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Untitled Article
of justice in the tribunals , the treatment of the natives , the ecclesiastical establishments , and , in short , every thing necessary to furnish an honest court with the means of doing that justice whjch it professed to desire . This task Ulloa and his companion have most "boldly and faithfully performed in the
Report before us . A more plain , « ia « ly , straightforward and judicious document never was drawn up ; but while it reflects the highest honour on its compilers , it brands with eternal infamy the colcj-blooded policy which could silently receive such an exposure of the iniquity of its agents , and consign it to oblivion , without any attempt at punishment , redress , or reform .
The details as to the military administration of the American provinces are in themselves very curious and interesting . The authors shew how easily Anson , if he had possessed the least knowledge of the real weakness of the state of defence , could have made himself master of the whole navigation of the Southern Ocean ; and how Vernon might have had nearly equal success in his undertakings . It is not within pur limits to enter at inuch length into many of the details of this singular exposure of the scheme of administration of the Colonies , and we will , therefore , only shortly notice a few of the particulars roost lively to be interesting to our readers .
One of the moat important points to which the authors direct their attention , is to redeem from calumny the character pf the native Indians , whose supposed incapacity has been made the pretext pf so much injustice and cruelty . The country is still covered with the ruins of more magnificent -works of public utility , ejrected by them , than tfce Spaniards ever thought , or were capable , of executing , Solid paved rpads ^ of 400 leagues in length ,
aqueducts , which brought water 120 leagues , temples and palaces of the most splendid character , were the monuments pf an empire pnly 400 years old , when Pizarro visited Peru and found a people eminent in the arts which adorn a highly advanced s $ aj ; e of civilization ; and yet this people , because they have sunk under the bigotry and oppression of their plunderers , are further libelled with the charge of natural imbecility and incapacity .
The authors draw a faithful picture of the miseries of the barbarous law of the mita 9 or conscription , by which the Indians were drafted for a limited service in the mines , which ended generally in tfreir destruction . Robertson has glpssjed over this oppression;—the laws of the Council of the Indies forbad it;—yet , as the editor observes , this dilemma can never be escaped;—either the mita was established by the law , or by the local authorities against the Jaw , If the fi rst , th / e { aw itself was inhuman and unjust ; if the second , not only were the viceroys criminally remiss , but the government at home , which knew and sanctioned tfye a )> use , was hypocritical and wicked .
The disgusting particulars which this Report contains of the disorders , negligence , ignorance , and rapacity of the priests and members of the monastic orders , which Spain sent forth to prey upon these ill-fated countries , are very striking ; and one would have thought that they could not have failed to lead tbe government to some measures for redressing the evil , the cause and aggravation pf which , in fact , rested more with itself than with the church . Robertson is here too disposed \ o paint matters in colours not very
accordant with the real state of things . From h } s pages we fancy a crowd of missionaries , tempted , indeed , somewhat by the prospect of wealth and advancement , to qualify themselves to ** perfonn all spiritual functions , and to receive tjie tithes and otfrqr emoluments of the benefices" of the Western , churches , bu , t actuated a | so fyy nobler passions : they are , as he represents them , " men pf the mppt arcjent and aspiring mjnds , impatient under the
Untitled Article
350 Review . — Ullotfs Sepref Report on Spanish America .
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), May 2, 1827, page 350, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct1796/page/38/
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