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Show '408 DISS ERT. VI. '--r-J ·H I S T 0 R Y 0 F M E X I C 0. If, after making a comparifon of the laws, we lhoul~ alfo compare the nuptial rites of the two nations, we ihould find 111 the.m both a great deal of fuperftition; but in other refpe~s a {l:rong dlffer~nce bet.,ween them; thofe of the Mexicans were decent and becommg, thofe ·of the Romans indecent and reproachable. In regard to the laws of war, it is feldom we meet wit~l. them jufl:, among a warlike people; the great eftcem of. valour .and m1htary g~o.ry, creates enemies of thofe who are not otherw1fe hofblc ; and amb1t10l'l 10 conquer infl:igates them to trefpafs on the limits pref.cribed by juftice. Neverthelefs, in the laws of the Mexicans, traits appear which would do honour to more cultivated nations. They never declared war until they had examined the motives for it in full council; and received the approbation of the high-priefl:. Befides, they generally endeavoured by embaffies and meffages, to thofe on whom war was deiigned, to bring about what they wia1ed by peaceable mcafures, before they proceeded to a rupture. Thofe kinds of dday gave th:i~· ~ne~ies time to prepare themfelves for defence; and befides, . the Jufl:lficatJOn of their conduCt, contributed to make it attended with honour; as it was efteemed very bafe to make war on an unguarded enemy without having firft challenged them, that viCtory might never be afcribed to any thing elfe than their bravery. It is true, that thefe laws were not always obferved, but they were not therefore lefs jufl:; and if there was any injuftice in the conquefts ·of the Mexicans, it was certainly not lefs in thofe of the Grecians, Roo1ans, Pedians, Gothe, and other celebrated nations. One of the great evils attending on war is that of famine, from the wafte committed by enemies on the fields. It is not poffible totally to prevent -this evil; but if there ever has been any thing capable of moderating it, it was certainly that ufage . of the Mexicans, and other nations of Anahuac, of having in every province a place appointed for the field ef battle. The other cufl:om which they had of making every fifth day, in time of war, a day of truce and repofe, was not lefs ditl:ated rby humaQity than reafon. Thofe nations had formed .a fpecies of jus gentium, by virtue of which, if the chief, the nobility, and people, rejetl:ed the propofitions · made them by another people, or nation, and left the decifion of a point to • .8 ~ ·~ 'r Q R:. Y ~ 0 F ~~~I 9 o. .t!t ~rms; if th~y were· conquered) ~~he ch 'ef loft his fovereign power; .tbe"'nQbility, the f~eme right whj.ch they "had over their poffeffions; the OQmmo.o. people were fubjeCl:ed to perfonal fer vice; and all thofe who ·llad beep. made p)·ifoners jn the he~t of battle were, quaji ex ddiCfa, deprived of li.beJty, and ~he right of life. This is certainly contrary to <:>ur ideas of .humanity i ,but the , general agreement of thofe people i11 fuch cuilosns rendered their inhumanity lefs culJ!lable, and .examples much more barbaro1,1s among the mo£1: cultivated nations of the old con~ inent, diffipate the hon·or which on .fidl: confiderati0n is occafioncd by ~he cru~ty of thofe people of America. Among the Greeks, fays Monte( q\liel,l (a), the inhab'itants of a C!:ity taken by force of arms loft their liberty; and were fold as llaves. Certainly. the inhun1anity which tho Mexicans :fhewed to the prifoners of their enemy, is not to be compared with that which the Athenians ufed towards their own citizens. A ljiW of 4tP._ens, fays the fame author. ordained, ·that whenever the <;lty was beiieged, all u.lelefs people ihould be put t~ deatp. We ihall not find amol}g the Mexicans, er any ather polilhcd nation of the new world, a law fo barbarous as this of the moft cultivated people of ancient Europe. The greatefi: anxiety, on the contrary, of the Mexicans,· ~\l,d other people of Anahuac, whenever any of their cities was beSieged, W(<lS to lodge their WOJnen, cl ildren, and invalids, in a place of f.~curi~y, Qy fending thym to other., cities, or into the mount;1ins. By thefe' .~m:atlS, .they proteCted the defencelcfs members of the com .. munity from the fury of the enemy, and prevented all unneceifary cooJumptjon, of provi.Goris. . 1 The tribute which they pa.id to .the king of Anahuac was e~orb itnnt, at).d the law~ which .enforced them were .tyrannical; but thofc laws were the eftcets of .defpotifm., introduced in the lafi: years of the Mexican monarchy.; which, at its greateft height, never reached that ex,efs of mo.nopolizjng the laAds of an empire, and the property of ~he fubjeCl:s, which we juftly condemn in Afiatic monarchs ;• nor were there ewer laws puhlifhed refpeCl:ing tt:ibutes fo .extravagant and fevere as thofe which have been ;mblifhcd in .the old worl.d; as for e~ample, .by .the emperor Anail:afius., who laid a tax even 011 areathmg; "" Ut ~mffquflque pro hau..ft u t:eris pmdat~" ' ( 4) I/ Efprit cle .loix. Li v. xx. ~h. J 4-- VoL. II.. G g g But •-' , I |