The Express.
London, England, 1847-05-25 00:00:00

HERTFORSEIIXE.

COMMISSIONS BY TSUI LORD LIZUTIXAMT.—W. Carling,
Gent., to be lieutenant, vice M. Pryor,. resigned; G. D.
Wade, Gent., to be cornet, vice W. Curling, promoted, of
northern troop of yeomanry cavalry.
HAMPSHIRE.

•
REPAESENTATION OP LYMINOTON.—We are requested
to e.ntradiet the report that " the 11,,n 11. Hare, who voted
for Mr. Mackinnon in 1841, will now vote fur Col. Keepcli,"
de., de.

COILNWALL.

Paxavx AND FALMOUTU.—We ( abriosttA Packet) are
at length authorised to announce that Mr. Mowatt, a gentle-
man who bap already had considerable experience in parlia-
ment, will offer himself as a candidate at the ensuing elec-
tion. Captain Plumridge will also solicit a renewal of the
confidence reposed in him. Mr. Howcl Oa ynn, who was
defeated at the last election, afro again intends to offer him-
self ; and report lays that Captain the Hen. Swynfen T.
Carnegie, at present M.l'. fur Stafford, contemplates
pregenting himself to the elector,. We have not braid
whether Mr. Freshfield, who represented Pearyn in four or
five parliaments, intends to crane forward, in compliance
with a requisition presented to hint some few months since.

LITERATURE.

',Wary of the Conquest of Peru. By W. B. Pameorr,
Esq., ece.
No records of brilliant adventure surpass in into-
rest the history of the early achievements of the
Spaniards in the New World, which Columbus
opened to Europeau enterprise. Stained though they
be with cruelty, degraded by bigotry, and debased by
avarice, the names of Cortez and Pizarro will descend
to the moat remote posterity, celebrated for undaunted
courage, inexhaustible perseverance, and that compli-
cated mixture of heroism and fanaticism which con-
stituted the essence of mediaeval chivalry. A more
worthy historian of their achievements than Mr.
Prescott could hardly be found. Partial blind-
ness has not prevented him from being a
diligent student, while it has favoured the
formation of those habits of deliberate reflec-
tion necessary for the examination of varying
testimoancorrectly, deciding between conflicting
evidence. His materials, collected under his direc-
tion by others, have been so carefully scrutinised and
so thoughtfully examined, that they have undergone
that process of assimilation in the mind which the
greatest of critics declared to be the perfection of
history. From the chronicles, and letters, and frag-
ments of a distant age, he has constructed a monument
of genius, which seems to make us contemporary with
the events which he describes, while all subsequent
experience is brought to bear on the development of
their character and their import. Like MM. de Barante
and Thierry, he enables us to live back in the feudal
age, and at the same time to think with the more
advanced philosophy of the present day.
It was the proud destiny of Spain to discover, to
conquer, and to colonise two mighty empires, highly
civilised, wealthy, flourishing, and populous ; it was
at once the disgrace of the Spanish name, that selfish-
ness, united with bigotry, dissipated the wealth,
destroyed the happiness, and wasted the lives, which
might have rendered the glory of perpetuation in-
finitely greater and more enduring than the glory of
conquest. But, though the Mexicans and Peruvians
were civilised races, not very widely separated from
each other, there is no evidence that they were ever
brought into contact, but much that tends to establish
the contrary. The types of their civilisation are
essentially different; that of the Mexican Aztecs most
nearly approaches the Mongolian character; that of
the Peruvians moat touches on the peculiarities of the
Hindoo race. Neither, however, can be linked deci-
sively to any Asiatic parentage, for by the side of every
coinoidence which would seem to support identity,
we find some startling discrepancy, almost sufficient
to refute any possibility even of remote intercourse.
A recent writer on the natural history of society has
directed attention to the striking want of uniformity
in the development of the social elements in all the
examples of aboriginal civilisation which have been
brought under notice by the progress of maritime ani
inland discovery. This appears most striking in the
account given of the social condition of the Peruvians,
when first their country was visited by Europeans.
They had fortresses, and walls, and galleries con-
structed of massive blocks of stone, not inferior to
those which excite the wonder of those who visit the
ruins of Balbec. Acosta, who measured them him-
self, says that he found several thirty-eight feet long,
by eighteen, broad and six feet thick. These enormous
blocks were so nicely adjusted, and so exactly fitted
together, that though no cement was used it was
found impossible to insert a knife between them.
Yet these masses were hewn from their native bed
by a people unacquainted with the use of ices, which
nevertheless abounded in their country; and were
brought a distance of from twelve to sixty miles over
rivers and ravines, without the aid of beasts of burden.
or of that machinery which Europeans have learned
to substitute for animal power.
Their government was a despotism as absolute as
that of the Chinese Emperor, and vet they had a
powerful hereditary aristocracy, distinguished from
the mass of the people not merely by their station,
but by their intellectual pre eminence. Dr. Morton's
" Crania Americana" exhibits several engravings of the
Inca and the common Peruvian skull, showing that
the facial angle in the former, though by no means
great, was much larger than in that of the latter.
The institutions for the regulation of property and
its descent were quite as artificial as those of ancient
Sparta, but, unlike those of Lycurgus, they seem to
have had an indefinite power of expansion, and to
have been as well suited to the most flourishing con-
dition of the empire so to its infant fortunes. The
divis.on of the soil to the cultivators was renewed

