out talent or principle. The other officers were their minds of the Spanish nation. A protector merely on the common level. unexpectedly appeared to save from destruction But mangre their weakness, arising from their this despairing remnant, to revive the drooping spidisunion, and their very small numbers, some of rits of the desponding prisoners, and to restore to these extraordinary events might have occurred them their freedom and their homes. It was the which often decided the fate of empires, and by Spanish general-displaying in the field the skill of crowning the enterprize with success, give it a an experienced captain, and in victory, the qualities sanction in the view of mankind. The Spanish co- of the most amiable humanity towards men that, Jonists, since the abdication of one of their mo- without provocation or legitimate object, had narchs, and the captivity of another, has been in an invaded his country. Despising the narrow unsettled state. The vast fragments of the once maxims of policy that lead to severity, the sus mighty monarchy of Spain, seemed to have lost pended sword was sheathed, and he presented their cohesion, and approaching to rapid dissolution. himself to his captured enemies, as a friend to so Many instances have occured where armies, labor- lace them in their misfortunes, and to relieve their ing under similar or more insufferable difficulties wants. The wounded were healed, and the hungry than the American Spanish had to resist, and fed, whilst the angry passions excited by war and though opposed to a greater disparity of force, revenge subsided. The sympathies of nature fel have, by prudence and good fortune, succeeded. the most disinterested hospitality exercised in de There is, however, happily a limit beyond which spite of the prejudices of nation and religion. man can never advance with impunity; there are It was now a scene upon which the mind could principles he cannot violate without deserving, and dwell with pleasure. It was a display of the best in most instances, meeting condign punishment.-emotions of the human heart; a noble performance governor Salcedo and general Herrara, with their of all the duties inspired by the most elevated senti. companions, who submitted themselves prisoners ments of honor, or taught by the purest precepts of war, and were thenceforth, consequently, under of christianity. In a word, their invasion was the most solemn of all protections, which the most forgiven by the injured party, their mistaken mosacred compact could afford, had a right to claim, tives pitied, and the prisoners supplied with food, and no doubt expected to receive, the treatment and sent to their native country in peace. due to their rank and situation. The general cus- Such an exhibition of talents, bravery, greatness tom of modern nations, in their mild, generous and of mind and generosity of sentiment, if made upon humane conduct towards prisoners of war, is the a theatre more within the view of mankind, would most brilliant and useful remaining trait of the secure to Illefondo the meed of an unmortal name; ages of chivalry, and does honor to modern improve but if the remoteness of the scenes, and the small ment of manners. War is stript of its worst hor-interest the human mind will take in the event, rots, and when the tumult of battle is over, the must consign to oblivion one of the noblest actions victor and vanquished resume the warm inter. that ever did honor to human nature, there is one course of mutual philanthropy. Contrary however reward the world can neither enhance or diminish, to all the rights of hospitality and justice, and in it is the heartfelt consciousness of having perform contempt of every principle that ought to guide ed an act, that kings and conquerors have seldom human conduct, Salcedo and Herrara, with several equalled, and an act that affords reflections beyond (eleven or twelve) of their unfortunate fellow pri- all human praise! The name of this generous and soners, were massacred in cold blood near St An- magnanimous soldier will be dear to every feeling tonia de Behar by, it is said, the orders of Bernardo! beart as long as his memory will be preserved. He This inhuman and impolitic act sealed the fate bas redeemed the character of man from the foul of the enterprize. The human bosom shudders stigma thrown upon it by another nation, whose at the recital of such atrocious barbarity. Most, claims to more than a share of virtue and benevoif not all of the Americans belonging to the expe-lence have been loud and incessant. But when a dition, disclaim any co-operation in the deed.contrast is drawn between the scenes of the river Bernardo was removed, and the command given to Raisin and at Hampton, with those at St. Antonia another Spaniard, but a mortal wound was inflicted de Behar, we no longer hesitate to bestow the palm on the reputation and views of the party, that no of real generosity upon this beneficent Spaniard, skill could cure-confidence was at an end-dis- who became tlie protector of men that the laws of cipline disregarded-and on the 18th of August, nations had doomed to destruction. 1813, this ill assorted mass, encountered about 20 miles west of St Antonio, a regular force under brave and experienced leaders, and was in a moment routed.

