Puslapio vaizdai
PDF
„ePub“

plead an omitted "but" or a deficient "if," and through his counsel be eloquent on the looseness of reporters' notes, if he were dealt with in that way. There is a moral cowardice in conduct of this kind, disgraceful to a man in the position even of a temporary magistrate. From his seat on the bench he spreads slander and falsehood with security. What any just or honourable man would shrink from in private life, he does, and for the action claims credit as a humane, kind-hearted gentleman.

[merged small][ocr errors]

"His lordship flattered himself, on the occasion referred to, that he had done sufficient execution on the functionaries who

[ocr errors]

had lent themselves to this gross impropriety, and that sitting magistrates' would thenceforth abstain from making the administration of justice a vehicle for attacks on private character. We are bound to acknowledge that his lordship's exposure of the monstrous indecorum in question did a vast deal of good. We have seen much less of it ever since. Of late years it has not been a habit with sitting magistrates' to waste the public time in listening to ex parte stories abort matters in which they have no jurisdiction, and to violate common justice and propriety by judicial invectives against persons of whom they know nothing. It would seem, however, from a transaction reported in our columns yesterday, as if the effect of the noble and learned lord's lash had begun to wear off. The chief sitting magistrate at our Mansion-House has shown himself, we are sorry to say, grievously in want of a refresher. In all our recollections of the culpable and silly magisterial practice above described, we can find nothing that surpasses, in injustice and stupidity, the exhibition to which the Lord Mayor of London was pleased to treat the illnatured portion of the public on Tuesday morning last.

There is no individual safe from this system of annoyance and intimidation, when a magistrate chooses to lend himself to its perpetration. No man can secure himself against being denounced by the Lord Mayor of London as destitute of humanity, unless he comply with any request for twenty pounds that may be made upon him. No matter how ridiculous the claim, still he must pay, or submit to be placarded as a person destitute of gentlemanly feelings by the credulous Lord Mayor. Why, if Mr Hobbes had gone to the Mansion House and alleged that we had stolen his volume, instead of being most involuntarily and immeasurably pestered with 700 pages of mortal writing, thoroughly useless to us, bound in morocco, and decorated in a way more befitting the library of the noble Lord to whom it was inscribed in letters of gold, and by whom it was returned, than the precincts of a printing-office; or that we had done him any other imaginable mischief, it would have been the same matter; the Lord Mayor would have believed him, and denounced us in language virulently property; and, of course, in our total ignorance of the facts, we portioned to the magnitude of the offence. daily reports of cases at police offices, involving attempts to obtain money by intimidation, or on false pretences; and this in our opinion-an opinion that may be right or wrong-resembled them; and they become serious enough when magistrates, instead of acting as public guardians, invest themselves, by their conduct, with the character of public nuisances.

We see

We are proceeding hitherto on the supposition that Mr. Hobbes' statement may have presented itself to the Lord Mayor as a plain, true, unvarnished tale; unsupported, however, by evidence of any description, involving matters easily brought to an issue, but concerning parties over either of whom he had no more jurisdiction, and no closer connexion, than the Mayor of Galway or the Provost of Wick.

In the remarks on this curious case which appeared in the Morning Chronicle, the writer adopted this view of

the matter:

Very many of our readers, no doubt, remember-though the present Lord Mayor of London appears, unfortunately, to have forgotten-the highly vigorous and useful castigation which Lord Brougham administered some years ago to a certain class of metropolitan sitting magistrates,' for a practice which he justly characterized as a usurpation of the most flagrant audacity. The abuse alluded to, which at one time threatened, in some of our police courts, to swamp the ordinary and legitimate functions of police magistrates, and convert the administration of justice into a grand centralized agency of safe and cheap defamation, was so well described by the learned lord, that we cannot do better than reproduce his words:- "What Illude to is called 'asking advice of the sitting magistrate; and it consists in this abuse and nothing else that if any man has a grievance against another, and dares not go into a court of justice with it, from being sensible that against that other person he has no case, and that at the hands of that other, he has no hope of obtaining anything, he lies him away before the sitting in agistrate,' as he is called, and, in the absence of the other person, and in the utter and necessary ignorance of that other person that one word is about to be spoken,

