58 Life ofBartolom& de Las Casas. 
 
 interested in Indian slavery ; and that the 
 royalties collected on the gold mined in 
 America were beginning to ease the here 
 tofore straitened conditions of the Castilian 
 treasury. It will not then be difficult to 
 understand how, on the arrival of the two 
 Friars in Spain, Alonso de Espinal, who 
 was able to display a bundle of letters from 
 Diego Columbus and the other crown of 
 ficers of Hispaniola, was lionized, while 
 Montesino's Dominican stock was at a dis 
 count. 
 
 The former was frequently found sitting 
 by the side of the old king conferring with 
 him on transatlantic affairs, whereas the 
 latter saw the doors of the royal palace daily 
 slammed in his face whenever he attempted 
 to obtain an audience. Happily the first 
 champion of American liberty was not to 
 be balked. Having one morning begged 
 in vain to be admitted to the presence of 
 the king, in spite of the efforts of the por 
 ters to keep him out, he rushed to the inner 
 royal chamber, and on his knees, "Sire," 
 he said, "I beseech Your Highness to give 
 me audience ; for I have to tell you that, 
 which it is very important you should 
 know." 
 
 "Speak, Father;" answered the monarch. 
 
 The Friar drew from the folds of his 
 
Life of Bartolom6 de Las Casas. 59 
 
 habit a memorial graphically describing 
 the horrors of American Indian Slavery 
 and read it. Then said the king: u are 
 these things possible ? ' ' 
 
 "Not only possible, ' ' answered the monk, 
 "but they are facts that happen daily. To 
 the pious and kind heart of your Majesty 
 it seems impossible that men be found 
 guilty of them ; I knew full well that your 
 Majesty had not commanded them. 
 
 "No indeed," Ferdinand replied ; "never 
 in my life, by God, did I ever command any 
 thing of the kind." 
 
 The immediate result of the conference 
 between Montesino and the Spanish King 
 was the appointment of a committee com 
 posed of the ablest juris-consults and theo 
 logians of the realm to investigate the 
 conduct of the Spaniards towards the In 
 dians. Numerous were the sittings of this 
 commission. But all the witnesses exam 
 ined, except Montesino, were the defendants 
 themselves, that is, quite a number of 
 colonists, who had come to back and sup 
 port their champion, Friar Alonso de Ks- 
 pinal. Montesino stood alone to tell the 
 tale of woes of the downtrodden American 
 Indians. Discouraged and depressed he 
 decided to make an effort to convert Espinal 
 himself to the side of justice, because he 
 
University o/ California Bcrkcky 
 
THE 
 
 life of Bartolome deLas Casas 
 
 AND 
 
 FIRST LEAVES OF 
 
 American Ecclesiastical History. 
 
 BY 
 
 REV. I,. A. DUTTO. 
 
 ST. IvOUIS, MO., 1902. 
 
 Published by B. HERDER, 
 
 17 South Broadway. 
 
NIHIIv OBSTAT. 
 S. Ludovici, die 26. Octobris 1901. 
 
 F. G. HOI/WECK, 
 Censor Theologicus. 
 
 IMPRIMATUR. 
 
 St. Louis, Nov. 9th, 1901. 
 
 OHN J. KAIN, 
 Archbishop of St. Louis, Mo. 
 
 Copyright, 1902, by Joseph Guinmersbach. 
 
 BECKTOLD 
 
 PRINTING AND BOOK MFG. CO. 
 
 ST. LOUIS, MO. 
 
T K 
 
 CONTENTS. 
 
 Chapter. Page. 
 
 I. Ancestry and early days of Las Casas.... 5 
 
 II. Las Casas an American lawyer 11 
 
 III. Las Casas a Priest 17 
 
 IV. Social, political and economical con 
 ditions of the first American colony 20 
 
 V. Relations between the first Kuropean 
 
 settlers and the Indians 26 
 
 VI. The Catholic Clergy in the earliest Am 
 erican colonies 41 
 
 VII. The First American Bishop 65 
 
 VIII. Las Casas in Cuba 73 
 
 IX. Las Casas a planter, a miner, and a 
 
 slaveowner in Cuba 96 
 
 X. Las Casas' first visit to the Court of 
 
 Spain 117 
 
 XI. Las Casas is made official Protector of 
 
 the Indians, and returns to America 151 
 
 XII. Las Casas' second trip to Spain in behalf 
 
 of the Indians 164 
 
 XIII. Las Casas' efforts to work a scheme of 
 colonization 198 
 
 XIV. Las Casas tries a new scheme for saving ' 
 and evangelizing the Indians 206 
 
 XV. Las Casas famous audience and speech 
 
 in the presence of Charles V 263 
 
 XVI. Las Casas sails for America to settle 
 with his Knights of the Golden Epaulet 
 
 on the Venezuelan coast... 291 
 
 XVII. Las Casas a friar 326 
 
 XVIII. Third voyage of Las Casas to Spain in 
 
 behalf of the Indians 343 
 
 XIX. Las Casas in Peru 352 
 
 XX. Las Casas in Guatemala 361 
 
 XXI. Las Casas crosses the Atlantic in the 
 interest of the Indians 392 
 
 XXII. Las Casas a Bishop 416 
 
 XXIII. Las Casas crosses the Atlantic to take 
 possession of his See 438 
 
 XXIV. Las Casas goes to Spain and crosses 
 the Atlantic the last time ... 527 
 
T^ 
 
Life of Bartolome de Las Casas 
 
 AND THE 
 
 First Leaves of American Ecclesiastical 
 History. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 Ancestry and early days of Las Casas. 
 
 gARTOL9ME de Las Casas was born 
 in Seville in 1474; in what month or 
 on what day is not known. His father's 
 name was Pedro de Casaus, a gentleman of 
 French descent, whose family was settled 
 in Spain for upwards of two hundred years. 
 San Fernando, the third Spanish king of 
 that name, during the wars, which he 
 waged against the Moors in the thirteenth 
 century, had received valuable aid from 
 the Casaus ; and in recompense therefor 
 
 : had granted them Letters Patent of Nobility. 
 The name Casaus lost its French spelling 
 
 and acquired its present Spanish form of 
 Las Casas during the first part of the six 
 teenth century. I find, that, during his early 
 
 (5) 
 
6 Life of Bartolom& de Las Casas. 
 
 manhood, the first American Priest occa 
 sionally signed his name Bartolome de 
 Casaus; but, when later he acquired the 
 official title of Protector of the Indians, Las 
 Casas was the name by which his country 
 men knew him, and by that name he is 
 known to history. 
 
 The family was very prominent in Spain 
 at the time of the discovery of America. 
 Bartolome tells us, in Historia de Las In- 
 dias (Chapter IvXXXII. Book I.) that his 
 father, Pedro de Casaus, and his father's 
 brother, (who was titled Francisco de 
 Penalosa, and was a favorite of Queen Isa 
 bella) came to America with Christopher 
 Columbus on his second voyage ; Francisco 
 in command of the military forces of the 
 expedition, and his brother Pedro as an 
 attache of the Viceroy. Having served the 
 full term of three years as Captain of the 
 military contingent of the first American 
 Colony, Francisco returned to Castile; but 
 Pedro remained in Hispaniola until the 
 1 8th of October 1498, when he returned to 
 Spain. The New World must however 
 have had strong attractions for Pedro ; for 
 on the 23d of August 1500 we find him 
 landing again in Hispaniola. 
 
 The nephew delights in recounting the 
 heroic death of his uncle, remarking how- 
 
Life of Bartolomt de Las Casas. 7 
 
 ever, like the humble man that he was, 
 especially in his old age : u let the glory be 
 given to God alone. " On his return from 
 America, Queen Isabella had appointed 
 Francisco de Pefialosa, Captain General of 
 an army, that was sent to subdue the Moors 
 of Cape Azamor. The camp of the Chris 
 tians had scarcely been pitched on the sea 
 shore, when the enemy, in overwhelming 
 numbers, fell upon them. Panic stricken, 
 they would have been massacred during a 
 rush they made for their ships in great dis 
 order, had not Pefialosa, after describing a 
 circle in the sand, planted himself therein, 
 and threatened to kill the first of the twenty 
 knights, who happened to surround him, 
 who should abandon his post. They all 
 fell, cut to pieces by Mohammedan scimi 
 tars, not however without stemming the 
 onslaught of the enemy long enough to in 
 sure the safe retreat of the Christian army. 
 Francisco de Casaus' death took place at 
 the end of 1499 or a ^ the beginning of 1500. 
 Of Bartolome de Las Casas' ancestry on 
 his mother's side little is known ; nothing 
 of his boyhood and scarcely anything of 
 his early manhood. In March 1493 we nnc ^ 
 him in Seville, where he saw, probably for 
 the first time, Christopher Columbus on his 
 return from his voyage of discovery, and the 
 
8 Life ofBartolom6 de Las Casas. 
 
 seven American Indians, wlio were the first 
 to set foot on European soil. L,as Casas 
 was then between 18 and 19 years of age. 
 He was yet in Castile when his father re 
 turned from Hispaniola in 1498 with a good 
 lump of American gold, a portion of which, 
 if I mistake not, was used in defraying his 
 expenses as a student in the far-famed 
 University of Salamanca. There he had 
 an American Indian to wait on him as a 
 page, whom Christopher Columbus had 
 given his father as a slave. All that the 
 Protector of the Indians himself says of his 
 relations with this child of the forest, is 
 found in the CLXXVI. Chapter of the I. 
 Book of his Historia de Las Indias. u My 
 father, to whom the Admiral (Christopher 
 Columbus) had given one of them (an 
 American Indian) and who had brought 
 him with him on the afore-mentioned 
 voyage (in 1498) returned to this island 
 (Hayti) with the Commendador Bobadilla, 
 taking with him the said Indian, who had 
 been a few days with me in Castile, and 
 whom I afterwards met and entertained 
 here on this island. " 
 
 If this Indian was ever truly the slave of 
 Bartolome de L,as Casas, it must have been 
 but for a very few days, and certainly he 
 never was at Salamanca ; for the same 
 
Life ofBartolomd de Las Casas. 9 
 
 vessel that brought him to Spain, brought 
 also letters from Christopher Columbus to 
 Queen Isabella, informing her that he had 
 given, to each one of the returning Span 
 iards, an Indian. On reading which that 
 noblest of Spanish women was greatly an 
 noyed, and broke forth in that now histori 
 cal sentence, which alone would have suf 
 ficed to immortalize her: ( l ( Quien dio licencia 
 a Colon para repartir mis Vasallos con 
 nadief") "Who gave permission to Colum 
 bus to parcel out my vassals to anybody?' 7 
 or as Las Casas has it: "What power has my 
 Lord the Admiral to give my vassals to any 
 body ? ' ' And there and then she wrote and 
 signed the famous decree, and caused it to be 
 published at once in Seville and in Granada, 
 by which, whoever had received from 
 Columbus an Indian slave, was ordered, 
 under pain of death, to send him back, at 
 his own expense, to his native country by 
 the first sailing vessel. That Indian and 
 some three hundred others, in the company 
 of Bartolome de Las Casas' father and the 
 ill-famed persecutor of Columbus, Boba- 
 dilla, saw once more his beloved Hayti at 
 seven o'clock of Sunday morning the 23d 
 day of August 1500. 
 
 Two years after, that is, at the beginning 
 of the year 1500, Las Casas had already 
 
io Life ofBartolome de Las Casas. 
 
 obtained a Licentiate's degree and the title 
 of Licenciado, by which I shall have fre 
 quent occasion to refer to him. His diplo 
 ma, not only admitted him, as we would 
 now say, to the bar, but also opened to him 
 the doors to all judicial and administrative 
 positions in the gift of the Spanish mon- 
 archs. It will not be thought amiss to re 
 mind the reader that a Licenciado, or law 
 yer, could not obtain, in those days, from 
 a Spanish University his degree without 
 possessing, at the same time, a fair know 
 ledge of Canon Law and of Theology. 
 
CHAPTER II. 
 Las Casas an American Lawyer. 
 
 de Ovando, a knight of the 
 military Order of Alcantara, known as 
 the Comendador de Lares, and later as 
 the Comendador Mayor, was about to 
 start for Hispaniola with thirty-two ships 
 and 2500 emigrants, drawn mostly from 
 the ranks of the nobility and the upper 
 classes, to replace the infamous Bobadilla 
 as Governor of the island, and reform 
 abuses. Bartolome de Las Casas was one 
 of the emigrants. His motives for exiling 
 himself from his beautiful Castile seem to 
 have been then no higher than those of 
 an ordinary fortune seeker. History how 
 ever records no action of his, even while 
 yet a layman, which would dishonor or 
 taint the good name of a Spanish cavalier, 
 or a Christian gentleman. He came to 
 America, no doubt to get rich, but only if 
 he could do so honestly. The thirty-two 
 ships set sails from the port of San Lucar 
 on the 1 3th of February 1502. Eight days 
 later they were approaching the Canary 
 Islands, when a severe storni fairly fright- 
 
12 Life ofBartolom& de Las Casas. 
 
 ened tlie crews and passengers into believing 
 that they would all end their journey at the 
 bottom of the sea. Barrels of water, of 
 wine, of oil, etc., and all heavy articles in 
 the cargo were thrown over board to lighten 
 the ships, which were dashed by the fury 
 of the wind, some on the coast of Africa 
 and some on the neighboring islands of 
 Tenerife, Lanzarote, La Gomera, Gran Ca- 
 naria etc. Only one foundered, LaRabida, 
 the wreckage of which and the floating 
 cargo of the others soon found their way to 
 the coast of Cadiz, and spread everywhere 
 consternation and the conviction that all 
 of the thirty-two vessels and the 2500 souls 
 on board of them had foundered and per 
 ished. So sorrow-stricken were King Fer 
 dinand and Queen Isabella, when the news 
 of the supposed disaster reached Granada, 
 where they were then sojourning, that for 
 eight days they refused to see a living soul, 
 and shut themselves in their Palace to 
 mourn the loss of so many of their subjects. 
 But order had been given the ships that 
 should they be forced to separate and suc 
 ceed in weathering the storm, to report at 
 La Gomera. In a few days thirty out of the 
 thirty-two ships showed up. As new pas 
 sengers were to be accommodated, another 
 vessel was chartered on the Gran Canaria, 
 
Life of Bartolomt de Las Casas. 13 
 
 Ovando and tlie young Licenciado arrived 
 in the harbor of San Domingo the i5th of 
 April 1502. I shall borrow from Las Casas 
 himself the description of their landing. 
 
 "The Spanish settlers of this city, which 
 was then an unincorporated village located 
 on the side of the river opposite the one it 
 occupies now, gathered on the shore re 
 joicing at our arrival. As those on land 
 saw and recognized those on board, some of 
 whom had been here before, the new comers 
 asked of the old settlers news of the country, 
 while the latter desired to hear the latest 
 news of old Castile, and who was coming 
 as Governor. 'Good news/ was the 
 answer on one side, 'the king sends to 
 govern the Indies the Comendador de 
 Lares of the Order of Alcantara, and old 
 Castile is doing well.' And in response 
 the landsmen would say: 'The Island is 
 doing well, because much gold is being 
 mined. One nugget was found worth, 
 alone, many golden dollars. The Indians 
 of a certain province have rebelled, and 
 many will be made slaves.' I heard the 
 words with my own ears, because I came 
 to this island with the Comendador de 
 Lares, and on the same voyage. M 
 
 They gave it as a piece of good news and 
 as a cause for rejoicing that the Indians had 
 
14 Life ofBartolom6 de Las Casas. 
 
 rebelled, because it gave them an oppor 
 tunity of making war against them, and 
 thus to make slaves of them to be sent to 
 and sold in Castile. 
 
