A Dramatic Situation
Atauhuallpa remained at Caxamarca, and despatched the bulk of his forces into the enemy’s country. These drove the warriors of Huascar back until the upper courses of the Apurimac were reached. Huascar fled from Cuzco, but was captured, and carried a prisoner with his mother, wife, and children to Atauhuallpa. Not many days afterwards news of the landing of the Spaniards was received by the rebel Inca. The downfall of the Peruvian Empire was at hand.
A Worthless Despotism
If the blessings of a well-regulated government were dispensed by the Incas, these benefits were assuredly counterbalanced by the degrading despotism which accompanied them. The political organisation of the Peruvian Empire was in every sense more complete than that of Mexico. But in a state where individual effort and liberty are entirely crushed even such an effective organisation as the Peruvian can avail the people little, and is merely a device for the support of a calculated tyranny.
[2] Skinner’s State of Peru, p. 313 (1805). [↑]
[3] This is the name by which he is generally alluded to in Peruvian history. [↑]