Although the original inhabitants of America in general deserve to be classed among the most unimproved savages that have ever been discovered; yet the Mexican and Peruvian governments exhibit remarkable instances of order and regularity. In the difference of national character between these two empires, we may discern the influence of political systems on the human mind; and infer the importance of the task which a legislator undertakes, in attempting to reduce a barbarous people under the controul of government and laws. The Mexican constitution was formed to render its subjects brave and powerful; but, while it succeeded in this object, it tended to remove them farther from the real blessings of society, than they were, while in the rudest state of nature. The history of the world affords no instance of men whose manners were equally ferocious, and whose superstition was more bloody and unrelenting. On the contrary, the establishments of Manco Capac carry the marks of a most benevolent and pacific system; they tended to humanize the world and render his people happy; while his ideas of the Deity were so perfect, as to bear a comparison with the enlightened doctrines of Socrates or Plato.

The most distinguished characters in history, who have been considered as legislators among barbarous nations, are Moses, Lycurgus, Solon, Numa, Mahomet and Peter of Russia.³ Of these, only the two former and the two latter appear really to deserve that character. Solon and Numa possessed not the means nor the opportunity of shewing their talents in the business of original legislation. Athens and Rome were considerably advanced in civilization, before these characters arose. The most they could do was to correct and amend constitutions already formed. Solon, in particular, may be considered as a wife politician; but by no means as the founder of a nation. The Athenians were too far advanced in society to admit any radical alteration in their form of government; if indeed any form can be said to exist, where every thing is left to the controul of a capricious multitude. The institutions of Numa were more effective and durable; his religious ceremonies were, for many ages, the most powerful check upon the licentious and turbulent Romans. By inculcating a remarkable reverence for the Gods, and making it necessary to consult the Auspices, when any thing important was to be transacted, he rendered the popular superstition subservient to the views of policy, and gave the senate a steady check upon the extravagance of the plebeans. But the constitutions of Rome and Athens, however the subject of so much injudicious applause, were never fixed upon any permanent principles; though the wisdom of some of their rulers, and the spirit of liberty that inspired the people, justly demand our admiration.

Each of the other legislators above mentioned deserves a particular consideration; as acting in stations somewhat similar to that of the Peruvian lawgiver. Three objects are to be attended to, by the legislator of a barbarous people. First, that his system be such as is capable of reducing the greatest number of men under one jurisdiction. Secondly, that it apply to such principles in human nature for its support, as are universal and permanent; in order to ensure the duration of the government. Thirdly, that it admit of improvements correspondent to any advancement in knowledge or variation of circumstances, that may happen to its subjects; without endangering the principle of government, by such innovations. So far therefore as the systems of those legislators agree with these fundamental principles, they are worthy of respect; and so far as they deviate, they maybe considered as defective and imperfect.

To begin with Moses and Lycurgus; it is necessary in the first place to observe, that, in order to judge of the merit of any institutions, we must take into view the peculiar character of the people for whom they were framed. For want of this attention, many of the laws of Moses have been ridiculed by ignorant sceptics, and many establishments of Lycurgus censured by as ignorant politicians. The Jews, who were led by Moses out of Egypt, were not only uncivilized, but, having just risen to independence from a state of servitude, they united the manners of servants and savages; and their national character is a composition of servility and contumacy, ignorance, superstition, filthiness and cruelty. Of their cruelty as a people we need no other proof than the account of their avengers of blood, and the readiness with which the whole congregation turned executioners and stoned to death the devoted offenders. The Leprosy, a disease now wholly unknown, was undoubtedly produced by their total want of cleanliness, continued for successive generations. In this view the frequent ablutions, the peculiar modes of trial, and many other institutions may be wholly vindicated from ridicule, and proved to be nor only wise, but even necessary regulations.

The Spartan lawgiver has been equally censured for the toleration of theft and adultery. Among that race of Barbarians, these crimes were too general to admit of total prevention or universal punishment. By vesting all property in the community, instead of encouraging theft, he removed the possibility of the crime; and, in a nation where licentiousness was generally indulged, it was a great step towards introducing a purity of manners, to punish adultery in all cases, wherein the crime was not committed by the free consent of all parties injured or interested.