 The reader will before long be enabled to 
 better appreciate the full meaning of this 
 passage of L,as Casas, which is taken from 
 the III. Chapter of the II. book of his 
 Historia de Las Indias. *) 
 
 There is no indication that the L,icenciadoj 
 ever entered the practice of L,aw or held 
 office as a layman. The usual methods of 
 amassing wealth in the earliest American.; 
 colonies were ist rescatar oro, which meant 
 bartering European trinkets with the natives 
 for their gold ; 2d mining, 3d farming. 
 The first was followed mostly by unscrupu 
 lous and adventurous seamen who, not un- 
 frequently, made their commercial expedi 
 tions on the islands and on the mainland 
 for the main purpose of kidnapping Indians. 
 The second, gold getting, principally 
 through the enforced labor of the Indians, 
 was the most common road to wealth. 
 Much attention was also paid to the third, 
 agriculture. It was the Spaniards who in 
 troduced on the Western Continent all the 
 
 *) Twelve Franciscans came on the same fleet, with 
 Alonso de Espinal to establish the first Convent or 
 Monastery in America. 
 
Life of Bartolomt de Las Casas. 15 
 
 European produces. The sugar-cane, which 
 soon became a prolific source of wealth for 
 Hispaniola and Cuba, was brought from 
 Madeira as early as 1494 by Pedro de 
 Alienzo. Bartolome de L,as Casas took to 
 farming and mining. 
 
 In March 1494 Christopher Columbus 
 built the fortress of San Tomas in the 
 mountainous province then called Cibao, 
 almost in the centre of Hispaniola. L,as 
 Casas describes the locality as follows: u He 
 decided to build there a fortress where the 
 Christians could dwell in safety and thence 
 lord it over the neighboring mines. The 
 site selected was a most picturesque one ; a 
 hill almost encircled by a beautiful and 
 sparkling little river, the waters of which 
 seem to be distilled, so clear are they. The 
 sounds of its little cascades are charming to 
 the ear. The land around is clear of brush, 
 and the air so pure and bracing as to invite 
 you to cheerfulness and happiness. The 
 name of the river out of which much gold 
 has been taken, is Xanique, and is but one 
 of several in that province rich of the pre 
 cious metal. There he caused to be con 
 structed a house very well built of wood 
 and burnt earth, surrounding it with a deep , 
 ditch on the side where the river did not 
 protect it. The house, or tower, was very 
 
1 6 Life ofBartolom6 de Las Casas. 
 
 strong, the Indians' means of assault con 
 sidered. At the base of the hill on which 
 the fortress is built, is a level and beautiful 
 piece of land, called by the natives a Za- 
 bana. There, at a time when the fortress 
 had already been abandoned, I established 
 and owned a farm, before I entered the 
 ecclesiastical state. The brook, at its 
 junction with the river, forms a little island 
 of rich and fertile soil, on which the first 
 onions in Hispaniola were raised from seeds 
 imported from Castile." (Historia de Las 
 Indias y Book I. Chapter XCI.) 
 
 No doubt L,as Casas here describes his 
 American home before his Ordination to 
 the Priesthood. He did not however usually 
 reside there ; for he says, speaking of the 
 administration of Ovando : "I was here (in 
 the city of San Domingo) most of the time 
 of his term of office." San Tomas stood 
 3000 feet above sea-level, 50 or 60 miles 
 south of Isabella (the first town built by 
 Columbus) and about the same distance 
 from Concepcion de L,a Vega, where he re 
 ceived Priest's Orders the first week in 
 November 1510. 
 
CHAPTER III. 
 Las Casas a Priest. 
 
 pORTY-TWO years after his ordination 
 L,as Casas, in a cell of the Dominican 
 Convent in the city of Valladolid, penned 
 the following concerning it. "During this 
 same year (1510) and during the very days 
 that Pedro de Cordova" (of him more anon) 
 "was at Concepcion de I/a Vega, a clerigo, 
 by the name of Bartolome de L,as Casas of 
 Seville, one of the oldest settlers on this 
 island, sung his First Mass, which was the 
 only First Mass that had ever been celebrated 
 in all these Indies (America), and for that 
 reason was made the occasion of prolonged 
 festivities on the part of the Admiral, 
 (Viceroy Diego, the son of Columbus) and 
 all those who were in the city, that is, a 
 large proportion of the settlers on the island. 
 It was smelting time, and great crowds 
 came with their Indians and their gold, as 
 they do in Spain on a great market day or 
 fair. Gold coins had not yet been intro 
 duced, and the people caused to be coined 
 or cast pieces of gold like counterfeit Cas- 
 tellanos and Ducados, and in diverse other 
 2 
 
1 8 Life of Bartolomd de Las Casas. 
 
 ornamental devises which they gave as pre 
 sents to the newly ordained priest, accord 
 ing to each one's pleasure and means. The 
 mouldings and the castings were made in 
 the royal smeltery itself, as it was forbidden 
 to smelt anywhere else, in order that 
 one-fifth of all the gold might be set aside 
 for the king according to law. Reales * 
 had already found their way to the island, 
 and many offerings were made of them to 
 the new priest, who gave everything to his 
 sponsors J except a few gold pieces which 
 he kept as souvenirs, on account of the ex 
 cellence of their workmanship. A peculiar 
 circumstance of that First Mass was that 
 during all the festivities no toasts were 
 offered and not a drop of wine was drunk. 
 None was to be had on the island because 
 no ship had arrived from Spain in many 
 days." (Historia de Las Indias, Book II. 
 Chapter LIV.) 
 
 Here begins the real biography of this 
 remarkable man, who, being the first or 
 dained, has not yet, as the reader shall see, at 
 the end of this nineteenth century, an equal 
 among the many thousands of clergymen 
 
 * A Spanish coin worth twelve and a half cents of 
 our money. 
 
 J In Spain the custom prevailed of giving God 
 fathers or sponsors to the candidates to the priest 
 hood. 
 
Life of Bartolom& de Las Casas. 19 
 
 who liave since lived and died on this 
 Western Continent. Others there have been 
 more sainted, more eloquent, more learned 
 perhaps ; but, if the good accomplished, for 
 both the White and the Red man, alone be 
 taken in consideration, the first ordained 
 American Priest stands yet without a peer. 
 The conviction creeps on the student of 
 early American History , who dives deeply in 
 the original sources of information that, had 
 there been not a L,as Casas, and had he not 
 been a Catholic Priest, backed by as power 
 ful a friend as Charles V. of Spain, it would 
 be doubtful if even a vestige of the Ameri 
 can Indian would now remain. But if there 
 are now in Spanish America alone thirty 
 million in whose veins courses aboriginal 
 American blood, it is due to Bartolome de 
 lyas Casas more than to any one else. The 
 reader need not fear that this biography is 
 to take the form of a panegyric. Las Casas 
 was not a saint even after receiving Priest's 
 Orders, although, were his canonization 
 left to the scores of non-Catholic authors 
 who wrote of him, he would perhaps be 
 placed at the head of the Roman Martyr- 
 ology. Within two years from his ordi 
 nation, he became the self-appointed Pro 
 tector of the Indians ; and six years after he 
 was given that title officially. 
 
CHAPTER IV. 
 
 Social, political and economical conditions 
 of the first American Colony. 
 
 (CHRISTOPHER Columbus arrived in 
 Hispaniola, on his second voyage, the 
 28th of August 1493. Fifteen hundred and 
 ninety men accompanied him who formed 
 the first Colony. On landing at the port of 
 Navidad he found that the thirty-nine com 
 panions of his first voyage, whom he had 
 left behind when he returned to Spain tc 
 bring the news of his wonderful discovery, 
 had all been massacred by the Indians. 
 Among these first fifteen hundred and ninety 
 European immigrants were ist, Christopher 
 Columbus himself, Admiral and Commander 
 in chief of the fleet, who came as Governor 
 and Viceroy of the Colony, ad, His brother 
 Diego, who, on hearing of the great dis 
 covery, had left in Genoa the loom and the 
 shuttle, to follow his brother to America. 
 3d, Antonio Torres who was second in com 
 mand of the fleet and first on the return 
 voyage. 4th, Bernal Dias, who followed 
 the expedition as Auditor of the royal 
 accounts. 5th, Diego Marquez in charge of 
 
 ,(80) 
 
Life ofBartolomt de Las Casas. 21 
 
 the Quartermaster's department. 6th, Pedro 
 de Viilacorta as Treasurer, yth, Francisco 
 de Penalosa, already mentioned above. 
 8th, Alonso de Vallejo, Penalosa's lyieuten- 
 ant. All these were Grandees of the Royal 
 Household. Columbus, at his famous re 
 ception at Court in Barcelona had given ex 
 aggerated reports of the abundance of gold 
 in the Indies. The glitter of the precious 
 metal attracted to his standard hundreds of 
 noblemen and cavaliers, who had grown 
 in arms and heretofore had lived by them. 
 The Moorish wars had come to an end with 
 the fall of Granada, January 2d, 1492, and 
 had left them without an occupation. The 
 number fifteen hundred and ninety men 
 was largely made up of ex-officers of the 
 army, and their retainers fresh from camp- 
 life and ready for any new and stimulating 
 adventure, which the hated Moor, in Spain 
 at least, afforded them no longer. 
 
 The new climate, the arduous manual 
 labor, which Columbus was forced to im 
 pose on nobleman and plebeian alike, 
 while building Isabella, the first American 
 town, the want of proper shelter, the 
 scarcity of European food, soon engendered 
 an epidemic of fevers, and the colony was 
 decimated again and again. To make 
 matters worse the coveted gold did not ap- 
 
22 Life of Bartolomti de Las Casas. 
 
 pear in any great quantity for several years, 
 and nearly all the surviving colonists clam 
 ored to return to Spain on every ship that 
 sailed from Hispaniola. Many did return 
 between the years 1493 an( ^ I 49& ; some on 
 three vessels that brought Bartholomew, the 
 other brother of Columbus to America dur 
 ing the middle part of the year 1494, some 
 others, about two hundred in numbers, on 
 the two caravels that brought back Chris 
 topher Columbus from his second voyage, 
 and not less than three hundred towards 
 the end of 1498. 
 
 Emigration to America between 1494 and 
 1500 was unpopular and, to maintain the 
 settlement of Hispaniola. king Ferdinand 
 and Isabella felt compelled to order, by a 
 decree dated the loth of April 1495, that 
 not less than three hundred persons should 
 remain on the island in the pay of the 
 Crown. Another decree, dictated at the 
 suggestion of Columbus himself, and dated 
 the 22d of June 1497, granted pardon to all 
 criminals then in the jails of Spain, with 
 few exceptions, who would consent to work, 
 under the direction and at the expense of 
 the Admiral of the Indies, two years, if 
 under sentence of death, and one year if 
 convicted of a non-capital crime. All judges 
 of the kingdom were also instructed to ship 
 
Life ofBartolomd de Las Casas. 23 
 
 to Hispaniola the criminals found guilty of 
 crimes deserving exile or hard labor in the 
 mines. But, notwithstanding all these pro 
 visions, and perhaps on account of them, 
 there were not in Hispaniola or any where else 
 in America, more than three hundred white 
 settlers at the dawn of the sixteenth cen 
 tury. Of them Christopher Columbus, in a 
 letter written at the end of the year 1500, 
 says: "In Hispaniola there are very few, 
 who are not vagabonds, and nobody has a 
 wife or a family. n They lived in open con 
 cubinage with Indian women, and de 
 bauched them whenever their unrestrained 
 lust prompted them to. Of the helpless 
 natives they recognized no right. A blot 
 on the fair name of the discoverer of America 
 himself is the fact, that he conceived the 
 idea and attempted to carry it out, of filling 
 his own and his royal master's coffers by 
 the partial enslavement of its aboriginal 
 inhabitants. 
 
 The famous Genoese navigator and hits 
 brothers did not prove successful rulers over 
 the lawless and heterogeneous band of 
 Spanish adventurers, who feared neither 
 God nor man ; and the settlement, between 
 the year 1494 and 1500, was almost con 
 stantly in a state of revolt and semi-anarchy. 
 Francisco Roldan, with his seventy or 
 
24 Life of Bartolom& de Las Casas. 
 
 eighty followers, successfully defied the 
 authority of Columbus, and, during his 
 absence, of his brothers Bartholomew and 
 Diego, for not less than four years. Fear 
 ing to loose the wavering allegiance of the 
 other colonists, the unhappy world-finder 
 adopted the policy of condoning their thefts, 
 their oppressions, and even their murders 
 of the Indians. 
 
 During the two first years of the sixteenth 
 century gold began to be gathered in pay 
 ing quantities and more settlers were at 
 tracted from Spain to Hispaniola. Towards 
 the end of 1507 it had become possible to 
 establish a new settlement, under the leader 
 ship of Juan. Ponce de L,eon, on the island, 
 which he named San Juan (St. John) and 
 which is now known as Porto Rico from 
 its principal harbor. In 1509 two new 
 Colonies were established on the main-land 
 aggregating one thousand men ; one by 
 Diego de Nicuesa in the province of Veragua 
 north of the gulf and river Darien, the 
 other by Alonso de Ojeda on the gulf of 
 Uraba south of Darien, which, by mutual 
 agreement, became the dividing line of the 
 respective settlements of which, by royal 
 decree, they were made governors. A few 
 Spaniards, during the same year, also took 
 possession of the island of Jamaica, over 
 
Life of Bartolom& de Las Casas. 25 
 
 which Ojeda and Nicuesa were to exercise 
 joint jurisdiction, and use it as their common 
 base of supplies. 
 
CHAPTER V. 
 
 Relations between the First European 
 Settlers and the Indians. 
 
 understand the mission and the life- 
 work of Las Casas it is necessary to form 
 a correct idea of the relations, existing at the 
 time of his ordination, between the two 
 races, the white intruder and the helpless 
 aboriginal American. It has already been 
 said how thirty nine of Columbus' com 
 panions, on his first voyage, had been 
 massacred by the Indians. Why ? Because 
 they had debauched their wives and their 
 sisters, and stolen their property. Colum 
 bus had wisely allowed their death to 
 remain unrevenged. But by the be 
 ginning of 1494, the Spaniards, having 
 already realized the weakness and help 
 lessness of the natives, and built here 
 and there on the island a few fortresses, 
 Mosen Pedro Margarite was sent out 
 with four hundred men to explore and 
 subjugate it. Three Spaniards one day 
 were on their way from the Fortress San 
 Tornas to Isabella, accompanied by five 
 
Life ofBartolom& de Las Casas. 27 
 
 Indians, who had been assigned by their 
 Cacique to carry their baggage. The eight 
 travellers were in the water, crossing a 
 river, when the five Americans abandoned 
 the three Europeans and made, with the 
 latter's baggage, for their native village. 
 The Cacique, instead of punishing the 
 offenders, kept the coveted European goods 
 for himself ; and Ojeda avenged the theft 
 by causing the ears of one of the offenders 
 to be cut off publicly, and the Cacique and 
 his nephew to be sent in irons to Columbus 
 at Isabella. The Admiral condemned them 
 promptly to death, but later yielded to the 
 entreaties of another friendly Cacique and 
 set them free. During the imprisonment 
 of the guilty chief a Spanish horseman 
 chanced to pass through his village where 
 he found five of his countrymen surrounded 
 by hundreds of Indians, ready to put them 
 to death. At the appearance of the man 
 on horseback the naked Indians, as usual, 
 took to their heels ; but in the scrimmage 
 some were wounded, others killed by the 
 Castilian steel. 
 
 It was not long before the four hundred 
 Spaniards in the interior of the island began 
 to help themselves to whatever the Indians 
 possessed; provisions to eat, women to 
 abuse, and young men to press them into 
 
28 Life ofBartolome de Las Casas. 
 
 their menial services. Meanwhile Columbus 
 had gone on a voyage of discovery. Mar- 
 garite, disgusted with the conduct of his 
 superiors, abandoned his command, re 
 turned to Isabella and thence to Spain. His 
 men scattered hither and thither in groups 
 to become the scourge of the native islan 
 ders. Then followed the rebellion of Rol- 
 dan, whose men outlawed by the colonial 
 authorities, lived for four years of theft and 
 rapine. The Indians, from believing them 
 men from Heaven, began to look upon the 
 new comers as their persecutors and as the 
 personification of wickedness and cruelty. 
 Reprisals followed, and woe to the Spaniard 
 who chanced to be surprised alone or 
 unprotected. Not a few of the colonists 
 perished at the hands of the natives, who 
 rose in arms all over the island against the 
 intruders. 
 
