By one bold stroke, he
broke the spell which had so long held the land under the
dominion of the Incas. The spell was broken, and the airy fabric
of their empire, built on the superstition of ages, vanished at a
touch. This was good fortune, rather than the result of policy.
Pizarro was eminently perfidious. Yet nothing is more opposed to
sound policy. One act of perfidy fully established becomes the
ruin of its author. The man who relinquishes confidence in his
good faith gives up the best basis for future operations. Who
will knowingly build on a quicksand? By his perfidious treatment
of Almagro, Pizarro alienated the minds of the Spaniards. By his
perfidious treatment of Atahuallpa, and subsequently of the Inca
Manco, he disgusted the Peruvians. The name of Pizarro became a
by-word for perfidy. Almagro took his revenge in a civil war;
Manco in an insurrection which nearly cost Pizarro his dominion.
The civil war terminated in a conspiracy which cost him his life.
Such were the fruits of his policy. Pizarro may be regarded as a
cunning man; but not, as he has been often eulogized by his
countrymen, as a politic one.
When Pizarro obtained possession of Cuzco, he found a country
well advanced in the arts of civilization; institutions under
which the people lived in tranquillity and personal safety; the
mountains and the uplands whitened with flocks; the valleys
teeming with the fruits of a scientific husbandry; the granaries
and warehouses filled to overflowing; the whole land rejoicing in
its abundance; and the character of the nation, softened under
the influence of the mildest and most innocent form of
superstition, well prepared for the reception of a higher and a
Christian civilization.
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