CHAPTER XV.--Why the city was not entered on the 20th--Condition of the city--Deliberation of the Mexican cabinet and proposals--Reasons why General Scott proposed and granted the armistice--Deliberations of commissioners--Parties against Santa Anna--Failure of the negotiation--Mexican desire to destroy Santa Anna, 400 CHAPTER XVI.--Military position of the Americans at the end of the armistice--Mexican defences--Plan of attack--Reconnoissances of Scott and Mason--Importance of Mexican position at Molino del Rey--Scott's scheme of capturing the city--Battle of Molino del Rey--Reflections and criticism on this battle--Preparations to attack Chapultepec--Storming of Chapultepec and of the city Gates of San Cosmé and Belen--Retreat of the Mexican army and government--American occupation of the city of Mexico, 408 CHAPTER XVII.--Attack of the city mob on the army--Quitman Governor--Peña President--Congress ordered--Siege of Puebla-- Lane's, Lally's, and Childs's victories--Guerrilleros broken up--Mexican politics--Anaya President--Peace negotiations-- Scott's decree--Peña President--Santa Anna and Lane--Santa Anna leaves Mexico for Jamaica--Treaty entered into--Its character--Santa Cruz de Rosales--Court of Inquiry--Internal troubles--Ambassadors at Querétaro--Treaty ratified-- Evacuation--Revolutionary attempts--Condition of Mexico since the war--Character of Santa Anna--Note on the military critics, 420 BOOK I. HISTORY OF THE CONQUEST OF MEXICO BY CORTÉZ, WITH A SKETCH OF AZTEC CIVILIZATION 1511-1530. BOOK I. CHAPTER I. 1511 TO 1519. DISCOVERIES OF CORDOVA AND GRIJALVA.--CORTÉZ APPOINTED BY VELASQUEZ.--BIOGRAPHICAL NOTICE OF CORTÉZ.--CORTÉZ CAPTAIN GENERAL OF THE ARMADA.--EQUIPMENT OF THE EXPEDITION.--QUARREL OF VELASQUEZ--FIRMNESS OF CORTÉZ.--EXPEDITION DEPARTS UNDER CORTÉZ. There is perhaps no page in modern history so full of dramatic incidents and useful consequences, as that which records the discovery, conquest and development of America by the Spanish and Anglo Saxon races. The extraordinary achievements of Columbus, Cortéz, Pizarro, and Washington, have resulted in the acquisition of broad lands, immense wealth, and rational liberty; and the names of these heroes are thus indissolubly connected with the physical and intellectual progress of mankind. In the following pages we propose to write the history, and depict the manners, customs and condition of MEXICO. Our narrative begins with the first movements that were made for the conquest of the country; yet, we shall recount, fully and accurately, the story of those Indian princes,--the splendor of whose courts, and the misery of whose tragic doom, enhance the picturesque grandeur and solemn lessons that are exhibited in the career of Hernando Cortéz.