 Ojeda, by a treacherous stratagem inveig 
 led from his dominions Caonabo thebravest 
 and most powerful Indian chief to Isabella. 
 His treachery fired the heart of the red 
 men, who determined to wipe out from 
 their country the pale-faced strangers. But 
 they were naked, and their arrows proved 
 almost inoffensive against the shields, the 
 lances and the fire-arms of the Spaniards. 
 One man on horseback and in armor could 
 
Life ofBartolom& de Las Casas. 29 
 
 safely dasli through the serried ranks of 
 thousands of Indians and slaughter them 
 right and left by the hundred. To pacify ( ? ) 
 the land, Columbus, on his return, ordered 
 a cruel war of extermination. The rule 
 was then adopted that for every European 
 killed by the Indians, one hundred of these 
 should perish. Some six hundred so called 
 prisoners of war w^ere captured and were 
 ready to be shipped to Spain to be sold as 
 slaves. The unfortunate Caonabo was al 
 ready on board of one of the vessels when 
 a tempest arose and engulfed the entire 
 flotilla and the helpless Indian chief with it. 
 It was then (1495) that the Spaniards used 
 for the first time against the Indians what 
 Las Casas calls (Historia de las Indias 
 Ch. CIV. Book I.) "the diabolical in 
 vention", the blood-hounds. Twenty of 
 these were let loose like wolves amongst a 
 flock of lambs and thousands of the terror 
 ized Americans were torn to pieces. The 
 land was pacified ; that is, the Indians in 
 despair bent their necks to the yoke of the 
 Spaniards. 
 
 Tributes of gold were then levied on 
 every person above 14 years of age so ex 
 orbitant, that the Islanders, who possessed 
 no appliances for mining it, found it im 
 possible to gather it from beds of rivers in 
 
30 Life of Bartolome de Las Casas. 
 
 sufficient quantities to pay them. In des 
 pair they abandoned their villages, their 
 homes and their farms, and took to the 
 mountains. Pursued by the horsemen and 
 the blood-hounds they perished by the 
 thousands of hunger and want. But mean 
 while the Spaniards themselves saw their 
 own numbers thinned out year after year, 
 by sickness, hunger and the Indians. Dis 
 satisfaction soon became general. The 
 acquired habits of dissoluteness and of roam 
 ing about the island pillaging the Indians, 
 and their consequent idleness made farming 
 distasteful, and even impossible. Two years 
 experience had proved that the tributes of 
 gold, even though they caused thousands of 
 the natives to perish, could not be collected. 
 It was at this juncture that Columbus, to 
 provide for the starving European colonists, 
 laid the foundation of what, later under 
 Bobadilla (between 1500 and 1502), be 
 came known as the Hepartimientos . The 
 tributes of gold having failed, he levied 
 new ones in the form of enforced labor in 
 tilling siifficient fields or farms to support 
 the garrisons and the Spanish settlers. 
 Roldan, during his rebellion, had tasted 
 the sweets of slavery, that is, had gotten in 
 the habit of forcing the Indians to do for 
 himself and for his followers any and all 
 
Life of Bartolomt de Las Casas. 31 
 
 kinds of labor. Coaxed into submission, 
 but still a standing menace to the already 
 weakened authority of the Admiral, he 
 asked for permission to impress the subjects 
 of Chief Behechio into the enforced labor 
 of working the fields for the sustenance 
 of himself and his followers. "Fearing, 
 for good reasons, a new rebellion, " Colum 
 bus yielded. "Then," to use the words 
 of lyas Casas, "those who had remained 
 faithful to the Admiral, as well. as the 
 followers of Roldan, especially when they 
 began to settle down and to form Pueblos 
 (villages), each one, the herdsman, the 
 branded criminal, and he, who for his 
 crimes had been exiled from Castile, began 
 to ask that this or that Cacique with his 
 people be assigned to work his farms." 
 The Admiral yielded again and "in a 
 month the branded criminal and the exile 
 became the masters of the lords or kings 
 of the land." Columbus went farther. It 
 is painful to translate the following letter 
 of the Discoverer of America ; "but," says 
 Las Casas, "these are his words": 
 
 "May it please Your Majesties to allow 
 that these people (the Indians) may be 
 made use of, for a year or two until this 
 business (of colonization) be placed on a 
 good footing ; it begins to do better already, 
 
32 Life ofBartolomt de Las Casas. 
 
 as both tlie seamen and nearly all the 
 landsmen are now satisfied. Two or three 
 ship -masters are here ready to bind them 
 selves to take to Seville, at their own ex 
 pense, slaves, for the consideration of 1500 
 maravedies a head, to be paid out of the 
 proceeds of their sale. The proposition 
 pleased everybody, and I pledged myself 
 on account of everybody else to furnish the 
 cargo. They (the ship-masters) will return 
 and bring provisions and other necessary 
 things. Thus this business (the coloni 
 zation of Hispaniola) will improve. It is 
 now in bad shape, because the people (the 
 whites) refuse to work, and the Indians do 
 not pay tribute. " 
 
 The kings of Spain were also informed 
 that all the Spaniards preferred already to 
 settle down on their own account to re 
 maining in the service and in the pay of 
 the King. To the credit of the Genoese 
 mariner it must be said that he never in 
 tended to permanently enslave the Indians, 
 and that those who were to be sent to Spain 
 were the so-called prisoners of war. 
 
 Bobadilla, his persecutor, who was his 
 immediate successor in the governorship of 
 the Island, to please the Spaniards, assigned 
 to all of them Indians, and these allotments 
 of Indians became known as Mepartimien- 
 
Life of Bartolom6 de Las Casas. 33 
 
 toSy which later took the more euplionious 
 name of Encomiendas . Under Ovando the 
 infamous system cast deeper roots, and, so 
 to speak, became indigenous to the soil. 
 In 1514 the office of Repartidor was created. 
 His business was to Repartir, that is, to 
 parcel or reparcel out the Indians amongst 
 the Spaniards. 
 
 Thus a murderous form of slavery was 
 established in the Antilles, which ended in 
 their almost total depopulation in the course 
 of a few years. It was never legalized and 
 this was its worst feature. Except in the 
 case of prisoners of war or of true or sup 
 posed cannibals, the Indians never became 
 the property of the Spaniards, and could 
 not legally be sold. They were given or 
 taken away at the will, before the year 
 1514, of the Governor, and after that date, 
 of the Repartidor. It was therefore in the 
 interest of the white master to make the 
 most of his Indians' labor on the farm or 
 in the mine, while they were in his posses 
 sion. If they died under the lash, of star 
 vation or of overwork, he lost nothing, but 
 could call for more if influential with the 
 Governor or the Repartidor. Had they 
 been his property it would have been his 
 interest to look after their bodily wants in 
 order to preserve what represented so much 
 
 wealth. 
 3 
 
34 Life ofBartolomd de Las Casas. 
 
 Meanwhile it was believed by the rulers 
 of Spain that their untutored American sub 
 jects were only paying a reasonable tribute 
 or tax, in work instead of cash. I^as Casas 7 
 writings, and those of his contemporaries 
 on early American history, are full of royal 
 decrees issued by Ferdinand and Isabella, 
 and by Charles V. in favor and for the 
 protection of their transatlantic subjects. 
 Unfortunately their authority in the west 
 ern World, during the first fifty years after 
 its discovery, was scarcely more than a 
 shadow. The will of the adventurer, the 
 conquistador, exile or criminal was the only 
 law protecting the natives. 
 
 Gold having been discovered in many 
 places in Hispaniola, gold-hunters from 
 Spain began to cross the Atlantic in in 
 creasing numbers. But the morals of the 
 colony were scarely improved thereby, al 
 though an occasional good man emigrated 
 to America. It soon became proverbial in 
 the Spanish Peninsula that only ad 
 venturers, outlaws and thieves passed to 
 the Indies. These on their arrival found 
 it but natural to adapt themselves to their 
 new surroundings and to endeavor to get 
 rich by oppressing the Indians. 
 
 During the first decade of the sixteenth 
 century numerous mines were established 
 
Life ofBartolomd de Las Casas. 35 
 
 in Hispaniola, and in these thousands upon 
 thousands of Indians were cast to work and 
 to perish under the lash, or of want and ex 
 haustion. Their brutal task-masters looked 
 upon them as little more than beasts of 
 burden and were merciless. 
 
 The West-Indian Islanders, unlike their 
 brothers of the Continent, were not war 
 like. The nature of their country's climate 
 made it unnecessary to wear any clothing; 
 Palm leaves, reeds and straw afforded them 
 what shelter was needed ; the forests an 
 abundance of fruits, the rivers and the sur 
 rounding ocean their fish, and the cazabe 
 or cassaba plant and maiz their bread. 
 Only the last named articles required any 
 cultivation at all. Their lives were there 
 fore spent in idleness, and their bodies under 
 the influence of a tropical sun, had grown 
 delicate, undeveloped, and unfit for manual 
 labor. Hence the confinement and the 
 work of the mines proved to them unbear 
 able and fatal. They died by the thou 
 sands, and the survivors often preferred 
 death to the galling yoke of the bearded in 
 truder. "The pay," says L,as Casas, 
 " which they (the Spaniards) gave the 
 wretches (the Indians) for their uninter 
 rupted labor, were the lash and the stick, 
 and scarcely a word did they address to 
 
36 Life of Bartolomd de Las Casas. 
 
 them if it was not to call them Dogs. And 
 would to God that they'd treat them as well 
 as their dogs. They would not kill one of 
 these for a thousand Castellanos, whereas 
 they think no more of killing ten or twenty 
 Indians for a pastime or to test the sharp 
 ness of their swords, whenever their whims 
 prompt them to, than if the poor creatures 
 were cats. Two boys twelve years of age, 
 were each the possesssor of a parrot. Two 
 other individuals, who called themselves 
 Christians, took the birds away from the 
 children, and then, as if for amusement, 
 cut their (the children's) heads off. An 
 other tyrant, annoyed by a Cacique, who 
 had failed to give all that the white man 
 had asked for, hanged 12 of his Indians 
 and 1 8 others in one and the same house. 
 Another condemned an Indian to be shot 
 to death with arrows because, he said, he 
 had been slow in delivering a letter of 
 which he was the carrier. Of similar deeds 
 perpetrated by our Christians the number is 
 
 infinite n u Tliey were the work, 
 
 rather than of men, of devils incarnate." 
 I^as Casas here describes the condition of 
 the Indians under Bobadilla, during the 
 years 1500 to 1502. The 300 brutalized 
 criminal white men on the Island had 
 grown accustomed to look upon the na- 
 
Life ofBartolomt de Las (Jasas. 37 
 
 lives, not as their fellowmen but as beasts, 
 useful only for the labor they were able to 
 perform. 
 
 Their lot did not much improve under 
 Governor Ovando, during whose regime 
 and that of Diego Columbus, the son of the 
 Discoverer, a vast majority of the natives, 
 to the number of several hundred thou 
 sands, if not a full million, perished. The 
 inhabitants of Porto Rico and of Jamaica 
 met with the same fate at about the same 
 time. Those of the Bahama Islands to the 
 number of forty thousands (Pedro Martyr 
 Decada VII.) were kidnapped from their 
 homes and brought to Hispaniola to work 
 in the mines where they too perished and 
 disappeared. 
 
 In Cuba the general hecatomb took place 
 a decade of years later. A sad phenomenon 
 took place there, which, as far as I know, 
 has no parallel in the annals of mankind. 
 Having been taught by experience that re 
 sistance to the Spaniards was futile and 
 flight from them impossible, the Indians 
 fell a prey to sullen despair and to a mania 
 for suicide. u Whole families would hang 
 themselves, fathers and sons, young and 
 old, adult and children. The villagers of 
 one Pueblo would invite those of another 
 to hang themselves together in order to 
 
38 Life of Bartolom& de Las Casas. 
 
 escape their uninterrupted woes and tor 
 ments. They believed that after death 
 they would live another life somewhere 
 else that would afford them perfect rest . . . 
 So great was the number of those who 
 became affected with this mania of hanging 
 themselves, that the Spaniards began to 
 realize that they had overdone their work, 
 and to grieve over their cruelties, because 
 they saw that soon there would be nobody 
 left to be killed in the mines .... A 
 Spanish master saw the Indians of his Re- 
 partimiento, heart-broken and in despair, 
 leave their quarters, or the mines, and on 
 their way to their native village fully de 
 termined there to hang themselves all to 
 gether. Having surmised their intention, 
 he appeared in their midst when they were 
 getting their ropes ready, and assuming as 
 much earnestness' as he could ; "look me 
 up a good rope," he said, U I want to hang 
 myself along with you ; why should I live 
 without you, who make my living and mine 
 my gold ? I wish to go with you that I may 
 not be deprived of what you do for me." 
 They, thinking, that even after death, they 
 could not rid themselves of him, and that, 
 in the hereafter, he would continue to lord 
 it over and oppress them, agreed not to kill 
 themselves then, but to postpone their own 
 
Life ofBartolomt de Las Casas. 39 
 
 execution." (Hist. De Las Ind. Book III. 
 Ch. L.) 
 
 The natives of the Bahama Archipelago 
 were naturally great swimmers. To kidnap 
 them in shiploads and sell them into slavery 
 was no extraordinary occupation of the 
 early American Colonists. At first the 
 Bahamians sold for four and five dollars a 
 head. But the discovery of the pearl fish 
 eries sent up their price to $100 and to 
 $150. Those who did not die in the mines 
 of Hispaniola, found watery graves around 
 the little Island of Cubagua, on the pearl 
 coast, where they were employed as divers. 
 It is refreshing to meet with an occasional 
 good man among the earliest American 
 settlers. Pedro de I^a Isla was one of 
 them. He was wealthy, and lived as a re 
 tired merchant in the capital city of San 
 Domingo. It was his desire to prevent the 
 utter extinction of the aboriginal race of 
 Bahamians; and, with that end in view, he 
 provisioned abundantly a caravel and sent 
 it with eight or nine sailors to search the 
 forty or fifty islands. They were instructed 
 to take on board the few wretches, who 
 might have escaped the grasp of the kid 
 nappers. Pedro's intention was to colonize 
 the Islanders into a pueblo where they could 
 live in perfect liberty and peace. Three 
 
40 Life of Bartolomd de Las Casas. 
 
 years were spent in the undertaking ; but, 
 when the caravel put in the port of Plata, 
 only eleven Indians were landed. So 
 thoroughly had the sea-faring marauders 
 done their work. Pedro de L,a Isla died a 
 Franciscan Friar. 
 
 During the year 1518 smallpox was im 
 ported, from Spain, into Hispaniola ; and of 
 the Indians, who had survived the works of 
 the mines and the tyranny of the white 
 settlers^ a few thousand only escaped its 
 ravages. Thus in less than half a century 
 from the advent of the white man, the 
 inhabitants of Cuba, Porto Rico, Hi 
 spaniola, Jamaica and the Bahamas had 
 disappeared, and to-day it is doubtful if a 
 single full blooded aboriginal of those is 
 lands is to be found. 
 
 It was L,as Casas' mission to stem the 
 torrent of bloodshed and murder, which 
 threatened to devastate and depopulate the 
 American continent as it did the American 
 islands. 
 
CHAPTER VI. 
 
 The Catholic Clergy in the earliest American 
 Colonies. 
 
 pictures we meet with occasionally 
 in school books, representing Christopher 
 Columbus in the act of taking possession 
 of the Western world in the name of the 
 kings of Spain, with Rev. Father Juan 
 Perez or some other priest at his side, 
 may be edifying, but do not express 
 historical truth. It cannot be proved and 
 it is not true that a clegyman accom 
 panied the World-finder on his first voyage 
 of discovery. 
 
