For a long time we received from England with the submissive credulity of children, all her traditionary ignorance and abuse of Spain, much of which was owing to political animosity, as well as to the rivalry that grew up between that country and the rest of Europe during the reign of Philip the second. But the study of her language, history and literature, has unveiled the legendary falsehoods with which we were cheated. Whilst a large portion of her past history should be admired and lauded, her present downfall should be regarded with compassionate censure and sympathy. We should endeavor, in writing history, to make ourselves men of the times and nations we describe, and it is in this manner alone, that we can establish the spiritual sympathy between ourselves and foreign countries, which will enable us to enter into their feelings and motives, and thus become not only merciful but true and discreet judges.
The two great impressions made on this continent by the Spaniards were in Mexico and Peru. Avarice and ambition induced the conquest of the latter, while that of Mexico may also be attributed to the same motives, although the hero who added the Aztec empire to the Spanish dominions, modified his victories by personal qualities which were infinitely superior to those of the conqueror of Peru.[1] Yet, in neither of these great adventures do we find any of the fruits of peaceful acquisition, or of those well regulated advances in civilization which always mark a people whose conquest is undertaken under the immediate direction and legal restraints of government. The conquests in America were, in truth, chiefly individual enterprises, and, of course, could not be conducted in a spirit of temperance and justice. The exploits of Cortéz and Pizarro, especially those of the latter, are characterized by ferocity and barbarism which would place them in the category with freebooters and buccaneers, were they not saved from it by the splendor of their successful results. The Indians of the countries they subjected to Spain, were utterly vanquished; yet, unlike the hardy and warlike aborigines of the north, they remained on their native soil, content to serve or mingle with their conquerors.—Wherever the white man came at the north, the Indian retreated to his congenial wilderness;—he could not inhabit the same country or breathe the same air with the intruder;—but, as the Spaniard advanced at the south, the semi-civilization of the enervated native, induced him to linger near the homes of his ancestors, and, with a tame heart, to obey his conqueror rather than to resist him or enjoy the fierce independence of the forest.
The territory thus seized by violence was held by fear.—Loyalty can never be the tenure of conquerors, and, especially, of the conquerors of an inferior race. The Spaniard and Indian lived together in a spirit of lordly dominion on the one hand, and of crushed dependence on the other, whilst the Castilian derived from the native nothing but his habits of savage life, and the Indian, in turn, learned nothing from the Castilian but his vices.
A conquest thus achieved, an empire founded in blood and terror, would naturally seem to have a doubtful destiny. It is unquestionably true that Spain made humane laws, and that Charles the Fifth passed a decree by which his American possessions were declared to be integral parts of the Spanish kingdom. It is true, moreover, that he sought to abolish the special grants to discoverers and conquerors by which they were invested with almost absolute authority; and, by mitigating the system repartimientos[2] or of vassalage among the Indians, to raise them to the dignity of Spanish subjects. But, at the same time, these humane laws were badly administered in a country so difficult of access as America was at that period from Spain; and viceroys and governors acted as they pleased, with but little regard to the people or the country, except for their individual interests. Whilst this system of maladministration made the royal and beneficent laws nugatory, Spain seems to have been engaged in creating a colonial system which was calculated to paralyze the energies of Mexico and Peru. She taught them to look exclusively to mining for wealth, and to their Indians for labor. All the laws relative to the natural development of a new country were disregarded, and civilized existence in America began on artificial principles. The example of the last fifty years has proved that America is capable of producing all the necessaries, and most of the luxuries of life quite as abundantly as Europe. Yet, Spain denied her colonies the privilege of an effort. For instance,—she resolved at the outset not to allow them to be independent in agriculture, commerce or manufactures. She would not permit them to cultivate the soil save for the merest daily necessaries. Wine and oil were to be made in the old world. Cotton and wool were not to be woven into the beautiful fabrics for which the ancient Peruvians were so celebrated. The church aided the strong arm of government by the weight of her exactions and the power of superstitious control. The Inquisition put its veto on the spread of knowledge by restraining the sale and publication of books. Foreigners were not allowed to navigate Spanish seas or enter American harbors. And these distant shores were only visited at stated seasons by national vessels, carrying such produce at exorbitant prices, as Spain might think proper to despatch from Seville or Cadiz.[3]
I have thought it proper to state in my introductory chapter, thus much of the laws and system under which Mexico began her national existence;—for laws modify the character whenever they are not self-imposed. Let us now, for a moment consider the population which was subjected to the bad administration of such laws; and we shall then understand better the character of the belligerents.
The blood of the Spaniards, even at home, is a mixed blood. But when we remember the various races that have overrun, resided in, ruled, and incorporated themselves with Spain, we cannot be surprised at detecting so many and diverse characteristics in Mexico. The Celti-gallic, Celt-Iberian, Carthagenian, Roman, Vandalic, Visigothic, and Moorish blood have mingled again in Mexico and Peru with the Indian, and in some cases have been dashed even with the Negro.[4] Mexicans are thus, as I have observed elsewhere, grafts rather of the wild Arab on the American Indian, than of the Spanish Don on the noble Aztec.[5]
When Mexico was completely conquered and emigration began to fill up the land, the soil was divided, in large estates, among the adventurers and the Indians, by a system of repartimientos, were apportioned to the land holders.[6] This created an absolute vassalage, and bound the Indian, virtually and forever, to the spot where he was born. As it became wearisome to the planters to dwell in the seclusion of these vast and lonely estates, they left them and their Indians to the care of an administrador, and retreated to the chief cities of the provinces or to the capital. Thus all the intelligence and cultivation of Mexico became compacted in the towns, whilst the original ignorance and semi-civilization remained diffused over the country. It is, therefore, not at all surprising to find that out of a population of seven millions, four millions are Indians and only one million purely white, while more than two millions, of the rest, are zambos, mestizos and mulattos. Nor is it singular that of this whole population of seven millions, not more than six hundred thousand whites and eighty thousand of other castes, can read and write.[7]
Indeed it may be said with truth,—as agriculture has received but little attention beyond the ordinary wants of life, and as the great proprietors of estates have chiefly devoted their attention to the raising of cattle,—that the ancient nomadic habits of the Indian and half-breed, have remained unchanged, and, consequently, that the great body of this semi-civilized people is quite as much at home on horseback with sword and lance as in the corral or hacienda.[8]