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Show '358 DISSERT. v. ~ "FI I S T 0 R Y · 0 F :M B ·x I .C 0. In the above mentioned book -alfo ·we have repo~ted the cpmmon error refpetting the gratitude of the Indians: but as w~at was faid there •will not be fufficient to convince thofe who are prepoffeffed· ao-ainft them, we !hall here relate an in{l:ance of gra,~itude which will of itfe}f be enough to difilpate this prejudice; .rlJ1 the year I 5 56 died, in U ruapa, a confidcrable place of the kingdom of Mich.uacan, on a vifit to his diocefc at the age of ninety-five, Vafco de ~troga, founder and firft bilhop of that church, J who, after the example of St. Ambrofe, was tranflated from the fecular jurifdiCl:ion to the epifcopal dignity. This celebrated prelate, wbrthy of comp,arifon with the firft fathers of Chriftianity, labbured indefatigably in favour of the people of Michuacan, infiruet:ing them as an apoftle, and loving them as a father; he erected temples, founded hofpitals, and affigned to each fettlemcnt of the Indians a. branch of commerce, that the mutual dependance upon each other might keep them in ftronger bonds of union, perfed the arts, and provide a manner of life for every one. The memory of fuch benefits is, after more than two ages, preferved as freih in the minds of the Americans, as if their benefactor was yet living. The firft care of tl?.e Indian women, as foon as their Ghildren begin to have any judgment, is to give them an account of their ~at a Don V afto : for fo they frill call. him on account of the pious refpect they bear to his memory. They communicate a knowledge of him by means of pictures of him, explaining all that he did in favour of their nation, and never pafs before his image without kneeling. This prelate alfo founded, in 1540, a feminary in the city of Pazcuaro for the inftruction of youth; and enjoined the Indians of Santa Fe, a place fettled by him on the bank of the lake Pazcuaro, to fend every week a man to ferve in the feminary. He was obeyed, and for two hundred and thirty years pail an Indian has never been wanted to attend upon the feminary without any necellity to force or even call them, from their zeal to make a return by fuch fervice for the benefits which that worthy prelate conferred on them. They preferve his bones with fuch veneration in the city of Pazcuaro, that once as the chapter of the cathedral of .ValladQlid attempted to tranfport them there, the IndiHns became une~fy, and prepared t<> ·Oppofe it by.force ·of arms, which they 'would have certainly done had not the chapte!", 9 m I ·, • H I S' T 0 R Y 0 F' M E X I. C CY~ 359 in orde~ to preve'nt any fuch diforder, abandoned their refolutiQn. .DlS~RT. Can there be imagined a more conclufive proof of the gratitude of a .... -·--<f nation ? Similar detnonfirations of the fame difpofition have been given by the Indians in many places of the kingdom, where they wilhed to retain the miffionaries who had infiructed them in their faith. Thofe infi:ances, which happened in the two laft centuries, may be learned -from the third· volume of Torquemada, and the Mexican Theatre of Betancourt. Of thofe which have occurred in our own times there are many living witneffes; and we can teftify fome our-felves. If the Americans ever !hew themfelves ungrateful to their patrons, it is becaufe the continual experience of evils from them renders even their benefits fufpicieus : but wh~never they are convin-ced of the fincere benevolence of their 'benefaCtors, ~hey are capable of making a fac-rifice of all their poffeffions to gratitude. All who have feen and obferved with impartiality the manners of the Americans confirm this character. But of all the remarks made by M. de Paw againft the Americans, nothing has been more injurious than his affirmation that pederafty was much a vice in the ifiands, in Peru, in Mexico, and in aJl .the new continent. w ·e cannot conceive how M. de Paw; after having vented fo horrid a calumny, had confidence to fay in his reply to Don Pcrnety,· that all his work of Philojophical Reflarches bre:a_hes human ity. C~ n it be hutnanity unjufily to defame all t?e nat10n.s of the new world with a vice fo opprobrious to .nature ? Is 1t humamtY: to be enraged ngainfl: the Inca Garcilaifo becaufe he defends the Peruvians from fuch a charge? Although thofe were refpeded authors who afcribed this crime to all the people of America, there being many· refpeeted authors who fay the contrary? M. de Paw, according to.the laws of humanity, ought to have abftamed from fo grofs an accufat10n. But how much more ·ought he to have avoided it when there is not any ;,riter of authority on whofe teftimony' he can fupport fo univerf:\1 nn affertion. He may find [orne authors, as the anonymous cor1queror,. Gornara, and Herrera, ·who have accnfed fome Americans of fuch a vice, or at mofl: fome pe.op1e of America; but he will .find no hi~or~nn of credit who has dared to fay that pederafty was much a v1ce u1 : the iflandJ, in Peru, in Mexico, and in all the new continent? On. the . |