Those constitutions of government are best calculated for immediate energy and duration, which are interwoven with some religious system. The legislator, who appears in the character of an inspired person, renders his political institutions sacred, and interests the conscience as well as the judgement in their support. The Jewish lawgiver had this advantage over the Spartan. He appeared not in the character of a mere earthly governor, but as an interpreter of the divine will. By injoining a religious observance of certain rites, he formed his people to habitual obedience; by directing their cruelty against the breakers of the laws, he at least mitigated the rancour of private hatred; by forbidding usury, and directing that real property should return to the original families in the year of Jubilee, he prevented too great an inequality of property; and by selecting a particular tribe, to be the guardians and interpreters of religion, he prevented its mysteries from being the subject of profane and vulgar investigation. To secure the permanency of his institutions, he prohibited any intercourse with foreigners, by severe restrictions; and formed his people to habits and a character disagreeable to other nations; by which means any foreign intercourse was prevented, from the mutual hatred of both parties.

To these institutions the laws of Lycurgus bear a most striking resemblance. The features of his constitution were severe and forbidding; it was however calculated to inspire the most enthusiastic love of liberty and martial honour. In no country was the patriotic passion more energetic than in Sparta; no laws ever excluded the idea of separate property in an equal degree, or inspired a more thorough contempt for the manners of other nations. The utter prohibition of money, commerce and almost every thing desirable to effeminate nations, entirely excluded foreigners from Sparta; and, while it inspired the people with contempt for others, it rendered them agreeable to each other. By these means, Lycurgus rendered the nation powerful and warlike; and to insure the duration of his government he endeavoured to interest the consciences of his people, by the aid of oracles and the oath he is said to have exacted from them, to obey his laws till his return; when he went into a voluntary and perpetual exile.

From this view of the Jewish and Spartan institutions, applied to the principles above stated, they appear, in the two first articles, considerably imperfect, and in the last, totally defective. Neither of them was calculated to bring any considerable territory or number of men under one jurisdiction; from this circumstance alone, they could not be rendered permanent, as they must be constantly exposed to their more powerful neighbours. But the third object of legislation, that of providing for the future progress of society, which, as it regards the happiness of mankind, is the most important of the three, was in both instances entirely neglected. These systems appear to have been formed with an express design to prevent all future improvement in knowledge, or enlargement of the human mind; and to fix those nations forever in a state of ignorance, superstition and barbarism. To vindicate the Spartan from an imputation of weakness or inattention in this particular, it may be urged that he was surrounded by nations more powerful than his own; it was therefore impossible for him to commence an establishment upon any other plan. And Moses must be vindicated upon this idea, that the divine moral law, which was designed, at a future period, to regulate and harmonize the whole human race, must be preserved in that nation, which was to give birth to the Saviour of mankind. If we allow him to have had a prophetic knowledge of these events, his institutions may be pronounced unexceptionable in every part.

The institutions of Mahomet, are next to be considered. The first object of legislation appears to have been better understood by the Arabian Prophet, than by either of the preceding sages; his jurisdiction was capable of being enlarged to any extent of territory, and governing any number of nations, that might be subjugated by his powerful and enthusiastic armies; and to obtain this object his system of religion was admirably calculated. Like Moses, he convinced his people that he acted as the vicegerent of Heaven; but with this capital advantage, adapting his religion to the natural feelings and propensities of mankind, he multiplied his followers, by the allurements of pleasure and the promise of a sensual paradise. These circumstances were likewise sure to render his constitution permanent. His religious system was so easy to be understood, so splendid and so inviting, there could be no danger that the people would lose sight of its principles, and no necessity of future prophets, to explain the doctrines, or reform the nation. To these advantages if we add the exact and rigid military discipline, the splendor and sacredness of the monarch, and that total ignorance of the people, which such a system will produce and perpetuate, the establishment must be evidently well calculated for extent and duration. But the last and most important end of government, that of mental improvement and social happiness, was deplorably lost in the institution. And there was probably more learning and real genius in Arabia, in the days of this extraordinary character, than can now be found in all the Turkish dominions.