"A gentleman of the name of Hobbes, it appears, conceives himself to have been very ill used by Mr. Troup, the editor of 'Tait's Magazine,' with respect to a manuscript forwarded to Mr. Troup (it is said at his desire) some months back, and, as is alleged, unjustly detained by this gentleman, after reiterated applications, until its interest and pecuniary value have evaporated by lapse of time. There is no occasion to repeat the particulars of the story, which consists of a number of ailezitions, all requiring to be sifted and tested according to the or dinary rules of evidence in matters affecting character and pr

can have no opinion to express as to the probability of Mr. Troup's having acted with the shabby and shameful injustice imputed to him. Despairing of regaining his manuscript, Mr. Hobbes tells us that he wrote at last to Mr. Troup, claiming compensation for the lost value of his literary property, and threatening to place the matter in the hands of his attorney. curring the costs and risks of an appeal to a Scottish tribunal, Subsequent reflection, he informs us, deterred him from inand he resolved on trying exposure' instead. Accordingly, he wrote again, he says, to Mr. Troup, demanding £20 down. as compensation, with the alternative of coming to London, and exposing the whole affair before a metropolitan magis

trate.'

Our

With this story-which may be all true, or all false, or a mixture of the true and false, in proportions calling for the most delicate moral and legal analysis-Mr. Hobbes presents himself before the chief magistrate of the city of London, and asks for a magisterial denunciation of the inhumanity of such conduct. And, marvellous to say, Mr. Hobbes obtains what he asks, with a compliment superadded for his dispassionate presentation' of the case. Not the shadow of a doubt seems to cross the judicial mind as to the absolute precision and completeness of Mr. Hobbes' version of the business. Lord Mayor altogether disdains the saving virtues of an ‘if He takes the whole story exactly as it is given him, and forthwith invokes the aid of the London press to ruin the character of a man of whom he knows simply nothing. The following are the terms in which the chief magistrate of the first city in the world thought it decent to speak, on the merest ex parte hearsay, of a man who was not present before him, either in person or by proxy-whose very name he probably heard for the first time from the lips of an angry complainant--and of a transaction on which he had neither a judicial nor a moral right to express any opinion whatever :

"The Lord Mayor-I am in leed surprised at finding sweh uupardonable conduct ascribed to a man who holds such a situation, and cannot help saying that the want of the feelings of a gentleman is very palpable throughout the whole trans action which you have so dispassionately represented. To say nothing of the inhumanity of the treatment to which you have been subjected, the editor of 'Tait's Magazine' was bound as a gentleman to answer your letters. I regret the existence of the difficulties in the way of obtaining a proper recompense for the loss you have sustained. I am perfectly cognizant of the hazard arising from an appeal to the Scotch law, having been afflicted

[blocks in formation]
[ocr errors]

6

This is positively outrageous. One is perfectly aghast at the mingled impertinence and silliness of a magistrate who can rush in this fashion head-foremost into a business which no way concerns him-swallow implicitly every syllable of a complainant's own version of his own case, and publicly brand an absent and unheard man as palpably wanting in the feelings of a gentleman,' and guilty of an act of unpardonable inhumanity.' We profess we cannot understand it. It is utterly incomprehensible to us how a person of that average intellectual capacity, which one must presume in a civic chief magistrate, and possessing that familiarity which the routine of judicial proceeding, which is necessarily incident to a year's mayorality, can commit himself to so enormous a breach of the elementary judicial proprieties. We most devoutly trust that it may be a long time before we have to comment again on a magisterial escapade of this astounding description. To say that our Lord Mayor displayed a good heart and kindly sympathies in this affair, is merely to say that he is admirably qualified for that domestic happiness and repose to which he is happily on the eve of returning, and which we trust he will for many years continue to enjoy, undisturbed by official responsibilities and newspaper criticisms."

The following letter was subsequently published in the Chronicle:

[ocr errors]

MY LORD,-In the London papers of Wednesday, I observe the report of an application made to you by Mr. R. G. Hobbes, of Sheerness, regarding a manuscript transmitted to me for publication in "Tait's Magazine;" and your Lordship's remarks on his statement. I also observe your Lordship sneers at Scottish law; and I deeply regret that, as a Magistrate, you do not practise one principle in Scottish law, that of hearing the statements of both parties in any case before pronouncing an opinion.

