and commentaries made upon them by fome of the most learned and intelligent perfons in all nations; fuch as Erafmus, Gruter, and Mr Ray. I have been led into this reflection, by an obfervation I lately met with, in a letter of a perfon generally esteemed for his knowledge of men and books. "It is," fays he, “a truth that admits "of no difpute, that Experience is the "mistress of fools; but it is moft true "in this refpect, that none but fools 46 go to this good old Lady's fchool." At first fight I did not clearly, comprehend this writer's meaning, but up. on reflection, I perceive that his remark is perfectly right, and that one of the cleareft diftinctions between wif dom and folly, is the needing, or not needing the light of experience.. The man of true good fenfe is conducted, with respect to his own actions, by Prudence only, and does not need the affiftance of events to distinguish what is right or wrong, good or evil. But a man of less folid abilities follows his humour, his inclination, or his paffion, till fome inconveniency convinces him he is in the wrong, and then he corrects himself. We have an excellent example of this kind in the famous ftory of Craefus king of Lydia, who in the dreadful reverfe of his fortune, fav'd his life by crying out, Solon! Solon! Solon! When he was afk'd the reafon, he faid, that this famous man being at his court in the time of his highest prosperity, he had alk'd him more than once, who he thought the happiest man, not doubting that he would have anfwered, Himfelf; but finding the fage no courtier in this refpect, he was fore'd to fpeak out, and to ask him, why he was not ftruck with the appearance of his felicity? Upon which Solon told him, that there was no pronouncing any man happy, till he was dead. This Prudence taught the Greek Philofopher, and in time, his misfortunes taught it the Lydian Prince; that is to fay, he was one of the fools that went to fchool to Experience. It has been a maxim in the art of war, ever fince a great Athenian Ge neral laid it down as fuch, that in it there is no room for a fecond mistake ; which in other words amounts to no more than this,--that a General ought always to have a better tutor than Experience. A mistake in other arts may be repair'd; in war, feldom, if ever. In this fenfe, perhaps, as in many others, life is a kind of warfare, in which, if a man makes one capital mistake, it is fatal to him, and he has never after an opportunity of recovering it. There may indeed be many inftances produced that feem to contradict this observation, but whoever will confider these attentively, cannot help feeing that fuch inftances really confirm what has been advanc'd; for: they awaken the mind from a state of fleepinefs and inaction, and put it upon exerting its natural powers, which, when once done, that kind of forefight is quickly acquired which prevents our ftanding in need of experience. We may apply this fort of reafoning to feveral ufeful and beneficial pur pofes: In the first place, it fhould teach us, inftead of waiting for, and leaning upon Experience, to be afham'd of her affistance, fince it is our own faults that we ever ftand in need of it; and confequently it is a reflection upon our understandings, whenever we correct ourselves by it. We may be affur'd of the matter of fact from the great things that fome young men per form, without any help from it at all, Thus, for inftance, Alcibiades among the Athenians was at the head of the State almost as early, as with us a young man with tolerable parts is at the head of a public school; and his victories made him terrible to all Greece at that time of life, when here he might have been taking his degrees. We may fay almost the fame thing of Lucullus among the Romans; Romans; he came an accomplish'd and with very little help either from General out of his closet, and knew books or converfation. The fact I how to command the veteran officers fhall not pretend to deny, but then it in the Roman legions in his firft cam- admits of two anfwers; the first is, paign. This evidently fhews, not on- that this very method of teaching rendly the excellency of prudence beyond ers it impoffible for fuch as are fo experience, but that it is alfo a fhort taught to make any great use of their tut, and though a fuperior kind of knowledge; they must be all their lives wisdom, is notwithstanding fooner and long learning, and be precifely fit to more effectually attain'd. Some in come into the world when nature calls deed may pretend that these were them out of it. The fecond answer extraordinary Genii, which I deny, is, that we very often mistake for exand they can never prove. The fta- perience what are the effects of natuture and the ftrength of men have ral fagacity, which is the most differ been in all ages and climates very near ent thing from experience in the world. alike, and we have reason to believe It is a kind of innate prudence, a hap the fame of their understandings. py difpofition of mind, that fcarce ftands in need of culture or education, that is for the ordinary offices of life, but with the affistance of it, is capable of performing prodigious things; in fhort, it is what we commonly call Parts; and the reason that we think fuch as are endow'd with them stand in need of experience, is because the quickness of their imaginations run a way with them, and therefore they want a curb. In the next place, the lights that we derive from Experience are very uncertain. A man that relies upon her may be a long time before he meets with her, and proceed a great way in the journey of life before he has an opportunity of learning from her whe ther he is in the right road or the wrong. By this means he inverts the very nature of things, and muft many times derive his good fortune from untoward accidents, fince without the affiftance of thefe he can learn no leffons of confequence from experience. Add to this, that he may be in great danger of miftaking thefe lights when he does meet with them; for the inftitutions of experience, like the refponfes of oracles, are very often capable of double meanings, that is to fay, one man takes them in one