On the contrary, the enterprising genius of the Russian monarch appears to have been wholly bent on the arts of civilization, and the improvement of society among his subjects. Happy in a legal title to a throne which already commanded a prodigious extent of country, he found that the first object of government was already secured; and by applying himself with great sagacity and perseverance, to the third object, he was sure that the second would be a necessary and invariable consequence. He effected his purposes, important as they were, merely by the introduction of the arts, and the encouragement of politer manners. The greatness of his genius appears not so much in his institutions, which he copied from other nations, as in the extraordinary measures he followed to introduce them, the judgement he showed in selecting and adapting them tothe genius of his subjects, and his surprising assiduity and success, by which he raised a savage people to a dignified rank among European nations. All his plans were formed to encourage the future progress of society; and their duration was ensured by their obvious value and importance. His successors have followed his political measures, with great attention to the same objects; and the present reigning empress has rendered herself not unworthy of so high and honourable a descent.

To the genius and operation of the several forms of government above mentioned, we will compare that of the Peruvian Lawgiver. It is probable that the savages of Peru, before the time of Capac, among other objects of adoration, paid homage to the Sun. By availing himself of this popular sentiment, he appeared, like Moses and Mahomet, in the character of a divine legislator, endowed with supernatural powers. After impressing these ideas strongly on the minds of the people, drawing together a number of the tribes and rendering them subservient to his benevolent purposes, he applied himself to forming the outlines of a plan of policy, capable of sounding and regulating an extensive empire; wisely calculated for perpetual duration; and expressly designed to improve the knowledge, peace and happiness of a considerable portion of mankind. In the apportionment of the lands, and the assignment of real property, he invented a mode somewhat resembling the Feudal System of Europe: yet this system was wisely checked in its operation, by a law similar to that of Moses, which regulated landed possessions in the year of Jubilee. He divided the lands into three parts; the first was consecrated to the uses of religion, the second set apart for the Inca and his family, to enable him to defray the expences of government and to appear in the style of a monarch, the third, and much the largest portion, was allotted to the people; and this allotment was repeated every year, and varied according to the number and exigencies of each family.

As the Incan family appeared in the character of Divinities, it was necessary that a subordination of ranks should be established; in order to render the distinction between the monarch and his people more perceptible. With this view he created a band of Nobles, who were distinguished by personal and hereditary honours. These were united to the monarch by the strongest ties of interest; in peace they acted as Judges, and superintended the police of the empire, in war they commanded in the armies. The next order of men were the respectable peasantry of the country, who composed the principal strength of the nation. Below these was a class of men, who were the servants of the public; who cultivated the public lands. They possessed no property, and their only security depended on their regular industry and peaceable demeanour. Above all these orders, were the Inca and his family. He was possessed of absolute and uncontroulable power; his mandates were regarded as the word of Heaven, and the double guilt of impiety and rebellion attended on disobedience. To impress the utmost veneration for the Incan family, it was a fundamental principle, that the royal blood should never be contaminated by any foreign alliance. The mysteries of religion were preserved sacred by the high priest of the royal family, under the controul of the king; and celebrated with rites, capaple of making the deepest impression on the multitude. The annual distribution of the lands, while it provided for the varying circumstances of each family, strengthened the bands of society, by preventing the different orders from interfering with each other; the peasants could not vie with their superiors, and the Nobles could not be subjected by misfortune to a subordinate station. A constant habit of industry was inculcated upon all ranks by the surprizing force of example and emulation. The cultivation of the soil, which in most other countries is considered as one of the lowest employments, was here regarded as a divine art. Having had no idea of it before, and being taught it by the children of their God, the people viewed it as a sacred privilege, and considered it as an honour, to imitate and assist the Sun in opening the bosom of the earth and producing vegetation. That the government might be able to exercise the endearing acts of benevolence, the produce of the public lands was reserved in magazines, to supply the wants of the unfortunate, as a deposit for the people in times of general scarcity, and as are source in case of an invasion.

These are the outlines of a government, the most simple and energetic conceivable, and capable of reducing the greatest number of men under one jurisdiction; at the same time, accommodating its principle of action to every state of society, and every stage of improvement, by a singular and happy application to the passions of the human mind, it encouraged the advancement of knowledge, without being endangered by success. That such a government has a fair chance for perpetual duration is evident from this consideration, that a band of Nobles are ever the firm supporters of regal authority; unless the monarch is so limited in his power, that the Nobles despise his influence. This could not be the case in Peru; the Nobles were justly proud of their elevated station, though they could have no ambition to controul the Inca. They were sensible that their interest was connected with that of the monarch; and, supposing the influence of religion to be out of the question, they would not attempt to destroy an institution on which their happiness depended. A check equally effective was, by the constitution of human nature, imposed on the Inca. Elevated above the competition and rivalship which corrode and torment the bosoms of the great, he could have no ambition to gratify and no motive to induce him to an improper exercise of arbitrary power.

