THE LONDON REVIEW, FOR JUL Y, 1777 The Hiftory of America. By William Robertfon, D. D. Principal of the University of Edinburgh, and Hiftoriographer to his Majefty for Scotland. 2 Vols. 4to. 21. 2s. Cadell, London. Balfour, Edinburgh. (Continued from Vol. V. Page 410.) Volume the fecond of this entertaining Hiftory contains, like the firft, four books; the fubjects of which are best enumerated, as before, in the author's table of contents. "Hiftory of the conqueft of New Spain by Cortes. BOOK VI. Hiftory of the conquest of Peru, by Pizarro-and of the diffenfions and civil wars of the Spaniards in that country-Origin-progrefs-and effects of these. "View of inftitutions and manners of Mexicans and PeruviansCivilized ftates in comparison of other Americans-Recent origin of the Mexicans-Facts which prove their progrefs in civilization-View of their policy in its various branches of their arts-Facts which indicate a fmall progrefs in civilization-What opinion fhould be formed on comparing thofe contradictory facts-Genius of their religion-Peruvian monarchy more ancient-Its policy founded on reli gion-Singular effects of this-peculiar ftate of property among the Peruvians Their public works and arts-roads-bridges-buildings VOL. VI, A -unwarlike -unwarlike fpirit-View of other dominions of Spain in America -Cinaloa and Sonora-California-Yucatan and Honduras-Chili -Tucuman-Kingdom of Tierra Firme-New Kingdom of Gra nada. BOOK VIII. "View of the interior government, commerce, &c. of the Spa nish colonies-Depopulation of America firft effect of their fettlements -not the confequence of any fyftem of policy-nor to be imputed to religion-Number of Indians ftill remaining-Fundamental maxims on which the Spanish fyftem of colonization is founded-Condition of different orders of men in their colonies-Chaperones-Creoles-Indians Ecclefiaftical ftate and policy-Character of fecular and regular clergy-Small progrefs of Chriftianity among the natives-Mines chief object of their attention-Mode of working thefe-their produceEffects of encouraging this fpecies of induftry-Other commodities of Spanish America-First effects of this new commerce on Spain-Why the Spanish colonies have not been as beneficial to the parent-state as thofe of other nations-Errors in her fyftem of regulating this commerce-confined to one port-carried on by annual fleets-Contraband trade-Decline of Spain both in population and wealth Remedies propofed-View of the wife regulations of the Bourbon Princes-A new and more libetal fyftem introduced-Beneficial effects of this-Probable confequences-Trade between Mexico and the Philippines-Revenue of Spain from America-whence it arifes-to what it amounts." It has been already obferved, that moft of the facts contained in the narrative of this important and ever-memorable event, the difcovery of the American Hemisphere, have been fo often related as to become univerfally known; and, tho' it be true that Dr. Robertfon places many things in a light different from that, in which they have been exhibited by former Hiftorians, the fources of his intelligence, on which he is induced to make the variation, do not always appear to be fufficiently authentic to warrant the change. Not that we impeach the fagacity, he has exerted in the inveftigation of the truth; but we are apt to imagine that a defire of departing from the common line of narration, in order to give an air of novelty to his work, may have fometines miffed him too far toward the confines of fingularity.-Be this as it may, the reader will be abundantly compenfated, for the want of original matter in the narration, by the judicious and inftructive reflections, with which the natural, moral, and political state of the feveral countries, whofe hiftory is related, is difplayed and illuftrated. Of those we have already given a fhort fpecimen from the conclufion of the fourth book; containing a *In our Review for June, philofophical philofophical inquiry into the manners and policy of its ancient inhabitants. In the feventh book we have a funilar view of the inftitutions and manners of the Mexicans and Peruvians, between which the author draws a parallel, with refpect to their reciprocal progrefs in civilization. His defcription of the latter will afford our readers a farther agreeable specimen of Dr. Robertfon's elegant ftile and manner of writing on fuch fubjects. "The people of Peru, as I have already obferved, had not advanced beyond the rudeft form of favage life, when Manco Capac, and his confort Mama collo, appeared to instruct and civilize them. Who thefe extraordinary perfonages were, whether they imported their fyftem of legiflation and knowledge of arts from fome country more improved, or, if natives of Peru, how they acquired ideas fo far fuperior to thofe of the people whom they addreffed, are circumstances with refpect to which the Peruvian tradition convey no information. Manco Capac and his confort, taking advantage of the propenfity in the Peruvians to fuperftition, and particularly of their veneration for the Sun, pretended to be the children of that glorious luminary, and to deliver their inftructions in his name and authority. The multitude listened and believed. What reformation in policy and manners the Peruvians afcribe to those founders of their empire, and how, from the precepts of the Inca and his confort, their ancestors gradually acquired fome knowledge of those arts, and fome relish for that industry, which render fubfiftence fecure and life comfortable, hath been formerly related. Thofe bleffings were originally confined within narrow precincts; for the authority of the firft Inca did not reach many leagues beyond Cuzco. But, in procefs of time, his fucceffors extended their dominion over all the regions that ftretch to the welt of the Andes from Chili to Quito, establishing in every province their peculiar policy and religious anftitutions. "The moft fingular and ftriking circumftance in the Peruvian government, is the influence of religion upon its genius and laws. Religious ideas make fuch a feeble impreffion on the mind of a favage, hat their effect upon his fentiments and manners are hardly perceptible. Among the Mexicans, religion, reduced into a regular fyftem, and holding a confiderable place in their public inftitutions, operated with confpicuous efficacy in forming the peculiar character of that people. But in Peru, the whole fyftem of civil policy was founded on religion. The Inca appeared not only as a legillator, but as the meffenger of Heaven. His precepts were received not merely as the injunctions of a fuperior, but