MEXICO. 125 



Hate, in some degree, the undeniable enormities perpe- 

 trated upon the Indians. 



The detestable character of the ignorant idolatry in 

 exercise among the ancient race needs no demonstration ; 

 yet, at the present day, with the exception of the single 

 item of human sacrifice as a part of the religious system, 

 it may well be asked, by what has it been supplanted — 

 fewer and more dignified divinities? purer rites? a less 

 degrading superstition? less disgusting ignorance ? a bet- 

 ter system of morality ? Who will dare assert it ? 



As to the charge of the inhuman rites, and the bloody 

 festivals of the later generations of the Aztecs — the mag- 

 nitude of which, as asserted by the Roman Catholic his- 

 torians, is almost incredible — no one offers to palliate 

 them. 



You are shown with obsequious eagerness the huge 

 round Stone of Sacrifices ; you are told to mark the hol- 

 low for the head of the victim, and the groove which 

 carried off his blood ; your ears tingle when they are 

 filled with the number of those who are supposed to 

 have been immolated upon its carved surface. You turn 

 and see the huge and detestable figure of the idol god- 

 dess Teoyamiqui, before whom, as Spanish historians 

 relate, the hearts of the victims were torn out : yes ! but 

 officious cicerone leads you to the court of the Domini- 

 can convent, and points to the broad perforated stone, 

 where the hundreds and thousands of poor benighted, 

 ignorant heathen, expired at the stake amid smoke and 

 flame. No one reminds you that about the time when 

 the idolatrous worship of the Aztecs was extirpated in 

 Mexico, the same Inquisition, then in its first flush of 

 power, burned eighteen thousand victims at the stake, in 

 the Old World ; and consigned two hundred and eight 

 thousand to infamy and punishment scarcely better than 

 death itself. The simple fact is, that at the present day, 

 dark as we consider it, the Roman Catholicism of Eu- 

 rope is light, when compared to that established in this 

 country, and practised by its inhabitants. 



A change of names — a change of form and garb for 

 the idols — new symbols — altered ceremonials — another 



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