named by the Spanish viceroys. These regulate the petty affairs of the people under them, according to maxims of juftice, tranfmitted to them by tradition from their ancestors. To the Indians, this jurifdiction, lodged in fuch friendly hands, affords fome confolation; and fo little formidable is this dignity to their new mafters, that they often allow it to descend by hereditary right. b) For the farther relief of men fo much exposed to oppreffion, the Spanish court has appointed an officer in every diftrict, with the title of Protector of the Indians. It is his function, as the name implies, to affert the rights of the Indians; to appear as their defender in the courts of justice; and, by the interpofition of his authority, to fet bounds to the encroachments and exactions of his countrymen. c) A certain portion of the referved fourth of the annual tribute, is deftined for the falary of the caziques and protectors; another is applied to the maintenance of the clergy employed in the inftruction of the Indians. d) Another part feems to be appropriated for the benefit of the Indians themselves, and is applied for the payment of their tribute in years of famine or when a particular district is affected by any extraordinary calamity. e) Befides this, provifion is

b) Solorz. de Jure Ind. lib. i. c. 26. Recopil, lib. vi. tit. vii.

c) Solorz. lib. i. c. 27 p. 201. Recop. lib. vi. tit. vi.

d) Recopil. lib. vi. tit. v. 1. 30. tit. xvi. l. 12-15.

e) Ibid. lib. vi. tit. iv. l. 13.

made by various laws, that hofpitals fhall be founded in every new fettlement for the reception of Indians. f) Such hospitals have accordingly been erected, both for the indigent and infirm in Lima, in Cuzco and in Mexico, where the Indians are treated with tenderness and humanity. g)

Such are the leading principles in the jurifprudence and policy by which the Indians are now governed in the provinces belonging to Spain. In thofe regulations of the Spanish monarchs, we difcover no traces of that cruel fyftem of extermination, which they have been charged with adopting; and if we admit, that the neceffity of fecuring fubfiftence for their colonies, or the advantages derived from working the mines, give them a right to avail themfelves of the labour of the Indians, we muft allow, that the attention with which they regulate and recompenfe that labour, is provident and fagacious. In no code of laws is greater folicitude difplayed, or precautions multiplied with more concern for the prefervation, the fecurity, and the happiness of the fubject, than we discover in the collection of the Spanish laws for the Indies. But thofe later regulations, like the more early edicts which have been already mentioned, have to often proved

f) Recopil. lib. i. tit. iv. 1. I, &c.

g) Voy. de Ulloa, i. 429. 509. Churchil, iv. 496.

ineffectual remedies against the evils which they were intended to prevent. In every age, if the fame caufes continue to operate, the fame effects must follow. From the immenfe diftance between the power entrusted with the execution of laws, and that by whofe authority they are enacted, the vigour even of the most abfolute government muft relax, and the dread of a fuperior, too remote to obferve with accuracy, or to punish with dispatch, muft infenfibly abate. Notwithstanding the numerous injunctions of the Spanish monarchs, the Indians ftill fuffer, on many occafions, both from the avarice of individuals, and from the exactions of the magiftrates, who ought to have protected them; unreafonable tafks are impofed; the term of their labour is prolonged, and they groan under all the infults and wrongs which are the lot of a dependent people. h) From fome information on which I can depend, fuch oppreffion abounds more in Peru, than in any other colony. But it is not general. According to the accounts, even of those authors who are moft difpofed to exaggerate the fufferings of the Indians, they, in feveral provinces, enjoy not only eafe, but affluence; they poffefs large farms; they are mafters of numerous herds and flocks; and, by the knowledge, which they have acquired of European arts and industry,

b) See NOTE LVI.

are fupplied not only with the neceffaries, but with many luxuries of life. i)

Ecclefiaftical conftitution of the colonies,

After explaining the form of civil government in the Spanifh colonies, and the ftate of the various orders of perfons fubject to it, the peculiarities in their ecclefiaftical conftitution merit confideration. Notwithstanding the fuperftitious veneration with which the Spaniards are devoted to the Holy See, the vigilant and jealous policy of Ferdinand early prompted him to take precautions against the introduction of the papal dominion into America.

Refraints on the papal jurifdiction.

With this view, he folicited Alexander VI. for a grant of the tythes in all the newly-difcovered countries, k) which he obtained on condition of his making provifion for the religious inftruction of the natives. Soon after, Julius II. conferred on him the right of patronage, and abfolute difpofal of all the ecclefiaftical benefices there. 1) Both thefe pontiffs, unacquainted with the value of what he demanded, bestowed thofe donations with an inconfiderate liberality, which their fucceffors have

i) Gage's Survey, p. 85. 90. 104. 119, &e.

k) Bulla Alex. VI. A. D. 1501, ap. Solorz. de Jure Ind. ii. p. 498 1) Bulla Julii II. 1508, ap. Solorz, de Jure Ind. ii, 509.`

1

often lamented, and wifhed to recal.

In confequence of thofe grants, the Spanish monarchs have become, in effect, the heads of the American church. In them the adminiftration of its revenues is invested. Their nomination of perfons to fupply vacant benefices is inftantly confirmed by the pope. Thus, in all Spanish America, authority of every fecies centres in the crown. There no collifion is known between fpiritual and temporal jurifdiction. The king is the only fuperior, his name alone is heard, and no dependence upon any foreign power has been introduced. Papal bulls cannot be admitted into America, nor are they of any force there, until they have been previously examined, and approved of by the royal council of the Indies; m) and if any bull fhould be furreptitioufly introduced, and circulated in America without obtaining that approbation, ecclefiafticks are required not only to prevent it from taking effect, but to seize all the copies of it, and tranfmit them to the council of the Indies. n) To this limitation of the papal jurifdiction, equally fingular, whether we confider the age and nation in which it was devifed, or the jealous attention with which Ferdinand, and his fucceffors, have ftudied to maintain it in full

m) Recopil. lib. i. tit. ix. 1. 2. and Autas del Confejo de las Indias, clxi.

n) Ibid. lib. i, tit. vii, l. 55.