as the mandates of the Deity. His race was held to be facred; and in order to preferve it diftinct, without being polluted by any mixture of inferior blood, the fons of Manco Capac married their own fifters, and no perfon was ever admitted to the throne who could not claim it by fuch pure defcent. To thofe Children of the Sun, for that was the appellation bestowed upon all the offspring of the first Inca, the people looked up with the reve rence due to beings of a fuperior order. They were deemed to be under the immediate protection of the deity from whom they iffued, and by him every order of the reigning Inca was fuppofed to be dictated. "From thofe ideas two confequences refulted. The authority of the Inca was unlimited and abfolute, in the moft extenfive meaning of the words. Whenever the decrees of a prince are confidered as the commands of the Divinity, it is not only an act of rebellion, but of impiety, to difpute or oppofe his will. Obedience becomes a duty of religion; and as it would be profane to controul a monarch under the guidance of Heaven, and prefumptuous to advife him, nothing remains but to fubmit with implicit refpect. This must neceffarily be the effect of every government established on pretenfions of intercourse with fuperior powers. Such accordingly was the blind fubmiffion which the Peruvians yielded to their fovereigns. The perfons of the highest rank and greateft power in their dominions acknowledged them to be of a more exalted nature; and in teftimony of this, when admitted into their prefence, they entered with a burden upon their fhoulders as an emblem of their fervitude, and willingness to bear whatever the Isa was pleated to impofe. Among other fubjects, force was not requilite to fecond their commands. Every officer entrusted with the execution of them was revered, and according to the account of an intelligent obferver of Peruvian manners *, might proceed alone from one extremity of the empire to another, without meeting oppofition; for, on producing a fringe from the royal Borla, an ornament peculiar to the reigning inca, the lives and fortunes of the people were at his difpofal. "Another confequence of establishing government in Peru on the foundation of religion, was, that all crimes were punished capitally. They were not confidered as tranfgreffions of human laws, but as infolts offered to the Deity. Each, without any distinction between fuch as were flight and fuch as were atrocious, called for vengeance, and could be expiated only by the blood of the offender. Confonantly to the fame ideas, punishment followed the trefpafs with inevitable certainty, becaufe an offence against Heaven was deemed fuch an high enormity as could not be pardoned +. Among a people of corrupted morals, maxims of jurifprudence fo fevere and unrelenting, by rendering men terocious and defperate, would be more apt to niultiply crims than to reftrain them. But the Peruvians, of fimple manners and unfufpicious faith, were held in fuch awe by this rigid difcipline, that the number of offenders were extremely fmall. Veneration for monarchs, enlightened and directed, as they believed, by the divinity whom they adored, prompted them to their duty; the dread of punishment, which they were taught to confider as unavoidable vengeance inflicted by offended Heaven, withheld them from evil. *Zarate, lib i. c. 13. + Vega, lib. ii. c. 6. The "The fyftem of fuperftition on which the Incas ingrafted their pretenfions to fuch high authority, was of a genius very different from that established among the Mexicans. Manco Capac turned the veneration of his followers entirely towards natural objects. The Sun, as the great fource of light, of joy, and fertility in the creation, attracted their principal homage. The Moon and Stars, as co-operating with him, were entitied to fecondary honours. Wherever the propenfity in the human mind to acknowledge and to adore fome fuperior power, takes this direction, and is employed in contemplating the order and beneficence that really exift in nature, the spirit of fuperftition is mild. Wherever imaginary beings, created by the fancy and the fears of men, are fuppofed to prefide in nature, and become the objects of worship, fuperftition always affumes a wilder and more atrocious form. Of the latter we have an example among the Mexicans, of the former among the people of Peru. They had not, indeed, made fuch progrefs in obfervation or inquiry, as to have attained juft conceptions of the Deity; nor was there in any language any proper name or appellation of the Supreme Power, which intimated that they had formed any idea of him as the Creator and Governor of the World*. But by directing their veneration to that glorious luminary, which, by its univerfal and vivifying energy, is the best emblem of divine beneficence, the rites and obfervances which they deemed acceptable to him were innocent and humane. They offered to the Sun a part of thofe productions which his genial warmth had called forth from the bofom of the earth, and reared to maturity. They acrificed, as an oblation of gratitude, fome of the animals who were indebted to his influence for nourishment. They prefented to him choice fpecimens of those works of ingenuity which his light had guided the hand of man in forming. But the Incas never stained his altars with human blood, nor could they conceive that their beneficent father the Sun would be delighted with fuch horrid victims. Thus the Peruvians, unacquainted with thote barbarous rites which extinguish fenfibility, and fupprefs the feelings of nature at the fight of human sufferings, were formed, by the fpirit of the fuperftition which they had adopted, to a national character more gentle than that of any pesple in America. "Its influence operated even upon their civil inftitutions, and tended to correct in them any thing that was adverfe to gentlenes of character. The dominion of the Incas, though the most abiolure of all de porifms, was mitigated by all its alliance with religion. The mind was not humbled and deprefled by the idea of a forced subjećtion to the will of a fuperior; obedience, paid to one who was believed to be clothed with divine authority, was willingly yielded, and implied no degradation. The fovereign, confcious that the fubmiffive icverence of his people flowed from their belief of his heavenly de cent, was continually reminded of a diftinction which promped hm to imitate that beneficent power which he was fupposed to represent. In confequence of thofe impreffions, there hardly occurs in the tra * Acofta, lib. v c. 3. See NOTE LXI. ditional |