 The sacrament of Baptism was ad 
 ministered, for the first time, to ab 
 original Americans, in Barcelona, to the 
 seven Indians brought by Columbus to 
 Spain on his first voyage. King Fer 
 dinand and his son John were their 
 godfathers. Then was forged the first 
 link of the chain that united religi 
 ously the New to the Old World, where- 
 
 (41) 
 
42 Life ofBartolom& de Las Casas. 
 
 by America entered the Communion of 
 Saints. 
 
 Three or four Secular priests accompa 
 nied Columbus on his second expedition. 
 I have been .unable to ascertain their 
 names. Some Franciscan Friars also 
 came at the same time, priests and lay- 
 brothers. One of the priests was named 
 Father Remis, or Remigius. Of the 
 two lay - brothers, one was named Juan 
 de L,a Duela surnamed the Bermejo (the 
 red, from his ruddy complexion), and 
 the other Juan de Tisin. These were 
 well read and lettered men, who, it was 
 understood, had refused, through humility, 
 to receive priest's orders. These first 
 Franciscans were not Spaniards but French 
 men from Picardy, and they came to 
 America, I^as Casas assures us, through 
 pure zeal, to evangelize the natives. Re 
 migius, after laboring several years in 
 Hispaniola and in Cuba, returned to 
 Europe, and through the influence of 
 Cardinal Ximenes (who was a Francis 
 can), obtained permission to bring with 
 him to America, about the year 1514, 
 fourteen other Franciscans, all French 
 men from Picardy. As we shall see, 
 these French Fathers established the 
 
Life of Bartolome de Las Casas. 43 
 
 first house of their Order on the 
 American continent, in the Indian 
 village of Cumana on the coast of 
 Venezuela. 
 
 The famous Father Biiil came as the 
 Ordinary of the first American colony 
 with full ecclesiastical jurisdiction. He 
 was a Benedictine Monk from the kingdom 
 of Aragon, and, as L,as Casas surmises, 
 the Abbot of a monastery at the time 
 of his appointment, which was made by 
 Pope Alexander VI. at the request of king 
 Ferdinand. 
 
 He was the first American Vicar 
 Apostolic, but was not a Bishop, as 
 the following from the Papal Bull of 
 appointment plainly shows : ' ' Tibi, qui 
 
 presbiter es accedendi et inibi 
 
 quamdm volueris commorandi, plenam, 
 liberam et omnimodam facultatem con- 
 cedimns pariter et elargimur." The 
 Holy Father also left him free to re 
 turn to Spain whenever he wished to, 
 provided he transferred the faculties re 
 ceived to some other Priest, who accom 
 panied him to America. 
 
 Biiil remained in America not more 
 than ten months, and returned to Spain 
 with Mosen Pedro Margarite. He had 
 
44 Life ofBartolomd de Las Casas. 
 
 not been in Hispaniola many days when 
 disagreements arose between himself and 
 Christopher Columbus and his brothers. 
 Hernandez de Oviedo, a contemporary 
 historian, says (although L,as Casas dis 
 credits his statements) that during those 
 dissensions Biiil suspended all the divine 
 offices in the Colony to bring Columbus 
 to terms, and that the latter, as a re 
 prisal deprived Biiil and the members of 
 his household of their daily rations. Be 
 that as it may, certain it is that on 
 his return to Spain, he endeavored, by 
 misrepresentations, to discredit Columbus 
 and his undertaking. L,as Casas leaves 
 us not in doubt that he, Mosen Pedro 
 Margarite and their disgruntled par 
 tisans were at the root of the ultimate 
 downfall of the discoverer of America. 
 His name would never have been pre 
 served to history were it not for his 
 associations with the Genoese mariner. 
 The name has been twisted into Boil, 
 Boyle and Boile to make an Irishman of 
 him. There is no doubt that he was a 
 Benedictine Monk bred and born in the 
 kingdom of Aragon ; but Spanish or Irish, 
 his name will never shed much lustre on 
 either nation. 
 
Life ofBartolomd de Las Casas. 45 
 
 The first priests came to the New World 
 well provided with vestments, chalices and 
 all other articles necessary to the celebra 
 tion of the divine offices. The chasuble, 
 used by the priest, who said the first Mass 
 in America, was given, out of her royal 
 chapel, by Queen Isabella. It did service 
 for many years, and L,as Casas pathetically 
 remarks, that, when too old to be used any 
 longer, it continued to be preserved almost 
 as carefully as if it was a relic, "because 
 of its being the gift of the beloved Catholic 
 Queen and the first brought to the Indies. n 
 
 Every vessel, sailing from Spain for Hi- 
 spaniola between the years 1493 and 1510, 
 carried at least one clergyman either as 
 chaplain or to remain in the Colonies. At 
 least one Franciscan accompanied Bobadilla 
 to Hispaniola, Father Juan de Trasierra. 
 Neither he however, nor the French Fathers, 
 who had arrived in 1493, crossed the ocean 
 for the fixed purpose of founding a convent 
 of their Order in America. This was done 
 by Father Alonzo de Espinal, who accom 
 panied by twelve other Friars, all Spaniards, 
 arrived in Hispaniola with Ovando in 1502. 
 Their first convent was founded in the 
 City of San Domingo. In 1510 the Fran 
 ciscans possessed already another house in 
 or near Concepcion de L,a Vega composed 
 
46 Life of Bartolome de Las Casas. 
 
 of eight Friars ; and a third one in the Pro 
 vince of Xaragua, in the town which they 
 called Vera Paz. 
 
 Alas ! they too had their Repartimientos 
 of Indians, not indeed in their own name, 
 but in that of a layman, who made some 
 $5000 a year out of the slaves, and gave 
 enough to support the Friars according to 
 their rule and vow of poverty. The tithes 
 of the church having been ceded by Alex 
 ander VI. to the Crown, the secular priests 
 and their churches were supported by the 
 kings as long as there were no Episcopal 
 Sees in existence. Wherever a settlement 
 of Spaniards was made, a priest was as 
 signed to act as its parish priest, with a 
 salary of $100 a year.*) 
 
 We know of three substantial churches 
 begun and partially built by Columbus him 
 self ; one at Isabella which was probably 
 never finished, because that settlement was 
 soon abandoned ; another at Concepcion de 
 La Vega, where he desired to be buried, 
 and a third one at San Domingo, t) 
 
 *) Between the years 1500 and 1560 gold depre 
 ciated in value 1000 % owing to the large treasures 
 of the 3'ellow metal found in possession of the Incas 
 of Peru and the rich mines discovered almost every 
 where in America. The purchasing power of gold 
 in 1560 was yet five times greater than it is now, so 
 that the earliest American priests were paid a salary 
 equivalent to $1500 of to day. 
 
 $) The church built by Christopher Columbus at 
 
Life of Bartolom& de Las Casas. 47 
 
 But generally tlie so-called churches, 
 during the first twenty years of American 
 colonization, were nothing more than a few 
 rough-hewn timbers stuck in the ground 
 with over them a strawthatched roof. 
 
 Before the ordination of L,as Casas scarce 
 ly a voice was raised by either Regular 
 or Secular clergy against the enslavement' 
 of the Indians. He tells us how everybody 
 (including himself) was blind about that 
 great sin. The evil had cast deep roots 
 even in the Court of Spain, and corruption 
 in office was rampant during the last years 
 of king Ferdinand's reign. 
 
 Don Juan de Fonseca, whom we shall 
 frequently meet in the course of this work, 
 was bishop of Burgos, (though residing at 
 Court) a Privy Councillor to their Majesties, 
 and, for many years, head as we would say 
 now-a-days, of the bureau for Indian affairs. 
 "This Don Juan de Fonseca," says Las 
 Casas, "although an ecclesiastic, an Arch 
 deacon first, then Bishop of Badajoz, then 
 of Palencia, and last of Burgos, was very 
 skillful in the management of worldly affairs, 
 
 San Domingo has disappeared altogether. But 
 the Cathedral of that city, begun during the govern 
 orship of T3iego Columbus in 1514 is the oldest 
 church in America and yet one of the finest. It is 
 famous as the burial place of the Columbuses, 
 father, son and grandson. 
 
48 Life ofBartolom de Las Casas. 
 
 especially in gathering armies to fight on 
 the sea, a business better befitting the 
 sailors of Biscay than a bishop. Hence 
 the Kings, as long as they lived, always 
 entrusted him with the fitting out of their 
 fleets. " 
 
 There was scarcely a family in Spain 
 more influential than the Fonseca. Beside 
 the elder brother Don Alonso, who had in 
 herited the rich family estate, and Don 
 Juan, there was Don Antonio de Fonseca, 
 their brother, the Auditor of State for the 
 Kings, and Don Alonso de Fonseca, their 
 uncle, and Archbishop of Seville. 
 
 At the time of L,as Casas' ordination, 
 Juan Rodriguez de Fonseca, the Bishop of 
 Burgos was working, for his own benefit, 
 in the mines and on the plantations of 
 Hispaniola and Jamaica twelve hundred 
 Indian slaves. No wonder if a few of the 
 earliest American clergymen were found 
 in possession of Repartimientos. 
 
 To the sons of St. Dominic, so often 
 painted as the embodiment of tyranny and 
 the tools of the Inquisition, belongs the 
 honor of being the first protectors of Ame 
 rican liberty ; and the first to raise their 
 voice against the enslavement of the native 
 Indians. Father Domingo de Mendoza, 
 brother of the famous Garcia de I/oaysa, 
 
Life ofBartolom& de Las Casas. 49 
 
 consecutively Superior General of trie Do 
 minican Order, Confessor to Emperor 
 Charles V., Bishop of Osma Arch 
 bishop of Seville, Cardinal and Minister of 
 State, introduced the Dominicans in the 
 New World. He was not however one of 
 the first to land in Hispaniola. Pedro de 
 Cordova, Antonio Montesino, and Bernardo 
 de Santo Domingo, all three famous in the 
 annals of the early American Church, and 
 all three saintly and learned men landed in 
 San Domingo about the first of October 
 1510 and there formed the first Community 
 of Dominicans in America. Pedro de Cor 
 dova, although only twenty-eight years of 
 age, acted as Superior in the absence of 
 Father Domingo de Mendoza, who, having 
 remained in Spain to recruit more subjects 
 for the American Missions, arrived a few 
 weeks after, with ten or twelve more com 
 panions. 
 
 The first week in November of the same 
 year we find already young Pedro de Cor 
 dova in Concepcion de la Vega, whither he 
 had travelled on foot (a distance of about 
 one hundred miles) to pay his respects to 
 Diego Columbus, the governor, and to 
 apprise him officially of the arrival of the 
 Dominicans. He reached Concepcion on 
 Saturday, and the following day preached 
 
50 Life ofBartolom6 de Las Casas. 
 
 a sermon on the glories of Heaven, which 
 made a powerful impression on the Co 
 lonists. During the morning service the 
 Spaniards were told to send their Indians 
 to church in the afternoon for instruction. 
 The natives came in large numbers ; and 
 the young Missioner, crucifix in hand and 
 seated on a stool, addressed them by means 
 of an interpreter beginning with the cre 
 ation of the world and ending with the 
 crucifixion of Christ. Hence the Domini 
 can rule had its origin, which was kept 
 for many years after in Hispaniola and on 
 the continent, of instructing the Indians 
 every Sunday afternoon. The first Domi 
 nican convent in the New World was a 
 straw hut donated by a good man named 
 Pedro de L,umbrares, but its first occupants 
 were men picked from different convents 
 in Spain, and eminent for their learning 
 and their virtues. De Lumbrares furnished 
 the Friars with cazabe bread, which formed 
 their ordinary diet, and occasionally with 
 eggs and fish. Add to these some cabbage 
 dressed in oil, when they could get it, and 
 you have the fare of those early Apostles 
 of America. Wheat bread and wine were 
 hard to obtain, even for Altar purposes. 
 Nevertheless they observed scrupulously 
 the primitive rule of their Order, and fasted 
 
Life ofBartolome de Las Casas. 51 
 
 seven months in the year. Their beds 
 were made of four forked posts and some 
 hewn boards with over them a sack or 
 mattress filled with straw. 
 
 By their sermons, the administration of 
 the Sacraments, and mainly by the ex 
 ample of their lives, they soon succeeded 
 in stamping out certain minor forms of sin, 
 such as the non-observance of fast-days, 
 the practice of usury, etc. But the plague 
 of the colony, the main cause of its de 
 gradation, namely the enslaving of the In 
 dians continued its ravages unhampered 
 and unopposed. From their Convent of 
 straw it took the Friars a few months to 
 fully realize the enormity of the evil. As 
 Providence would have it, an outlaw came 
 to open their eyes. Juan Garcez, having 
 killed his wife in a fit of jealousy, had been in 
 hiding for three or four years. Smitten by 
 remorse of conscience and tired of the life 
 of a vagabond, he presented himself one 
 night under cover of darkness at the door 
 of the Monastery, and begged to be received 
 as a lay member of the ' community. He 
 succeeded in convincing the Fathers that 
 his conversion was sincere, and was admit 
 ted. Garcez soon began to entertain the 
 Fathers with graphic descriptions of the 
 horrible cruelties perpetrated by himself 
 
52 Life ofBartolom& de Las Casas. 
 
 and by other Spaniards on the helpless 
 natives, especially in the work of the 
 mines, and set the good Friars to study the 
 problem of Indian slavery. Prayers and 
 fastings followed in the Community to ob 
 tain from God light to adopt the proper 
 means, and fortitude to combat the monster 
 evil. Consultations followed each other 
 among the Friars in rapid succession, and 
 it was decided at last that the tyranny of 
 their countrymen should be attacked from 
 the pulpit. Father Antonio Montesino was 
 chosen for the task. A sermon was pre 
 pared and the manuscript was submitted 
 to the approval of all the other Fathers, 
 whp, each individually, attached to it his 
 own signature. Then a house to house 
 canvass was made of the town, and the 
 Spaniards, from the Governor down, were 
 invited to hear the sermon the following 
 Sunday, which was the first of Advent of 
 the year 1511. As an inducement to attend , 
 everybody was told that the subject of the 
 sermon would be new and interesting to 
 the whole town. The attendance, it needs 
 not be said, was all that could be desired. 
 
 The Governor, Diego Columbus, was in 
 his pew, and his wife, Dona Maria de To 
 ledo, the grand niece of King Ferdinand, 
 was there with all the colonial officers of 
 
Life ofBartolom& de Las Casas. 53 
 
 the Crown. Montesino ascended the pulpit 
 and gave out his text from the Gospel of 
 the day. u Vox clamantis in deserto, the 
 voice of one crying in the desert." L,as 
 Casas, who had the original manuscript of 
 that most memorable sermon, left us only a 
 short quotation from the exordium. "I 
 ascended this pulpit to let you know that I 
 am the voice of Christ crying in the wilder 
 ness of this Island. Hence it is meet that 
 you listen to it with no ordinary attention, 
 but with all the power of your souls and of 
 your five senses. It will prove to you the 
 strongest, the most rasping, the harshest, 
 the most frightful voice you ever listened 
 to. This voice tells you that all of you 
 are now living and dying in a state of 
 mortal sin, on account of your cruelty and 
 tyranny over these innocent people. Tell 
 me : with what right and with what justice 
 do you subject the Indians to so cruel and 
 to so horrible a slavery? With what au 
 thority do you wage your abominable wars 
 against these people, who were living peace 
 ably in their own countries, where you 
 caused infinite numbers of them to die by 
 your unheard of barbarities and slaughter ? 
 Why do you overwhelm them with work, 
 and give them not sufficient food to keep 
 them from starving, or medicines to cure 
 
54 Lift of Bartolom de Las Casas. 
 
 their infirmities? Nay, why do you kill 
 them daily with excessive labor that they 
 may bring you gold ? What steps have you 
 taken to have them taught to know God, 
 their Creator, to be baptized, to hear Mass 
 and to keep the Sundays and Holydays? 
 Are you not bound to love them as your 
 selves ? Have you lost your reason, have 
 you lost your senses ? or are you buried in 
 a lethargic sleep ? Rest assured of it; in 
 the state you are now living, you can 
 no more save your souls than the Moors 
 or the Jews, who have not the faith of 
 Christ." 
 