In the traits of character which distinguish this institution, we may discern all the great strokes of each of the legislators above mentioned. The pretensions of Capac to divine authority were as artfully contrived and as effectual in their consequences, as those of Mahomet; his exploding the worship of evil beings and objects of terror, forbidding human sacrifices, inculcating more rational ideas of the Deity, and accommodating the rites of worship to a God of justice and benevolence, produced a greater change in the national character of his people, than any of the laws of Moses: Like Peter, he provided for the future improvement of society; while his actions were never measured upon the small and contracted scale, which limited the genius of Lycurgus.

Thus far we find the political system of Capac at least equal to those of the most celebrated ancient or modern lawgivers. But in one particular his character is placed beyond all comparison; I mean for his religious institutions, and the just ideas he had formed, by the unenlightened efforts of human wisdom, of the nature and attributes of the Deity.

And here I shall premise, that idolatrous nations have never been guilty of those glaring absurdities with which they are usually charged by the christian world. The Persian or Peruvian, when he directed his adoration to the Sun, considered it as the place of residence for the unknown Deity, whom he worshipped, and who communicated from thence the blessings of light, warmth and vegetation; the Greek, who bowed at the statue of Jupiter, supposed it animated with the presence of his God; the Egyptian Apis, Isis and Orus, the calf, the leek and the onion, though the theme of universal ridicule to other nations, were, in their first consecration, like the Jewish Cherubim, symbolical representations of the nature and attributes of their Deities. No man ever erected a stock or a stone for a real object of worship; but all ignorant nations have paid their adoration before the symbol of the Deity, in some shape or other, and directed their homage to the place of his supposed residence. Even among enlightened nations, we find many traces of the same ideas; the Papist bows to the Picture and the Crucifix; and the Methodist rolls up his eyes in prayer to the Sky. Perhaps unassisted wisdom can rise no higher: and the reason why idol worship was forbidden in the divine law, was not because of the erroneous ideas of the original institutors, but because the views of the vulgar, in process of time, are apt to stop short at the intermediate object, and to lose sight of the original invisible Essence. But the great crime of idolatrous nations consisted in their ascribing to the Deity the passions and attributes of the Devil, and in the horrid and murtherous rites of their worship. Mankind are more inclined to consider the Deity as a God of vengeance than a God of mercy. Even among christians most persons ascribe afflictions to the hand of Heaven and prosperity to their own merit and prudence. This principle operates in its full effect among savages. They usually form no idea of a general superintending Providence; they consider not the Deity as the author of their beings, the Creator of the world and the dispenser of the happiness they enjoy; they discern him not in the usual course of nature, in the sunshine and in the shower, the productions of the earth and the blessing of society; they find a Deity only in the storm, the earthquake and the whirlwind; or ascribe to him the evils of pestilence and famine; they consider him as interposing in wrath to change the course of nature, and exercising the attributes of rage and revenge. They adore him with rites suited to these attributes, with horror, with penance and with sacrifice; they imagine him pleased with the severity of their mortifications, with the oblations of blood and the cries of human victims; and hope to compound for greater judgements, by voluntary sufferings and horrid sacrifices, suited to the relish of his taste.

Perhaps no single criterion can be given, which will determine more accurately the state of society in any age or nation, than their general ideas concerning the nature and attributes of the Deity. In the most enlightened periods of antiquity, only a very few of their wisest Philosophers, a Socrates, a Tully, or a Confucius, ever formed a just idea on the subject, or described the Deity as a God of purity, justice and benevolence. Can anything then be more astonishing than to view a savage native of the southern wilds of America, rising in an age, void of every trace of learning or refinement, and acquiring by the mere efforts of reason, a sublime and rational idea of the Parent of the universe!

He taught the nation to consider him as the God of order and regularity; ascribing to his influence the rotation of the seasons, the productions of the earth and the blessings of health; especially attributing to his inspiration the wisdom of their laws and that happy constitution, which was the delight and veneration of the people.

