St. Cloud Democrat., 1865-03-09

the time ol Their conquest perfectly
organized form Of government. The
monarch was elected from the royal
family by the votes Of the mobiles. A
regular administration Of justice pre-.
vailed. For each y'rat city there was
supreme court, with single judge !;
nd below these, in each province, an
inferior court Of three mcwhers and
below these again the local magistracy
elected by the people. A right of ap-
peal lay from one court to another, but
the decision "t tho supreme court was
final, and the judges were independent
Of the power Of the crown. The laws
are registered aud exhibited to the pco-
pic in their hicroslyphic4l character.
''The rites Of marriage" says Prescott,
''wcrc celebrated with as much formal
ity as i" any christian country, and the
institution was held in such reverence
that tribunal was instituted for the
sole purpose Of determining questions
related to it" Tax gathcrers we're dis
tributed throughout the empire. The
tributes consisted Of ''c1tton dresses !;
mantles of feathcr-work ornamcntcd
armor; vases and plates Of gold gola
dust; bands and bracelets; crystal, gilt
and vanished jars and goblcts =; bells,
arms, and utensils of copper; reams Of
paper; grain, fruit, copal, amber, coch.
i.eal, cocoa, timber, and lime" Hos
pitfalls were established in the principal
cities for the sick and the permanent
refuge of the disabled soldiers, and sur
geons placed over them, "who were so
far bette: than those in Europe" says
an old chronicler, "that they did not
protract the cure in order to increase
the pay"
Prescott thus describes the advance of
Cortes and his followers over the great
southern causeway through the island
Oh which the city Of Mexico stands:
t'Everywhere the c"nquerors bcheld the
evidence Of a crowded amt thriving popu-
lation exceeding all they had yet SEEN
The temples and principal buildings were
covered with hard white stucco, which glis-
tened like enamel in the level beams OF the
morning. The margin Of the great basin
Was more thickly gemmed than that Of
Ohalco with towns and hamlets. Tho wa
ter was darkened by swarms Of canoes fill
ed with Indians, who clamh: red up the side
Of the causcway, and gazed with curious
astonishment on the strangers. And here
also. they uehcld those fairy islands Of
flowers, oyershadowed occasionally by trees
Of considerable size, rising and falling with
the gentle undulation Of the billows. The
Spaniards had occasion more than ever to
admire the mechanical science of the Az
tees in the geometrical precision with
| which the causeway was executed, as the
solldity of its construction 1t was COM
posed Of huge stones we'll laid in cement,
and wi'le enough throughout its whole ex.
tent for ten horsrmcn to ride abreast"
\ few facts may serve to call up a
picture of the great city Of Mexico as
it existed at the time of the conquest.
1t contained from threcto fivc hundred
thousand inhabitants. Its extent was
such IT, at one thousand persons were dai-
" engaged in watering and cleaning tcc
streets. so that, in the language Of a
Spaniard "a man could walk through
them with as little danger of soiling his
feet as his hands" An aqucduct near
ly three milcs in length, with double
courses Of pipes, brought supplies of
fresh water from Chapultepcc. The
palace of the king excclled, in the judg-
mc"t Of Cortes, any building in SPAN
in cost and nagniiccncc. Immense
buildings and grounds were devoted to
collections of the tive birds and beasts
of the country-the geological gardens
Of the city; while an equal space was
appropriated to botanical collection
whose medical virtues were studied by
the Aztecs. 10 the great market place
we're met together traders from all parts
of the empire, with the products and
manufactures peculiar to their countries
-goldsmiths, potters, jewelers., painters
stone cutters, hunters, fishermen, fruit
crers, and florists. Piles of cotton bales
or Of manufactured goods, turs, or teath-
or garments, met the sight. In the
booths around, the barber was plying
his vocation, or the apothecary dispen-
sing his drugs; while even the book
seller Was to be found selling blank
books for hieroglyphical picturc.writ'ng
Perfect order reiSned throughout the
vast assembly, numbering often forty
thousand persons. Officers patrolled
the square, whose business it was to
keep the peace, to collect the duties i'm
posed on the articles sold, and to- see
that no false measures or frauds of any
kind we're used. A court Of twelve
judges set in the square to administer
justice to all offenders. . =. g..