106 



HISTORY OF MEXICO. 



niards, which was much fuperior to that of the Spani- 

 ards themfelves, when they were firft known to the Phoe- 

 nicians, that of the Gauls when firft known to the 

 Greeks, or that of the Germans and Britons when firft 

 known to the Romans (n)^ ftiould of itfelf have been 

 fully fufficient to correct fuch an error of man's mind, if 

 it had not been the intereft of the inhuman avarice of 

 fome ruffians to encourage it (o). Their undcrftandings 

 are fitted for every kind of fcience, as experience has ac- 

 tually ftiewn (p). Of the Mexicans who have had an 

 opportunity of engaging in the purfuits of learning, 

 which is but a fmall number, as the greateft part of the 

 people are always employed in the public or private 

 works, we have known fome good mathematicians, ex- 

 cellent architects, and learned divines. 



Many perfons allow the Mexicans to pofiefs a great 

 talent of imitation, but deny them the praife of inven- 

 tion : 



(«) D. Bernardo Aldrete, in his book upon the Origin of the Spanilh Tongue, 

 would have us to believe that the Spaniards vs^ere lefs rude at the arrival of the 

 Phoenicians, than the Mexicans were at the time of the arrival of the Spaniards^; 

 but this paradox has been fufficiently refuted by the learned authors of the Li- 

 terary Hiftory of Spain. It is true, that the Spaniards in thofe remote ages 

 were not fo barbarous as the Chichimecans, the Californians, and fome other 

 favage nations of America ; but neither their government was fo regular, nor 

 their arts fo much improved, nor, as far as we can judge, had they made fo 

 much progrefs in the knowledge of nature, as the Mexicans at the beginning 

 of the fixteenth century. 



(o) Upon this fubjedl I muft refer the reader to the bitter complaints made 

 by the bifliop Garces, in his letter to pope Paul IH. and by the bifliop of las 

 Cafas, in his Memorials to the Catholic kings Charles V. and Philip H. but 

 efpecially to the very humane laws made by thofe moft Chriflian monarchs, in 

 favour of the Indians. 



{p) We fliall, in the Uiffertations, produce the opinions of D. Giulian Garces, 

 firft bifhop of Tlafcalla ; of D. John di Zumarraga, firft b'ilhop of Mexico, and 

 of D. Bartholomew de las Cafas, firft biftiop of Chiapa, with refpecSl to the ca- 

 pacities, undcrftandings, and other good qualities of the Mexicans. The tefti- 

 mony of thofe virtuous and learned prelates, who had fo much intercourfe witb 

 the Indians, weighs much more than that of any hiftorian whatever. 