 In the afternoon of that day there was a 
 meeting of the citizens of San Domingo in 
 the Governor's house and a Committee was 
 appointed, with Diego Columbus as chair 
 man, to wait on the Friars for the purpose 
 of reprimanding the preacher and frighten 
 the other members of the Community. They 
 called for Montesino and the Father Superi 
 or ; but the latter answered the call alone. 
 Who, having been haughtily requested to 
 send for the offending orator, answered 
 with dignity, that he was the Prelate of 
 that Religious Community, and that, if any 
 thing was wanted by their lordships, he 
 was there to answer. Seeing that Pedro de 
 Cordova was not to be browbeaten, the 
 
Life of Bartolomd de Las Casas. 55 
 
 Governor changed tone and tactics and re 
 spectfully asked permission to interview 
 Father Montesino. His request having been 
 granted, Diego Columbus delivered, in the 
 name of the whole Committee, a speech, 
 the substance of which was, that, unless 
 the novel doctrine preached that morning 
 was retracted, steps would be taken to bring 
 the haughty preacher to his senses. The 
 Siiperior answered that he and all the other 
 Fathers were responsible for Moiitesino's 
 sermon, which had been preached in the 
 name of them all, as the evangelical truth, 
 after mature consideration, and as necessary 
 to the salvation of the Spaniards as well as 
 the Indians of the Island, who were perish 
 ing daily under their eyes and- received no 
 more care or attention than if they were 
 beasts of the fields. "We are bound, " 
 said he, u to preach that doctrine by, the 
 profession of faith we made in holy 
 Baptism, and more so by the vows we made 
 in becoming Friars, Preachers of the 
 Truth of Christ." 
 
 "If so," said a member of the Commit 
 tee; "the Friars may as well get their lug 
 gage ready to leave for Spain." 
 
 "Certainly, my Lords," replied Pedro 
 de Cordova; "it will cause us little trouble 
 to do that." 
 
56 Life ofBartolomd cle Las Casas. 
 
 They had iiotliing but the clothes they 
 wore. 
 
 After much parleying a promise was 
 made that the same Antonio Montesino would 
 preach again on the same subject the fol 
 lowing Sunday, and, as far as his con 
 science would permit, endeavor to please 
 the audience. 
 
 The Committee gave it out that the Friar 
 would retract, and the following Sunday 
 the church was packed again to hear the 
 recantation. 
 
 Imagine the disappointment of the colo 
 nists when the text of the sermon fell in 
 ringing tones from the lips of the undaunted 
 orator , ( '/ shall repeat my knowledge from 
 the beginning" (Job, Chapter XXXVI. 
 Verse 3) "and prove my words to be true." 
 
 This second sermon was a severer in 
 dictment of the Hispano- American audience 
 than the first. The colonists left the church 
 in a rage, but were powerless to gag or 
 silence the brave Friar on account of the 
 ecclesiastical immunities enjoyed by the 
 clergy in those days. They did not how 
 ever give up the hope of ultimately com 
 pelling the Dominicans to eschew their 
 withering denunciations. 
 
 The Franciscans, we have seen, enjoyed 
 the partial benefits of a Repartimiento, and 
 
Life of Bartolom& de Las Casas. 57 
 
 no doubt felt that the Dominican sermons 
 reflected disparagingly on their community. 
 Father Kspinal, the Superior of the Spanish 
 Franciscans was engaged to go to Spain to 
 denounce Montesino and the Dominicans 
 to King Ferdinand as teachers of new 
 doctrines and disturbers of the public peace. 
 Thus Friars were pitted against Friars, but 
 the game was not all one-sided, by any 
 means ; for Montesino, the Dominican, 
 followed Kspinal, the Franciscan, to Court. 
 
 Las Casas throughout his works chari 
 tably excuses the conduct of the Francis 
 cans on this occasion on the ground of 
 ignorance, as the disciples of St. Francis, 
 unlike those of St. Dominic, were not 
 generally men deeply versed in jurispru 
 dence or in moral Theology. In other 
 words, he grants that Bspinal and his con 
 freres acted in good faith. 
 
 It must not be forgotten that Juan de 
 Fonseca was then at the head of the bureau 
 for Indian affairs, and that twelve hundred 
 Indians were then at work in the mines 
 and on the plantations of Hispaniola, Ja 
 maica and Porto Rico to replenish his epis 
 copal coffers with gold ; that Conchillo, the 
 Secretary of State, was also deriving a fat 
 income from his Repartimientos ; that many 
 other courtiers were directly or indirectly 
 
58 Life ofBartolomd de Las Casas. 
 
 interested in Indian slavery ; and that the 
 royalties collected on the gold mined in 
 America were beginning to ease the here 
 tofore straitened conditions of the Castilian 
 treasury. It will not then be difficult to 
 understand how, on the arrival of the two 
 Friars in Spain, Alonso de Espinal, who 
 was able to display a bundle of letters from 
 Diego Columbus and the other crown of 
 ficers of Hispaniola, was lionized, while 
 Montesino's Dominican stock was at a dis 
 count. 
 
 The former was frequently found sitting 
 by the side of the old king conferring with 
 him on transatlantic affairs, whereas the 
 latter saw the doors of the royal palace daily 
 slammed in his face whenever he attempted 
 to obtain an audience. Happily the first 
 champion of American liberty was not to 
 be balked. Having one morning begged 
 in vain to be admitted to the presence of 
 the king, in spite of the efforts of the por 
 ters to keep him out, he rushed to the inner 
 royal chamber, and on his knees, "Sire," 
 he said, U I beseech Your Highness to give 
 me audience ; for I have to tell you that, 
 which it is very important you should 
 know.'* 
 
 "Speak, Father;" answered the monarch. 
 
 The Friar drew from the folds of his 
 
Life of Bartolomd de Las Gas as. 59 
 
 habit a memorial graphically describing 
 the horrors of American Indian Slavery 
 and read it. Then said the king: "are 
 these things possible ? ' ' 
 
 "Not only possible, ' ' answered the monk, 
 "but they are facts that happen daily. To 
 the pious and kind heart of your Majesty 
 it seems impossible that men be found 
 guilty of them ; I knew full well that your 
 Majesty had not commanded them. 
 
 "No indeed," Ferdinand replied ; "never 
 in my life, by God, did I ever command any 
 thing of the kind." 
 
 The immediate result of the conference 
 between Montesino and the Spanish King 
 was the appointment of a committee com 
 posed of the ablest juris-consults and theo 
 logians of the realm to investigate the 
 conduct of the Spaniards towards the In 
 dians. Numerous were the sittings of this 
 commission. But all the witnesses exam 
 ined, except Montesino, were the defendants 
 themselves, that is, quite a number of 
 colonists, who had come to back and sup 
 port their champion, Friar Alonso de Ks- 
 pinal. Montesino stood alone to tell the 
 tale of woes of the downtrodden American 
 Indians. Discouraged and depressed he 
 decided to make an effort to convert Espinal 
 himself to the side of justice, because he 
 
60 Life ofBartolomd de Las Casas. 
 
 knew liim to be a conscientious man, a true 
 religious, and that, if lie sinned, lie sinned 
 through ignorance. He stationed himself 
 one morning at the gate of the Franciscan 
 Convent, where Kspinal lodged, and when 
 the latter came out to attend the meeting of 
 the commission, Montesino approached 
 him, and having obtained permission to 
 speak to him, addressed him thus : 
 
 "Father, do you expect to take to the 
 next world anything more than this thread 
 bare Friar's habit that you wear, and which 
 was given you in charity ? Do you look for 
 something more than to serve God ? Why 
 do you consort with these tyrants ? Don't 
 you see that they are using you as a tool 
 in their wicked designs ? Why do you take 
 sides against the helpless Indians ? Is this 
 the pay you give them for having sup 
 ported you and your brother Friars with 
 the sweat of their brow ?" etc. 
 
 The address was full of vigor but dic 
 tated by a spirit of charity. It converted 
 the well intentioned but simple-minded 
 Franciscan, who thenceforward became the 
 life-long friend of the Dominican, and hav 
 ing turned state's evidence espoused the 
 cause of the unfortunate Indians. 
 
 The report of the commission, less the 
 preamble, which I omit, reads as follows : 
 
Life of Bartolomti de Las Casas. 61 
 
 <( ist. The Indians being free men, and 
 your Highness and the Queen (may God 
 admit her to glory) having commanded that 
 they be treated as freemen, we recommend 
 that they be allowed to continue in the en 
 joyment of their liberty. 
 
 2d. We recommend that they be in 
 structed in the Catholic faith, as it is or 
 dered in the bull of the Pope, and as your 
 Majesty have ordered by letter. It must be 
 ordered that due diligence be employed to 
 obtain good results. 
 
 3d. We find that your Majesty have the 
 right to exact from the Indians such labor, 
 as will not prevent their being instructed 
 in the Faith, but which, on the contrary, 
 will prove beneficial to them, to the com 
 monwealth, and to your Majesty, who must 
 meet the expenses of their instruction and 
 of the administration of justice among 
 them. 
 
 4th. Said labor must not be oppressive, 
 and sufficient time for recreation must be 
 given them every day throughout the year. 
 
 5th. They must be allowed to own their 
 own houses and a sufficient amount of land 
 at the discretion of the present or the 
 future governors of the Indies. Let time 
 be given them to properly cultivate said 
 land in their own way. 
 
62 Life of Bartolomd de Las Casas. 
 
 6tli. L,et it be ordered that tliey be kept 
 in as close communication as possible with 
 the Spanish colonists, in order that they 
 may be more easily instructed in the Ca 
 tholic faith. 
 
 7th. L,et their labor be paid not in 
 money, but in clothing and other articles 
 useful to their households." 
 
 These propositions are not in principle 
 unjust, but unfortunately nothing is said in 
 them about abolishing the system of Re- 
 partimientos. The laws formulated (not by 
 the commissioners, who declined the task, 
 but by the bureau of Indian affairs) to re 
 gulate, according to the principles laid 
 down in the seven propositions, the re 
 lations between the Spaniards and the In 
 dians, while designating the latter as free 
 men, really did not abolish their slavery. 
 Dejure they mitigated it greatly, de facto, 
 very little, because their execution was left 
 in the hands of those most interested in its 
 perpetuation. Nearly two years had elapsed 
 since Kspinal and Montesino had left Hi- 
 spaniola, when the laws were at last pro 
 mulgated December the 27, A. D. 1512. 
 They continued in force, with additions and 
 modifications, made always in favor of the 
 Indians, until the year 1543. 
 
 I have mentioned that Father Kspinal 
 
Life ofBartolomd de Las Casas. 63 
 
 had come to Spain loaded with, letters that 
 represented the Dominicans in America as 
 little less than revolutionists. After reading 
 them, king Ferdinand sent for their Pro 
 vincial and complained bitterly of the con 
 duct of the American Friars. These com 
 plaints soon reached Pedro de Cordova in 
 Hispaniola, who decided to leave for Spain 
 also, in order to assist Montesino in the 
 task of obtaining measures for the freedom 
 of the Indians and at the same time vindi 
 cate the conduct and the doctrines of his 
 fellow-friars. He arrived at court when 
 the laws had already been formulated, 
 although they had not yet been promul 
 gated. King Ferdinand received him 
 kindly, and soon conceived of him the 
 opinion that he was, not only an enlight 
 ened man, but a Saint ; and that opinion, 
 says L,as Casas, was not a mistaken one. 
 Pedro de Cordova foresaw clearly that the 
 laws, as then formulated, would fail to cor 
 rect American abuses or to materially allevi 
 ate the oppression of the Indians, . and so 
 informed the King. Thereupon the aged 
 monarch begged the youthful monk to re 
 vise the laws already made, or to make new 
 ones, arid promised to have them enforced. 
 But, unfortunately for America, the Friar 
 declined the task on the plea that it was 
 
64 Life of Bartolom& de Las Casas. 
 
 beyond the scope of his vocation and the 
 range of his abilities. 
 
 At the beginning of the year 1515 the 
 Dominicans established a convent in Cuba, 
 with for subjects, Father Gutierrez de Am- 
 pudia, Superior, Bernardo de Santo Do 
 mingo and Pedro de San Martin, priests, 
 and Diego de Alberga, deacon. We shall 
 meet again these saintly apostles in the 
 course of this work. In September or Oc 
 tober of the same year Pedro de Cordova 
 sent four or five other fathers and the lay 
 brother Juan Garcez, (mentioned above,) to 
 establish the first Dominican convent on 
 the continent, in the Indian village of 
 Chiribichi, which they called Santa Fe de 
 Chiribichi, on the coast of Venezuela. The 
 journey was made in the company of the 
 Franciscan Fathers who went in the same 
 vessel to establish their convent of Cumana. 
 
CHAPTER VII. 
 The First American Bishops. 
 
 JN 1503 Pope Julius II., at the request of 
 Queen Isabella, erected three episcopal 
 sees in Hispaniola, one of which was to be 
 the metropolitan. But the depopulation of 
 the Island of its aboriginal inhabitants was 
 progressing so rapidly, that the idea of in 
 stalling bishops in America was abandoned 
 for a time. However in the year 1511 the 
 number of Spanish colonists had so in 
 creased in Hispaniola and Porto Rico as to 
 make it advisable to establish new sees, 
 not in the Indian villages selected in 1503, 
 but in the towns that had been built by the 
 Spaniards. The erection of the archiepis- 
 copal see and of its two suffragans was 
 annulled, and in lieu thereof a new one 
 was founded in the city of Concepcion de 
 la Vega, another in San Domingo of 
 Hispaniola, and a third one in the principal 
 settlement of the Island of Porto Rico. All 
 three were made the suffragans of the me 
 tropolitan see of Seville. Pedro de Deza 
 became the first bishop of Concepcion de la 
 Vega, where he died not long after taking 
 
 5 (6 5 ) 
 
66 Life ofBartolom& de Las Casas. 
 
 possession of his see; Alonso Manso became 
 the first bishop of Porto Rico and the first 
 titular bishop to land in America ; Garcia 
 Padilla was elected the first bishop of San 
 Domingo, but died unconsecrated and with 
 out taking possession of his see. Padilla 
 was a Franciscan, De Deza a Dominican, 
 and Manso, a secular priest. 
 
 On the third day of May 1512 an agree 
 ment was drawn by an Apostolic notary 
 between the king of Spain and the newly 
 elected bishops, by which the former ceded 
 to the latter the tithes granted to him by 
 pope Alexander the VI., to be applied to 
 the support of the ordinaries themselves, 
 their clergy, the churches and the hospi 
 tals. The crown reserved for itself the 
 jus pair onatus in the appointments to all the 
 benefices erected or to be erected, to be 
 however exercised only once in each case. 
 A benefice once vacant, it fell within the 
 jurisdiction of the bishop alone to appoint 
 another incumbent from among the legi 
 timate children of the Spanish colonists, 
 and, according to the Canons, by concur- 
 sus, or competitive examination. The 
 bishops bound themselves not to induce 
 the Indians to abandon the labors of the 
 mines directly or indirectly, but on the 
 contrary to admonish them to work more 
 
Life ofBartolom& de Las Casas. 67 
 
 than ever in mining gold not 
 omitting to let them know that the pre 
 cious metal was to be employed in making 
 war against the infidels, etc. 
 
 L,as Casas vehemently attacks this clause 
 of the agreement. But "unfortunately", 
 he tells us, "Bishop Manso himself accepted 
 a Repartimiento, although in all proba 
 bility he never worked his Indians in the 
 mines." 
 
 As illustrating the workings of the in 
 timate union of Church and state prevalent 
 in the sixteenth century, I will give a few 
 more articles of the agreement between the 
 bishops and the king. 
 
 i st. The tithes must be collected in 
 kind and not in money. 
 
 2d. No tithes shall be collected on 
 metals mined, or on precious stones. 
 
