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niards exclaimed loudly against their general, whom they suspected of appropriating the greatest part of the spoils to his own use, as well as against Guatimozin, whom they accused of obstinately concealing his treasures. In order to allay this ferment, Cortez consented to a deed that sullied all the glory of his former actions. He suffered the royal captive, with his principal minister, to be put to the rack, in order to oblige him to discover the place where his riches were concealed. The unhappy monarch bore his sufferings with all the firmness of a hero, till Cortez, ashamed of so horrid a scene, rescued the royal victim from the hands of his torturers. The unfortuuate Guatimozin, however, was only reserved for further indignities. Some time afterwards, suspected by Cortez of forming a scheme to throw off the Spanish yoke, he and two other persons of the greatest eminence in the empire were condemned to be hanged.

15. The fate of the capital, as both parties had foreseen, decided that of the empire. The provinces submitted, one after another, to the conquerors. It was not without difficulty, however, that they were reduced to the form of a Spanish colony. And, to the everlasting infamy of the conquerors, they affected to consider every effort of the Mexicans to assert their own independence, as the rebellion of vassals against their sovereign, or the mutiny of slaves against their master. Under the sanction of those ill-founded maxims, they reduced the common people in the provinces to the most humiliating of all conditions, that of personal servitude. Their chiefs were punished with greater severity, and put to death by the most excruciating tortures. In almost every

district of the Mexican empire, the progress of the Spanish arms is marked with blood, and with deeds so atrocious as disgrace the enterprising valour that conducted them to success. In the country of Panuco, sixty caziques, and four hundred nobles, were burnt at one time; and to complete the horror of the scene, the children and relatives of the wretched victims were assembled, and compelled to be spectators of their dying agonies.

To what disgraceful act did Cortez submit to satisfy them ?—Whạt became of Guatimozin?

VICTORY.

WAFT not to me the blast of fame,
That swells the trump of victory;
For to my ear it gives the name
Of slaughter and of misery.

Boast not so much of honor's sword;
Wave not so high the victor's plume;
They point me to the bosom gor'd—
They point me to the blood-stained tomb.

The boastful shout, the revel loud,
That strive to drown the voice of pain;
What are they, but the fickle crowd,
Rejoicing o'er their brethren slain?

And ah! through glory's fading blaze,
I see the cottage taper, pale,
Which sheds its faint and feeble rays,
Where unprotected orphans wail—

Where the sad widow weeping stands,
As if her day of hope was done—
Where the wild mother clasps her hands,
And asks the victor for her son-

Where the lone maid, in secret, sighs
O'er the lost solace of her heart,
As prostrate, in despair, she lies,
And feels her tortur'd life depart !—

Where, midst that desolated land,

The sire, lamenting o'er his son, Extends his weak and powerless hand, And finds its only prop is gone.

See, how the bands of war and wo
Have rifled sweet domestic bliss ;
And tell me, if your laurels grow,
And flourish in a soil like this!

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WILLIAM WALLACE.

1. AN obscure individual, of no high rank, and of still less fortune, rose to assert the honor and independence of his country, while the nobles and grandees of the kingdom, divided into factions, or adhering to the conqueror, seemed desirous of perpetuating its slavery. That strenuous patriot, but barbarous warrior, William Wallace, to whom many fabulous exploits are ascribed, but who in reality possessed all the valor of Achilles, joined to the prudence of Ulysses, and in these two respects merited the pen of a Homer to celebrate his actions, ventured, almost singly, to attack the colossal power of the conqueror. His band of troops was so inconsiderable, and his progress so rapid, that the boldness and success of his enterprise are equally astonishing. His army, however, was daily increased by the numbers whom success allured to his standard.

2. Having in a very short time recovered all the places which the English had held in their possession, except the single town of Berwick, his courage and conduct raised him so high in the esteem of the army, that he was, by a kind of military election, declared regent of the kingdom. Edward, who had engaged in a war with France, and was at that time in Flanders, agreed with the French king to refer their difference to the arbitration of pope Boniface VIII; and returning home, turned all his attention to quell the Scottish revolt. Having entered Scotland, he advanced to Falkirk, where he met the enemy's army, conducted by Wallace, and an obstinate battle again decided the fate of the kingdom. Although Edward had two of his ribs broken by a fall from his horse, in the beginning of the engagement, he kept the field, and commanded with the same presence of mind as if no accident had happened. The contest was obstinate and bloody, but the issue was fatal to the Scots, whose ferocious, but undisciplined bands, were not a match for Edward's veteran troops.

3. Wallace was defeated with so prodigious a slaughter, that, according to some authors, the Scots lost 60,000 men, while others reduce the number to 10,000, exhibiting, in

To what office did Wallace's courage and success raise him?-What is said to have been the loss of the 'Scots at the battle of Falkirk ?

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