Note 224 — Chapter IX

The way in which this valuable despatch of the Inca Tupac Amaru became public is very curious. In 1806 Dr. Tadeo Garate, of La Paz, Secretary to Bishop Las Heras (afterwards Archbishop of Lima), was ordered by the Viceroy Marquis of Aviles to publish a history of the Rebellion of Tupac Amaru in 1780-1; and, to guard against the possibility of authentic counter-statements, this despatch was taken from the archives of Cuzco, and sent to La Paz in charge of an Indian student named Pasoscanki, who perused it on the road, and was so struck with the magnanimity and heroism of his native prince, that he did not deliver the papers. He afterwards emigrated to Buenos Ayres, and, in 1812, went to England, and commissioned Mr. Wood, of Poppin's-court, Fleet-street, to print Tupac Amaru's despatch; but, for want of funds, this was not done, and, Pasoscanki returning to Buenos Ayres, the publication was abandoned. In 1828 the same printer was employed to print the Spanish edition of Gen. Miller's Memoirs, and at that time the despatch was found amongst some old papers in Mr. Wood's office. It was finally published in an appendix to the Spanish edition of Gen. Miller's Memoirs.