The old and the new Peru

by Marie Robinson Wright

CHURCH OF THE COMPAÑIA AT PISCO.

PLAZA DE ARMAS, THE PRINCIPAL PUBLIC SQUARE OF LIMA.

CHAPTER VIII
THE OVERTHROW OF SPANISH AUTHORITY

STATUE OF BOLIVAR, LIMA.

Peru, the centre and stronghold of Spanish colonial power and prestige in South America for three centuries, was governed by conditions that did not prevail in the other provinces. The elements out of which the population was formed were unique in character. The Conquest brought under the dominion of the viceroyalty a people of such ancient culture that no period could be fixed as to its genesis, and of an origin so enveloped in mystery that no certain knowledge existed regarding its derivation,—a people who had lived for centuries under absolute despotism and yet had developed a gentle obedience and submission such as could only exist where the tasks were performed by willing servants of a beloved master. The crime of the Conquest, so deeply resented by the princes of royal Inca blood, could not be appreciated in its full significance by the millions, who were deprived of no rights, since they possessed none, but were simply taken from the welcome task of tilling the farms of their “deity-king” and put to the unaccustomed labor of the mines, under a new master, pitiless in his tyranny and ruthless in destroying their sacred idols. The saddest effects of the Conquest on these people appeared when their obedience and submission lost its refined quality, under cruelty and neglect, and degenerated into servility and apathy. The Indian’s idea of supreme authority was in accordance with what he had been taught under a theocratic government and, therefore, had its fountain-head in religious worship. The Catholic Church performed its mission in Peru, not only by winning the natives to the new faith, but by protecting them from unscrupulous corregidores, who abused the law of repartimiento—which gave these officials the privilege of furnishing stores to the natives at a fair price—and forced the Indians to pay for articles they could never use; many an insurrection arising from these abuses was stifled through the influence of the priests, who were the highest authority recognized by the Indians. It is certain, however, that the former sun-worshippers never quite comprehended the Christian doctrine, merely adapting their beliefs to its demands; the Indian of the sierra still salutes the rising sun, and kneels to pray, as, on his way to Cuzco, he first obtains a view of the sacred city, or when, leaving it, he sees its sunlit temples for the last time from the neighboring heights.

While the native element of the population at the time of the Conquest was represented by a race apparently very old and lacking resistant vitality, the conquerors and their followers, who constituted the Spanish element, represented a strong and independent people, who were still enjoying the noontide of their vigor, having recently won supremacy against the most powerful enemies by the might of their swords and in defence of the sovereignty of their faith; the Spanish monarch of those times received the homage of his people chiefly because he represented in his person the majesty and glory of the national religion. The Spaniards were more fervid in the faith than their rulers themselves; and in the controversies that arose between the ecclesiastical and secular authorities during the period of the viceroyalty, the Church could always count on the sympathy of the masses. As the number of American-born priests increased in the colonial dioceses, the character of their teaching fostered a sentiment in favor of the land of their birth, and encouraged the development of a new nationality, the population of which was composed not only of the Indian and the Spaniard but of the mestizo, of mixed Spanish and Indian blood, who possessed the predominating characteristics of both parents, and had a double right to the title of patriot. In the war of Independence, the mestizo did noble service; and if the Criollos, as the Peruvians of pure Spanish descent are called, proved themselves splendid generals, there were no better fighters in the ranks than the mestizos, many of whom became distinguished in the history of the revolution for their courage and endurance, while a few rose to glorious heights of soldierly valor and left their names engraved on the heart of a grateful nation. Of the minor elements, the negroes and the zambos (the latter of mixed Indian and negro origin) were the most important, though it is said the number of negroes brought into Peru did not exceed fifty thousand altogether.

The only common ground on which conqueror and conquered in Peru could meet was a reverence for religion and a recognition of the sanctity of caste. From time immemorial the Indians had lived under this spell, and the Castilian knew no law above the will of the Church and the aristocracy, which, in Spain, were long synonymous. It has been said that caste, more than anything else was responsible for the wonderful hold Spain had on her colonies. Caste ruled in everything—in religion, the army, and society—and the masses bowed in willing submission to an aristocracy, which, if it did not claim celestial origin, at least became the interpreter of the divine will to a listening nation. It was this spirit of reverence which made Peru send its shiploads of gold to Spain, though receiving nothing in return.