"Mr. Hobbes applied to me, as he says, regarding a manuscript on East Indian affairs, and led me to understand that the application was made at the suggestion of a gentleman in London, who is connected with literature, and that the manuscript had been read by him. On meeting that gentleman subsequently in London, I learned from him that he was unacquainted with the character of the manuscript. I wrote to Mr. Hobbes that he might send the manuscript, and that I should provide for its safety. I was surprised, however, to receive a volume very richly bound, expensively illustrated, and inscribed in gilt letters to the Right Honourable the Earl of Ellenborough. His Lordship entertaining the same opinion

of the contents of the volume that I have been induced to form, returned, as it appears, the gift.

"I have never, at any time, had the slightest objection to follow the Earl of Ellenborough's example, but I have requested Mr. Hobbes to instruct me how the volume was to be returned. And I have done so, because its return to Sheerness through a bookseller's parcel is attended with some risk, which I do not wish to incur, in the case of a manuscript so highly prized by its owner, and because I should not be called on to bear the expense of returning a volume that is quite useless to me, but which, at the value fixed on it by Mr. Hobbes, would require to be insured.

"So far from not having answered Mr. Hobbes' letters, I have before me a note, in answer to one of my letters, requesting to know from Mr. Hobbes to whom his manuscript should be delivered. In that note he threatens to apply to a police magistrate, unless I remit him twenty pounds along with his volume, and, as he says, with the view of compelling me to make some compromise. I have no idea of being intimidated into a payment of twenty shillings or twenty pence in this way, and certainly declined to transmit any money whatever. If I am supposed to be indebted to Mr. Hobbes, as, along with your Lordship, he entertains apparently some wellgrounded fears that Scottish Judges are not so open to ex parte statements as London Lord Mayors, I shall afford him every facility to have his case tried in an English court, by giving him my address in London. His manuscript is neither more nor less useless than at any former period; because, apparently, in the opinion of the Earl of Ellenborough, who should

know India, an opinion in which, without the same means of acquaintance with the country, I fully coincide, it never was of any value; and it is not connected with any subject of a temporary character, or one that can suffer by delay in its publication. But your Lordship seems to think that to read a volume of 700 pages, so as to decide whether it be worth £200 for a magazine, is a matter of little importance, which may be done on receipt.

"I observe that Mr. Hobbes in his statement intimates that, on applying to me through a clerical friend for this MS., he learned that a friend of mine had taken a fancy for it, and carried it away in his pocket. My friend's pocket must have been not less capacious than your Lordship's credulity, when it admitted a quarto volume of 700 pages. I know nothing regarding this "clerical friend;" but when I received the MS. I was not permanently resident here, and thus the volume happened to be taken to and left in the house of a friend of mine. When applied to by one of the clerks in this office for this volume, I mentioned where it was, and that on receiving an order from Mr. Hobbes it would be handed over to any party, but I cannot see why the name of a private gentleman in whose house the volume was left, should be introduced in this affair.

“I repeat now, what I have always stated, that on an order being handed to me for the volume, I ain ready to return it; or if Mr. Hobbes instruct me by what conveyance he wishes it returned, at his risk, and not at mine, it will be sent.

"Will your Lordship allow me now to remark, that I am not surprised that your Lordship suffered in purse, and suffers in recollection, from your Scotch law pleas, because, judging from your observations in this case, they had been very rashly entered into. Farther, when your Lordship ventures to express an opinion as to the feelings and conduct of gentlemen, do you not step somewhat out of your line, for it occurs to me that when the Court of Aldermen placed your Lordship in the Mansion House last November, they did not insist on having a gentleman for a tenant.

"Still farther, when your Lordship styles Mr. Hobbes a literary man, I may be permitted to say that you are venturing an opinion on a subject with which you are even less acquainted. From the MS. in my possession, I suspect that the literary career of Mr. Hobbes has yet to be commenced, and that his literary qualifications are very nearly on a par with the justice of your Lordship's remarks.

"I am, my Lord, "Your Lordship's, &c.,

"GEORGE TROUP."

The Chronicle has a note to this explanation, in which it states that not even the Lord Mayor's conduct justifies the writer's intemperance. We apprehend that most men would have exhibited some irritation in the circumstances; but there are the two documents-the Chronicle's article and our letter; and when the Chronicle in the case speaks of intemperance, we say that it looks very like the reproof of sin by Satan.

The Morning Post, the only other morning paper in which the report appeared, endeavoured to defend the Lord Mayor from the remarks of the Chronicle, and was even zealous in favour of magistrates having full permission and power to assail any man's character unheard, as their want of discretion and prudence might dictate.