It is not unworthy of remark, that this pettywar has been rendered memorable by the greatest extremes our nature is capable of; crimes have been per petrated, the very mention of which shocks the soul; The situation of the Americans was to the last and virtues have been exercised that exhilirates degree hopeless and disastrous; four hundred miles the heart to recite. This war, otherwise of little from the borders of the United States; a victorious consequence in human affairs, deserves deep attenad justly exasperated enemy on their rear, death, tion, as being the first instance where the two masses in all its accumulated terrors presented itself to of civilized men, which inhabit North America, their terrified imagination, or what was still more have come in contact. In the ordinary routine of dreadful in their apprehension, a lingering captivi- human history, the fate of the Anglo-Americans, ty in Spanish dungeons, seemed to be the only ai and Spanish population on this continent, must be terative; some by exertions almost superhuman, greatly influenced by the sentiments entertained traversed the wide expanse between St. Antonia of each other. The expanse that separates them, de Behar and the S.bine river, and escaped into is daily contracting, and, in no very distant period, Luisiana. But many fell ell into the hands of their there must be only a simple frontier line between pursuers. The situation of those captives was in- them. A century past, France and Russin, which deed deplorable; all hope of revisiting their native are now shaking the world by their gigantic concountry was banished from their expectations by test, were perhaps less known to each other, and the frightful pictures that had been presented to less connected than are now the United States and

A

Mexico. England and France are conspicuous exam-Provinces) our government has naver been involvples of the lasting hatred and mutual distress that ed. The idea of one nation having, either the right national rivalry can engender.-The ambitious in- to attempt or the power to effect, by force, any cursions and absurd claims of the English monarchs beneficial change in the condition of another, defor ages past, enkindled the flames of that un-serves contempt. The established opinions and extinguishable rage, that, at this moment, burns customs of nations, are too stubborn to yield an with such fury in both these great and powerful instant submission to reason, clad in its most pations No human foresight can predict the fatal seductive attire-much less to fall prostrate beconsequences to unborn millions from the casual fore a foreign armed force.

our own.

