ACCOUNT OF BOOKS. 



1047 



man beings drawn from their savage 

 life and barbarous customs to par- 

 take in Cliristian occupatloius and 

 rational enjoyments, and know that 

 they were formed for nobler pur- 

 poses than to be waging eternal 

 war, and, in their frantic triumphs, 



I to sacrifice and eat each other. 

 Such would liavc been the happy 

 consequences of a humane policy 

 on the part of the Spaniards ; but 

 the direct contrary method has 

 been pursued by those who term 

 themselves the most zealous for the 

 cross of Christ. Deceived, deluded, 

 arrogating mortals ! the sighs of 

 the suffering Indians will yet be 

 heard at the throne of Mercy, and 

 their tears, ere long, be washed 

 away in the blood of the Spaniards. 



" Don Manuel assures me 1 must 

 not draw conclusions from the In- 

 dians I have seen at work here of 

 ■what the natives are collectively ; 

 for the appearance of these is dis- 

 gusting in the extreme : but these, 

 he tells me, are not real Indians, 

 but a kind of mongrel breed between 

 an African and a native." 



" During the reign of the Jesuits, 

 government did - not interfere in 

 either spiritual or temporal affairs. 

 The converted Indians, in their dif- 

 ferent towns, were encouraged to 

 exercise trade and commerce with- 

 out the interference of the civil 

 power ; and were pcrniittcd to sell 

 whatever they chose to dispose of, 

 without being burthcncd with duties 

 on any one article. They paid the 

 annual piastres exacted of them on 

 their first establishment, and sent 

 from their communities the num- 

 bers which the state demanded ; and 

 this was all. Their property, whe- 

 ther it consisted in land, catHe, or 

 articles of barter, was exempt from 

 the rapacity of tax-gatherers ; and 



they yielded no account io any one 

 but their spiritual governors, who 

 laboured as well as the meanest In- 

 dian for the general good. In every 

 town they had a public store-house, 

 in which was deposited the produce 

 of every individual's exertions ; and 

 from this grand source was drawn 

 the means of support for all. This 

 was daily portioned out by their 

 pastor, agreeably to the wants of 

 every one, who was always sure of 

 enough, but none to waste. The 

 clergy saw the necessity of domestic 

 regulation, and enforced it, till at 

 Icpgth the people were also con- 

 vinced of its utility ; and while each 

 in his turn labpurpd for himself, he 

 also provided for the community at 

 large. The aged, the children, and 

 the sick, were sure of being taken 

 care of : all their wants were sup- 

 plied from the grand repository, and 

 tlie surplus was freely resigned to 

 the church. It was such wise and 

 provident regulations as these that 

 elevated Sparta, Rome, and Athens, 

 from a mere handful of aspiring 

 men, to republics that governed the 

 world. But now, if my informatioa 

 is founded on truth — and I have no 

 reason to doubt it — this wise system 

 of things is entirely overturned. The 

 Indians have, it is true, ecclesiastics 

 as usual, to superintend them and re- 

 gulate their affairs ; but those eccle- 

 sL'islics arenow themselves subordi- 

 nate to the civil power, and not, as 

 heretofore, guided by their own 

 laws exclusively. They must now- 

 pay a heavy duty for every article 

 they make use of in the i)residency, 

 and all they dispose of is taxed in a 

 similar manner. The clergy are 

 answerable for the strict payment of 

 the dutici ; and if injustice is exer- 

 cised, it is of no use to complain, 

 Their parish priests are appointed 

 3 X -t by 