The defence was natural. Similarity of taste leads to similarity of conduct. The Post, although using its columns to circulate falsehoods in this instance, declined to insert our letter; and refused us whatever benefit we might have derived from its very limited circulation-an instance of justice quite equal to that displayed by the Lord Mayor himself.

This very worthy magistrate and remarkably just man, stated that the case had not been fully explained--that on receiving our letter, of course corrected his errorsthe volume was now, and had at any time been at the command of Mr. Hobbes-on his giving an order for a

book which he valued at £200, or stating how or by what means he wished to have it returned.

If his offer had been for twenty pounds, or even forty pounds, to prevent similar annoyances for the time to Persons who expected so much justice in the Mansion come, and from similar authors, we might have closed House, under the present mayoralty, would be greatly the bargain, and been cheaply out of difficulties. disappointed. We were not, because it was evident We solicit and require no man's manuscripts-exceptenough to us that a man capable of committing the in- ing those that come from our regular contributors. justice contained in the magistrate's original remarks, if never find any advantages accruing to us from stray at all correctly reported, was capable also of perpetuat-manuscripts. In nineteen cases out of twenty they are ing that injustice.

This volume, we should say, was too heavy to return by post. The post-office, until within four or five weeks, would not have taken it on any terms, and we could not divide an expensively-bound book. Even now the postage, pre-paid, on a 5lb. parcel would be £1 10s.; and even £1 10s. was too much to lose, in addition to valuable time, on a manuscript thrust upon us, with the understanding that it had been seen, read, and approved, by a gentleman thoroughly conversant with such matters, but who, it appears, knew nothing of its contents a manuscript volume that has nothing to do with the late Indian war, as was represented, but is quite as desirable now as at any former time, and which is certainly not devoted in any very great degree to matters of a warlike

character.

We had no means of following any other course than that adopted with a bundle valued at £200--and for which, if lost, we were unfortunately liable-no means whatever, but preserve it carefully to its owner's order, or to be forwarded at his risk. Mr. Hobbes, however, wanted money, and if his goods had been useful to us— if we had required them, to money he was well entitled; and he threatened to expose us in such a way as would prevent other authors from visiting us with similar tribulation, if we did not pay him twenty pounds, in return for losing valuable time, and for the detention of what we thought, perhaps erroneously thought, a stupid manuscript, but which, not falling amongst our many manuscripts, we should have been glad at any time to have got safely, where it now is, out of our hands.

We

unsuitable, and it would be better to want the twentieth, than to read and dispose of the other nineteen. Very generally work of that kind is done from a feeling of good nature towards parties who are not much connected with literature, and we are quite willing to bear our share, but two hundred pounds' worth of writing from one thoroughly unknown individual-unknown as a writer-is a quality we never should have looked at, if the invoice had preceded the parcel.

There can

However, the point of public interest in the case is the facility with which threats of this kind can be executed. So long as there are police magistrates like Sir George Carroll, any man may indulge malevolent feelings against those who decline to pay him black mail. be no more complete nuisance than this description of intervention by a magistrate in business that concerns him not. There can be nothing more unjust than the permis sion afforded to such men as this Lord Mayor, of attack. ing absent individuals, of whom they know nothing, an information that may be either true or false. There is no remedy for the evil at present. Lord Mayors can alway take shelter beneath the reporters' pencils. They are safe from prosecution; and may, if they please-and have a turn that way-convert their courts into schools for scandal. What is our case now, may be that of any other person on another day-of some person whose habits or whose circumstances, for many reasons, will not permit him to tra quite so lightly, as we trust we can afford to treat, anything that such a credulous person as this Lord Mayor may have to say.

[blocks in formation]

He reck'd not the pulse from her heart was gone,
And that now he stood in the world alone,
For the ling'ring flush which life had set,
From that lovely check had not parted yet;
While the smile on the lip seemed resting there,
Like the light which echoes the spirit's prayer,
And hush'd he stood in that love-fraught spell,
Which gathers round one whom the heart loves well.
Thus time wore on, and yet all was still,
When a death-like voice from his bosom's thrill,
Told him the quiet which settled now,

On that fair smooth cheek and chissel'd brow,
Must be the calm of that long last sleep,
To be hallow'd there by that silence deep;
Not then he wept-for his heart seem❜d bound,
In that fearful truth it so late had found;
And e'en for the moment there came no sigh,
To relieve the soul of its agony.
Yet awhile he rested his marble gaze,
On the fondly cherish'd of other days,
And then was the chain from that spirit burst,
O'er the trembling hope it as yet had nurs'd.

