BOOK by repentance for the crimes which he had com VI. 1548. mitted. The end of Carvajal was fuitable to his life. On his trial he offered no defence. When the fentence adjudging him to be hanged was pronounced, he carelessly replied, "One can die but once." During the interval between the fentence and execution, he discovered no fign either of remorse for the past, or of folicitude about the future; fcoffing at all who vifited him, in his usual sarcastic vein of mirth, with the fame quickness of repartee and grofs pleafantry as at any other period of his life. Cepeda, more criminal than either, ought to have fhared the fame fate; but the merit of having deferted his affociates at fuch a critical moment, and with fuch decifive effect, faved him from immediate punishment. He was fent, however, as a prifoner to Spain, and died in confinement. In the minute detail which the contemporary hiftorians have given of the civil diffentions that raged in Peru, with little interruption, during ten years, many circumstances occur fo ftriking, and which indicate fuch an uncommon ftate of manners, as to merit particular attention. 9 Zarate, lib. vii, c. 6, 7, 8. Gomara, c. 185, 186. Vega, p. 11. lib. v. c. 30, &c. Fernandez, lib. ii. c. 86, &c. Herrera, dec, 8. lib. 4. c. 14, &c. 7 THOUGH VI. THOUGH the Spaniards who firft invaded BOOK Peru were of the lowest order in fociety, and the greater part of those who afterwards joined them 1548. merce Noice in the civil wars of Peru. were perfons of defperate fortune, yet in all the nary foldiers bodies of troops brought into the field by the different leaders who contended for fuperiority, not one man acted as a hired foldier, that follows his standard for pay. Every adventurer in Peru confidered himself as a conqueror, entitled, by his fervices, to an establishment in that country which had been acquired by his valour. In the contests between the rival chiefs, each chose his fide as he was directed by his own judgment or affections. He joined his commander as a companion of his fortune, and difdained to degrade himself by receiving the wages of a mercenary. It was to their fword, not to pre-eminence in office, or nobility of birth, that most of the leaders whom they followed were indebted for their elevation; and each of their adherents hoped, by the fame means, to open a way for himself to the poffeffion of power and wealth'. menfely ex BUT though the troops in Peru ferved with- Armies imout any regular pay, they were raised at immenfe penfive; expence. Among men accuftomed to divide BOOK the spoils of an opulent country, the defire of VI. 1548. obtaining wealth acquired incredible force. The ardour of purfuit augmented in proportion to the hope of fuccefs. Where all were intent on the fame object, and under the dominion of the fame paffion, there was but one mode of gaining men, or of fecuring their attachment. Officers of name and influence, befides the promise of future establishments, received in hand large gratuities from the chief with whom they engaged. Gonzalo Pizarro, in order to raise a thoufand men, advanced five hundred thousand pefos3. Gasca expended in levying the troops which he led against Pizarro nine hundred thousand pefost. The distribution of property, bestowed as the reward of services, was ftill more exorbitant. Cepeda, as the recompence of his perfidy and wards to in- addrefs, in perfuading the court of royal audience to give the fanction of its authority to the ufurped jurifdiction of Pizarro, received a grant of lands which yielded an annual income of a hundred and fifty thousand pefos". Hinojofa, who, by his early defection from Pizarro, and furrender of the fleet to Gasca, decided the fate of Peru, obtained a district of country affording and immenfe le dividuals. • Fernandez, lib. ii. c. 54. Zarate, lib. vii. c. 10. Herrera, dec. 8. lib. v. c. 7. " Gomara, c. 164. two VI. 1548. two hundred thoufand pefos of yearly value. BOOK While fuch rewards were dealt out to the principal officers, with more than royal munificence, proportional fhares were conferred upon those of inferior rank. fufion and SUCH a rapid change of fortune produced its Their pronatural effects. It gave birth to new wants, and luxury. new defires. Veterans, long accustomed to hardship and toil, acquired of a fudden a taste for profuse and inconfiderate diffipation, and indulged in all the exceffes of military licentioufnefs. The riot of low debauchery occupied fome; a relish for expenfive luxuries fpread among others *. The meaneft foldier in Peru would have thought himself degraded by marching on foot; and at a time when the prices. of horses in that country were exorbitant, each infifted on being furnished with one before he would take the field. But though lefs patient under the fatigue and hardships of fervice, they were ready to face danger and death with as much intrepidity as ever; and animated by the hope of new rewards, they never failed, on the day of battle, to display all their ancient valour. W w Vega, p. 11. lib. vi. c. 3. * Herrera, dec. 5. lib. ii. c. 3. dec. 8. lib. viii. c. 10. BOOK 1548. Ferocity with which their contests were carried on; and want of faith. TOGETHER with their courage, they retained all the ferocity by which they were originally diftinguished. Civil difcord never raged with a more fell fpirit than among the Spaniards in Peru. To all the paffions which usually envenom contests among countrymen, avarice was added, and rendered their enmity more rancorous. Eagernefs to feize the valuable forfeitures expected upon the death of every opponent, fhut the door against mercy. To be wealthy, was of itself sufficient to expose a man to accufation, or to fubject him to punishment. On the flightest fufpicions, Pizarro condemned many of the moft opulent inhabitants in Peru to death. Carvajal, without fearching for any pretext to justify his cruelty, cut off many more. The number of those who fuffered by the hand of the executioner, was not much inferior to what fell in the field; and the greater part was condemned without the formality of any legal trial. THE violence with which the contending parties treated their opponents was not accompanied with its ufual attendants, attachment and fidelity to thofe with whom they acted. The ties of honour, which ought to be held facred among foldiers, and the principle of integrity, y See NOTE XXVIII. |