Joseph Skinner

“ To soften the asperities of a people, to purify their customs, and to extirpate their inveterate abuses, is the fruit of wisdom, and not of a rigorous legislation. In this part, the weakness of the law is the necessary effect of its vigour. The furious surge of the enraged ocean does not leave any mark on the rock against which it breaks; and the impetuous torrent moistens the earth less than does the gently falling shower. Thus, the useful mechanism by which heavy bodies are raised, does not require the greatest degree of force, but the favourable combination of distances and directions. ”

“ There are not, perhaps, in any part of the globe, roads so bad as those which are to be found in all the provinces of the interior of Peru. The passes which are the least dangerous and inconvenient, are the brinks or declivities of the mountains: and these have rather the air of narrow cornices, fastened to the summit of the Cordillera, than of paths destined for the continual journeying of men and beasts of burden. ”

“ Without reckoning the innumerable oratories, hermitages, and internal sanctuaries in the convents, monasteries, and private houses, most sumptuously erected, and adorned with exquisite taste, curiosity, and riches, Lima is embellished by fifty-six great temples, magnificent on account of their majestic fabric, their spacious extent, the splendour of their worship, and the pomp of their solemnities. ”

“ The times are past, when the flourishing and adventurous miner was wont to stake a bar of silver, of the value of a hundred marks, on the hazard of a die; and when the simple overseer entered the mine with a flute and violins. The passions which in a city absorb a capital, are gratified in a mine by a sack of potatoes, and a jacket of English baize. ”

“ The ruins of the planet we inhabit ought to produce in our heart the same complacency with its reparations; seeing that the divine economy, which does nothing in vain, by levelling a hill in such a particular direction, affords a passage to the waters which fertilize the plains, and operates a salutary change in the climate. By shaking the most solid foundations of the universe, it intimates to us its power, and diversifies the superficies of the earth, already wearied with affording us nourishment. ”

“ Our indefatigable botanist, aided by the skilful draughtsman, Don Francisco Pulgar, is unceasingly occupied, and keeps up a constant communication between the mountains, Lima, and Madrid. The Flora of Peru, augmented by new and continual supplies, will be an eternal monument of the wisdom and magnificence of two sovereigns; a rich accumulation of the treasures of the vegetable kingdom; and the most authentic testimony to prove, that Peru does not abound less in exquisite plants, than in precious metals. ”

“ Fortunate man, whosoever thou mayest be, who hast had the happiness to tread on this ground, know that thou art in the country of Astrea. That divinity a fugitive from thy perverse world, where it is criminal to speak the truth and practise justice; where nothing more is coveted than a vile and deceitful adulation;—has chosen in this island a retreat, in which she lives without any other companion than myself. ”

“ MONUMENTS OF ANCIENT PERU.
Scarcely does man begin to live, when every thing announces to him his approaching dissolution. The elements destined to his nourishment, conspire to his destruction; and the very globe he inhabits does not cease, by violent convulsions, to endeavour to shake off a load by which it seems to be oppressed. In the mean time, immortality is that which causes in his mortal breast the most poignant and unquiet sensation. ”

“ Would that we could transmit to the public the agitation of our spirit, and the vehement impulse of the divinity which possesses us, to the end that it might view with complacency the new episode we introduce, to inculcate the sacred rights of man, the blessings of peace, the love the Indian claims from us, and the small share of merit which attends the blood-stained triumph over men, untameable but naked, who purchase their freedom at the dear price of living in the rude forests, a prey to penury and want! ”

“ The canal which waters the most fertile valley, does not display the same magnificence in itself, nor manifest an equal effort and skill on the part of the artificer, as that which, running between formidable precipices, rises to the summit of the mountain, and pierces the deep cleft, which in magnitude equals its arm, or falls into the valley from between the brink and the declivity of lofty hills. ”

“ We forbear to inquire into the causes of a phenomenon so different from those that have appeared to govern the world, and dispose of the fate of its inhabitants. The genius that presides over these causes, enlightened by the Divinity, is like a fire which, issuing from the pole, runs with a celerity that the sight cannot overtake, to station itself in the centre of the sphere ”

“ The eastern branch of the Cordillera of the Andes, which, running between the Huallaga and the Mayro, unites this peninsula with Peru, and the different mountains which, originating at the Cordillera, descend at various distances into the plain, abound in that rich metal which ennobles man, which constitutes his fortune, and which even acquires him, without effort, the sublime titles of wise, discreet, and the rest of those eminent qualities that are wont to shine with diminished lustre when viewed from beneath the humble garments of the poor. ”

“ I unburthen myself to you, gentlemen, and entreat you to demand, in my name, of all the mothers who think with Democracia, what idea they entertain of filial respect, and paternal superiority? If the idiom of our language has confidential and familiar expressions differing from those of reverence, why should they be confounded? Why should we accustom children to hold the same language to their mother as to the female slave who attends them, and not to distinguish their father from the coachman? ”

“ In Europe we are considered as the arbiters of the riches of the earth; while in America we are regarded as a species similar to that of the negroes at the mint, who sweat and grow old in coining for others the gold and silver of which they are themselves denied the enjoyment. Amid so many contradictory judgments, I fancied that your society would pronounce a definitive opinion, so as at once to fix the true estimation in which we ought to be holden. I was persuaded that the miners would be covered with laurels and encomiums, by the means of your panegyrics. ”