Like the fearful rush of the ocean's wave,
Which gathers the jewels it may not save,
E'en thus it o'erflow'd with the gushing tears,

O'er that fairy vision of vanish'd years.

And then came his childhood, whose dream was fraught With the love which his after years had brought,

The cottage afar in that sunny land,

Which was press'd by the feet of his household band.
Yet not for them are the tears he weeps ;
There's another chord for whom nature keeps,
Her echo'd music of song and light,

Thro' the dreary hour of the spirit's night.
There is one who mirrors his fond heart's dream,
For the flowret's blossom and bright sunbeam;
There is one whose halo now calls him back,
To the joy of his after childhood's track.
And brighter thoughts in his heart now rest;
There's a glow of hope in his troubled breast,
And a fairy path which his feet must tread,
Thro' the flowers which blossom around the dead.
They'll meet again in that deathless land,
'Mid the fairer smiles of his household band.

M. W.

TO THE LILY.

There bloomed not in Eden's most exquisite bowers A fairer than thou art, thou fairest of flowers! Nor floats there such perfume through sweet Araby As that which thou yield'st, my pale lily, to me. When first thou unfoldest thy leaves to the light, Arrayed like the snow in the purest of white, Thou'rt the emblem of maiden unspotted by guile, Ere yet from her eye hath departed the smile

Ere the ANGEL OF PEACE from her bosom hath flown-
Unsullied by sin, and by sorrow unknown;
While yet her first smiles are bestowed on the skios,
And the first of her accents in gratitude rise.
Pale lily, I love thee, have loved thee for long,
And fain now would weave all my love into song;
But it will not be told, and I cannot impart
To others the joy thou hast yielded my heart.
COLIN RAE BROWN.

LITERARY REGISTER.

History of the Conquest of Peru. By William H. Prescott. the men whom they supplanted. They also are giving

London Richard Bentley.

RECENT inquiries into the character and circumstances of the inhabitants of the American continent, previous to the emigration of European settlers, have rendered more accessible the scanty materials remaining to form the history of those numerous but lost nations. Even at the present moment, it may be doubted whether the continent of America contains a population equal in number to its inhabitants at the time when Columbus first crossed the

Atlantic; but from the remains of ancient cities in the

wilderness, and from the traditions of the Indians, it appears probable that, before the arrival of the European conquerors, the population had decreased from the maximum which it had previously reached. There is not in the history of the world any instance of nations equally numerous and equally advanced in civilization melting

away before a hostile race, and being almost obliterated and forgotten in their own land. It is true, indeed, that in the southern states of America the Indian race still forms a large proportion of the population; but, sunk in apathy and serfdom to their European conquerors, they make no struggle to regain their former supremacy They have ceased to preserve the traditions and records of their former power; and, while the bolder tribes of the north have been destroyed, those of the south

promise nothing towards the solution of the questions that arise regarding the ancient history of their race. Mr. Prescott's "Conquest of Mexico" is very generally known to those who feel interested in the Indian races of America. His " Conquest of Peru" has been received with equal favour; and although only a short period has elapsed since its publication, it has already reached a second edition. The conquest of Peru in no respect resembled that of Mexico, except in the general issue. Both the Peruvians and the Mexicans were subdued by hostile adventurers from the old world; but otherwise, as there was little affinity between the two races, so in their struggles for national existence there are few common features exhibited. The Peruvians and Mexicans-although both advanced in civilization, both living under a settled form of government, inhabiting large cities, and presenting many remarkable characteristics-had no mutual intercourse. The dominions of the Aztces and the Incas were extending their borders in every direction at the period of the Spanish invasion; and in course of years, when they met, the southern regions of America might have witnessed a struggle between the two great divisions of the children of the soil; but the intervention of the Spaniards brought both empires to a close, and subjected the Western Continent to European sway. The fate of the Spanish races in southern America bears some resemblance to that of

way before another race, more skilled in the art of Mexico, with all the advantages of its position, has been war, and endowed with greater energy, so that again stormed and taken by a foreign enemy. The present conflict may not result in the entire subjugation of the Spanish race; but it is not difficult to foresee that some great change in their habits and character can alone prevent the descendants of the chivalrous adventurers, whose tions, from perishing in their turn. Mr. Prescott's history swords revolutionised empires and nearly extirpated naoccupies one-third of the first volume, describes the posiis of the conquest of Peru, and the preliminary book, which tion and characteristics of the nation at the period when that conquest began.

