peror, giving up Venetia to him with the understood purpose that it, or at least the Italian portion of it, should be made over to the kingdom of Italy; and, after a short negotiation, an armistice was agreed on between all the belligerents, to give time for negotiations for peace. As there was hardly any alternative but accepting the terms which Prussia dictated, the arrangements in Germany were concluded with unusual rapidity. Austria consented to pay five millions for the expenses of the war, and abandoned all claim to form a part of the Germanic confederation; but no territorial cession was demanded of her beyond that which she had already made of Venetia. It has been at the expense of the states of Northern Germany-though, without a somewhat harsh technical construction, they could not be said to have had any share in the war at all-that Prussia has achieved the aggrandisement which was her object in commencing hostilities. The pretext for overrunning Hanover and the rest of those states was afforded by the decrees which the diet at Frankfort, of which they were members, had passed, condemning the proceedings of Prussia in connection with the Holstein question, and which M. Bismarck treated as tantamount to a declaration of war. Following up that assumption, and regarding his unresisted occupation of those territories as a conquest of them, the king of Prussia has proceeded to push his right of conquest to the uttermost, and has formally annexed Hanover, Electoral Hesse, Nassau, and the city of Frankfort, to his dominions. The few states to the north of the Maine which are left under the government of their former princes will, in reality, be scarcely more independent, as they are to form a confederation of which Prussia is to be the supreme head, with, in many important respects, nearly sovereign power. The emperor of France advanced a claim for some cessions of territory on the left bank of the Rhine as a counterpoise to France to the great acquisitions thus made by Prussia; but the moment that M. Bismarck pronounced it inadmissible, he withdrew the demand; and, though the arrangement between Prussia and Bavaria, and Austria and Italy are not yet entirely completed, there seems no reason to apprehend any further disturbance of the general tranquillity.

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CHAPTER XII.

HISTORY OF COLONISATION.

IN

N order to avoid frequent interruptions in the course of the narrative, it has been deemed advisable to reserve the account of the principal European colonies for the close of the volume, and thus to bring before the reader one of the most remarkable features in modern history. Colonies were indeed established in ancient times, and in the preceding volume of the Manual we have given a full account of those founded by the Greeks and Carthaginians; but the discovery of a new world gave an extraordinary impulse to emigration, and produced one of the most striking series of events in the annals of mankind. The subject naturally divides itself into two great parts-the European colonies in the Western and those in the Eastern world; and to the former we shall first direct our attention.

The Establishment of the Spaniards in Mexico.

IMMEDIATELY after the discovery of America the first Spanish colony was established in Hispaniola, better known by the more modern name of St. Domingo. The queen Isabella had given strict orders to protect the Indians, and had issued a proclamation prohibiting the Spaniards from compelling them to work. The natives, who considered exemption from toil as supreme felicity, resisted every attempt to induce them to labour for hire, and so many Spaniards fell victims to the diseases peculiar to the climate that hands were wanting to work the mines or till the soil. A system of compulsory labour was therefore adopted almost by necessity, and it was soon extended, until the Indians were reduced to hopeless slavery. The mines of Hispaniola, when first discovered, were exceedingly productive, and the riches acquired by the early adventurers attracted fresh crowds of greedy but enterprising settlers to its shores. The hardships to which the Indians were subjected rapidly decreased their numbers, and in the same proportion diminished the profits of the adventurers. It was therefore resolved to seek new settlements; the island of Puerto Rico

was annexed to the Spanish dominions, and its unfortunate inhabitants were subjected to the same cruel tyranny as the natives of Hispaniola. The island of Cuba was next conquered; though it is seven hundred miles in length, and was then densely populated, such was the unwarlike character of the inhabitants that three hundred Spaniards were sufficient for its total subjugation.

More important conquests were opened by the intrepidity of Balboa, who had founded a small settlement on the isthmus of Darien. Having learned from an Indian cazique that there existed a very wealthy kingdom on the borders of a great ocean, he sent to Hispaniola for reinforcements, and proceeded through the dangerous defiles and rocky chains which traverse the isthmus towards the frontiers of the unknown golden region. At length he reached the top of a mountain which commanded a view of the wide expanse of the Pacific ocean, and, lifting up his hands to heaven, returned thanks to God for having made him the instrument of a discovery so honourable to his country and to himself. He received such information respecting the strength of the nation whose fame had induced him to undertake this perilous journey that he deemed it prudent to lead back his followers, but he first obtained from the neighbouring caziques a greater amount of treasure than had yet been obtained by any Spanish expedition in the New World. In the mean time the cruelties with which the Indians were treated roused the sympathies of the missionaries who had been sent out for their conversion. Las Casas, especially, appealed not only to his sovereign but to all Christian Europe; and such was the effect of his eloquence that a change of system was promised. Unfortunately Las Casas, in his anxiety to relieve one suffering race, inflicted equal misery on another; he proposed that negroes should be imported from Africa to do the work of the Indians, and thus laid the foundation of the infamous slave-trade, which still continues to outrage humanity.