fenfe, and another in another; nay, perhaps every man is naturally liable to take them in different fenfes, according to the age, temper, and circumftances he may be in when he receives them; and this is the reafon that fome improve more and fome lefs in this fchool, fo that one would think the miftrefs partial, and that he did not take the fame care of all her fcholars. Take the whole of this matter to gether, and the doctrine to be collect ed from it is this :-The mind of man is endow'd with fuch faculties by his Creator, and these open themselves in a manner fo well proportion'd to the growth of the body, that with the help of a proper education and due attention, they both acquire their vigour at the fame time; juft as the law fuppofes that a man has attained difere tion, when he is at age. Bur all this depends upon prudence, and a perfon's having confidered and compared the nature of caufes and events, of which a man may be in a great measure maf ter, without feeing them, as appears by people's forming right judgments, of what, others ought or ought not to do, whofe circumstances differ widely from their own. It may perhaps be afked, Is experience, after all, to go for nothing, and is a man never the wifer for the years he lives in the L We may poffibly hear of a very capital objection to all that has been faid, which is, that fome have become very great men by her affistance folely, world? world? I neither affirm the one, nor deny the other; but what I fay is this, That experience is a very cunning old lady, whofe advice a wife man will be always ready to hear, but will feldom think it worth his white to afk. Obfervations relative to the Indigenous Inhabitants of both parts of America. By Don Ulloa. [Continued from our laft.] TH HE Indians are not fo much to be dreaded for their valour as for their perfidious and fecret strokes of enmity. Nothing can exceed their cruelty, when they have been fuccefsful in furprising their enemies; in this cafe, they glut themfelves with cool and deliberate carnage. On the other hand, they are equally fuppliant and pufillanimous when the iffue of their enterprife has been unfortunate. This contraft refults naturally from the barbarous and ungenerous character by which the whole race is fo unfavourably diftinguifhed. What the hiftorians of the Conqueft of Mexico tell us of the heroifm of the Indians must either be much exaggerated, or elfe the character of the nation is exceffively changed fince that æra. It is certain that the northern tribes enjoy the fame liberty as ever, and that no circumftance has happened to make any change on their cuftoms or manners. Yet the fame cruel and perfidious character prevails among them, as among thofe of Peru and the fouthern parts of America, whether conquered or free. It is impoffible to afcribe this character of the Indians in Peru to their having changed an internal for a foreign flavery, or to any of the circumftances that have refulted from this change. Having neither changed their language, their customs, nor their inclinations, the basis of their character is certainly unaltered, especially as it is undeniable that they have taken nothing of the manners of the nation that conquered them. Befides, they are by no means in that state of fub jection which strangers are apt to imagine. In fact, their freedom is very little abridged, and their various tribes are governed much as formerly, by their refpective Curacas, or Caciques But the most decifive circumftance is the uniform character that prevails as mong them all, whether living independent, or in fubjection to Europeans. There is no inftance, either of a fingle Indian facing an individual of any other nation in fair and open com bat, or of their jointly venturing to try the fate of battle with an equal number of any foes. Even with the greateft fuperiority of numbers they dare not meet an open attack. Yet not. withstanding this want of courage they are still formidable; nay, it has been known that a small party of them has routed a much fuperior body of regular troops: but this can only happen when they have furprised them in the. faftneffes of their forefts, where the covert of the wood may conceal them until they take their aim with the ut most certainty. After one fuch difcharge they immediately retreat, without leaving the fmalleft trace of their route. It may easily be fuppofed, that an onset of this kind must prodace confufion even among the teadieft troops, when they can neither know the number of their enemies, nor perceive the place where they lie in ambush. The Indians are exceedingly artful and accomplished in this fpecies of war. They care not how long they may be obliged to lie in ambush, provided they can infure the advantage which they propofe in making a near and certain difcharge upon their enemies. They carry on ftratagems of this kind with the utmost patience, addrefs, and circumfpection; fometimes they conceal themselves in thickets, at other times they lie flat on the ground in fuch a manner that it is inpoffible to obferve them. The Indians of the country, called Natches in Louisiana, laid a plot of maffacring in one night every individual belonging to the French colony established there. This plot they actually executed, notwithstanding the feeming good understanding that fubfifted between them and thefe European neighbours. Such was the fecrecy which they obferved, that no perfon had the leaft fufpicion of their defign until the blow was ftruck. One Frenchman alone efcaped, by favour of the darkness, to relate the difafter of his countrymen. The compaffion of a female Indian contributed alfo in some measure to his exemption from the general maffacre. The tribe of Natches had invited the Indians of other countries, even to a confiderable distance, to join in the fame confpiracy. The day, or rather the night, was fixed on which they were to make an united attack on the French colo: nifts. It was intimated by fending a parcel of rods, more or lefs numerous, according to the local distance of each tribe, with an injunction to abstract one rod daily, the day on which the laft fell to be taken away being that fixed