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Show 410 D1SSERT. .._.V.,I.. ._ H I S T 0 R Y 0 F' M E X I ~ 0. But if we cenfu~e the ~~annical ambition of thofe monarchs in the laws on tributes, we caririof a't leaft but admire' and pr~ife' the refine.:.. ment of thofe nations, and the prudence of their legifiators in the laws 0f commerce. They had, in every city or vi11age, a public place or fquare, appropriated for the traffic of every thing which could fupply the neceffities and pleafurcs of life; where ~H merchants affembled for the more fpeedy difpatch of bufinefs, which they tranfatl:ed undel' the eyes of infpecrors, or commiffaries, in order that frauds might be prevented, and all diforder in contraCts avoided. Every merchandize had its particular place, which preferved order and convenience to thofe who wifhe-d to make purchafes. The tribunal ~f commerce, eil:ablia1ed in the fame fquare, to determine difputes between dealers, and to puniih infi:antaneoufly every offence committed there, preferved the rights of jufl:ice inviolate, and fecured the public tranquillity. To thefe wife difpofirions was owing that wonderful order, which, in the midfl: of fuch an immenfe crowd of mei·chants and merchandize, raifed the admiratioa of the firft Spaniards. · ·: 1 • Laftly, in the laws refpccring fiaves, the Mexicans were fuperior to. ~11 the mofl: cultivated nations of ancient, and perhaps, modern Europe. If we compare the laws of the Mexicans with thofe of the Ro-· mans, Lacedremonians~ ~nd o'ther celebrated people, we fhall perceive in the latter a barbarity that i's fho~king and cruel; in the former, the greateft humanity and refpecr to the laws of n~ture. We do not fpeak h re of prifoners of war. What could be more h'umane than th{lt law ~vhi~h made men born of fi~ves free; which allowed a flave a properry' m hts goods, and in whatever he acquired with his' own indufl:ry and toil;. which exatred of the owner to treat his ilaves like men, and not like b~afl:s; which gave him no authority over his life, and even deprived hun of the power of felling him at market, unlefs it was after he had,. .in a lawful manner, declared him intraCtable and incorrigible: now difterent were the Roman laws? They, fr0m the high !:tuthority·grarltcd ~o them l>y the laws, were· not only owners 6~ all the property of the1r flnves, but likewife of their lives, of which (b) they dept~ived' . . (~) It ie not wonJerful tl~:\t the Rom:ms granted that b~rbarou a.. :nHhority to owners ovc1 thm fiav~n, fincc they gra11tcd it to fathers over their lawful ·children; E11tlo /i6cris j11jlis juJ. <tJt ttr, 11er11, 'llttlu,mdmuliqlle pqtt:j/aS'P.atri. . 1 • ' .. ;, il • .t them I H I S T 0 R Y 0 F M E X I C 0. them at pleafure) tL·eated them with the greatefl: inhuman ity, and made them fuffer the moft cruel torments; and what il:ill lllCW$ more firdngly the inhuman difpofition of this nation, while tlncy enlarged the authority of owners of fiavc s, they refl:rained whatever w.1s in their favour. The law Fajia Caninia, forbid owners to fi·ec by will more than a certain number 'of fiavcs. By the Si!an£an law it was crdered; i 'th'<lt' henever· ati owner was killed, all the fiavcs who inh,lbit~ ed the .fame houfe !hould be pu.tr to death, or in any place ne?r where they could hear his voice. If he was killed on a journey• ·aH the flavcs ·V(hO were with hi1p, and alfo all thofe who fled, however manifcfl: their inO:~cenc.~,· ·\\'~t:e· ,pl;lt -'tc>. de~th~~~ .. ~.~1e .{.tqui(lmJ law,inflclc n'; dill:incho'rr between the wound given to a flave, and that gi~en to a bcail:. So far was' the bai·ba'rity of .the )(ery poliihed Romans carried. The laws of the ~acedremonians wcr~ rlot more humane, which permitted no flave f !I t l ' . d ) ) ;..· J r I I' ' ,. n.. h r. h • r. J d . . d h. 10 nav5 re relS flt aw , a&~Ulll l t 01C W 0 111ll1 tc Or InJure 1m. If,'' t ~ addjtion to what ~e have faid hitherto, we fhould compare the fyfl:em of education of the Mexicans with that of the Greeks, it would appear .~hat t~e latter did not infl:rucr their youth fo fcduloufly in the arts and fciences as the Mexicans taught their children the cufl:oms of their nation. The Greeks endeavoured to inform the I mind, . the Mexicnns to form the heart. The Athenians proflitutcd their. youth to the mofl: execrable obfcenities in thofe very fchoo1s which were deftined for their inll:ruilion in the a·rts. The Lacedremonians tutored their children according to the prefcriptio ns of Lycurgus, in ftealing, in 6rder to make them crafty and acrive, and whipped them feverely wben they caught them in any theft ; not for the theft, but for their want of dexterity, and being detecred. But the Mexicans taught their children, together with the ar,ts, religion, modeil:y, honefl: y, fobriety, labour, love of truth, and refpecl: to fuperiors . Thus we have given a fhort but true picture of the progrefs in refinement of the Mexicans taken from their ancient hifl:ory; from their paintings, and the accounts. of the moil: corrccr Spnnii11 hiftoriahs . Thus were ·thofe peof1le governed whom M. de Paw thinks the m~il: filVngc in the world. Thus were thofe people governed who are inferior in indtifiry and fugacity to the rudefl: people of the old continent. Thus were thof~ .People govern~d 1, ,0~1 ~hofe rationt~lity fonl.e ' )~·9pcan.s ~ave <.lo. ubted. · • G g g z CAT A~ •P r . DISSERT. VJ. ~ |