They were sent by
their master to reclaim the obedience of his ancient subjects. For
himself he was ready to acknowledge his authority. "You have been
faithful vassals of mine," continued Montezuma, "during the many years
that I have sat on the throne of my fathers. I now expect that you
will show me this last act of obedience by acknowledging the great
king beyond the waters to be your lord, also, and that you will pay
him tribute in the same manner as you have hitherto done to me." As he
concluded, his voice was stifled by his emotion, and the tears fell
fast down his cheeks.
His nobles, many of whom, coming from a distance, had not kept
pace with the changes which had been going on in the capital, were
filled with astonishment as they listened to his words, and beheld the
voluntary abasement of their master, whom they had hitherto reverenced
as the omnipotent lord of Anahuac. They were the more affected,
therefore, by the sight of his distress. His will, they told him,
had always been their law. It should be now; and, if he thought the
sovereign of the strangers was the ancient lord of their country, they
were willing to acknowledge him as such still. The oaths of allegiance
were then administered with all due solemnity, attested by the
Spaniards present, and a full record of the proceedings was drawn up
by the royal notary, to be sent to Spain. There was something deeply
touching in the ceremony by which an independent and absolute monarch,
in obedience less to the dictates of fear than of conscience, thus
relinquished his hereditary rights in favour of an unknown and
mysterious power.
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