incursions we now perinit to be made into the Spa- The relative position of the two great bodies of nish territories. Man is too prone to proudly civilized men on this continent is peculiar, whilst contemn the distant danger, and to undervalue their manners, habits, religion, and civil governothers; it has become cant to speak contumeliously ment present an interesting contrast. In the Unit. of the Spaniards, though hourly experience de-ed States, from the ancient establishments, coeval monstrates the falsity of the calumny. In after with the settlement of the country, there is diffused times, when our species has multiplied upon this into the body of the society, an extensive political continent, sufficient to fill every region with knowledge, a strong sense of right, and a wakeful inhabitants, if a spirit of national animosity is attention to the conduct of men in office. Religion, fostered by mutual injuries, the Anglo-American however it may conduce to amend the heart, or and Spanish Mexican people will exhaust their preserve the moral principles, rather tends to finances in destructive inroads upon each other; weaken than enforce a spirit of independence; but and the future history of these nations, like that in the British colonies, by a single diversity from of Rome and Carthage, Rome and Persia, and that common occurrence, even religion inspired a strong of France and England, will be a tissue of folly opposition to the encroachments of power. The and crimes. The apparent indifference with which liberty of the press, though often tending to licen the government and people of the United States tiousness, by continually reviving reflection, on have beheld the changes in Spanish America, is public affairs, excites universal attention to passing really a subject of wonder. We seem to regard events. No measure of government can remain with apathy, the incipient movements of a nation secret or free from scrutiny, consequently the peowhich, in future times, must have the closest in-ple and their officers stand continually in awe of terest in common, or the most violent rivalry, with each other. The trial by jury, by constantly calling into courts of justice, the common individuals of When it is reflected, that the effect that nations society, instil amongst them a knowledge of the have upon each other, really depends but little complications of property, and the subtleties of upon their respective forms of government, it may legal disquisitions. This so much and in many be a subject of minor importance to us, whether respects justly boasted mode of trial, possesses Mexico and the internal provinces should become no one advantage, however, so unequivocal over a republic, or a monarchy. Men, under all forms other forms of distributive justice, as the informaof civil society, are prone to war, rapine and vio- tion it superinduces in societies of its duties and lence. Noise, tumult and revenge are congenial to the human heart; and it demands all the re- The extensive commerce always enjoyed by the straints of power, the allurements of society, and United States, bas enhanced the value of landed the accustomed sweets of repose, to preserve the and created a vast accession of personal proworld from eternal strife. The best knowledge perty;-and has given the whole community hopes philosophy can instil, and the best duty that legisla- of wealth and aggrandizement. Agriculture, the tion can impose, or man can practice, is the princi- best pursuit of man, from its great profits, has ple of universal benevolence towards, not his own carried the fondness for show, luxury, and acCountrymen alone, but also the whole human race. cumulation, into the remotest region of our empire It is of primary importance, that in America man-In fine, no people perhaps ever possessed so should profit from the sanguinary lessons that the extensively, the benefits arising from independence tragic histories of the east have afforded. Those of sentiment, unceasing enquiry and possession of know but little of human nature, or its interests, wealth, as do the inhabitants of the United States who teach the necessity of distrust. The dissimula-whilst they have, and must continue to suffer tion, hatred and envy natural to human beings, the evils, and enjoy the benefis of unlicensed ex. will always produce ample instances to put us on our geard against each other. Nations, like individuals, have a tendency to malignity. The most desolating wars have been undertaken as much if not more from revenge than ambition.

rights.

pression of opinion, which controls and overawes public men; but, also, frequently distracts public councils; we must, also, feel the demoralizing consequences of sudden accumulation of wealth.

The people of New Spain, are as different from If to engender confidence, friendship, and reci those of the United States as the circumstances procal forbearance, be an indispensable duty, in of their history are variant. At the era of the those who regulate the conduct, or who form the discovery of America, the power of Spain had morals of private persons, how much more in-greatly augmented; the different kingdoms that cumbent is the obligation on the rulers of nations, to preserve and foster a spirit of amity, probity, and urbanity, between contiguous states. The unlicensed plunderer, or marauder, that roams, at this moment, from the United States into Texas, prevents or retards the peaceable approach to wards a general intercourse. Against Spain, the United States may have complaints that would , warrant decisive measures, but with the natives of Mexico, or the Provincias Infernos, (Internal

had formerly existed on the Spanish Peninsula, had been united by marriage, conquest, and other casualties, into two states; Portugal, and the one whom, from its superior power and extent of territory, had at that time assumed, and ever since preserved the prominent appellation of Spain. But spirit of enquiry in the sciences, an enlightened, liberal system of government and commerce, had never been introduced among the Spaniards. Slavish submission to the power of their monarchs and

