The Best of the Bureau/The_Best_of_the_Bureau_Bureau_Development_Inc._1992.iso/dp/0074/00744.txt

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$Title{History Of The Conquest Of Peru
Chapter VII}
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$Author{Prescott, William H.}
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$Date{1864}
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Title:       History Of The Conquest Of Peru
Book:        Book IV: Civil Wars Of The Conquerors
Author:      Prescott, William H.
Date:        1864

Chapter VII

Abuses By The Conquerors. - Code For The Colonies. - Great Excitement In Peru.
- Blasco Nunez The Viceroy. - His Severe Policy. - Opposed By Gonzalo Pizarro.

     1543-1544.

     Before continuing the narrative of events in Peru, we must turn to
the mother-country, where important changes were in progress in respect to
the administration of the colonies.

     Since his accession to the Crown, Charles the Fifth had been chiefly
engrossed by the politics of Europe, where a theatre was opened more
stimulating to his ambition than could be found in a struggle with the
barbarian princes of the New World.  In this quarter, therefore, an empire
almost unheeded, as it were, had been suffered to grow up, until it had
expanded into dimensions greater than those of his European dominions, and
destined soon to become far more opulent.  A scheme of government had, it
is true, been devised, and laws enacted from time to time for the
regulation of the colonies.  But these laws were often accommodated less
to the interests of the colonies themselves, than to those of the parent
country; and, when contrived in a better spirit, they were but imperfectly
executed; for the voice of authority, however loudly proclaimed at home,
too often died away in feeble echoes before it had crossed the waters.

     This state of things, and, indeed, the manner in which the Spanish
territories in the New World had been originally acquired, were most
unfortunate both for the conquered races and their masters.  Had the
provinces gained by the Spaniards been the fruit of peaceful acquisition,
- of barter and negotiation, - or had their conquest been achieved under
the immediate direction of government, the interests of the natives would
have been more carefully protected.  From the superior civilization of the
Indians in the Spanish American colonies, they still continued after the
Conquest to remain on the ground, and to mingle in the same communities,
with the white men; in this forming an obvious contrast to the condition
of our own aborigines, who, shrinking from the contact of civilization,
have withdrawn, as the latter has advanced, deeper and deeper into the
heart of the wilderness.  But the South American Indian was qualified by
his previous institutions for a more refined legislation than could be
adapted to the wild hunters of the forest; and, had the sovereign been
there in person to superintend his conquests, he could never have suffered
so large a portion of his vassals to be wantonly sacrificed to the
cupidity and cruelty of the handful of adventurers who subdued them.

     But, as it was, the affair of reducing the country was committed to
the hands of irresponsible individuals, soldiers of fortune, desperate
adventurers, who entered on conquest as a game, which they were to play in
the most unscrupulous manner, with little care but to win it.  Receiving
small encouragement from the government, they were indebted to their own
valor for success; and the right of conquest, they conceived, extinguished
every existing right in the unfortunate natives.  The lands, the persons,
of the conquered races were parcelled out and appropriated by the victors
as the legitimate spoils of victory; and outrages were perpetrated every
day, at the contemplation of which humanity shudders.

     These outrages, though nowhere perpetrated on so terrific a scale as
in the islands, where, in a few years, they had nearly annihilated the
native population, were yet of sufficient magnitude in Peru to call down
the vengeance of Heaven on the heads of their authors; and the Indian
might feel that this vengeance was not long delayed, when he beheld his
oppressors, wrangling over their miserable spoil, and turning their swords
against each other.  Peru, as already mentioned, was subdued by
adventurers, for the most part, of a lower and more ferocious stamp than
those who followed the banner of Cortes.  The character of the followers
partook, in some measure, of that of the leaders in their respective
enterprises.  It was a sad fatality for the Incas; for the reckless
soldiers of Pizarro were better suited to contend with the fierce Aztec
than with the more refined and effeminate Peruvian.  Intoxicated by the
unaccustomed possession of power, and without the least notion of the
responsibilities which attached to their situation as masters of the land,
they too often abandoned themselves to the indulgence of every whim which
cruelty or caprice could dictate.  Not unfrequently, says an unsuspicious
witness, I have seen the Spaniards, long after the Conquest, amuse
themselves by hunting down the natives with bloodhounds for mere sport, or
in order to train their dogs to the game! ^1 The most unbounded scope was
given to licentiousness.  The young maiden was torn without remorse from
the arms of her family to gratify the passion of her brutal conqueror. ^2
The sacred houses of the Virgins of the Sun were broken open and violated,
and the cavalier swelled his harem with a troop of Indian girls, making it
seem that the Crescent would have been a much more fitting symbol for his
banner than the immaculate Cross. ^3

[Footnote 1: "Espanoles hai que crian perros carniceros i los avezan a
matar Indios, lo qual procuran a las veces por pasatiempo, i ver si lo
hacen bien los perros." Relacion que dio el Provisor Morales sobre las
cosas que convenian provarse en el Peru, Ms.]

[Footnote 2: "Que los Justicias dan cedulas de Anaconas que por otros
terminos los hacen esclavos e vivir contra su voluntad, diciendo: Por la
presente damos licencia a vos Fulano, para que os podais servir de tal
Indio o de tal India e lo podais tomar e sacar donde quiera que lo
hallaredes." Rel. del Provisor Morales, Ms.]

[Footnote 3: "Es general el vicio del amancebamiento con Indias, i algunos
tienen cantidad dellas como en serrallo." Ibid., Ms.]

     But the dominant passion of the Spaniard was the lust of gold.  For
this he shrunk from no toil himself, and was merciless in his exactions of
labor from his Indian slave.  Unfortunately, Peru abounded in mines which
too well repaid this labor; and human life was the item of least account
in the estimate of the Conquerors.  Under his Incas, the Peruvian was
never suffered to be idle; but the task imposed on him was always
proportioned to his strength.  He had his seasons of rest and refreshment,
and was well protected against the inclemency of the weather.  Every care
was shown for his personal safety.  But the Spaniards, while they taxed
the strength of the native to the utmost, deprived him of the means of
repairing it, when exhausted.  They suffered the provident arrangements of
the Incas to fall into decay.  The granaries were emptied; the flocks were
wasted in riotous living.  They were slaughtered to gratify a mere
epicurean whim, and many a llama was destroyed solely for the sake of the
brains, - a dainty morsel, much coveted by the Spaniards. ^4 So reckless
was the spirit of destruction after the Conquest, says Ondegardo, the wise
governor of Cuzco, that in four years more of these animals perished than
in four hundred, in the times of the Incas. ^5 The flocks, once so numerous
over the broad table-lands, were now thinned to a scanty number, that
sought shelter in the fastnesses of the Andes.  The poor Indian, without
food, without the warm fleece which furnished him a defence against the
cold, now wandered half-starved and naked over the plateau.  Even those
who had aided the Spaniards in the conquest fared no better; and many an
Inca noble roamed a mendicant over the lands where he once held rule, and
if driven, perchance, by his necessi