At length the Spaniards began to prepare an expedition for establishing their empire on the American continent; an armament was organised in Cuba, and the command intrusted to Fernando Cortez, a commander possessing great skill and bravery, but avaricious and cruel even beyond the general average of his countrymen at that period. On the 2nd of April, 1519, this bold adventurer entered the harbour of San Juan de Ulloa, on the coast of Yucatan. By means of a female captive he was enabled to open communications with the natives; and they, instead of opposing the entrance of these fatal guests into their country, assisted them in all their operations with an alacrity of which they too soon had reason to repent. The Mexicans had attained a pretty high degree of civilisation; they had a regular government, a system of law,

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and an established priesthood; they recorded events by a species of picture-writing, not so perfect as the Egyptian system of hieroglyphics, but which, nevertheless, admitted more minuteness and particularity than is generally imagined; their architectural structures were remarkable for their strength and beauty; they had advanced so far in science as to construct a pretty accurate calendar; and they possessed considerable skill, not only in the useful but also in the ornamental arts of life. Cortez saw that such a nation must be treated differently from the rude savages in the islands; he therefore concealed his real intentions, and merely demanded to be introduced to the sovereign of the country, the emperor Monte

zuma.

The Indian caziques were unwilling to admit strangers possessed of such formidable weapons as muskets and artillery into the interior of their country; and Montezuma, who was of a weak and cowardly disposition, was still more reluctant to receive a visit from strangers, of whose prowess he had received an exaggerated description. He therefore resolved to temporise, and sent ambassadors to Cortez, with rich presents, declining the proposed interview. But these magnificent gifts only served to increase the rapacity of the Spaniards; Cortez resolved to temporise; he changed his camp into a permanent settlement, which subsequently grew into the city of Vera Cruz, and patiently watched from his intrenchments the course of events. He had not long continued in this position when he received an embassy from the Zempoallans, a tribe which had been long discontented with the government of Montezuma. He immediately entered into a close alliance with these disaffected subjects, sent an embassy to Spain to procure a ratification of his powers, and set fire to his fleet, in order that his companions, deprived of all hope of escape, should look for safety only in victory. Having completed his preparations, he marched through an unknown country to subdue a mighty empire, with a force amounting to five hundred foot, fifteen horsemen, and six pieces of artillery. His first hostile encounter was with the Tlascalans, the most warlike race in Mexico; their country was a republic, under the protection of the empire; and they fought with the fury of men animated by a love of freedom. But nothing could resist the superiority which their fire-arms gave the Spaniards; the Tlascalans, after several defeats, yielded themselves as vassals to the crown of Spain, and engaged to assist Cortez in all his future operations. Aided by six thousand of these new allies, he advanced to Cholula, a town of great importance, where, by Montezuma's order, he was received with open professions of friendship, while plans were secretly devised for his destruction. Cortez discovered the plot, and punished it by the massacre of six thousand of the

citizens; the rest were so terrified that, at the command of the Spaniard, they returned to their usual occupations, and treated with the utmost respect the men whose hands were stained with the blood of their countrymen.

As a picture of national prosperity long since extinct, we shall here insert the description given by Cortez in his despatches to the Spanish monarch of the ancient city of Tlascala, which still exists, though much decayed. "This city is so extensive, so well worthy of admiration, that, although I omit much that I could say of it, I feel assured that the little I shall say will be scarcely credited, since it is larger than Granada and much stronger, and contains as many fine houses and a much larger population than that city did at the time of its capture; and it is much better supplied with the products of the earth, such as corn, and with fowls and game, fish from the rivers, various kinds of vegetables, and other excellent articles of food. There is in this city a market, in which every day thirty thousand people are engaged in buying and selling, besides many other merchants who are scattered about the city. The market contains a great variety of articles both of food and clothing, and all kinds of shoes for the feet; jewels of gold and silver, and precious stones, and ornaments of feathers, all as well arranged as they can possibly be found in any public squares or markets in the world. There is much earthenware, of every style and a good quality, equal to the best Spanish manufacture. Wood, coals, edible and medicinal plants, are sold in great quantities. There are houses where they wash and shave the heads as barbers, and also for baths. Finally, there is found among them a well-regulated police; the people are rational and well disposed, and altogether greatly superior to the most civilised American nation.'

From Cholula Cortez advanced towards the city of Mexico, and had almost reached its gates before the feeble Montezuma had determined whether he should receive him as a friend or as an enemy. After some hesitation Montezuma went forth to meet Cortez, with all the magnificence of barbarous parade, and granted the Spaniards a lodging in the capital.

But, notwithstanding his apparent triumph, the situation of Cortez was one of extraordinary danger and perplexity. He was in a city surrounded by a lake, the bridges and causeways of which might easily be broken; and his little band, thus cut off from all communication with its allies, must then have fallen victims to superior numbers. To avert this danger he adopted the bold resolution of seizing Montezuma as a hostage for his safety, and he actually brought him a prisoner to the Spanish quarters. Under pretence of gratifying the monarch's curiosity to see the structure of European vessels, the Spaniards built two brigantines, and