Prelates, gradually obliterated all traces of that transmit to you such information as I possess jo freedom, their constitution inherited from its relation to the affairs of South America Gothic origin. Though rather mo more liberty was I regret that my absence from Charleston, where enjoyed in the colonies, than in the mother coun- most of my documents are, does not allow me to try, the difference in favor of the former, proceed- enter more into detail, and to give a fuller descrip ed more from the local position of distant and untion of those countries. connected settlements, than from any legal com. As the executive will doubtless have received pact, either declarative or tacit, between the pub- from the commissioners ample information with relic functionaries and the people. THINKING IS gard to the recent occurrences at Buenos Ayres ARTIFICIAL. In the United States the routine and Chile, I have only brought down the events of of business, both public and private, superinduce the revolution to the period of their arrival at and enforce sentiments of freedom: in the Spanish Buenos Ayres. In the course of this narrative, I colonies rulers are either nobles or priests; public have confined myself to facts; for I thought it xnforms assume either a religious or military tone. necessary to dwell on the motives which induced Every exertion of power demands implicit obedi. the Creoles to shake off the Spanish yoke; the op ence. None, or at least but few, of those tedious pression under which they labored, the severe zad proceedings are there seen, where weakness, igno- absurd restrictions upon their commerce and indusrance, and poverty, demand, and ultimately receive try, are too notorious to require a comment; and reparation from power, chicanery, intelligence and the situation of the mother country, not o not only jus. wealth. In traversing the most populous towns, tified, but rendered it necessary for them to es you no where find in the hands of the people those tablish for themselves an internal government. bold, acute and daring investigations, into the con- By letters which I have received since the re duct and views of legislative, juicial, or execu turn of the commissioners from Buenos Ayres, f tive officers, which fill the columns of an United learn that the Portuguese forces are in the passesStates newspaper. sion of the principal places on the eastern shore of To be brief, so great is the difference in opinion, Uraguay, and of the country between the Pirana between the Anglo-American, and Creole-Spa- and Uraguay. Their advanced posts extend to the niard, that no beneficial result will, in my humble Corientes. The royal forces in Upper Peru are opinion, arise from direct interference, on the part posted at the defiles of Jujui, and are in the pos of citizens of the United States, in favor of the session of the country above Salta. The forces of revolution in the Spanish colonies; but every senti- Buenos Ayres, under the command of Belgrano, ment of honor and humanity forbid the government are at Tucuman. By the last victory gained by of the United States from affording the most trivial the patriots of Chile on the plains of Maipu, the aid in the struggle to the pretended legitimate royalists have been driven within the fortifications government of European Spain. The natives of of Talcahuano. America have been goaded and insulted into resist. ance against their transatlantic oppressors. Their chains are broken-may the links never again be united.

Mr. Poinsett's Report

ON SOUTH AMERICAN AFFAIRS,

LIST OF PAPERS.

1. The secretary of state to J. R. Poinsett, esq. 23d Oct. 1818.

I have the honor to be,
With great respect, sir,

Your most humble and obed't serv't,
(Signed)
J. R. POINSE IT.

To the honorable John Quincy Adams,

secretary of state.
(A)

The government of Spanish America is confided to the council of the Indies. Their authority over the colonies is unlimited; they are the source of all 2. Mr. Poinsett to the sesretary of state, 4th No-favor, and have the presentation to all civil and ec vember, 1818, with two enclosures on South American affairs, marked A and B.

MR. ADAMS TO ME. POINSETT.

clesiastical appointments; they constitute likewise a court of appeal from the decision of the audi

ences.

The vice roy is commander in chief, governor, intendant of the province where he resides, and president of the royal audience, and other tribuDepartment of state, Washington, 23d Oct. 1818. nals. As commander in chief he is assisted by J. R. Poinsett, esq. Charleston, South Carolina, council of general officers; and as a governor, by an SIR-I am directed by the president of the Unit assesor and legal counsellors. He assists with ed States, to request of you such information, in great ceremony at the session of the royal audi relation to the affairs of South America, as your ences, which tribunal watches his conduct, and bas long residence in that country, and the sources of a legal control over his actions; and he in turn renintelligence from thence, which have remained open ders an account to the council of the Indies of the to you since your return, have enabled you to col- public acts and private conduct of the members of lect, and which you may think it useful to the the audience. The vice roy is not allowed to trade public to communicate to the executive governor form any connexion with the people of his goment of this union.

