’O god, thou who art everywhere and seest all, knowest that Cuitlahua our king is gathered to thee.  Thou hast set him beneath thy footstool and there he rests in his rest.  He has travelled that road which we must travel every one, he has reached the royal inhabitations of our dead, the home of everlasting shadows.  There where none shall trouble him he is sunk in sleep.  His brief labours are accomplished, and soiled with sin and sorrow, he has gone to thee.  Thou gavest him joys to taste but not to drink; the glory of empire passed before his eyes like the madness of a dream.  With tears and with prayers to thee he took up his load, with happiness he laid it down.  Where his forefathers went, thither he has followed, nor can he return to us.  Our fire is an ash and our lamp is darkness.  Those who wore his purple before him bequeathed to him the intolerable weight of rule, and he in his turn bequeaths it to another.  Truly, he should give thee praise, thou king of kings, master of the stars, that standest alone, who hast lifted from his shoulders so great a burden, and from his brow this crown of woes, paying him peace for war and rest for labour.

’O god our hope, choose now a servant to succeed him, a man after thine own heart, who shall not fear nor falter, who shall toil and not be weary, who shall lead thy people as a mother leads her children.  Lord of lords, give grace to Guatemoc thy creature, who is our choice.  Seal him to thy service, and as thy priest let him sit upon thy earthly throne for his life days.  Let thy foes become his footstool, let him exalt thy glory, proclaim thy worship, and protect thy kingdom.  Thus have I prayed to thee in the name of the nation.  O god, thy will be done!’

When the high priest had made an end of his prayer, the first of the four great electors rose, saying: 

’Guatemoc, in the name of god and with the voice of the people of Anahuac, we summon you to the throne of Anahuac.  Long may you live and justly may you rule, and may the glory be yours of beating back into the sea those foes who would destroy us.  Hail to you, Guatemoc, Emperor of the Aztecs and of their vassal tribes.’  And all the three hundred of the council of confirmation repeated in a voice of thunder, ’Hail to you, Guatemoc, Emperor!’

Now the prince himself stood forward and spoke: 

’You lords of election, and you, princes, generals, nobles and captains of the council of confirmation, hear me.  May the gods be my witness that when I entered this place I had no thought or knowledge that I was destined to so high an honour as that which you would thrust upon me.  And may the gods be my witness again that were my life my own, and not a trust in the hands of this people, I would say to you, “Seek on and find one worthier to fill the throne.”  But my life is not my own.  Anahuac calls her son and I obey the call.  War to the death threatens her, and shall I hang back while my arm has strength to smite and my brain has