243 NATURAL AND CIVIL 



has never failed before or since to prove one of 

 tlie heaviest curses, \vhich has fallen upon man- 

 kind ; in Peru became mild, gentle, and beneiS- 

 cent : And was constantly employed during the 

 reign of twelve successive monarchs, to refine, 

 civilize, and improve the people ; and to do the 

 greatest good to mankind. And yet this was a 

 system not founded in truth, or in nature ; but 

 in delusion and superstition. What could give 

 it a direction so steady, uniform, and benevolent? 

 Not the form, but the principle of it. It con- 

 tained the. best and the purest principle, that 

 can enter into the nature of human government. 

 Its origin, duration, and power, depended whol- 

 ly upon the public sentiment. The Inca claimed 

 immediate descent, and relation to the sun. 

 The sun was the emblem of peace, and benevo- 

 lence. Had the monarch stained his chai-acter 

 by enormity in crimes and vices, or by a con^ 

 stant abuse of power, nature w^ould have taught 

 the Peruvians that monsters in corruption, vice,, 

 and ci-uelt)*, could not have been the favourite 

 children of the Deitv. If the Inca had been 

 viewed in this light, all his diA'inity, and his 

 power would have ended. His power was 

 founded altogether in the opinion the people 

 had formed of his clivine descent, qualifications^ 

 character, and virtues. So solicitous had the 

 Incas been to preserve this opinion, that through 

 the whole period of their successions, they had 

 taken the most scrupulous care not to endanger 

 or oppose it, by any base and unworthy conduct., 

 And while they thus proved the constant friends 

 and benefactors of the people, the public esteem 

 ?iicl veneration increased. In the benevolence 



