganization of their politi cal system which the European powers, with France at their head, were initiating for the country.—Comp. Le Ancien et Irroderne, par 3Iichel Chevalier (Hachette, 1863).