` :``The impression has prevailed that Cortés was treated by the Spanish Government with base ingratitude.`` :``It is not at all unlikely that the Mexican chieftain was party to a plan to exterminate the Spaniards while they were floundering through the forests and swamps, but even if this were so, his execution was not necessary. By restraint the same object might have been achieved. But Cortés had an exaggerated conception of the power and influence of Cuauhtemotzin's office, as he had in the case of Montezuma. ```