These humane ideas of religion had a sensible operation upon the manners of the nation. They never began an offensive war with their savage neighbours; and, whenever their country was invaded, they made war, not to extirpate, but to civilize. The conquered tribes and those taken captive were adopted into the nation; and, by blending with the conquerors, forgot their former rage and ferocity.

A system so just and benevolent, as might be expected, was attended with success. In about three hundred years, the dominions of the Incas had extended fifteen hundred miles in length, and had introduced peace and prosperity through the whole region. The arts of society had been carried to a considerable degree of improvement, and the authority of the Incan race universally acknowledged; when an event happened, that disturbed the tranquility of the empire. Huana Capac, the twelfth monarch, had reduced the powerful kingdom of Quito, and annexed it to his empire. To conciliate the affections of his new subjects, he married a daughter of the ancient king of Quito. Thus, by violating a fundamental law of the Incas, he left at his death a disputed succession to the throne. Atabalipa, the son of Huana by the heiress of Quito, being in possession of the principal force of the Peruvian armies, which was left at that place on the death of his father, gave battle to his brother Huascar, who was the elder son of Huana by a lawful wife, and legal heir to the crown. After a long and destructive civil war, the former was victorious; and thus was that flourishing and happy kingdom left a prey to civil dissentions, and to the few soldiers of Pizarro, who happened at that juncture to make a discent upon their coast. Thus he effected an easy conquest and an utter destruction of that unfortunate people. It is however extremely obvious, that this deplorable event is not to be charged on Capac, as the consequence of any defect in his institution. It is impossible that any original legislator should effectually guard against the folly of a futute sovereign. Capac had not only removed every temptation that could induce a wise prince to wish for a change in the constitution, but had connected the ruin of his authority with the change; for he, who disregards any part of institutions deemed sacred, teaches his people to consider the whole as an imposture. Had he made a law ordaining that the Peruvians should be absolved from their allegiance to a prince, who should violate the laws; it would evidently have implied possible error and imperfection in those persons whom the people were ordered to regard as Divinities: the reverence due to characters who made such high pretensions, would have been weakened; and, instead of rendering the constitution perfect, such a law would have been its greatest defect. Besides, it is probable the rupture might have been healed, and the succession settled, with as little difficulty as frequently happens with partial revolutions in other kingdoms; had not the descent of the Spaniards prevented. And this event to a man in that age and country, was totally beyond the possibility of human foresight. But viewing the concurrence of these fatal accidents, which reduced this flourishing empire to a level with many other ruined and departed kingdoms, it only proves that no human system has the privilege to be perfect.

On the whole, it is evident, that the system of Capac is the most surprizing exertion of human genius to be found in the history of mankind. When we consider him as an individual emerging from the midst of a barbarous people, having seen no possible example of the operation of laws in any country, originating a plan of religion and policy never equalled by the sages of antiquity, civilizing an extensive empire, and rendering religion and government subservient to the general happiness of mankind, there is no danger that we grow too warm in his praise, or pronounce too high an eulogium on his character. Had such a genius appeared in Greece or Rome, he had been the subject of universal admiration; had he arisen in the favourite land of Turkey, his praises had filled a thousand pages in the diffusive writings of Voltaire.

Notes

¹Barlow sought the patronage of French King Louis XVI by asking him to subscribe to the publication of his poem and then dedicating the poem to him. The long poem, which Barlow called The Vision of Columbus, was published in Hartford, Connecticut, in 1787. This publication is the source of the present text.

²Manco Capac, the traditional founder of the Inca monarchy of Peru, was according to legend the father of the sun, sent to unify, civilize, and rule the Indians of Peru with his sister and wife, Mama Occlo Huaco.

³ Barlow mentions and tells the stories of several admired leaders from different cultures around the globe: Moses, the biblical Old Testament leader and lawgiver of the Israelites; Lycurgus, a ninth- century B.C. Spartan legislator, sponsor of the laws and institutions of Sparta; Solon (638?-559 B.C.), famous Athenian lawgiver and ruler; Numa, according to legend, the second king of Rome (715-672 B.C.)and reputed founder of many significant Roman institutions; Mohammed (570-632 A.D.), religious leader, warrior, and legislator considered the founder and prophet of Islam; and Peter the Great (1672-1725), czar and later emperor of Russia with whose reputation a westernization and general "enlightenment" of Russia was linked.