HISTORY OF MEXICO. 



365 



It is true, that thefe laws were not always obferved, 

 but they were not therefore lefs juft ; and if there was 

 any injuftice in the conquefts of the Mexicans, it was 

 certainly not lefs in thofe of the Grecians, Romans, 

 Perfians, Goths, and other celebrated nations. One of 

 the great evils attending on war is that of famine, from 

 the wafte committed by enemies on the fields. It is not 

 pofiible totally to prevent this evil ; but if there ever 

 has been any thing capable of moderating it, it was cer- 

 tainly that ufage of the Mexicans, and other nations of 

 Anahuac, of having in every province a place appointed 

 for the field of battle. The other cuftom which they 

 had of making every fifth day, in time of war, a day of 

 truce and repofe, was not lefs di&ated by humanity than 

 reafon. 



Thofe nations had formed a fpecies of jus gentium, by , 

 virtue of which, if the chief, the nobility, and people, 

 reje&ed the propofitions made them by another people, 

 or nation, and left the decifion of a point to arms ; if 

 they were conquered, the chief loft his fovereign power ; 

 the nobility, the fupreme right which they had over 

 their pofTeffions ; the common people were fubjected to 

 perfonal fervice ; and all thofe who had been made pri- 

 foners in the heat of battle were, quafi ex deliclo, de- 

 prived of liberty, and the right of life. This is certain- 

 ly contrary to our ideas of humanity ; but the general 

 agreement of thofe people in fuch cuftoms rendered their 

 inhumanity lefs culpable, and examples much more bar- 

 barous among the molt cultivated nations of the old con- 

 tinent, diffipate the horror which on firfl: confideration 

 is occafioned by the cruelty of thofe people of America. 

 Among the Greeks, fays Montefquieu (a), the inhabi- 

 tants 



(a) L'Efprit de loix. Liv. xx. cli. 14. 



