By the arrangement of "posts," and roads, an insurrection or invasion was readily discovered, and it was speedily announced at the capital city. The march of troops to suppress it, under these circumstances, was easy and immediate, for every requisite for war was always at hand. In all circumstances, plundering by the soldiery, whether at home or in an enemy's country, was severely punished, and war was undertaken solely with a view to peace. If a neighbour was turbulent, he was conquered, and absorbed into the old state, and if a province was rebellious, its worst inhabitants were carried away to some other locality, where their power for mischief would be curtailed; a plan which, we are told, was pursued by the Assyrian Shalmaneser (2 Kings xvii. 6), indicated by Sennacherib (2 Kings xviii. 32), and carried out by Nebuzaradan (2 Kings xxv. 11.). In fine, we may repeat, that it would be difficult for a modern philosopher to conceive a better model of a really paternal government than that which, it is asserted, was found by the Spaniards when they invaded the kingdom of the Incas. Of the respective value of Christian Spanish government, and of the so-called Pagan Inca rule, none can doubt, who reads the present by the light of the past. The Peruvians kept up their roads, protected their subjects, respected life, and fostered everything which tended to increase the general happiness and prosperity of the kingdom—all these objects, have been for a long period neglected, and Peru, which was under the Spanish rule, one of the blots on the face of civilization and Christianity, is only just emerging from a long night, under the influence of Republican institutions.
Our next step will be to ascertain the religion of the people whose political condition contrasts so favourably with that of every other nation of whom travel and history have informed us. But we may, in the first place, remark, that there is no absolute or necessary connection between the happiness, or otherwise, of a nation and its dominant religion, as Buckle has already shown in his History of Civilization. The writer of to-day can find abundant evidence in recent history to illustrate the proposition here advanced. He can point to France, and its condition under a sacerdotal rule, prior to the time of the Revolution, and contrast it with its state since its rulers have tried to make the people prosperous and happy, independently of their religious faith. He can point to Austria and Spain, when they were laid at the feet of the Pope of Rome, and everything was made subservient to the demands of a powerful hierarchy, and to the same states now, when religion is subordinate to the material welfare of the majority. Who, that has read the story of modern Italy, or heard of the atrocities committed under the priest-led Ferdinand of Naples—better known in England by the sobriquet of Bomba; who, that knew anything of his brigand-rearing towns and cities, and has visited them since they have been ruled constitutionally, and with the priestly power curbed by a strong hand, can doubt which set of directors are the best? Christian Rome was never so happy under her Popes as she is now, when the so-called head of the church is subordinate to the chief of the state. But of all priest-ridden countries, one which would never have borne the popish sway as she has done, if her chieftains had been sensible and her people thoughtful, Ireland deserves our commiseration the most. Hibernian hierarchs of the Roman faith designate their country as a land of saints. So, perhaps, it is, if by the word is meant admirers of laziness and filth, who consider that attention to religion justifies murder, and every brutal crime against purse, person, and property.
As a rule, admitting of no exceptions, civil government has preceded sacerdotal rule, and a nation is generally in a weakly and fallen condition as soon as its affairs are directed by the priestly class. When first the Aryans invaded Hindostan, the hierarchy was second to the warrior caste; but as the first aggrandized their power, the second lost their supremacy, and under Brahminic rule the foundation was laid for pusillanimous and indolent luxury in the warrior. The power to plan, and the nerve to enforce laws, for the benefit of all classes of the community, is very different to that which is requisite to exalt and enrich the priestly order; and the well-being of a state depends far more upon the exercise of the first than of the second. Whenever, therefore, the executive government is entirely independent of the influence of the hierarchy, or is itself the head of that caste, it can produce good results for the nation, no matter what may be the dogmas of the priesthood, or the nature of the gods which are reverenced.
Still following Prescott as our guide, we find that the sun was the great god of the Peruvians, and that the Incas assumed the title of his true children. To that luminary a vast temple was built in Cuzco, more radiant with gold than that of Solomon at Jerusalem. To Cuzco, as to the capital of Judea, the name of Holy City was given, and to it pilgrims resorted from every part of the empire. Blasphemy against the sun was considered as bad as treason against the Inca, and both were punished with death. A province, or city, rebellious against the sun was laid waste, and its people exterminated. When conquest over a new tribe subjugated it to Peru, the people were compelled to worship the sun, temples to whose honour were erected in their territory. To these was attached a body of priests, to instruct the people in the proper form of adoration, which consisted in a rich and stately ceremonial. The divinities of the conquered people were removed to Cuzco and established in one of the temples, where they took order amongst the inferior deities of the Peruvians.