 3d. If ecclesiastics shall engage in min 
 ing, the same royalties shall be collected 
 on the output of their mines, as on the 
 output of those belonging to seculars. Any 
 ecclesiastic so engaged shall be amenable 
 to the civil tribunals in all law-suits con 
 cerning temporal affairs, and, should he 
 plead ecclesiastical immunity, he shall be 
 deprived of his Repartimientos of Indians 
 and loose all his rights to his mines. 
 
 4th. Bishops were restrained from or- 
 
68 Life ofBartolomd de Las Casas. 
 
 daining more than oue son in each family. 
 
 5th. They bound themselves not to give 
 even the tonsure to any individual, who 
 could not understand and speak the Latin 
 language. 
 
 6th. The size of the tonsure must be 
 worn according to the rules laid down in 
 the bull of Julius the II., establishing the 
 American hierarchy. 
 
 yth. Clergymen shall wear their hair 
 long enough to fall at least an inch and a 
 half below the ears and a little further 
 down the neck and shoulders. 
 
 8th. All clergymen's tabards should be 
 long enough to reach within a few inches 
 of the instep, and should not be variegated, 
 green, red, or of any other dishonest or 
 unbecoming color. 
 
 9th. The bishops bound themselves not 
 to establish in America new feasts, or days 
 to be kept holy other than those enjoined 
 by the general law of the Church. 
 
 Shortly after his installation as bishop 
 of Porto Rico, Manso, beside the predial 
 tithes, that is, the one tenth of the profits 
 derived from real estate, attempted to col 
 lect also from the Spanish settlers what 
 were known as personal tithes, that is, a 
 tenth share of the earnings of their personal 
 industries. The Spaniards refused to pay 
 
Life of Bartolom& de Las Casas. 69 
 
 them, and the bisliop excommunicated 
 them. They in return ostracized him, 
 and, for a time, made it difficult for him 
 to obtain even the means of subsistance. 
 
 Disgusted with his American dignity, 
 the prelate left the Island, and returned to 
 his canonry in Salamanca, which he had 
 discreetty failed to resign on his elevation 
 to the episcopal office. Three or four 
 years after we find him in Hispaniola, 
 where he acted as inquisitor for one or 
 two years. Then he returned to Porto 
 Rico, and governed his diocese for quite a 
 number of years and died at a ripe old age. 
 Las Casas speaks of him as ( 'a Theologian, ' ' 
 and a person who led "a very good life," 
 "honest," "humble," "plain," but "not 
 much of a business man." Still he says 
 that, as to the Indians, Bishop Manso, like 
 the other Spaniards, felt as little responsi 
 bility as if they were not men. 
 
 Pedro de Deza, the first bishop of Con- 
 cepcion de la Vega, did not come to take 
 possession of his see immediately after his 
 consecration, but sent as Vicar General to 
 govern it one Don Carlos de Aragon, a 
 Doctor in Theology, from the University of 
 Paris. He was a nobleman, and, it was 
 whispered, a relative of king Ferdinand, 
 who, on the death of queen Isabella, had 
 
70 Life of Bartolom& de Las Casas. 
 
 taken care to fill all the lucrative offices in 
 Hispaiiiola with subjects from his own 
 kingdom. 
 
 Don Carlos was quite an orator, and soon 
 found himself at home in the then capital 
 of the New World, where he was the only 
 clergyman with a D. D. affixed to his 
 name, the Dominicans excepted, who lived 
 in retirement and were hated by the colo 
 nists, on account of Father Montesino's 
 and other similar sermons of theirs. The 
 whole city turned out to hear Don Carlos 
 whenever he ascended the pulpit. The 
 aura popularis, always dangerous to cler 
 gymen, soon turned the head of the Pa 
 risian Doctor. In his sermons he quoted 
 more frequently his Parisian professor, 
 (uncovering his head whenever he men 
 tioned his name) than the gospel. If his 
 doctrines did not agree with those of the 
 Angelic Doctor, he would remark: "May 
 St. Thomas forgive me, but in this matter 
 he did not 'know what he talked about." 
 It soon reached the ears of the Dominicans 
 that the Vicar General was preaching 
 dangerous and unsound doctrines, and they 
 lost no time in writing to their superiors 
 in Spain about them. Meanwhile the now 
 renowned preacher found Hispaniola too 
 narrow a field for the display of his talents 
 
Life ofBartolomt de Las Casas. 71 
 
 and returned to Spain. There his dashing 
 oratory and the novelty of his doctrines 
 attracted immense crowds to hear him. 
 He was invited to preach at court where 
 the Dominicans went to hear him. His 
 false doctrines were taken down, and Don 
 Carlos denounced to the Inquisition. He 
 was made to recant in the Cathedral of 
 Burgos of which Juan de Fonseca was the 
 bishop. 
 
 "In what I have said about this or that 
 other matter I confess that I was wrong ;" 
 said Don Carlos. 
 
 1 'Say that you lied ;" called the bishop 
 from his throne. 
 
 "I say that I lied ;" answered Don 
 Carlos. 
 
 He was condemned to close confinement 
 for life in a monastery, and the first Ame 
 rican vicar general never was heard of 
 again. Even the influence of king Ferdi 
 nand to have his noble vassal and relative 
 dealt with more gently, availed him 
 nothing. 
 
 The first episcopal see in Cuba was 
 established in Baracoa, and its first bishop 
 elect was Bernardo de Mesa, who however 
 never took possession of it and died bishop 
 of Blna in Catalonia. 
 
 In 1523 Charles V. (who was by birth 
 
72 Life ofBartolomt de Las Casas. 
 
 and education Flemish) having succeeded 
 Ferdinand and Isabella to the throne of 
 Spain, caused a Flemish Friar to be ap 
 pointed to succeed Bernardo de Mesa. His 
 name was John de Wite. He resigned in 
 1527, and retired to Bruges, where he died 
 and was buried in the monastery of St. 
 Dominic. Under the administration of de 
 Wite the see was removed to Santiago de 
 Cuba, where it continues to this day, 
 having however been made an archbishopric 
 in 1768, when the new see of Havana was 
 created and made a suffragan of Santiago 
 de Cuba. 
 
 The first diocese established on the Ame 
 rican Continent was that of Santa Maria de 
 la Antigua on the Gulf of Darien. Its first 
 bishop was Juan Cabedo, a Franciscan, 
 who landed there, being already conse 
 crated, with the famous Pedrarias de Avila 
 in June 1514. Several Franciscans ac 
 companied him. His administration re 
 flected little honor on the American epis 
 copate. 
 
CHAPTER VIII. 
 Las Casas in Cuba. 
 
 The three foregoing chapters, besides 
 affording the reader the first pages of ec 
 clesiastical American history, were neces 
 sary to make the biography and the life- 
 work of L,as Casas intelligible. We left 
 him a newly ordained priest at the age of 
 thirtysix in the town of Concepcion de la 
 Vega in Hispaiiiola. He exercised the 
 ministry but a few months in that Island. 
 Diego Velasquez, the richest American 
 colonist, was chosen by Diego Columbus, 
 the governor of Hispaniola, to subject the 
 Indians of Cuba to the Spanish crown and 
 to form settlements of Spaniards. Velas 
 quez and I/as Casas had been neighbors and 
 friends in Hispaniola, and the former was 
 scarcely settled in Cuba, when he wrote to 
 the young priest to come over and be the 
 chaplain of his expeditionary little army 
 of conquest. 
 
 L,as Casas joined him in Baracoa where 
 the foundations of the first white settlement 
 in Cuba had already been cast.* 
 
 * At Baracoa I^as Casas began to fall in familiarly 
 with Hernando Cortez, the future conqueror of 
 
 (73) 
 
74 Life ofBartolomt de Las Casas. 
 
 Before his arrival, Velasquez had sent 
 his lieutenant, Panfilo de Narvaez, to the 
 neighboring province of Bayamo to induce 
 the Indians, by suasion, if possible, by force 
 of arms, if necessary, to give their alle 
 giance to the kings of Spain. Narvaez 
 owed his appointment, as Velasquez' lieu 
 tenant, to their mutual friendship con 
 tracted in Spain before their emigration to 
 America. Velasquez had sent to Jamaica 
 for Narvaez, where the latter had no small 
 share in the subjugation of, and in the 
 cruelties perpetrated against the natives of 
 that Island. Having been, for several 
 years, in constant contact with the Indians, 
 and a daily witness of their helplessness to 
 resist the Spaniards, Narvaez had grown 
 
 Mexico. He gives (Ch. XXVII. Book III. of Hist, de 
 las Ind.) of him the following: "Diego Velasquez 
 had two secretaries, Hernando Cortez and Andres de 
 Duero, who was almost a pigmy in stature (tamafio 
 como un codo) but brave and very discreet in his 
 word. He was a good penman. Cortez had the 
 advantage over him of being a Latin scholar and en 
 joying the title of Bachelor of Law. But he was a 
 great talker, and enjoyed a good joke. As he was 
 not as discreet as Duero, he was not either as good a 
 secretary. He was a wise and able man, although 
 he did not have the appearance of knowing much, 
 or of possessing all the ability which he displayed 
 later in his arduous undertakings. He was a native 
 of Medellin, and the son of a squire, of my ac 
 quaintance, lowly and poor, although, it was. said, 
 of gentle extraction." 
 
Life ofBartolom& de Las Casas. 75 
 
 rash and imprudent. In Bayamo lie had 
 but a handful of Spanish followers, all on 
 foot, except himself. Seven thousand In 
 dians surprised him one night, while sound 
 asleep, and surrounded his camp. On 
 waking Narvaez was struck in the chest by 
 a stone, which caused him to remark to the 
 Franciscan Friar, who stood by his side : 
 "Father, they have killed me." But his 
 attendants threw over his mare the saddle, 
 which was loaded with little bells, and the 
 captain, barefooted and in his night clothes, 
 sprang on the animal, and galloped around. 
 The naked Indians at the sight of what 
 appeared to them a monster, and at the 
 tinkling of the bells, were seized with 
 fright, took to the mountains and never 
 stopped until they reached the neighboring 
 province of Camaguey . Velasquez , on hear 
 ing of the occurrence, hastened to join 
 Narvaez with reinforcements, and Las Casas 
 accompanied him. On their arrival in Ba 
 yamo, they found it deserted, and learned 
 from some Indians, who had remained be 
 hind, because too old or too sick to travel, 
 that Narvaez was in pursuit of the fleeing 
 hordes. 
 
 If in Hispaniola Velasquez had formed a 
 correct judgement of Las Casas' worth as a 
 layman, in Baracoa and in Bayamo, where 
 
76 Life ofBartolom& de Las Casas. 
 
 they spent several months together, ample 
 opportunity was afforded him for studying 
 and appreciating the talents and the zeal 
 of the young ecclesiastic, whose irreproach 
 able conduct soon engendered feelings not 
 only of respect, but of genuine admiration. 
 It goes without saying that their old friend 
 ship and his sacerdotal character gained 
 for the Clerigo a wholesome influence over 
 the haughty Conquistador. Las Casas, 
 speaking of himself (Hist, de las Ind., 
 Book III. Chap. XXIII.) quaintly says: 
 "Diego Velasquez loved him, and did many 
 good things on his advice, being influenced 
 especially by his sermons." 
 
 Velasquez was about to be married, and 
 having heard of his bride's and her father's 
 arrival in Baracpa, hastened thither to 
 celebrate his wedding, leaving in Bayamo 
 fifty Spaniards with Juan de Grijalva (a 
 beardless youth) as their captain. The 
 young man, whose commission was to last 
 only until Narvaez should return from 
 Camaguey, was instructed to look upon the 
 Clerigo as upon a father, and to undertake 
 nothing without his advice. The boy 
 proved obedient. 
 
 The Spaniards, at home as well as in 
 camp, on their journeys by sea and by land 
 were constantly surrounded by friendly 
 
Life of Bartolom& de Las Casas. 77 
 
 natives, who rendered them every service, 
 sometimes of their own accord, through their 
 savage admiration of the white man, but 
 more frequently because they w r ere virtually 
 their slaves. The Indians were the car 
 riers, the footmen, the cooks, the fisher 
 men, the hunters, the scouts, the valets, etc. 
 of the white man. Every Spaniard in the 
 field had usually a score or more of native 
 servants ; and wherever there were a 
 hundred Spaniards there went with them 
 not less than a thousand Indians, who were 
 usually treated by the white masters little 
 better than beasts of burden. The young 
 chaplain of the little Spanish army was, 
 on the contrary, uniformly kind and 
 fatherly to them, who did not fail to ob 
 serve that the white men themselves treated 
 the priest reverentially and with deference, 
 and that whatever act of mercy went out 
 from the Spaniard to the Indian was 
 generally traceable to the black robe. 
 
 I y as Casas had not been many months in 
 Cuba, when his name and the fame of his 
 kindness to the red man became known all 
 over the Island. They called him BeJiique, 
 that is Priest, or man of God and conceived 
 for him sentiments of love, reverence and 
 fear. 
 
 L/etters, everywhere in America, when 
 
78 Life ofBartolomG de Las Casas. 
 
 the white man first came in contact with 
 the Indians, always caused in the un 
 tutored mind of the natives feelings of 
 amazement. It was beyond their compre 
 hension how a bit of paper could tell the 
 wishes of one man to another many miles 
 away. Letters were to them mysterious, 
 supernatural or diabolical agencies for 
 which they, naturally enough, had the 
 greatest respect. 
 
 So masterful had become the ascendency 
 of the first American priest over the In 
 dians, that he could command compliance 
 with his smallest wishes, not only when in 
 their company, but by means of bits of 
 paper scrawled over and carefully inserted 
 into a piece of hollow reed. A messenger 
 would be sent to the cacique of this or that 
 tribe, who in presenting himself said : 
 "Behiqtie wishes you and your people to 
 do so and so ; here is his letter. 5> The reed 
 was broken and the paper seen ; if it con 
 tained any writing or not was immaterial, 
 Behique was obeyed. If not, word was 
 sent back to him giving the reasons why 
 his wishes could not be complied with. 
 
 Narvaez failed to overtake the fugitives, 
 and, fearing to plunge into the thickly 
 settled neighborhood of Camaguey, returned 
 to Bayamo with the handful of Spaniards 
 
Life ofBartolomt de Las Casas. 79 
 
 who had followed him. Many weeks had 
 not passed, when provisions in Camaguey, 
 where the population had suddenly been 
 doubled, began to fail ; and the refugees 
 found themselves in the necessity of re 
 turning to Bayamo. They arrived in 
 droves ; and, with tears in their eyes, asked 
 forgiveness of the Spaniards for what they 
 had done. They had been foolish and in 
 considerate, they said, were sorry, and pro 
 mised thereafter to comply with the white 
 men's wishes and to serve them. The 
 sight was touching. A necklace of beads 
 (than which the Westindian native held 
 nothing more precious) was left at the feet 
 of Behique, and another of Captain Nar- 
 vaez to propitiate them. Here the minister 
 of the God of peace addressed to them words 
 of consolation. "Fear not, my children ;" 
 he said, "it is all over. Go to your homes, 
 and nobody will hurt you." 
 
 Word was sent to Velasquez that the 
 province of Bayamo had been pacified,* 
 and asking for further instructions. When 
 these came, they were to the effect that 
 Narvaez, with his old companions in arms, 
 together with those whom Velasquez him 
 self had brought to Bayamo (about one 
 
 * With the Conquistadores, to pacify meant to 
 subjugate. 
 
8o Life oj Bartolom6 de Las Casas. 
 
 hundred Spaniards in all) should proceed 
 to Camaguey, and thence westward to the 
 other provinces of the Island to pacify 
 them. Narvaez was to take with him the 
 Clerigo, as his advisor, who was also re 
 quested by another private letter, to follow 
 the expedition. Thus L,as Casas spent 
 with Narvaez nearly two years and tra 
 versed Cuba from east to west engaged in 
 its pacification. Their first halt was made 
 at an Indian pueblo, eighty or ninety miles 
 from Bayamo, called Cueiba. 
 
