Translation:Aurora de Chile/23/Article from a letter sent to the Editor by a society of patriots.

by anon

Articulo de una carta remitida al Editor por una sociedad de patriotas.

Article from a letter sent to the Editor by a society of patriots.

¿QUE ha sido el indio sino un vil esclavo, á quien miraban con desprecio, y altaneria hasta los negros[1], y como una bestia de carga, que debia sufrir hasta morir el peso, con que se le queria gravar? No se contentaron nuestros autores con despojarlos de su terrenos y propiedades con la tirania y usurpacion mas inaudita; sino que se constituyeron unos amos feroces que los tenián sujetos al yugo de la servidumbre, sumergidos en la desnudez, hambre, y miseria. Era delito que un indio mirase la cara à un español, y si habla una palabra que no fuese la mas sumisa y humillante, era castigado con azotes, y obligados à besar en el acto las manos de su verdugo. No era respeto, era adoracion la que tributaba à sus tiranos : por consiguiente estaba obligada à consagrarles los dias, las horas, y aun los minutos, olvidando enteramente las atenciones de su propia conservacion, que se miran con preferencia hasta en los pueblos mas barbaros y envilecidos. Si cansado de sufrir, levantò alguna vez la cabeza, solo consiguió por premio de sus esfuerzos los cadalzos[2], las horcas, y los martirios mas sangrientos. Alto Perù, Quito, y otros puntos de esta America, vosotros estais bañados de esa sangre inocente, que humea y clama por la venganza de tantas atrocidades! Llegó el tiempo de que sus clamores fuesen oidos :[3] y ya el inexorable Juez ha puesto en el antiguo Mundo un Ministro que os vengue y acabarà de vengar con justa medida. Entre tanto nosotros que como hijos de vuestros opresores[4] hemos sido complices en estas injusticias, estamos obligados á reparalas con nuestros mayores esfuerzos. Si, Señor Editor, habitamos un suelo, poseemos unos bienes, cuyo derecho no nos puede corresponder, sino solo por el disputable que nos puedendar las relaciones de sangre que tengamos con los Naturales.[5] Y si por sostener la lucha con los opresores de America, no hemos podido todabia establecer un sistema de igualdad entre los Naturales y nosotros, tal que no se note la menor diferencia, por que no les damos á conocer siquiera con el trato la disposicion en que estamos de realizar este gran proyecto en el momento mismo que nos desembarazemos de los tiranos? Llamemosnos todos indios desde ahora, para que nuestros hermanos conozcan el digno aprecio que hacemos de ellos; ò si tiene algun incoveniente que yo no puedo comprehender[6] trateseles quando[7] sea preciso nombrarlos: diciendo: nuestros hermanos los indios. Quando[7] la justicia no nos obligàra á adoptar este ù otro medio de manifestarles las obligaciones en que estamos con ellos, la politica debía sugerirnos ideas adequadas á captar la voluntad de unos hombres, que en las actuales circunstancias son y serán siempre ùtiles en la obra de nuestra regeneracion politica.

WHAT has been the Indian but a vile slave, to whom even blacks[1] looked upon with disdain and arrogance, and as a beast of burden, which should have suffered until the weight, with which it was wanted to tax them, killed them? Our authors were not content with disposssessing them of their land and property with the most outrageous tyranny and usurpation; but that some fierce masters were constituted that had them subjects in the yoke of servitude sunken in nakedness, hunger, and misery. It was a crime that an Indian should look upon the face of a Spaniard, and if he spoke a word that was not the most submissive and humiliating, he was punished with lashes, and made to kiss the hands of his tyrant in the act. It was not respect, it was adoration with which he paid his tyrants: consequently, he was forced to devote the days, hours, and even the minutes forgetting entirely the attentions of his own conservation, which was looked upon with preference for all but the most barbarous and degraded people. If tired of suffering, he raised once raised his head, all that he won as a prize were the gallows, the hangmen, and the most bloody martyrdom. Upper Peru, Quito, and the other places of this America, you are bathed in this innocent blood, which clamors and smokes for the vengeance of so many atrocities. The time in which your clamor is answered has arrived. And already the inexorable Judge has put on the ancient World a Minister who avenges you, and will avenge you with just measure. Among so many of us who, as children of your oppressors have been accomplices in these injustices, we are forced to make amends for them with our greatest efforts. If, Mr. Editor, we inhabit a land, possess some goods, whose right we are not entitled to, but only by the disputable claim that the blood relations that we have with the Natives[5] can give us. And if by sustaining the fight with the oppressors of America, we still have not been able to establish a system of equality between the Natives and ourselves, such that the smallest difference is not noticed, why don't we make them familiar at least with that treatment, the disposition in which we are to realize this great project in the same moment that we rid ourselves of the tyrants? Let us all call ourselves Indians from now on, in order that our brothers may know the dignified esteem that we have for them; or if you have an objection that I cannot understand, mix with them when you need to mention them: saying: our brothers the Indians. When justice will not force us to adopt this or other mode to show them the obligations we have to them, politics should suggest to us adequate ideas to win the will of the men[8], that in the present circumstances are and will be always useful in the work of our political regeneration.

Notes

1. Unlike other more profitable colonies of Spanish America, Chile never had many slaves or free blacks; when it became one of the earliest countries to abolish slavery in 1823, there were only 4,000 slaves in Chile.
2. cadalsos
3. Auroradechile.cl's transcription corrected; was a period in place of the colon.
4. Auroradechile.cl's transcription corrected; original reads "presores."
5. Note at this point the author switches from the misnomer indios to Naturales, translated as "natives."
6. comprender
7. cuando
8. i.e., the natives