I have the bonor to be, &c. (Signed)

vernment; and it was not customary for him to enter any private house. The laws of the Indies which in theory are calculated to protect the colo nists and Indians from oppression, grant him almost regal powers, but restrain the arbitrary exer cise of them by the responsibility attached to any abuse of authority. At the expiration of his office, SIR-In conformity with the request of the pre- a commission is appointed to enquire into his past sident of the United States, contained in your let-conduct, and all people including the Indians, are ter of the 25d of October, I have the honor to called upon to prefer charges against him, and state

any greviance or vexation they may have experienced had great influence over the minds of the people during his administration. This residencia, as it is and a powerful agency in subduing and attaching called, has become an unmeaning ceremony. The them to the sovereign of Spain.

royal audience, which is the supreme court in the The zeal of the missionaries in this part of South colonies, is composed of the vice roy, who is the America effected more than the arms of the first president of a regent, three oidores, two fiscals, a adventurers, who, after they had conquered the reporter and an alguazil. country, were repeatedly cut off by insurrections The law lays both them and their families under of the natives, roused to desperation by their rapathe severest restrictions, and the president is en-city and oppression. joined to watch their conduct, and to receive and The conquest of Paraguay by the Jesuits; their transmit to the king an anousl statement of their acts. large establishments on the Uruguay; the priviThey constitute the last court of appeal in Aine leges granted them by the king in order that they rica. The vice roy is recommended to consult might prove their assertion if left to themselves, them in all emergencies of the state; but is left at and not intruded upon by the Spaniards, they would liberty to act as he thinks proper. Where the au subdue the Indians of that extensive territory, and thority of the president interferes with their deci- convert them to the catholic faith; their rigid po. sions they may remonstrate, but his will is execut-licy in detecting and sending out of their limits ed. They have the privilege of corresponding diany one whom curiosity or interest might have temptrectly with the king, and may make any represen ed to trespass on their territory; the rapid subjection tations they think proper on the conduct of the vice roy.

and conversion of the tribes on the Uraguay and Paraguay, who were incorporated with the Guaranis When the functions of the vice roy are suspend- Indians; their submission to the organization of the ed by sickness or death, the regent is his legal re- Jesuits, who distributed the day into periods of presentative. work, recreation and devotion, and established, áfOf the cabildo we have already spoken. Besides ter the manner of the Moravians, a common maga. the alcaides of this body, there is a criminal judge. zine for the reception of the produce of their inThe city is divided into barrio, or quarters, and dustry, and dealt out to them, according to the each quarter has an alcaide de barrio, or justice.-number of members in a family, the necessary artiThere are likewise justices of the peace or lieuten-cles of food and clothing; the frequent attacks ants of justice, as they are called, whose jurisdic-made upon them by the unsubdued tribes, and the tion extends over a certain district of country.depredations committed by the Mamalukes, the They are accountable to the governor, and are ap-lawless in abitants of the Portuguese frontier, and pointed for two years.

The military and clergy claim their feuro, that is, the right of being judged by their peers, and an esprit de corps generally screens the culprit from -justice.

The spirit of litigation pervades all classes, interrupts the harmony of society, and destroys the confidence and affection which ought to reign in families and among near connexions. The lawyers are a numerous body, and the practice is not, as in the United States, an open appeal to impartial justice; but the art of multiplying and of procrastina. ting decisions until the favor of the judge is secur, ed by influence and bribery.

The ecclesiastical jurisdiction belongs exclusive ly to the king and council for the Indies. The pope bas ceded all the pontifical rights except of issuing bulls of confirmation, and even these are limited to the candidate presented by the king of Spain.

of Saint Pablo; the jealousy excited by the flou rishing state of these settlements about the period of the expulsion of the Jesuits from Europe; the resistance made to the decrees sent against them from Spain; and the final destruction of their power and confiscation of their possessions, are facts fre quently treated of, and in the hands of every one. There is a fund still devoted for propagation of the christian faith, and to the payment of missionaries, who transfer the converted Indians to the doctrines, where they are placed under the charge of doctrinal curates.

