their ancient valour."

"Together with their courage, they retained all the ferocity by which
they were originally distinguished. Civil discord never raged with a
more fell spirit than among the Spaniards in Peru. To all the passions
which usually envenom contests among countrymen, avarice was added, and
rendered their enmity more rancorous. Eagerness to seize the valuable
forfeitures expected upon the death of every opponent, shut the door
against mercy. To be wealthy was, of itself, sufficient to expose a man
to accusation, or to subject him to punishment. On the slightest
suspicions, Pizarro condemned many of the most opulent inhabitants of
Peru to death. Carvajal, without searching for any pretext to justify
his cruelty, cut off many more. The number of those who suffered by the
hand of the executioner, was not much inferior to what fell in the
field; and the greater part was condemned without the formality of any
legal trial."

"The violence with which the contending parties treated their opponents
was not accompanied by its usual attendants, attachment and fidelity to
those with whom they acted. The ties of honour, which ought to be held
sacred among men, and the principle of integrity, interwoven as
thoroughly in the Spanish character as in that of any nation, seem to
have been equally forgotten. Even regard for decency, and the sense of
shame, were totally abandoned. During these dissensions, there was
hardly a Spaniard in Peru who did not abandon the party which he had
originally espoused, betray the associates with whom he had united, and
violate the engagements under which he had come. The viceroy Nunnez
Vela was ruined by the treachery of Cepeda and the other judges of the
royal audience, who were bound to have supported his authority. The
chief advisers and companions of Gonzalo Pizarro in his revolt were the
first to forsake him, and submit to his enemies. His fleet was given up
to Gasca, by the man whom he had singled out among his officers to
entrust with that important command. On the day that was to decide his
fate, an army of veterans, in sight of the enemy, threw down their arms
without striking a blow, and deserted a leader who had often conducted
them to victory. Instances of such general and avowed contempt of the
principles and obligations which attach man to man, and bind them in
social union, rarely occur in history. It is only where men are far
removed from the seat of government, where the r