At all times,
the courageous ecclesiastic has been ready to lift his voice
against the cruelty of the conqueror, and the no less wasting
cupidity of the colonist; and when his remonstrances, as was too
often the case, have proved unavailing, he has still followed to
bind up the broken-hearted, to teach the poor Indian resignation
under his lot, and light up his dark intellect with the
revelation of a holier and happier existence. - In reviewing the
blood-stained records of Spanish colonial history, it is but
fair, and at the same time cheering, to reflect, that the same
nation which sent forth the hard-hearted conqueror from its bosom
sent forth the missionary to do the work of beneficence, and
spread the light of Christian civilization over the farthest
regions of the New World.
While the governor, as we are henceforth to style him, lay at
Cuzco, he received repeated accounts of a considerable force in
the neighbourhood, under the command of Atahuallpa's officer,
Quizquiz. He accordingly detached Almagro, with a small body of
horse and a large Indian force under the Inca Manco to disperse
the enemy, and, if possible, to capture their leader. Manco was
the more ready to take part in the expedition, as the enemy were
soldiers of Quito, who, with their commander, bore no good-will
to himself.
Almagro, moving with his characteristic rapidity, was not long in
coming up with the Indian chieftain. Several sharp encounters
followed, as the army of Quito fell back on Xauxa, near which a
general engagement decided the fate of the war by the total
discomfiture of the natives.
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