 The Missionary annals recounting the 
 evangelization of Spanish-America are full 
 of incidents which show that the conver 
 sion of the natives, especially those of the 
 Westindian islands, would not have been 
 any extraordinarily difficult task, if, to ac 
 complish it, the Apostolic method of em 
 ploying no other arms than the crucifix and 
 the catechism had been adopted at the be 
 ginning, as it was, with perfect success, a 
 few years later by the Dominicans, the 
 Franciscans and the Jesuits nearly all over 
 the continent. 
 
 Of such incidents no other is more touch 
 ing than the following given by Las Casas 
 himself. We have seen how Alonso de 
 Ojeda had effected a settlement on the con 
 tinent near the Gulf of Darien in the year 
 
Life of Bartolom& de Las Casas. Si 
 
 1509, and how the poisoned arrows of the 
 Indians of that coast had compelled him 
 and his colonists to shut themselves up in 
 a little fort which they had built and called 
 San Sebastian. Driven by starvation, 
 Ojeda, towards the end of that same year 
 1509, endeavored, with seventy companions 
 to make his way back to Hispanic! a in a 
 rickety brigantine, in order to obtain pro 
 visions and revictual the distressed garrison 
 of San Sebastian. 
 
 They failed to make Hispaniola and were 
 cast by the high seas on the coast of Cuba 
 which was yet uninhabited by white men. 
 With scanty provisions and without arms, 
 they endeavored to reach on foot the 
 eastern end of the Island intending hence 
 to cross on canoes over to Hispaniola. In 
 constant dread of the natives of the interior, 
 they plodded along the low and deserted 
 lands of the sea-shore, and soon found " 
 themselves engulfed in an interminable 
 swamp with water and mud, first to their 
 knees, then to their waists, and last to their 
 necks. Their tramp lasted Jlpr thirty days, 
 during which half of their number perished 
 of hunger and exhaustion. The hardiest 
 of them reached at last the Indian pueblo 
 of Cueyba, where they were hospitably re 
 ceived by the Cacique. Ojeda had a small 
 6 
 
8s Life of Bartolomd de Las Casas. 
 
 but beautiful picture of the Blessed Virgin 
 Mary, which he had brought from Spain, 
 and with which he had never parted during 
 all his wanderings in Hispaniola, on the 
 Continent and in Cuba. Many times 
 during the thirty -days spent in the swamp 
 had he drawn from his empty knapsack 
 and spread on the knee of a cypress tree 
 the beloved image and invoked the as 
 sistance of the Mother of Christ. He had 
 vowed to leave the picture with the Indians 
 and to teach them how to venerate the 
 Blessed Mary, should he succeed to reach 
 dry land in safety. At Cueyba, where he 
 stopped several days, to rest and recuperate, 
 he fulfilled his vow. As best he could he 
 explained who the Blessed Virgin was and 
 made a present of the picture to the Ca 
 cique. A wooden shrine was built, a little 
 altar erected therein, and the image in 
 stalled in the midst of a profusion of orna 
 ments made of reeds, flowers and cotton 
 cloth. One Pedro de Ordas crossed over to 
 Jamaica in a pirogue manned by Indians. 
 Panfilo de Narvaez was the Captain of the 
 vessel that went to rescue Ojeda and his 
 surviving companions. Most of these 
 settled in Jamaica and when Narvaez passed 
 to Cuba to become the Lieutenant of Ve 
 lasquez, some of them were amongst his 
 followers. 
 
Life of Bartolomd de Las Casas. 83 
 
 L,as Casas, whom we have left in Cueyba, 
 heard of Ojeda's picture and, as was 
 natural, looked it up. It was found 
 that the Indians of the neighborhood 
 had persevered for more than three years 
 in the veneration of their picture. The 
 chapel, the altar, the ornaments were there, 
 and sweet couplets had been composed in 
 the native dialect in her honor. A con 
 gregation gathered daily to sing the praises 
 of the Mother of God. The picture had 
 now, not only an artistic but an historical 
 value, and the Missioner thought of ob 
 taining possession of it. A talk was had 
 with the Cacique and a proposal made for 
 the exchange of that picture for another, 
 not quite as pretty, which the Clerigo had 
 with him'. Suddenly a cloud overshadowed 
 the Chief's countenance, and as no answer 
 was made, nothing more was said about it. 
 Next morning the priest repaired to the 
 Oratorio to celebrate Mass in it and found 
 that the painting was gone. The Indians 
 told him that their lord the Cacique had 
 removed it during the night and made away 
 with it to the mountains, for fear that Be- 
 hique should forcibly deprive him of his 
 beloved picture of the Mother of Christ. 
 Needless to say that the sacerdotal heart of 
 L,as Casas was deeply touched by the in- 
 
84 Life ofBartolomd de Las Casas. 
 
 cident, and word was sent to the Cacique 
 to come back, witli the assurance, that the 
 Father would not only allow him to possess 
 his own picture, but would present him 
 with the other also. The Chief returned, 
 his people remained in possession of their 
 treasure, and the Spaniards departed for 
 the province of Camaguey. 
 
 The peculiar duties which L,as Casas im 
 posed on himself during this one or two 
 years of campaigning were certainly unique 
 in their nature. He would precede the 
 soldiery by a few hours or by one or two 
 days, accompanied by three or four Spani 
 ards and his acolytes, who were Indian 
 boys from Hispaniola understanding both 
 the native and the Spanish language, and 
 by him educated and trained to wait on 
 him at the altar and in the administration 
 of the Sacraments. On arriving at a 
 pueblo, where the little army intended to 
 halt, the Cacique was first interviewed, and 
 the order given that all the inhabitants 
 should be gathered in one portion of the 
 village, and vacate a number of houses or 
 huts sufficient for the accommodation of the 
 one hundred Spaniards and the one thous 
 and Indians from Hispaniola, Jamaica and 
 Cuba itself, who followed in their trail. 
 Provisions were next gathered and made 
 
Life GfBartolom& de Las Casas. 85 
 
 ready for the white visitors ; these measures 
 the priest had found necessary to prevent 
 his countrymen from robbing the natives 
 and from insulting their women. At his 
 request Narvaez issued an order forbidding, 
 under severe penalties, his followers from 
 passing from their side of the village to 
 that reserved for the Indians, and from 
 entering their houses. Parents were in 
 structed to have the little ones ready to be 
 baptized. On the arrival of the Captain 
 and his men a meal was served, then an 
 instruction given, on the principal mysteries 
 of the Christian religion, to the villagers 
 and to the assembled multitudes, who in 
 variably flocked to behold and to wonder at 
 the bearded white men and especially at 
 the three or four horses ridden by the 
 Spanish officers. Baptism was then ad 
 ministered to the children. The ascendancy 
 of the first American priest, I must repeat 
 it, appears almost incredible. He had 
 not been many months on the Islands, 
 when he found it unnecessary to act in 
 person as the forerunner or herald of Nar 
 vaez. It was enough to send an Indian 
 scout with the customary piece of paper 
 purporting to be a letter. The messenger 
 would say to the Chief: "the Christians 
 are coming, and the Father writes that you 
 
86 Life ofBartolom& de Las Casas. 
 
 vacate so many houses, that you gather 
 provisions to feed them, and have the 
 children ready for Baptism. If you don't 
 do so, Behique will be much displeased. " 
 He was invariably obeyed. The phe 
 nomenon is partially explained by the rapi 
 dity with which news travelled among the 
 Indians everywhere in America. More 
 over, thousands of natives from Hispaniola 
 had passed into Cuba to escape the labors 
 of the mines and the tyranny of the Spa 
 niards. As the language of the Cubans 
 was the same as that of the Haytiens, the 
 former generally knew the treatment they 
 were to expect from the Spanish marauders, 
 unless their friend Behique should protect 
 them. Hence they learned how to love 
 him before they ever saw him, and realized 
 that compliance with his wishes was con 
 ducive to their welfare. 
 
 Had Las Casas, at this period, been left 
 in Cuba with a dozen zealous clergymen to 
 cooperate with him, without another white 
 man to obstruct the Gospel of peace, it is 
 mpre than probable that his long life would 
 have sufficed to christianize and to civilize 
 the Pearl of the Antilles. How different 
 would then have been that Island's history? 
 But good men seldom have their way in 
 this world ; and I must pass regretfully to 
 
Life ofBartolomd de Las Casas. 87 
 
 describe a deed and a scene as sickening as 
 the deeds of the Terrorists during the 
 French revolution. 
 
 Narvaez and his one hundred men were 
 approaching a large Indian town called 
 Caonao, in the province of Camaguey, 
 whither the Clerigo had preceded them. 
 Before entering the pueblo, they stopped 
 to breakfast on the banks of a creek that 
 was nearly dry and full of grinding stones. 
 The meal over, each soldier sharpened his 
 sword, and the march was resumed. The 
 town was found to possess a Casa Grande 
 (large house), or a sort of town-hall spa 
 cious enough to accommodate not less than 
 five hundred people. In. front of it was a 
 public square, where provisions had been 
 gathered in abundance to feed the Spaniards 
 and their Indian retinues* A steward, ap 
 pointed for the purpose by the Clerigo was 
 busy parcelling out rations in the presence 
 of Captain Narvaez, who was on horseback, 
 while two thousand Cubans sat cross-legged 
 in a circle around the plaza gazing in won 
 derment over the bearded men and their 
 prancing horses. One of the soldiers, as 
 if possessed by an infernal fury, draws the 
 newly sharpened sword, and begins to slash 
 the naked Indians right and left, men, 
 women and children. As if this had been 
 
88 Life ofJBartolom6 de Las Casas. 
 
 a preconcerted signal, nearly a hundred 
 other swords were unscabbared and a ge 
 neral massacre began. Inside the Casa 
 Grande there were five hundred of the more 
 timid who had not ventured near the Spa 
 niards. They also were slaughtered, with 
 the exception of a few of the most agile 
 ones amongst them, who managed to climb 
 to the timbers of the roof, and thus to save 
 themselves. Meanwhile Narvaez stood on 
 horseback impassible and indifferent. Las 
 Casas, at the time, was resting in another 
 house a little distance off with the Indian 
 carriers who, tired from the journey, had 
 stretched themselves on the floor. With 
 him were also five Spaniards, who, as soon 
 as the blows from their fellow-soldiers, and 
 the shrieks of the wounded Indians were 
 heard, drew their swords, and were ready 
 to massacre those also who were within the 
 building and their own servants. The 
 Clerigo induced them to desist, and then 
 rushed hither and thither through the 
 woods to stop his countrymen from pursuing 
 the fleeing Indians and carrying the mas 
 sacre further. In less than it takes to tell 
 it, the peaceful pueblo was turned into a 
 charnel house. The streets were literally 
 flowing with blood, and made almost im 
 passable by the bodies of the dead and the 
 
Life of Bartolomd de Las Casas. 89 
 
 dying. Narvaez, the carnage over, on 
 meeting Las Casas, said: "Father, what 
 do you think of the work of these our 
 Spaniards ?" 
 
 The Clerigo's answer was characteristic 
 of him: "I commend them to your care 
 and to that of the devil." He was then 
 boiling with holy indignation, but in his 
 old age, while soberly writing his Historia 
 de L,as Indias, the Protector of the Indians 
 could not explain this and other simular 
 deeds of wanton and savage cruelty on the 
 part of his countrymen otherwise than by 
 saying that they were driven to them by 
 the devil. Manuel Jose Quintana, one of 
 his biographers, assigns a more natural 
 reason. u The true explanation," says he, 
 u is to be found in the position, in which 
 the Spaniards always found themselves, of 
 one against a hundred. Fixed in the re 
 solution to conquer and to oppress, they 
 found themselves perishing at every step 
 they made, the victims of their own te 
 merity and rashness, and they imagined 
 that, at every step, they saw the vengeance 
 of the Indians overtaking them. Every 
 equivocal action of the Indians, every un 
 certain sign spoke to them of dangers. 
 The instinct of self preservation became in 
 them phrenetic and blinded them to see no 
 
90 Life of Bartolom& de Las Casas. 
 
 other way to safety except by striking ter 
 ror with promptness and audacity and to 
 kill, in order not to be killed." 
 
 Quintana's defense is eloquent and 
 plausible, especially if we remember the 
 surprise of Bayamo, during which Narvaez 
 was nearly killed, and that some of his 
 companions, who had done service with 
 Ojeda in the Gulf of Darien, had there seen 
 many of their countrymen perish in an 
 ambuscade and by the poisoned arrows of 
 of the Indians, etc. But the explanation 
 would have been more satisfactory had he 
 added that Narvaez and his followers were 
 a lot of criminals, as we know them to have 
 been, steeped in blood, and for whom 
 bloodsheding had become a passion and a 
 pastime. 
 
 Having made of Caonao a graveyard, the 
 Spaniards left it and went to camp on a 
 large open field, where the cassaba plant 
 grew abundantly and afforded them means 
 of subsistence. It would have been useless 
 to march to the next pueblo; for the natives, 
 in mortal terror of the new-comers, had de 
 serted their homes for miles and miles 
 around, to hide on the mountains and on 
 the numerous little Islands that fringe the 
 southern coast of Cuba. 
 
 The train of native servants that followed 
 
Life ofBartolom& de Las Casas. 91 
 
 Las Casas was no small one. They were 
 not pressed into his service, but entered it 
 of their own free will, attracted by the 
 fame that the Clerigo was the friend of the 
 Americans, because he treated them kindly, 
 and to seek protection under his ecclesi 
 astical mantle from the oppression of his 
 countrymen. Among them was a vener 
 able old man by the name of Comacho, 
 who had followed him from Hispaniola, 
 and'who, on account of his experience, long 
 services, and trustworthiness had been con 
 stituted a sort of majordomo and factotum 
 over the priest's household. 
 
 Not the sign of a Cuban had been seen 
 around the camp for many days and weeks, 
 when, one night, a young man, under cover 
 of darkness, glided to the hut in which 
 Comacho slept, who was already known 
 very generally as the priest's chief domestic 
 servant. The youth told Comacho that he 
 wished to enter the service of Behique and 
 that a younger brother of his would do 
 likewise, if they were accepted. Comacho 
 approved of his resolution and assured him 
 that he and his brother would be welcomed 
 by the Father, who, he said, was very good. 
 While with him, and in the companionship 
 of his other servants nobody would be 
 allowed to do him harm. The old man 
 
92 Life of Bartolomt de. Las Casas. 
 
 lost 110 time in imparting the news to the 
 Clerigo. 
 
 A messenger, who could be coaxed into 
 going to the hiding villagers and induce 
 them to come back to their homes on the 
 assurance that no further violence would 
 be done to them, was badly needed. L,as 
 Casas called the young man, reassured 
 him, embraced him and caressed him, pro 
 mising at the same time to take him and 
 his brother into his service. Cheerfully 
 the boy agreed to look up the people of a 
 neighboring village, who were the owners 
 of the field on which the Spaniards were 
 encamped and to induce them to come back 
 within a certain number of days. Comacho, 
 who was already a Christian, and spoke 
 Spanish, dubbed the new convert Adria- 
 nico, who, armed with a letter from Behi- 
 que, departed for his mission. The days 
 agreed upon had passed and Adrianico had 
 not returned, and everybody had given 
 him up, except Comacho, who insisted that 
 the young man would keep his word. Late 
 of an evening the Father descried a crowd 
 of Indians, men, women and children, led 
 by Adrianico and his brother to the number 
 of one hundred and eighty, loaded with 
 their little belongings and with presents 
 for the Spaniards, approach his tent silently 
 
Life of Bartolom& de Las Casas. 93 
 
 like a flock of sheep. The words of con 
 solation and love that the priest addressed 
 them can be more easily imagined than 
 written. As soon as reassured that harm 
 would not be done to them they repaired 
 to their wigwams beyond the hills. But 
 Adiianico remained with Behique to enjoy 
 his protection and the friendship of Co- 
 macho. Next day every native in the 
 province of Camaguey knew that the 
 white men would kill 110 more Indians and 
 returned to their homes. They were paci 
 fied. In familiar intercourse with the 
 Indians the priest learned that, two or 
 three hundred miles to the west, there 
 were two Spanish women and one man, 
 held in captivity by the natives of the 
 province of Havana. A messenger was at 
 once dispatched with a letter to the local 
 Cacique, instructing him to bring the cap 
 tives to a certain place and to deliver them 
 to the Christians. Should the Cacique 
 fail to do so, Behique would be much dis 
 pleased. 
 