for the execution of their plan. The women were partners of the bloody fecret. The parcels of rods being thus diftributed, that belonging to the tribe of Natches happened to remain in the custody of a female. This woman, either moved by her own feelings of compaffion, or by the commiferation expreffed by her female acquaintances, in the view of the propofed fcene of bloodshed, abftracted one day three or four of the rods, and thus anticipated the term of her tribe's proceeding to the execution of the general confpiracy. The confequence of this was, that the Natches were the only actors in this carnage, their dif tant affociates having ftill feveral rods remaining at the time when the former made the attack. An opportunity was thereby given to the colonists in thofe quarters to take measures for their defence, and for preventing a more extensive execution of the defign. It was by confpiracies fimilar to this that the Indians of the province of Macas, in the kingdom of Quito, deftroyed the opulent city of Logrogno, the colony of Guambaya, and its capital Sevilla del Oro, and that fo completely, that it is no longer known in what place thefe fettlements exifted, or where that abundance of gold was found from which the laft-menmentioned city took the addition to its name. Like ravages have been committed upon l'Imperiale in Chili, the colonies of the Millions of Chuncas, thofe of Darien in Terra Firma, and many other places, which have afforded fcenes of this barbarous ferocity. These confpiracies are always carried on in the fame manner. The fecret is inviolably kept, the actors affemble at the precife hour appointed, and every individual is animated with the fame fanguinary purposes. The males that fall into their hands are put to death with every fhocking circumstance that can be fuggefted by a cool and determined cruelty. The females are carried off and preferved as monuments of their victory, to be employed as their occafions require. I shall not dwell longer on a defcription of this fhocking nature. I have fald fo much indeed, only to fhew that this odious character of the Indians with refpect to cruelty cannot justly be ascribed to their subjection to a foreign yoke, feeing the fame character belongs equally to all the original inhabitants of this vaft continent, even thofe who have preferved their independence independence most completely. Certain it is, that these people, with the moft limited capacities for every thing elfe, difplay an aftonishing degree of penetration and fubtlety with refpect to every object that involves treachery, bloodshed, and rapine. As to thefe, they feem to have been all educated at one school, and a fecret, referring to any fuch plan, no confideration on earth can extort from them. Thefe nations keep no computation of the fucceffion of days or weeks. The only measure of time, to which they feem to pay any attention, is that determined by the revolutions of the moon. The moit fimple calculations are beyond their ability. Hence it is, that in fixing any diftant convocation they have recourfe to thofe parcels of rods that have been mentioned. The number of rods is equal to that of the days that must elapfe between the receipt of the parcel and the execution of their purpose. The meaning therefore is, at fuch a day.-It is of confequence to be added, that an injury or affront done to one tribe, or even to one individual, becomes a common cause to the whole community, and even to the most diftant nations. In fuch a cafe, neither treaties nor longcontinued friendship, nor the remembrance of benefits, are regarded in the fmallest degree. All these confiderations are renounced in a moment, and the most rancorous and faithlefs cnmity immediately fucceeds. This thews how little reliance fhould be placed in their profeffions, and how neceffary it is for those who are within reach of their hoftile attempts to be perpetually on their guard. If a northern Indian be made prifoner in a state of intoxication, and put into the ranks with a body of regular troops, he will fight with great Readiness as long as his drunkennefs Continues, and he finds himself well Jupported. But if either of thefe circumftances fail, he immediately takes to flight, and joins the first ambuscade of the enemy. This is a fact that has been often obferved both by the French and English. The conquered Indians of Peru, who mangle fome Spanish words, betray an allufion to this circumftance, in attering the word animo (fharpening their tone on the last fyllable) while they drink fpirituous liquors to excite their courage in raifing infurrections, intimating thereby that they imbibe courage with their draughts. The Indians who are called civilized are not lefs apt to raise fudden commotions, in which they assemble in numerous parties, and make a furious onfet with ftones, or any weapon that occurs. But no fooner do they meet with any steady refiftance, than they turn their backs and difperfe themfelves at random, in order to make it believed that they had no hand in the affray. The treacherous, turbulent, and mifchievous difpofition of these people, thoroughly justifies the wisdom of the Spanish government in denying them the ufe of arms. This feems to be the only method of keeping them in proper fubordination, and of enfuring the continuance of their services in the mines, and in the other manual occupations which they perform. Were this principle to be abandoned, it would be difficult, if not impossible, to enfure their obedience, as appears fufficiently from their frequent infurrections, even as matters ftand; infurrections from which the most fatal events might juftly be dreaded, were they permitted to acquire the poffef fion and ufe of arms. The French and English colonifts have adopted a different fyftem with regard to the northern Indians. With a view of drawing the more profit from the fur trade, with the view alfo of augmenting their armies with them in cafes of neceffity, and of oppofing one tribe to another, they have both given them arms and inftructed them in their ufe. But in fo doing, they have only prepared very formidable enemies to themselves for ne fooner |