“ This alternation enables us to see daily the magnificent spectacle of the creation of the earth; since the gently sloping hills, the plains, and the seas, which darkness seemed to have annihilated, rise, in a manner, out of the chaotic void, at the birth of Aurora. By the second movement, we are transported from one region to another; and when we imagine that we do not quit the first points, relatively to the firmament occupied by Peru at the date of its primitive existence, we live in reality a part of the year in the north, and the other in the south. ”

“ The funereal preparatives for this office are an irrefragable testimony that the negro, transported from his native soil, does not change his heart as well as his country; since he maintains among us, and conceals in the sepulchre even, his superstition and his idolatry. How, indeed, can he have an affection for his new residence, in which he is condemned to lead so unhappy a life? Can he do otherwise than abhor whatever contributes to cement his chains? Can he adhere to the faith of those by whom he is oppressed? ”

“ Small, even very small, are the means and resources which Quito possesses; but if we all of us unite with the spirit of patriotism, without leaving the smallest room for envy or sloth, Quito will resuscitate, and we shall all of us resuscitate. Let us begin, let us begin, seeing that with constancy and union we shall certainly triumph. That which is never undertaken, can never be brought to a conclusion; and there is not in any kingdom a more mortal paralysis than that of doing nothing. We are all of us poor ”

“ Man, proud of his own intelligence, seeks the truth, but finds it not. He pursues the idle flights of his fancy, embraces shadows, and is the slave of his caprices. God alone comprehends His works, and derides the vain efforts of men. From the eminence on which His august throne is established, he contemplates their idle imaginations; and knows both the false ideas which mortals form of their Creator, and the futile opinions they erect into dogmas by which they are involved in endless disputes. ”

“ The learned exclaim with one voice, that it consists in agriculture, in the arts, and in maritime commerce, without neglecting the working of the mines, when that is practicable, and with well-founded prospects. By agriculture, by the arts, and by maritime commerce, metals and monies are attracted, they being drawn by political chemistry from the countries which possess them, by the means of the exchange of the productions they need, for the money they hold in superfluity. It is an incontrovertible truth, that there is a reciprocal attraction between money and the things it represents ”

“ But the gratification which arises from these reflexions, is denied to those who place their hope in inanimate images; who regard as deities the artificial works of man; who worship statues of gold and silver; and who adore the effigies of animals, and the useless stone wrought by an unskilful hand.
Such were the objects of the veneration of the bulk of the people. Not content with adoring the god of their conquerors, they undertook to find a deity in every situation, under every necessity, and for every ministry. ”

“ America was first indebted for her exploration: to another, not of so elevated a rank, but equally beneficent and heroical, Tucuman, Tarija, &c. will owe the inestimable advantages of this new discovery. Cornejo, in a less extensive field, rivals Columbus in valour and success. We have not to dread that he will encounter the same disappointments: the age is more just, at the same time that men are more accustomed to view heroes near to them, and to hear, without incredulity, and without surprize, the relation of their exploits. ”

“ Bounding impetuously, it escapes by the free passage which presents itself, with a gree of violence that causes it to diffuse itself copiously in the air, in which it seems to dart on every side its liquid arrows. Now gracefully shooting, and taking a curve similar to that of a beautiful plume of feathers, it falls with a festive and harmonious sound; and, as if in raillery, dashes itself against the fluid particles that had been before dispersed, bathing at the same time with its dewy spray the most elevated basin of the fountain [2] . ”

“ No: thou didst not soar to the highest pitch to which man, oppressed as he is by the heavy load of his body, is capable of ascending. Thou art not yet deserving of the laurels of Nature, constantly just in her awards. She reserves them for those who ascend the elevated tops of the Andes mountains: and surveys with complacency the weak mortal seated on the lofty summit on which the eagle dares not alight, nor even venture a regard. ”

“ A receptacle for orphans, established in a capital such as Lima, not only supposes in its inhabitants a great fund of humanity, but likewise affords a reasonable ground of belief that the true application of alms was known to them at an early date. In reality, there is not any object which has a greater tendency to interest the affections of a sensible heart, than the poor orphan, the offspring of frailty and love, who has no other parents beside the compassion and benevolence of the public. ”

“ But, in the same way as every kingdom has need of agriculture for its subsistence, so has every increase, to be sustained, need of a population either proper or extraneous, that is, of purchasers who may secure to the cultivator the enjoyment of the fruit of his labours. Where there is, therefore, a deficiency of hands for the rural operations, and of mouths for the consumption, encouragement is void; insomuch, that abundance itself, far from constituting riches, becomes real and substantial misery. ”

“ When the magistrate entertains a persuasion, that the supreme and sole aim of his high dignity is to confer happiness on those he governs, he is not deterred by any consideration, but makes every sacrifice, and encounters every risk, for the welfare of the subject. Thus it was with our intendant, who, in bestowing on his work its highest degree of perfection, by the opening of a convenient road which might facilitate the traffic and exportation of the productions of Vitoc, was crushed by the fall of a huge tree, and narrowly escaped with his life. ”

“ When the interest of money is reduced, more persons are enabled to trade, because there are more lenders, and because the consumption is augmented by the opportunity of selling at a more commodious price. The low rate of interest, and the moderate value of the merchandizes, are naturally derived from an extended commerce, which, by the production of great funds, diminishes the interest and the gains. There being such an intimate connexion between the causes and effects, the interest of money may be considered as the true barometer of the prosperity of a kingdom ”