Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1883-01-01
SPANISH ADMINISTRATION.

SIANiSt1 AD4uItNioIiN-A1iO-'s
When treating of early Spanish admin
istration Mr.. Bancroft shows a refreshing
breadth of thought, and while dispensing
with dry details gives the reader a
thorough insight into affairs. In the
notes, which are brimful of good
learning, as Wendell Phillips remarks,
there is depth of research that student
alone can appreciate. Here we iud long
accounts of the enactment of laws for the
Indians, and the different features Of colo
NAL administration, such as residencias,
audencias, repartmientos, enconnierdas,
and the Council of Indies The cruel
slaughter of the natives by sword and
bloodhound mark the advance of the Span.
iards in all directions to satisfy their de-
vouring thirst for gold. Wandering through
miasmatic morasses and tangled jungles,
where men died like sheep, their lives en-
dangered alike by starvation and the bitter
retaliation of natives, the Spaniards are
presented with the skill of a true artist
Astounding in picturesque detail, the trag.
ical romance of discovery and conquest is
depicted with particularly and vividness
never before produced.
The biography of Columbus, and his dis.
coveries from 1892 TO 1900. are followed by
the discovery of Darien, 1900 1902 /; then
the expedition of Columbus to the coasts
of Honduras, Nicaragua and Costa RIGA,
from I502-l506; the administration of
the Indies from 1892 1926 the Govern
ments of Nuevs Andalucia and Castillo del
Orc from l506-l5l0 the settlement of
Darien from l5l0-l5ll (; the factions and
foraping which convulsed the nascent col.
ony at that point; the discovery of the
Pacific Ocean by Vasco Nunez de Balboa,
1913. with long series of chapters in
which the subsequens- adventures of the
Spanish discoveries are recorded their
NEUTRALITY-SUSPICIOUS. of the settlements at
Darien, in Costa RIGA, Nicaragua, Hondu-
ras and Guatemala the cruelties they prac-
ticed on the artless and friendly natives !;
the internecine conflicts between colonist
and colonist; the murder of the Qliche
nation, with its old civilization, are de-
tailed with the utmost minuteness, down
to the revolt of the Cokchiquels, in the
years l524l525. Of the extinction he
says: Hencefor!h conquest, oppression
and destruction marched hand in
hand ever the country, and the
result was national and So
cial eclipse of the fallen races. Their
arts and sciences were soon forgotten, their
architectural skill was lost, and from a
state of happy development, their life as a
nation was blotted out. )"
DIR. Draper has asserted that it was a
civilization which might have instructed
Europe, and that Spain wantonly crushed
culture-snd therein destroyed races
moro civilized than herself.
EXAMPLES OF STYLE,
In poetic language is pictured the South
Sea as Balboa first Eeholds it from the
mountain top:
"As in the lifting of vail, scene of
primeval splendor burst on his enraptured
gaze. There it lay, that houndless, un-
known sea, spread out before him, far as
the eye could reach, in calm, majestic
beauty, glittering like liquid crystal in the
morning sun. Beneath his feet, in fur
rowed prospect, were terraces of living
green, aportive with irideacent light and
shade waving plains and feathered sleeps
whitehead with flowing waters here
dashing boisterously down the hillside.
yonder wandering silently through the
signing foliage to the all-receiving sea.
Balboa falls victim to jealous riyals ; for
tune wills that ere his report and his pearls
reach Spain another Governor is appointed