every year, and the possessions of the tenant we,
increased or diminished according to the number of
his family. A more effectual agrarian law could not
be devised ; indeed, it is difficult to conceive one maze
repugnant to the prinaples of our nature ; but,
though the far less rigid It w of Lycurgus melted
away before the spirit of luxury and avarice, that of
Peru lasted to the latest day of the empire.
The Peruvians had, no better mums of recording
events than the knotted strings called Quipeis, ob-
viously inferior to the hieroglyphics, and even to the
picture-writing of the Aztecs, but yet tt...y had
organised a system of posts superior to what now
elute in many European countries, and meatagord

were transmitted through their empire at the rate of
186 miles a day. Their great military roads are de-
scribed by Humboldt as " among the most useful and
gigantic works which human bands have ever exe-
cuted." The remnants of the Homan roads which
we meet in Europe, and some of which are still
preserved in our own island, have always appeared
to us the most striking attestations to the wisdom sad
the greatness of the empire of the Cream; but these
must yield to the wondrous works of the Incas. The
road from Quito to Cusco was conducted over snow-
capped sierras; through galleries cut in the living
rock ; and'pver ravines of fearful depth, filled up with
solid masonry. Precipices were ascended by staircases
hewn oat of their native bed; and rivers were crossed
by sospendon bridge.', which swung and oscillated
over dark abymes of waters, that foamed and tumbled
many a fathom beneath. Wider and more tranquil
streams were crossed in hasos•ralls to which sails
were attached —the only instance of this higher kind
of navigation being practised by the aborigines of
America. In sonic places where the ravines had been
filled up with masonry, the mountain torrents have
gradually eaten away through the base, and left the
superincumbeot mares—such is the cohesion of the
materials—still spanning the valley like an arch. But
these roads were traversed only by foot travellers ; no
wheeled carriage was known in ancient Peru ; no
animal was trained to bear or draw the weight of
man ; the only beast of burden was the llama, a
species of sheep which can barely carry a load of
one hundred pounds, and cannot travel above three or
four leagues in • day.
In astronomical science and the measurement of
time the Peruvians were inferior not only to the
Aztecs of Mexico, but even to the Muyseas, inhabit-
ing the same region of the great southern plateau
with themselves; and this is the more surprising as it
might have been expected that the Incas who boasted
to be the children of the Sun, would have been
peculiarly attentive to the study of celestial phenomena.
Bat if less successful in exploring the heavens, the
Incas must be admitted to havo surpassed every
American one in their dominion over the earth.
Their monarch himself set the example of cultivating
the soil; at the great festivals he appeared is public
with a golden spade, or an implement that nerved as
such, and turned up a portion of the soil to show that
the occupation of the husbandman was one worthy to
be followed by the children of the Sun ; aqueducts of
great size and length were constructed to bring water
to the sterile and sandy tracts near the seacoast ; one
that traversed the district of Condeaeyer measured
between four and five hundred miles; precipitous
bills were out into terraces, faced with rough stone,
diminishing in regular gradation towards the summit,
so that while the lowest belt, round the base of the
mountain, might comprehend hundreds of acres, the
uppermost was only large enough to accommodate a
few rows of Indian corn. The Peruvian farmers
were well acquainted with the different kinds of
ensnares, and made large use of them—a circumstance
rare in the rich lands of the tropics, and probably
not elsewhere practised by the aborigines of
America ; they largely employed guano, the
stimulating properties of which have only I
recently attracted the notice of European agricultu-
rists. Yet they were unacquainted with the plough,
and a clumsy piece of wood was their best substitute
for a spade.
The Peruvians had not advanced so far as the
Aztecs in establishing a circulating medium, but they
far outstripped them by adopting a judicious system
of weights and measures. They had a more spiritual
and innocent creed than the Aztecs; but though less
cruel they were hardly less lavish of human life.
Their despotism, if leis stern than that of the Mexi-
cans, was equally irresistible ; and while the Aztecs
fought bravely for their independence, the Peruvians
yielded to the Spaniards with a facility which almost
amounted to indifference.

We have thought it right to give our readers this
rapid sketch of the state of Peru, previous to the con-
quest of Pizarro, a subject which we hope to discuss
at some future opportunity ; not only because it is
necessary to explain the circumstances of that con-
quest, but also because the characteristics of the Incas
may be traced in the modern Peruvians, while those
of the Aztecs have long since wholly disappeared
from Mexico.

PRILUARMONIC HoClErY.—Thet sixth concert took
plata last evenine. The prowranune contained Mozart's
Symptoms" in E Sat and Spohea " Characteristic Symphony,
As Welis der Tone" (or " The Power of Sound") ;
Bestbseen's avatar, to " Egmont," and Weber's " Jubilee
Overton ;✓" a concerto on the violin, composed and per-
formed by Y. Vinrtemp ; and vocal pieces sung by
Madame Dares Ors& (who arrived in London a few days
ego) and Yin Dolby. Mozart's beautiful symphony Wag
admirably yarkents .ed The principal movement was taken
it Mil ilisrate time, that the flue cantabile
passes ara• eat, with charming effect. The deli.
SIMS IMMO Ina given with exquisite smootn-
Mem ; and tin manes and trio were loudly encored.
epehe's ormyksny, " I),e Weiho der Tone," belongs to a
an at Mash to which the Germans (the modern German,
"a" mask addicted—that which is called tic-
=auk. Tbs Oermsns seem led to it by their
abhashr. wbish partakes more of imagination than
af
taw=
akaw.dirri Vb. is • true German in this respect,
boa imiatimt to its extreme length, or rather
• good deal hyoid it. His music is sometimes more than
descriptive. It way be eallod etelophysical—attempting not
twenty to ashram pmetkular objects of tense, but to express
passel me about Ideas. All such attempts are founded on
• mild= hake et the powers of music, and are, cense-
larsily,aberifee. The primary quality of music is the pleasure
an= derived from the beauty of sounds formed into melody
sr Imiteeny._ To this is added a certain degree of expression ;
mine weriesd eau& befog able to excite ideas of gaiety.
wiehmllbely, &e. Bat musical expression is acknowlndged
to be Sao and mortain •; the way maw sounds calling up,
UMW veils dillmaat kelings. l'as
esymmias at wool mods omen& rpm its words.
Ilheeksi %al the Litead Harbiesyssim eta penceak who,
rinewl% tusk, awl theatmbuy 7tCht:.:antert io
of
.• Delete":
rai pence MI iatylish
his og* tam walhawt.•
The friend sharamt, by ilea& the sans air,
Mame aria deryjaes.
r•
_ _

