17 / 1070
ihe
Tranílator to the
Reader.
able manwer they -were treating with the g<iod me,e, and whilfl Friar
~
alverde,
with a CrofS in hü hand,
waJ
preaching to
Atahualpa
their
King; tht1t then, without any Caufa given, they .fhould
6e
/JJ!Jed
witl,-
Swords and Lánces, and jive thoufand of them ma.flacred /Jefore the face
of their Prince; And yet they would not foreg,oe
thú
foolifh imagina–
tion; though afterwards
,
contrary to the faith give.n,, they faw their
King imprifoned,
and
his liberty promifed upon
a
vafl ranfome
of
€io/,J
and Silver
;
which when paid ancl fully complied with, he waJ notwith•
flanding flrangled in prijón, and no other liberty given him
tha11
that
freedom which Death /;eflows upon ali mankind. Awd yet thid
{il(y
People
could not 6ut entertain a high efleem of the
Spaniards,
aJ of thofe who
were come to ·teach them a 6etter Law, and fl.i!I ca/led them
Viracocha's,
..
or People dejcendéd from their Father the Sun, imagining that this new
The
Indians
fart of People in Beards and
Ru.ffs
hadreceived Commi.ffion from that glori-
~~:~ds~º
ow Light, which they adored, for punijhment oj their Offences, to fwear
and !ye, and violate a,// the Bands of humane i:ind. And yet tht1t which
farther fhews the }implicity and good nature
of,
this People
iJ,
that in de-
jpight of ali the ill ufage received from -the
Spaniards,
they would prove
jiill faithftdl to them, upon a principie they had received, that to whom-
faever tbey had yielded themfeives in War, they were to 6e faithfull, with
fach tfHCorrupted Loyalty and Truth, that no confideration either of King,
Wife, Father, Family or Countrey could a6folve them fr:om the OMigatioR
and Duty they owed to their Countrey
(
vid. p, 487.)
And hence it WaJ
¡
'
that fo many
Indians
fought ag,ainfl their Countrey-men in union with the
Spaniards,
and ferved,them for Spyes, to give them inte!ligence ofwhat–
faever was dejigned
in
the Camp of the
Indians.
But thiJ .flexiUe andg,ood nature
of
thi.i People did no'tfoften the haugh–
ty
mind of the
Spaniards
towards them, who efteemi11g the refl of the
World Slaves to them, opprej[ed the
Indians
with fach fer1i1itude and fla–
ry
as the nature of man was not ab/e to fujiain.
Of
which that wife and
good Emperour,
Charles
the Fifth, taking notice, he difjatched new Or–
ders to
Peru ,
for eafe of the Natives
,
and to exempt them from that
inhumane Tyranny which one man ought not to exercife towardI another :
But thii g,ratiom Indulg,ence of the Prince ferved to raife greater Diftur–
kanceI amongfl the Conquerours, who refujing to quit their Commands a11d
exempt their
índians
from their Va{falagf and Ser-vices, open!/oppo[ed the
Governours and Ojjicers which were fent to put the new Ordinances in execu–
tion: which afterwart!s proceeded to an open War and lt.e/;e//ion, which
with v~riow faccej[es continued for many years : ti~ at, leng,th the King
of
Spam
was forced to moderate the rigour
of
bis
new regulations, and con–
defcend to
bis
Suhjeéls,
b_)
canferving to them that tyn.nnical Power which
they pretendecl unto by rig,ht
of
Conque(! over the
Indians :
in
whicb
they
wereJo unmercifu!J, that had not King,
Philip
the Second co11trived a fup-
•
p!J,,
of
Negro's
out
of
Africa
to work in the Mountain of
Potoíi
and other
Mines, the whole
1nd_ian
Nation had before thiJ hen utter!J extinguijhed.
But God, who
i.i
j uJ1
and compaj/ionate of the Creatures which he
hatl,
made ', would not Ji1fer the(e Cruelties to paft tmpunifh'd, 6ut caufed th.e
Spaniards
themfelves to
6e
inflruments of his vengeance
011
each other.
So
Francifco Pi\arro
and
Diego Almagro,
after having conquered the Coun–
trey, fe/J at variance a6out Jharing, the Government and dividi11g the Spoit,
which Ívas decitled
/;_y
the Sword: Then
Goa\alo Pi~arro
pretended to the
Go7.1ernment
of
Peru
for
bis
Life, 6y
virtue
of
the
Plltent
whkh the
Em-
perour