Personal Narrative Of Travels To The Equinoctial Regions Of America During The Years 1799-1804 - Volume 1 - By Alexander Von Humboldt And Aime Bonpland.
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Yet The
Spaniards Were At That Period, And Long After, One Of The Most
Polished Nations Of Europe.
The light which art and literature then
shed over Italy, was reflected on every nation whose language
emanated from the same source as that of Dante and Petrarch.
It
might have been expected that a general improvement of manners
would be the natural consequence of this noble awakening of the
mind, this sublime soaring of the imagination. But in distant
regions, wherever the thirst of wealth has introduced the abuse of
power, the nations of Europe, at every period of their history,
have displayed the same character. The illustrious era of Leo X was
signalized in the New World by acts of cruelty that seemed to
belong to the most barbarous ages. We are less surprised, however,
at the horrible picture presented by the conquest of America when
we think of the acts that are still perpetrated on the western
coast of Africa, notwithstanding the benefits of a more humane
legislation.
The principles adopted by Charles V had abolished the slave trade
on the New Continent. But the Conquistadores, by the continuation
of their incursions, prolonged the system of petty warfare which
diminished the American population, perpetuated national
animosities, and during a long period crushed the seeds of rising
civilization. At length the missionaries, under the protection of
the secular arm, spoke words of peace. It was the privilege of
religion to console humanity for a part of the evils committed in
its name; to plead the cause of the natives before kings, to resist
the violence of the commendatories, and to assemble wandering
tribes into small communities called Missions.
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