And anybody Inlay make the mars experiment with
numbers of oar Gra sags. Still more feeble and vague
are the descripsive powers of mods. It is somewhere said
by Madame de Steil that when she beard " The Creation
at Vienna, the famous era-h of the aralsestra whereby Haydn
attempts to represent the sudden blase of new-created light,
gave occasion to the sereearn, that " at the appearance of
light the spectators bad re stop their ears." In Walk wen
it not for the words of the oratorio, de belt CAW
(which, by the way, is horrowed front I°llll
unmeaning as the thump of the big drum " Surprise"
symphony—more unmeaning, indeed, for Haydn's syse.
phonic joke wu &pregnant hint to the London audience net
to fall Weep in the middle of his flue slow movement".
&ethereal has sonsetanee succeeds d end sometime, failed is hie
attempts at muted description. In the" Pestered" eye=
the rude dance of pea:tuts, clattering in their wood,.
the rise of the storm. its fury, and gradual abetememe—eat
all inteithOble enough. But take away these features, and
perform the symphony without any key; and could anybody
tell what it wee intuited to de-scribe I It is the same thing
with the " Sinfonia Basica ;" take away the slow move-
ment, which is in the well-knoen conventional form of a
dead marsh, and who could discover that the symphony had
anything to do with its profeestsl design, " the celebration
of the death of a hero" sr hunting-
pieces, are said to be descriptive, merely because they cue
tain sounds or melees belonging to the battle or the thew
Imaginative persona certainlyhave trains of thowght stns dimagety suited to them by merely instrumentseeds{but, of such persons who listen to the MIA
piece, I no two will be so affected in*. tame
way. ntal music, se • descriptive as%
cannot walk slate. If joined with vocal musts,
the words deems its meaning; if without words, it
must be (and always Is) 'Waisted by a title or an argument.
8o that thalami musician, regeede I as a painter, is only on •
level with the poor daula r itearibed by Cervantes, who,
when her painted a sock, or • lox, wrote beneath, " This is a
oock," se " This is a fox ;" and the musician and the daubs.
are further on a level in ibis, that even when the object let
named, the likeness is not discoverable. In this graphite,
of Spate's, " The Power of Sound," the argument tells et
that the Grit movement describes "the deep silence at
nature before the minion of sound; the awakening of life
after it ; the voice of nature; the uproar of the elements."
Now, with this argument in bur hand, we can leanly per-
wive that Spoke, in the outer, attempts to ..epreeent
silence by the nearest approach to silence of which
sound is capable ; end that the noisy passage On
the usual style of anuical Plume) is meant .o represent the
uproar atilt. elements. But as to the " awakening of life "
and the " voice of nature," it requires more insemination than
we poems& to true them. The march to battle, teturn of
the conquerors, and thelegiving, may be followed in the
music. The march is magnificent, resounding with the
clang of warlike instruments; the " return ' is cheerful;
and the "thanksgiving" r. minds us of the ecclesiastical ser-
vice. As to the concluding movement, "consolation to
grief," we are utterly unable to trace anything that suggest,
such an idea. We can thus, by the help of the key, dissever
a few faint glimmerings of the author's sue ening ; with-
out it, we defy anybody to faun the slightest guess
of what is intended. It is evident, moreover,
that Spoke's self-imposed pl.in has much impaired the beauty
of his cumposition ; enu the symphony, though admirable
it minty of its details, is, as a whole, a laboured, dry, and
fatiguing work. It wee very coolly received, the audience
being evidently weary of it. Vnuittempe'n concerto sus a

ravel masterl piece of violin-playing, but it was of immo-
dents length, and, in a composition, of little merit. It,
abio, was received with great *ninon ; and this reception
nnebt to In a Innen, not only to the Author, but to all parties
concerned. Madam* Dunn Gras sang • wens from " Les
llousquetaire• de la Keine," and the al, from " Robert la
Diable," "En vain j'espire," with her almost unrivalled
clearness and brilliancy of execution ; and Min Dolby seas
Mosart's Quando mins," and Menilencohn's au, ken
" Elijah," " 0 rut in the Lord," very beastirally. Both
the fair vocalists were warmly applauded.