HISTORY OF MEXICO. 



285 



Dr. Robcrtfon, who, in a great meafurc adopts the 

 extravagant notions of M. de Paw, fpeaks thus of the 

 Americans, in the VHIth book of his Hiftory of America. 

 " Some miffionaries aftoniflied equally at their flownefs 

 " of comprehenfion, and at their infenfibility, pronounc- 

 " ed them a race of men fo brutifh, as to be incapable of 

 " underftanding the firfl principles of religion." But 

 what miffionaries thefe were, and how much their judg- 

 ment is to be trufted, can be underftood from no body- 

 better than Garces, in the above mentioned letter to 

 pope Paul III. Let the palTage which we have here 

 fubjoined be read (#), it will appear from it, that the 

 reafons of fuch an error, were the ignorance and floth 

 of thofe miffionaries ; and we add, the falfe ideas they 

 had imbibed from their infancy. Las Cafas, Acofla, and 

 other grave writers on America, fay the fame thing as 

 Garces. 



" A 



(x) Quis tarn impudenti animo ac perfricata fronte incapaccs fidei afferere 

 audet, quos mechanicarum artium capacifiimos intuemur, ac quos etiam ad mi- 

 nifterium noftrum redadtos bonae indolis, fidelesj & folertes experimur ? Et fi 

 quando, Beatiflime Pater, Tua Sanctitas aliquem religiofum virum in hanc de- 

 clinare Fententiam audierit, etfi eximia integritate vitas, vel dignitate fulgere 

 videatur is, non idco quicquam illi hac in re prasftet au&oritatis, fed eumdem 

 parum aut nihil infudaffe in illorum converfione certo certius arbitretur, ac in 

 eorum addifcenda lingua, aut inveftigandis ingeriiis parum ftuduiffe perpendat : 

 nam qui in his caritate chriftiana laborarunt, non fruftra in eos jactare retia ca- 

 ritatis affirmant ; illi vero qui folitudini dediti, aut ignavia praepediti neminem 

 ad Chrifti cultum fua induftria reduxerunt, ne inculpari poffint quod inutiles fue- 

 rint, quod proprias negligentiae vitium eft, id Infidelium imbecillitati adferibunt, 

 veramque fuam defidiam falfa incapacitatis impofitione defendunt^ ac non mi- 

 horem culpam in excufatione committunt, quam erat ilia, a qua liberari conantur. 

 Lasdit namque fumme iftud hominum genus talia afferentium hanc Indorum mi- 

 ferrimam turbam : nam aliquos religiofos viros retrahunt, ne ad eofdem in fide 

 inftruendos proficifcantur : quamobrem nonnulli Hifpanorum qui ad illos debel- 

 landos accedunt, horum freti judicio illos negligere, perdere, ac maclare opinari 

 folent non effe flagitium. Ex Uteris Juliani Garces Ep. Tiaf. ad Paulum III. 

 font. Max. 