In the jurisdictions of Moxos and Chignitors there are some missionary settlements, where the missionaries enjoy nearly the same privileges which were formerly extended to the Jesuits, but they are not animated with the same zeal or by the same ambition, and the progress of civilization has been very slow in those countries. The missionaries The bishop, assisted by a fiscal and a provisior, are forbidden to exact any compensation from the forms the highest ecclesiastical tribunal; the business Indians for the performance of any catholic rite; is transacted by the provisior, and the bishops assists but this regulation, like all the excellent and phionly in cases which concern ecclesiastics of rank. lanthropic laws instituted by the council of the In The ecclesiastical tribunals have cognizance in all dies to protect the wretched Indians from the racases of a spiritual nature, and which concern ec-pacity of the Europeans, is evaded by a shameful clesiastics; and in all questions arising from pious traffic in im ges, rosaries, and scapularies, and by donations and legacies. The ecclesiastical faero, receiving presents and exacting work from the Inor privileges, are extensive; it is sometimes (al-dians, notwithstanding the laws expressly exempt though very rarely) mixed, as when the plaintiff is them from the obligation. an ecclesiastic, and the defendant a layman, the cause is tried by a secular tribunal, and vice versa. Buenos Ayres has a chapter consisting of a dean, a sub-dean, and chapter, and certain number of prebendaries.

The parishes are served by rectoral curates; and doctrinal curates officiate in the Indian settlements and villages which are divided into doctrines. The former derive their revenue from the fees of bap tism, marriage, and interments, which the latter are forbid to receive, but have an allowance from the treasury. Priests have been frequently employed in the administration of the public affairs, and have

1

In the first conquest of these countries, the Spaniards prof'ted by the feuds which they found existing among the different nations of Indians; they brought them into the field against each other, and the first adventurers were successively their allies and conquerors.

The Indians were sold into captivity, and thousands perished under the hard treatment of their inhuman masters, until the noble efforts of Las Casas, and other friends of humanity, drew the atten. tion of the Spanish court to their sufferings. Commissioners were then despatched from Madrid to enquire into their abuses, and suggest the means of re

the civilized Indians to recover their former inde pendence have been more easily defeated, The Indians hand down from father to son the remem. brance of their wrongs, and constantly watch some opportunity to revenge them.

forming them, and of alleviating the condition of the, Indians. The first attempt at amelioration was the Repartimuntos de Indios, by which they were di vided among the Spaniards, who had the profits of their labor without a right of property in their per. sons. Next, the encomiendas, by which they were The insurrection in 1778, was the most formida placed under the superintendance and protection able known since the conquest, and laid in ruins of the Spaniards. The encomendero was bound to some of the fines towns of Upper Peru. Oruro live in the district which contained the Indians of was totally destroyed, and La Paz lost the greater his encomienda; to watch over their conduct, in part of its inhabitants by famine, whilst it was struct and civilize them, to protect them from all blockaded by the Indians. Had they known the unjust persecutions, and to prevent their being im-use of fire arms, the whole of the white popula posed on in trafficking with the Spaniards. In return for these services they received a tribute in labor or produce. The abuse of these protecting regulations followed closely their institution.

tion of those provinces would have been destroyed. The revolutionary government immediately on its installation released from the service of the mita, which was the most obnoxious to them, and from the vassalage in which they were held by their magistrates. The tribute was continued from necessity, as it afforded a revenue which could not be relinquished at this period. In 1814, they were relieved from the payment of the tribute, and have taken an active part in favor of the Creoles.

appealed from, do not assist at the session. The customs are collected by an administrator of the customs, and a treasurer; their accounts are receiv ed by the tribunal de cuentas.

