ritories belonging to the chiefs of Tezeuco and Tacuba, were hardly inferior in extent to those of the Mexican monarch. u) Each of these poffeffed complete territorial jurifdiction, and levied taxes from their own vaffals. But all followed the ftandard of Mexico in war, ferving with a number of men in proportion to their domain, and moft of them paid tribute to its monarch as their fuperior lord.

In tracing thofe great lines of the Mexican conftitution, an image of feudal policy in its moft rigid form rifes to view, and we difcern its three diftinguifhing characteristicks, a nobility poffeffing almost independent authority, a people depreffed into the loweft ftate of fubjection, and a king entrusted with the executive power of the state. Its fpirit and principles feem to have operated in the New World in the fame manner, as in the ancient. The jurifdiction of the crown was extremely limited. All real and effective authority was retained by the Mexican nobles in their own hands, and the fhadow of it only left to the king. Jealous to excefs of their own rights, they guarded with moft vigilant anxiety against the encroachments of their fovereigns. By a fundamental law of the empire, it was provided that the king fhould not determine concerning any point of general importance, without the approbation of a council compofed of the prime u) Torquem, lib. ii, c. 57. Chorita, MS,

6

nobility. x) Unless he obtained their confent he could not engage the nation in war, nor could he difpofe of the most confiderable branch of the publick revenue at pleafure; it was appropriated to certain purposes from which it could not be diverted by the regal authority. y) In order to fecure full effect to thofe conftitutional reftraints, the Mexican nobles did not permit their crown to defcend by inheritance, but difpofed of it by election. The right of election feems to have been originally vested in the whole body of nobility, but was afterwards committed to fix electors, of whom the Chiefs of Tezeuco and Tacuba were always two. From refpect for the family of their monarchs, the choice fell generally upon fome perfon fprung from it. But as the activity and valour of their prince were of greater moment to a people perpetually engaged in war, than a ftrict adherence to the order of birth, collaterals of mature age or diftinguifhed merit were often perferred to those who were nearer the throne in direct defcent. z) To this maxim, in their policy, the Mexicans appear to be indebted for fuch a fucceffion of able and warlike princes, as raifed their empire in a fhort period to that extraordinary height of power, which

x) Herrera, dec. 3. lib. ii. c. 19. Id. dec. 3. lib. iv. c. 16. Corita, MS.

y) Herrera, dec. 3. lib. iv. c. 17.

z) Acosta, lib. vi, c. 24. Herrera, dec. 3. lib. ii. c. 13. Corita, MS

it had attained when Cortes landed in New

Spain.

Power and splendour of their monarchs.

While the jurifdiction of the Mexican monarchs continued to be limited, it is probable that it was exercifed with little oftentation. But as their authority became more extenfive, the fplendour of their government augmented. It was in this laft ftate that the Spaniards beheld it; and ftruck with the appearance of Montezuma's court, they defcribe its pomp at great length, and with much admiration. The number of his attendants, the order, the filence, and the reverence with which they ferved him; the vast extent of his royal mansion, the variety of its apartments allotted to different officers, and the oftentation with which his grandeur was difplayed, whenever he permitted his fubjects to behold him, feem to refemble the magnificence of the ancient monarchies in Afia, rather than the fimplicity of the infant ftates in the New World.

Order of their government.

But it was not in the mere parade of royalty that the Mexican potentates exhibited their power, they manifested it more beneficially in the order and regularity with which they conducted the internal adminiftration and police of

their dominions. Complete jurifdiction, civil as well as criminal, over its own immediate vaffals, was vested in the crown. Judges were appointed for each department, and if we may rely on the account which the Spanish writers give of the maxims and laws upon which they founded their decifions with respect to the diftribution of property and the punishment of crimes, juftice was adminiftred in the Mexican empire, with a degree of order and equity' refembling what takes place in focieties highly civilized.

Provifion for the fupport of it.

Their attention in providing for the fupport of government was not lefs fagacious. Taxes were laid upon land, upon the acquifitions of industry, and upon commodities of every kind exposed to fale in the publick markets. Thefe duties, though confiderable, were not arbitrary, or unequal. They were impofed according to eftablifhed rules, and each. knew what fhare of the common burden he had to bear. As the ufe of money was unknown, all the taxes were paid in kind, and thus not only the natural productions of all the different provinces in the empire, but every fpecies of manufacture, and every work of ingenuity and art, were collected in the publick ftore-houses. From those the emperor fupplied his numerous train of attendants in peace, and his armies

during

during war, with food, with clothes, and ornaments. People of inferior condition, neither poffeffing land nor engaged in commerce, were bound to the performance of various fervices. By their stated labour the crownlands were cultivated, publick works were carried on, and the various houfes belonging to the emperor were built and kept in repair. a)

Their police.

The improved state of government among the Mexicans is confpicuous, not only in points effential to the being of a well-ordered fociety, but in feveral regulations of inferior confequence with respect to police. The inftitution, which I have already mentioned, of publick couriers, ftationed at proper intervals, to convey intelligence from one part of the empire to the other, was a refinement in police not introduced into any kingdom of Europe at that period. The ftructure of the capital city in a lake, with artificial dykes, and causeways of great length, which ferved as avenues to it. from different quarters, erected in the water, with no lefs ingenuity than labour), feems to be an idea that could not have occurred to any but a civilized people. The fame obfervation may be applied to the ftructure of the aqueducts, or conduits, by which they conveyed a ftream of fresh water, from a confiderable distance, into the city, along one of the caufe

a) Herrera, dec. 2. lib. vii. c. 13. dec. 3. lib, iv. c. 16, 17. See NOTE XXIII.