The herald., 1893-07-16
APOTHEOSIS OF SAINT P|zARRO.
A Reply to Charles f. Lummis's
Theory.
The C0nquerOr of Peru Presented in
His True Character.
dc Is Held to BE Most Inhum an
Wretch-Fine Qualities OF the Ap-
client Pcruvians-An inter-
esting Study.
knY ARTHUR JOHNSTON. ]


Perhaps that man never lived who was
too vile to have IN admirer or an apollo
gist. There was pot wanting hand TO
strew roses on the tomb OF Nero, nor
an eye to shed tears over the cruel fate
OF Robespierre.
Columbus Is to be canonized, and Mr..
Charles Lummis, following the lead OF
the pope, and assuming in himself all
the powers of the college OF cardinals,
PROPOSES to preside at the apotheosis of
Francisco Pizarro-perhaps the most in
human wretch that ever slaughtered his
fellow creatures for the greater glory OF
God.
1t may be, however, that motive
other than admiration of hi subject an
mates Mr.. Lu minis. Sensationalism is
the order OF our day, and many a writer
who otherwise would have remained in
obscurity, has attracted the attention of
the reading public by opposing accepted
conclusions OF history or philosophy.
However that may be, Mr. Lummis
has been lifting up this god OF his idola-
try to the admiring gaze of the public,
and in order to exalt his hero higher, he
deems 1t necessary to abase his victims.
So we are told that the Peruvians were
only low, ignorant lot Of savages, and
their conquerors all that is good and
great. We are warned that we must
disabuse ourselves OF the ideas instilled
into our minds by ''grotesuuely mis-
taken historians" whose "false and fool
ish tales' have hitherto been accepted
by too credulous people, and receive
the truth now for the first time revealed
by the new light dispensed by Lummis.
According to him "the whole idea OF
Peru, go long prevalent, was based upon
the utter ignorance OF the country, and,
above all, of Indians everywhere. For
you must remember that these wonder
tul beings, whose pictured government
puts to shame any civilized nation now
on earth, were nothing but Indians. l
do not mean that Indians are not men.
with all the emotions aud feelings and
rights OF men-rights which only wish
we had protected with as honorable care
as Spain did. But all Indians in the two
Americas are very much alike in their
social, religious and political organiza-
tion, and very unlike us. The Peruvi-
ans had advanced further than any other
Indians in America, but they were still
Indians. They had no more idea of a
supreme being than you have I hope)
of integral calculus, but worehipped
bewildering multitude of gods
and IDOLS do! ss,se TnsIe THs re. was no king, no
anytnln!sS sven esSn more impoasible am among oans
lie Indians than it would be now in our
own republic. There was not, and
couldmot be, even a nation. Indian
HE ia essentially tribal. Not only can
there be no king, nor anything resem-
bling king, but there is no such thing
as heredity-except as something to be
guarded against. The chief land there
cannot be even one supreme chief can
not hand down his authority to his son.
or to anyone else. The successor is
elected by the council of officials who
have such things in charge. Where
there are no kings there can be no pal
aces, and there were neither in Peru.
As for fairs and schools and all those
things, they were as untrue and as i'm
possible. There was no court, nor
crown, nor census, nor theaters, nor
anything remotely suggesting any of
them; and, as for the Incas, they were
not kings, nor even rulers, but tribe
of Indiane."
In opposition to these views, note the
following, not from the pen of Robert
sui, i0sCutt VI llOlpbJ WIZ dbeuIu6 10
be the "grotesquely mistaken histor-
tempt, but from that of Mr.. Clements
r. Markham, learned ethnologist and
philologist, who had the advantage of a
personal inspection OF the ruins of Peru
and an acquaintance with the races of
that country. After alluding to the
breaking up and dispersion of former
dominant race, whose vast edifices still
rear their cyclopean walls ct Tiahuanaco,
Huarez, Cuzco, Ollantay -tambo and
Huinaque, he says:
"Than the most civilisad and most
powerful people, the Incas OF Cuzeo, be-
gan slowly to build up and cement to-
gether later and more civilized empire.
"This great work, which probably oc-
cupied five centuries, was just completed
when the Spaniards discovered Peru"
1.-THE Incas had an elaborate system OF
state worship with ritual and frequent
ly recurring festivals. History and tra-
dition we're preserved by the bards, and
dramas were enacted before the sover-
eign and his court. Roads with post
houses at intervals were made ever the
widest mountain ranges and the bleak
obt uocoIto iur uuuuTeub OF miles. A
well considered system of land tenure
and colonization provided for the wants
VI all classes of people. The administra-
tive details of government were minute
ly and carefully organized. and accurate
statistics were kept by means of the
quipus.
THE edifices displayed marvellous
building skill, and their workmanship
is unsurpassed. The world has nothing
to show in the way of stonecutting and
fitting to equal the skill and accuracy
displayed in the Inca structures OF
Cuzco.
s'As workers in metals and as potters
they displayed in infinite variety of
design, though not Of high order;
while as cultivators and engineers they
in all respects excelled their conquer
ors."
The latter part of this testimony ia
not merely q matter of opinion or
even of evidence, except OF the senses.
The buildings, ths engineering, the pot
terry and metallic work remain to speak
forthemselves, while the large popula-
tion that their country supported, when
under the rule OF the Incas, presents the
best guarantee for the excellence OF
their eystem of agriculture.
There is no bcttef test of the civiliza-
tlonIof people than that of language.
The same writer says Of the Inca tongue: