In the minute detail which the contemporary hiftorians have given of the civil diffentions that raged in Peru,

tion, during ten years,

with little interrupmany circumftances

occur fo ftriking, and which indicate fuch an uncommon ftate of manners, as to merit particular attention.

No mercenary foldiers in the civil wars of Peru.

Though the Spaniards who first invaded Peru were of the loweft order in fociety, and the greater part of those who afterwards joined them were perfons of defperate fortune, yet in all the bodies of troops brought into the field by the different leaders who contended for fuperiority, not one man acted as a hired foldier that follows his ftandard for pay. Every adventurer in Peru confidered himself as a conqueror, entitled, by his fervices, to an establishment in that country which had been acquired by his valour. In the contefts between the rival chiefs, each chofe his fide as he was directed by his own jugdment or affections. He joined his commander as a companion of his fortune, and difdained to degrade himfelf by receiving the wages of a mercenary. It was to their fword, not to pre-eminence in office, or nobility of birth, that moft of the leaders whom they followed were indebted for their elevation; and each of their adherents hoped,

for himself

by the fame means, to open a way
to the poffeffion of power and wealth. r)

Armies immensely expenfive;

But though the troops in Peru ferved without any regular pay, they were raised at immenfe expense. Among men accuftomed to divide the fpoils of an opulent country, the defire of obtaining wealth acquired incredible force. The ardour of purfuit augmented in proportion to the hope of fuccefs. Where all

were intent on the fame object, and under the dominion of the fame paffion, there was but one mode of gaining men, or of fecuring their attachment. Officers of name and influence befides the promife of future establishments, received in hand large gratuities from the chief with whom they engaged. Gonzalo Pizarro, in order to raife a thousand men, advanced five hundred thoufand pefos. s) Gafca expended in levying the troops which he led against Pizarro nine hundred thoufand pefos. t) The diftribution of property, bestowed as the reward of fervices, was still more exorbitant. Cepeda, as the recompence of his perfidy and addrefs, in perfuading the court of royal audience to give the fanction of its authority to the ufurped jurifdiction of Pizarro received

r) Vega, p. II. lib. iv. c. 38. 41.

s) Fernandez, lib. ii. c. 54.

t) Zarate, lib. vii. c. 10. Herrera, dec. 8. lib. v. c. 7.

received a grant of lands which yielded an annual income of a hundred and fifty thousand pefos. u) Hinojofa, who, by his early defection from Pizarro, and furrender of the fleet to Gafca, decided the fate of Peru, obtained a diftrict of country affording two hundred thousand pefos of yearly value. x) While fuch rewards were dealt out to the principal officers, with more than royal munificence proportional fhares were conferred upon those of inferior rank.

Their profufion and luxury.

Such a rapid change of fortune produced its natural effects. It gave birth to new wants, and new defires. Veterans, long accustomed to hardship and toil, acquired of a fudden a tafte for profufe and inconfiderate diffipation, and indulged in all the exceffes of military licentioufnefs. The riot of low debauchery occupied fome; a relifh for expenfive luxuries fpread among others. y) The meaneft foldier in Peru would have thought himself degraded by marching on foot; and at a time when the prices of horses in that country were exorbitant, each infifted on being furnished with one before he would take the field. But though less patient under the fatigue and hardships of service,

u) Gomara, c. 164.

x) Vega, p. II. lib. vi. c. 3.

y) Herrera, dec. 5. lib. ii. c. 3. dec. 8. lib. vili. c. 10.

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they were ready to face danger and death with as much intrepidity as ever; and animated by the hope of new rewards, they never failed, on the day of battle, to display all their ancient valour.

Ferocity with which their contefts were carried on;

corous.

Together with their courage, they retained all the ferocity by which they were originally diftinguifhed. Civil difcord never raged with a more fell fpirit than among the Spaniards in Peru. To all the paffions which ufually envenom contefts among countrymen, avarice was added, and rendered their enmity more ranEagerness to feize the valuable forfeitures expected upon the death of every opponent, fhut the door against mercy. To be wealthy, was of itself fufficient to expofe a man to accufation, or to fubject him to punifhment. On the flighteft fufpicions, Pizarro condemned many of the moft opulent inhabitants in Peru to death. Carvajal, without fearching for any pretext to juftify his cruelty, cut off many more. The number of those who fuffered by the hand of the executioner, was not much inferior to what fell in the field; z) and the greater part was condemned without the formality of any legal trial.

2) See NOTE XIX.

and want of faith.

The violence with which the contending parties treated their opponents was not accompanied with its ufual attendants, attachment and fidelity to those with whom they acted. The ties of honour which are held facred among foldiers, and the principle of integrity, interwoven as thoroughly in the Spanish character as in that of any nation, seem to have been equally forgotten. Even regard for decency, and the sense of shame, were totally loft. During their diffenfions there was hardly à Spaniard in Peru who did not abandon the party which he had originally efpoufed, betray the affociates with whom he had united, and violate the engagements under which he had come. The viceroy Nugnez Vela was ruined by the treachery of Cepeda and the other judges of the royal audience, who were bound by the duties of their function to have fupported his authority. The chief advisers and companions of Gonzalo Pizarro's revolt were the first to forfake him, and fubmit to his enemies. His fleet was given up to Gafca, by the man whom he had singled out among his officers to entrust with that important command. On the day that was to decide his fate, an army of veterans in fight of the enemy, threw down their arms without ftriking a blow, and deferted a leader who had often conducted them to victory. Inftances of