But, though the sun was unquestionably worshipped, Prescott observes, ch. iii, "it is a remarkable fact that many, if not most, of the rude tribes inhabiting the vast American continent had attained to the sublime conception of one Great Spirit, the Creator of the universe, who, immaterial in his own nature, ought not to be dishonoured by an attempt at a visible representation, and who, pervading all space, was not to be circumscribed within the walls of any building, however grand or rich."
As civilization progressed, we are told that a separate order of men, with a liberal provision for their subsistence, was set apart for religious service, and a minute and magnificent ceremonial contrived, which challenged comparison with that of the most polished nations of Christendom. This was the case with the natives of Quita, Bogota, and others inhabiting the highlands of South America, but especially with the Peruvians, who claimed a divine origin for the founders of their empire, whose laws rested on a divine sanction, and whose domestic institutions and foreign wars were directed to preserve and to propagate their faiths. Religion was the basis of their polity, the condition of their social existence. The government of the Incas was essentially a lay theocracy.
The Peruvians believed in the future existence of the soul and the resurrection of the body. They had faith in a Hell, located in the earth's centre, and a Heaven, in which the good would revel in a life of luxury, tranquillity, and ease. The wicked, however, were not to be hopelessly damned and tormented for everlasting, but were to expiate their crimes by ages of wearisome labour. They believed, also, in an evil principle or spirit, called Cupay, to whom, however, they paid no more attention than an ordinary Christian does to the Devil.
The great men were entombed after death, and were commonly buried with the chief things which they required on earth. Sometimes a chieftain was buried, not only with his treasures, but with his wives and domestics. Frequently, over the dead, vast mounds were raised, which were honeycombed, subsequently, with cells for the burial of others. Cairns were as common in that part of the New World as they have been in the Old, and the majority of buildings found at the present day in Peru have been connected with funereal pomp.
The supreme Being in Peru was named Pachacamac, "he who gives life to the universe," and Viracocha, of which the only translation given is "foam of the sea." To him one temple only was raised, which is said to have been built prior to the accession of the Incas, and largely visited by vast numbers of distant Indians. The sun, as we have noticed, was chiefly venerated, and to him a temple was erected in every city and large village, and to him burnt offerings were made in abundance. The moon was also venerated, being connected with the sun as his wife—and Venus, called by the name of Chasca, "the youth with the long and curling locks"—was also regarded reverentially as the page of the sun. Temples were dedicated to thunder and to lightning as God's ministers, and the rainbow was regarded as an emanation from the great luminary. In addition to these, the elements, the winds, the earth, the air, the great mountains and rivers, were considered as inferior deities, to which were added the gods of the conquered races. The chief temple of the sun was extraordinarily gorgeous. It was constructed of stone, and was so finely executed, that a Spaniard declared that only two edifices in Spain could, in the stone work, be at all compared with it like Italian and other churches, it contained many small chapels and subordinate buildings, and the interior was dazzling with gold. On its western wall the deity was emblazoned as a human face surrounded with rays of light, just as the sun is personified amongst ourselves. The figure was engraved on a massy gold plate, thickly powdered with emeralds and precious stones. This was so situated in front of the great eastern portal, that the rays of the morning sun, falling upon it, lighted up the whole temple with a wondrous sheen; but every part of the inner walls blazed with gold. The roof was, however, "thatch" alone. Adjoining the temple of the sun were fanes of smaller dimensions, for the worship of the moon, stars, thunder, lightning, and the rainbow.
"All the plate, ornaments, and utensils of every description appropriated to the uses of religion, were of gold or silver. Twelve immense vases of silver (said to be as high as a good lance, and so large that two men could barely encircle them with outstretched arms) stood on the floor of the great saloon, filled with Indian corn. The censers for the perfumes, the ewers which held the water for sacrifice, the pipes which conducted it through subterraneous channels into the buildings, the reservoir that received it, even the agricultural implements used in the gardens of the temple, were all of the same rich material. The gardens, like those belonging to the royal palaces, sparkled with gold and silver, and various imitations of the vegetable kingdom. Animals, also, were to be found there, amongst which the llama, with its golden fleece, was most conspicuous, executed in the same style, and with a degree of skill which, in this instance, probably did not surpass the excellence of the material" The reader of Prescott will find that he has not adopted this account without carefully estimating the value of his authorities, and I believe that he may be fairly trusted. The various reports, given by Spanish writers, of priests of the grand temple, seem also to have been carefully estimated by the historian, and the number which they amounted to is put down at four thousand at the least.