The encomiendas were granted to Spaniards who never were in the country. The Indians were hired out, and the most exorbitant tribute was exacted of them. In order to check these abuses, it was decreed, that the amount of tribute received from encomiendas, should not exceed two thousand dollars, the surplus to be paid into the treasury. The intendant of the province is the chief of They were made inalienable and reverted to the every branch of the administration of finance; he crown. All these regulations were found inefis assisted by an assessor, who reports on all fectual to secure the Indians against the rapacity questions of law. The intendant may reject his of the encomenderes, and encomiendas were decision, and either determine on his own responsi abolished. The Indians were next confided to the bility or consult a lawyer. The tribunal de cuentas, care and protection of the missionaries and of over which he presides, consists of a contador doctrinal curates. The last regulation in their mayor, and a treasurer; they examine and verify favor gave them magistrates of their own choice, all accounts. There is, moreover, a supreme court superintended, however, by a corrogidor, to pre of finance. This court, of which the intendant is vent the Indian alcaides from committing excesses president, is composed of the regent of the royal In the exercise of their authority. audience, (chief justice) the contador mayor, the In the vice royalty of Peru, the Indians were sub-treasurer, and the solicitor of the tribunal of acject to a tribute to the crown, levied on males only, counts. These members, when their sentences are from the age of ten to fifty. It was collected by the corrogidor, who had the power of exempting such as were unable, from sickness or bad seasons, to make up the sum. They could enter into no legal contract or sale, without the consent of the By the Spanish colonial laws, the taxes were corrogidor, or make any conveyance of real estate. levied on the product alone. The alcavala was Their lands were sometimes seized, and sold to reduced to five per cent. on every transfer of prosatisfy the tribute, and in that way only could a perty, and every contract of sale. The retail transfer be made or a legal title obtained for In dealers generally paid a composition, which was dian lands. The Indians were burdened with a calculated annually on the value of their stock. personal service to the crown, called the mita; this The almoxarifasgo is a duty on entry, and va was a conscription raised among those subject to ries from fifteen to five per cent. The corso, is s the tribute, in order to work the mines of Potosi.duty of two per cent. applied to support the guarda Thousands of these unfortunate people were march-costas; and the consulate, one and an half on imports ed every year to Potosi, and although the period and exports; this last goes to defray the expenses of service was only eighteen months, they were of the consulado, or board of trade. There is an attended by a numerous train of friends and rela-excise on distilleries. The pulperías, or small grotions, who, on the eve of their entering the mines, cery stores pay, independent of the alcavala, a sang melancholy dirges, and sounding a horn in certain sum per annum, about thirty five dollars, solemn strains, mourned over them with all the for license to retail liquors. A fund was formerly ceremonies which they used to evince their sorrow derived from the sale of lands, and from the royal on the death of a relative. Their wives and child-domains. The treasury receives the rents of va ren remained with the conscripts, who harassed cant_bishopricks and prebendaries, until the new by a long march, seldom resisted more than a year dignity is in possession; and the half yearly product the excessive labor and noxious air of the mines. of all offices. Notaries, attorneys, receivers of the The Indians of Peru have the appearance of habitual customs, tax gatherers, excise officers, &c. pay a melancholy, and still wear mourning for the define to the crown, in proportion to the value of their struction of their Incas. According to an ancient office. Ecclesiastics pay the amount of the first prophecy, they expect to be one day delivered from month of their benefice. their oppressors by a descendant of the Incas, who All articles seized on account of illicit trade, afis to revive the former glory of the nation. They ter paying the duties, are divided among the inare prohibited from carrying any weapon, or from former, the intendant, the captors and the crown. exercising any trade which might render them The bull areas, and cockpits, belong to the king. familiar with the use of fire arms. This law has A considerable revenue is derived from stamps; de been so strictly executed, that the unsubdued highest, cost six dollars; and all deeds and titles, tribes are not dangerous enemies, and for more as also papers signed by chief officers of the adthan a century have not disturbed the tranquility ministration, must be written on this paper. If the of the Spanish settlers; and the attempts made by instrument cannot be contained in a single sheet,