their form of government that can now be obtained-or Those glimpses of their institutions, their power, and probably that ever will be obtained-reach us through the records left by their conquerors, and are imperfect. In this preliminary book, Mr. Prescott has exercised great apparent care in comparing the various statements handed investigate those facts that the world wants to know and down by Spanish writers, who were not often qualified to will not know regarding the history of the American na

tions.

The narrow strip of land occupied by the Peruvians vourable to agricultural purposes; but by the most labobetween the Andes and the Pacific, was peculiarly unfa

rious cultivation, it had been brought into a condition of great natural fertility, and supported an immense population at the period of the Spanish invasion. It does not appear that the dynasty of the Incas had been of long

duration; while it is certain that the advancement of the Peruvians in power, and the centralization of the various tribes, occurred under their rule, or during a period of more than three hundred years. That fact does not lead us to suppose that the Peruvian races came into the country at nearly such a recent date. Mr. Prescott says:

"We may reasonably conclude that there existed in the country a race advanced in civilisation before the time of the derive this race from the neighbourhood of Lake Titicaca; a Incas; and, in conformity with nearly every tradition, we may conclusion strongly confirmed by the imposing architectural remains which still endure, after the lapse of so many years, on its borders. Who this race were, and whence they came, may afford a tempting theme for inquiry to the speculative antiquarian; but it is a land of darkness, that lies far beyond the domain of history.

continue to settle on their subsequent annals; and, so imperfect "The same mists that hang around the origin of the Incas were the records employed by the Peruvians, and so confused and contradictory their traditions, that the historian finds no firm footing on which to stand till within a century of the Spanish conquest. At first the progress of the Peruvians seem

With all this show of impartiality, however, it will probably be doing no injustice to the judges to suppose that a polite discretion may have somewhat quickened their perceptions of the real merits of the heir apparent.

to have been slow, and almost imperceptible. By their wise and neophyte fared no better than his comrades, sleeping on the temperate policy they gradually won over the neighbouring bare ground, going unshod and wearing a mean attire-a mode tribes to their dominion, as these latter became more and more of life, it was supposed, which might tend to inspire him with convinced of the benefits of a just and well-regulated govern- more sympathy for the destitute. ment. As they grew stronger, they were enabled to rely more directly on force; but still advancing under cover of the same beneficent pretexts employed by their predecessors, they proclaimed peace and civilization at the point of the sword. The rude nations of the country, without any principle of cohesion amongst themselves, fell one after another before the victorious arm of the Incas. Yet it was not till the middle of the fifteenth century that the famous Topa Inca Yupanqui, grandfather of the monarch who occupied the throne at the coming of the Spaniards, led his armies across the terrible desert of Atacama, and penetrating to the southern district of Chili, fixed the permanent boundary of his dominions at the river Maule. His son, Huayna Capac, possessed of ambition and military talent fully equal to his father's, marched along the Cordillera towards the north, and pushing his conquests across the equator, added the powerful kingdom of Quito to the empire of Peru."

But he is too precise a historian to venture into the darkness of the period assigned by some authorities as the era when this district of Peru was conquered by the Moguls; and indeed we suspect, as matters are, that the world must do without anything better than surmises respecting the original inhabitants of Peru; for even the Moguls found a race to conquer. The Peruvians themselves believed the Incas to be descended from the Sun; and the Inca race, it may be observed, embraced the whole aristocracy of the country, who, in their presumed superiority of birth, as beings of another race-the children of the Sun-to which the Peruvians tendered their worship, had the best established claim to aristocratic privileges. The city of Cuzco was the royal residence, and that of many of the nobility, to whom all the principal offices of State were entrusted, and for whose special use a college was instituted at Cuzco, a city adorned with many magnificent buildings.

"The sceptre of the Incas, if we may credit their historian, descended in unbroken succession from father to son through their whole dynasty. Whatever we may think of this, it appears probable that the right of inheritance might be claimed by the eldest son of the Coya, or lawful queen, as she was styled, to distinguish her from the host of concubines who shared the affections of the sovereign. The queen was further distinguished, at least in later reigns, by the circumstance of being selected from the sisters of the Inca, an arrangement which, however revolting to the ideas of civilised nations, was recommended to the Peruvians by its securing an heir to the crown of the pure heaven-born race, uncontaminated by any mixture of earthly mould.

"In his early years the royal offspring was entrusted to the care of the Amantas, or "wise men," as the teachers of Peruvian science were called, who instructed him in such elements of knowledge as they possessed, and especially in the cumbrous ceremonial of their religion, in which he was to take a prominent part. Great care was also bestowed on his military education, of the last importance in a state which, with its professions of peace and good-will, was ever at war for the acquisition of empire.

"In this military school he was educated with such of the Inca nobles as were nearly of his own age; for the sacred name of Inca-a fruitful source of obscurity in their annalswas applied indifferently to all who descended by the male line from the founder of the monarchy. At the age of sixteen the pupils underwent a public examination, previous to their admission to what may be called the order of chivalry. This examination was conducted by some of the oldest and most illustrious Incas. The candidates were required to show their prowess in the athletic exercises of the warrior, in wrestling and boxing, in running such long courses as fully tried their agility and strength, in severe fasts of several days duration, and in mimic comla's, which, although the weapons were blunted, were always attended with wounds and someti nes with death. During this trial, which lasted thirty days, the 10 al

"At the end of the appointed time, the candidates selected & worthy of the honours of their barbaric chivalry were presented to the Sovereign, who condescended to take a principal part in the ceremony of inauguration. He began with a brief course, in which, after congratulating the young aspirants the proficiency they had shown in martial exercises, he rem 70them of the responsibilities attached to their birth and stati and, addressing them affectionately as "children of the Sa." he exhorted them to imitate their great progenitor in his gle ous career of beneficence to mankind. The novices then drew near, and kneeling one by one before the Inca, he pierced ther ears with a golden bodkin; and this was suffered to rema there till an opening had been made large enough for the e mous pendants which were peculiar to their order, and which gave them with the Spaniards the name of orejones. This ornament was so massy in the ears of the Sovereign that the cartilage was distended by it nearly to the shoulder, producing what seemed a monstrous deformity in the eyes of the En peans, though under the magical induence of fashion, it was regarded as a beauty by the natives."

These ceremonies bore some resemblance to the initistive into the ranks of knighthood amongst the Europeas chivalry of the middle ages; and, perhaps, if the streams could be traced backward, might be found originating the same source. Although the principal college of the Incas, or nobility, was placed in Cuzco, the metropolis. yet similar institutions on a smaller scale were founded in different localities of the certainly not wide but long dominions of the Incas. The nobility, however, monopolize. the literature and science of Peru. They excluded tử

people from their schools of learning-acting on the ma im, not confined to the worshippers of the Sun and the Moon, that a little learning is a dangerous thing. T Incas-we refer not merely to the sovereign or his fa mily, but the aristocracy of Peru-were Tories of the pures water. They were not causelessly cruel. They inflicted no injury, except to promote their pleasures or serve ther purposes. They believed probably-and certainly they taught the people to believe-in their divine right to ru derived from their divine origin. Their political and socia organization provided everything for the people. had not spared a single "cranny" where thought could ver ture out. Even those domestic matters, generally left individual decision in the most despotic countries, we arranged by the Incas, or by the law for the "cominon per ple." They settled when and whom a man was to marry They provided work and they stored food for the popula tion. In Peru every affair of life was done according law; and, according to law, education was denied to the

masses :

Th

"Science was not intended for the people, but for the of generous blood. Persons of low degree are only puffed. by it, and rendered vain and arrogant. Neither should sal meddle with the affairs of government; for this would bring high offices into disrepute, and cause detriment to the State Such was the favourite maxim, often repeated, of Tupae Ines Yapanqui, one of the most renowned of the Peruvian Sovereigns. It may seem strange that such a maxim should ever have been proclaimed in the New World, where popular institutions have been established on a more extensive scale than was ever before witnessed, where government rests whody on the people, and education, at least in the great northern division of the continent, is mainly directed to qualify the people for the duties of government. Yet this maxims strictly conformable to the genius of the Peruvian monarchy, and maj serve as a key to its habitual policy, since, while it watebe

« AnkstesnisTęsti »