 Narvaez ordered, shortly after, a march 
 across the Island from south east to north 
 west, and in a few days a village was 
 reached on the northern shore, called Ca- 
 harate, all the houses of which were built 
 on piles driven in the water. The army 
 
94 Life ofBartolom& de Las Casas. 
 
 remained in the town fifteen days, during 
 which, a canoe, well manned by Indians, 
 was seen to arrive, and to make for the 
 house where the priest lodged. They 
 landed the two white women mentioned 
 above, who were found to be naked as the 
 natives who accompanied them. The man 
 was in possession of another Cacique, and 
 it required another letter to fetch him. The 
 women, having been left in each other's 
 company had opportunities to converse 
 together in the Spanish language, and 
 had not forgotten it ; but the man, who had 
 not seen a countryman of his in several 
 years, had acquired all the habits and traits 
 of an Indian and for a few days could not 
 speak his native tongue. Las Casas mar 
 ried the women to two of the Spanish 
 soldiers. 
 
 The reader no doubt is interested in 
 knowing how the trio had met with their 
 sad fate. Four or five years before a party 
 of Spaniards had landed in what is yet 
 known as the Port of Matanzas ; if for re 
 pairs, to get water, or wood, or driven by 
 a storm, it is not said. While attempting 
 to cross the Bay in a canoe, manned by 
 Indians, the boat was purposely capsized, 
 and all the Spaniards who could not swim, 
 were drowned. The two women and the 
 
Life ofBartolomt de Las Casas. 95 
 
 man (who was then a boy) were rescued 
 and incorporated in the tribe, but seven 
 others, who had swam ashore were hung. 
 Hence the name Matanzas (slaughter). 
 
 From Caharate the Spaniards, now by 
 land and again by sea, passed into the pro 
 vince of Havana, finding everywhere on 
 the route the pueblos deserted. 
 
 The deeds of the white men in Caonao 
 were by this time well known all over the 
 Island, and on their approach the natives 
 took to the mountains. Las Casas wrote, 
 i. e. sent to each of the Caciques an old 
 piece of paper with the request, that he 
 should meet him in a certain locality, and 
 the assurance that the Christians would not 
 harm them. They all came, eighteen or 
 nineteen of them. 
 
 Incredible as it may appear, Narvaez 
 promptly caused them all to be cast in 
 irons, and would have burned them at the 
 stake the following morning, had not the 
 threats of Las Casas to report him to Ve 
 lasquez and to the king, rather than his 
 entreaties, saved the lives of the poor 
 wretches. * They were all set at liberty, 
 except the most influential one, who re 
 mained a captive until Velasquez released 
 him on the occasion of his visit to Narvaez 
 in the Port of Xagua, as I am about to 
 relate. 
 
CHAPTER IX. 
 
 Las Casas a Planter, a Miner, and a Slave 
 owner in Cuba. 
 
 L,as Casas had by tliis time spent nearly 
 two years in Cuba, and had travelled it 
 from east to west, crossing it several times 
 from north to south and from shore to 
 shore. Meanwhile Velasquez had founded 
 Baracoa, settling it with Spaniards and 
 establishing civil government among them. 
 The Island was now pacified, that is, the 
 Indians had everywhere bent their necks 
 to the yoke of the Spaniards, and Velasquez 
 was ready to make new settlements in the 
 most desirable locations to be found on the 
 Island. But, as he had seen but little of 
 the country himself, it was found advisable 
 to have a conference with Narvaez and Las 
 Casas, who had looked it over. Word was 
 therefore sent to them to meet him in Xa- 
 gua, whither he travelled himself by land 
 and by sea from Baracoa, accompanied by 
 quite a number of prospecting white men. 
 Velasquez, Narvaez and L,as Casas having 
 come together, settled for a few months on 
 
 (96) 
 
Life of Bariolom& de Las Casas. 97 
 
 a little Island near by the Port, where a 
 pueblo of Indians was located, at whose 
 expense they lived. Thence frequent ex 
 cursions were made in the interior to more 
 thoroughly explore the country. A gold 
 mine was discovered on the river Arimao, 
 that emptied in the sea two or three miles 
 from the Port. 
 
 The locations for the settlements, or 
 future towns, were thus decided upon, and 
 the first was founded some twenty five miles 
 east of the Port of Xagua and was called, 
 as it is yet, Trinidad. The second was 
 located in the interior, twenty five miles 
 north-east of Trinidad, and almost in the 
 centre of the Island. It was given the 
 name, which it retains to this day, of 
 Sancti Spiritus. The third settlement was 
 made sixty miles further east on the 
 northern coast, and the name, which it 
 was given then, it retains now, i. e. Puerto 
 Principe. The fourth was named by Ve 
 lasquez San Salvador de Bayamo, but it 
 soon came to be known simply as Bayamo, 
 from the ancient province of that name. 
 The fifth was named Santiago, but owing 
 to the numerous Santiagos in the Spanish 
 dominions, it soon lengthened its name, 
 which it retains yet, to Santiago de Cuba. 
 All of these foundations were made in the 
 7 
 
98 Life ofBartolom& de Las Casas. 
 
 year 1514. There were already some white 
 settlers where Havana stands now in 1516, 
 but it did not get a corporate existence be 
 fore the year 1519, the port being known 
 till then as Puerto de Carenas. Velasquez 
 founded Havana on the southern shore in 
 1515, but the settlement was removed, some 
 two years after, to its present location. 
 
 It is remarkable that Baracoa, Trinidad, 
 Sancti Spiritus, Bayamo, Santiago de Cuba, 
 Puerto Principe and Havana are yet the 
 principal towns of Cuba; Cienfuegos and 
 Cardenas being the only cities of any im 
 portance that do not date back to the time 
 of Velasquez ; and indeed they are not as 
 old as the past century. The seven 
 cities were located by Velasquez in different 
 parts of the Island with a view to bringing 
 into requisition the labor of all the ab 
 original inhabitants for the benefit of the 
 white settlers, and to render impossible any 
 general uprising. In fact, inside of two 
 or three years practically all the natives 
 had been parcelled out into Repartimientos, 
 that is, had been made slaves. 
 
 L,as Casas, who was a friend of Velas 
 quez, and had had so important a share in 
 the work of pacification by saving, with 
 his presence, the lives of thousands of In 
 dians, was assigned one of the very best 
 
Life ofBartolom6 de Las Casas. 99 
 
 Repartimientos. The Cacique of a pueblo 
 called Canarreo, in the immediate neigh 
 borhood of Xagua with all his Indians were 
 jEncomendados , which literally translated 
 means : were intrusted to his care ; but in 
 fact were turned over to him to be used as 
 slaves. With the Repartimiento of the 
 Indians usually went a grant of the lands 
 that belonged to them. It was near Xagua 
 on the river Arimao that Las Casas settled, 
 and began his planting and mining oper 
 ations. 
 
 While yet in Hispaniola a lasting friend 
 ship had been contracted by the Clerigo 
 with a very good man by the name of Pedro 
 de Renteria, who, unlike his countrymen 
 in America, had never been affected by the 
 gold fever; on the contrary, his main object 
 in life was to serve God. It was his delight 
 to spend much of his time in meditating on 
 the eternal truths, reading the lives of the 
 Saints and other similar exercises of piety. 
 Worldly affairs had little attraction for him, 
 and he seemed to be unfit for them, al 
 though he was well educated for a layman 
 of his times, and could read the New 
 Testament in Latin. Humble and plain in 
 his ways and generous to a fault he leaned 
 on the friendship of the warmhearted, 
 active young clergyman who was all 
 
ioo Life ofBartolom& de Las Casas. 
 
 business and eminently a man of action. 
 Renteria had come to Cnba with Las Casas, 
 but remained in Baracoa, while the priest 
 was engaged with Narvaez in the explora 
 tion and pacification of the Island. Now 
 that he had joined his friend in Xagua, 
 Velasquez gave him a Repartimiento ad 
 joining that of the Clerigo ; or rather the 
 two made but one, of which Las Casas be 
 came the exclusive manager, as if he was 
 the sole owner. Every thing was in com 
 mon between the two friends, the Priest 
 attending to business while the layman did 
 most of the praying. Their Indians could 
 be counted by the hundred, and it took but 
 a few days to build a large house in which 
 they lived for about a year, with Comacho 
 as the chief steward. Las Casas lost no 
 time in laying the foundations for future 
 wealth, and a plantation was laid out and 
 the Indians set to work to cultivate it. 
 He did not neglect to send some of them 
 to the mines to gather some gold ; for im 
 provements on a large scale and in a new 
 country required ready cash. It soon began 
 to be whispered among the Spaniards that 
 the Licenciado was acquiring a taste for 
 the good things of this world, although he 
 must have given no scandal ; for being 
 then a secular Priest with no vow of 
 
Life ofBartolom& de Las Casas. 101 
 
 poverty, lie had a right to retain, make use 
 of, and improve his private patrimony. 
 But his manner of acquiring wealth by the 
 enforced labor of the Indians was radically 
 wrong. The Protector of the Indians, 
 forty years after, when writing his Historia 
 de las IndiaSj did not fail to make an open 
 confession of his fault to posterity. He 
 wrote of himself : "The Father began by 
 their (the Indians') labor to make for him 
 self plantations, and to send some of them 
 to the mines, paying more attention to 
 these things than to the instruction of the 
 Indians, which was the main obligation of 
 his calling. But in those days the Father 
 was as blind as the laymen whom he con 
 sidered his children ; although in his treat 
 ment of the Indians he always was humane, 
 merciful and charitable, because he was 
 endowed with these natural inclinations, 
 and also because he knew that the law of 
 God required it. However he did little 
 more than look after their material welfare 
 and to see to it that they should not be 
 harassed too much with excessive labor. 
 Everything concerning their souls was by 
 him and by every one else overlooked ; a 
 plague, which, Our Lord, in his inscrutable 
 designs, allowed to infect the Spaniards in 
 all walks of life, in the Indies. " 
 
io2 Life ofBartolomti de Las Casas. 
 
 I surmise tliat the humility of L,as Casas 
 in his old age, (he wrote the passage 
 quoted above, when he was nearly ninety 
 years old) caused him to overdraw the 
 picture of the error of his early days. His 
 sin, if sin it was, was one of ignorance 
 rather than of malice. From a lawyer he 
 had suddenly been ordained a priest and 
 entered the active ministry. Hispaniola, 
 between the years 1502 and 1510 was not 
 naturally the best Seminary in the world 
 for a complete course of moral and dog 
 matic theology. Be that as it may, his 
 blindness lasted not more than a year, and 
 then the scales fell, almost suddenly, from 
 his eyes. At no time does he seem to have 
 neglected his priestly duties, to the whites 
 at least, who were Catholics. But let us 
 allow him to speak for himself again : 
 "The Clerigo Bartolome de Las Casas was 
 very busy with his plantations, for 
 getful of the obligation that bound him to 
 instruct his Indians and to lead them to the 
 bosom of the Church of Christ. Diego Ve 
 lasquez had left Xagua with the other 
 Spaniards, his followers, and had gone to 
 found the settlement which he called Sancti 
 Spiritus. There was then no other clergy 
 man on the Island, except a Friar, who 
 was at Baracoa ; Pentecost Sunday being 
 
Life of Bartolomd de Las Casas. 103 
 
 not far off, the said Clerigo Bartolome de 
 I^as Casas bethought himself that he would 
 leave his home on the river Arimao, and go 
 to say Mass and preach for them (the Spa 
 niards of Sancti Spiritus) on that day." 
 
 While preparing his sermon he fell in 
 with certain passages of the scriptures, 
 amongst others that of Kcclesiasticus (Chp. 
 XXXIV, Verse 21). "The offering of 
 him who sacrifiseth of a thing wrongfully 
 gotten is stained etc.," which led him to re 
 flect and consider and then to doubt, if, 
 forcing the Indians to work for himself was 
 not wrong. He remembered that the Do 
 minicans in Hispaniola had inveighed in 
 their sermons against the enslavement of 
 the natives, and how, on a certain occasion, 
 he himself, then already a priest, had gone 
 to confession to one of them, and had been 
 refused absolution because he would not 
 consent to give up the Indians he there 
 held as slaves, as he now held others in 
 Cuba. He had then contended honestly 
 with the Friar but with frivolous, if plausi 
 ble, arguments that Indian slavery was not 
 wrong. But now the light of revelation 
 and the experience of every day showing 
 how they perished by the hundred in the 
 mines and elsewhere, murdered by oppres 
 sive labor, convinced him forcibly and for 
 
104 Life ofBartolom& de Las Casas. 
 
 ever, that it was not riglit for trie Spaniards 
 to possess themselves, for their own use, of 
 the natives' lands, goods and persons. 
 
 Las Casas was not the man to compro 
 mise with the devil ; he reasoned that if it 
 was wrong for him to have slaves, it was 
 likewise wrong for the other Spaniards, 
 and he resolved to tell them so in the 
 sermon he was about to preach to them on 
 Pentecost Sunday of the year 1514. He 
 knew full well that perhaps it would have 
 been in the interest of his Indians that he 
 should retain them under his own guardian 
 ship, allowing them to enjoy perfect liberty 
 and at the same time prevent their falling 
 into the hands of someone else who would 
 kill them with overwork and starvation. 
 But in that case it might have been said : 
 u after all, he keeps Indians himself ; why 
 does he not give them up, if he believes as 
 he preaches that to keep them is tyranny?" 
 His sermon would have had no effect, and 
 he resolved to give them up. 
 
 Some time before, the Clerigo and Ren- 
 teria had put together all the ready cash at 
 their command, some two thousand dollars 
 (which however had a purchasing power 
 equal to $20,000 of to-day), had chartered 
 a schooner, and, with it, Renteria had gone 
 to Jamaica to buy seeds, cattle, hogs, pro- 
 
Life ofBartolom& de Las Casas. 105 
 
 visions, etc. with which to stock their 
 farm. 
 
 Giving up his plantation and his Repar- 
 timiento meant for the Priest poverty. 
 Nothing was left him in Cuba but his mare. 
 He saddled the animal and undertook the 
 journey from Xagua to Sancti Spiritus, a 
 distance^ of perhaps seventy miles, to say 
 Mass, preach and make the renunciation of 
 his Repartimiento into the hands of Gover 
 nor Velasquez. While he wends his way 
 through the virgin forest, with only his 
 trusted Comacho and his altar boys as com 
 panions, we shall visit Renteria in Jamaica. 
 
 He had arrived there just before Lent, 
 and instead of putting up with a brother of 
 his, who was settled on the Island, took 
 lodgings in the Franciscan Convent that 
 had already been founded there ; and spent 
 the whole of the penitential season with 
 the Friars, and whenever not actually en 
 gaged in the business that had brought 
 him to Jamaica, spent his time in prayer 
 and meditation. For some time he too had 
 been troubled by scruples about holding 
 Indians in his service as slaves, but he 
 reasoned, that, should he give them up 
 they would fare much worse. However, 
 before he got ready to sail for Cuba he had 
 formed a resolution. 
 
io6 Life of Bartolomd de Las Casas. 
 
 The Cuban Indians, he could not help fore 
 seeing it, would soon disappear, as most of 
 those of Hispaniola had already disap 
 peared. To put a stop to the ravages and 
 devastation caused by his countrymen was 
 not in his power, but perhaps some at least 
 of the little ones could be saved. His re 
 solution was, on his arrival in Cuba, to 
 leave for Spain, there to interview the 
 King, and obtain permission for founding 
 one or more orphan asylums where the or 
 phans of the victims of Spanish greed and 
 cruelty could be raised like Christians and 
 educated to assert their freedom as such on 
 their arriving at the age of maturity. Ren- 
 teria had just settled on this plan when he 
 received a letter from the Clerigo asking 
 him to hasten his departure from Jamaica, 
 because he (Las Casas) had decided to take 
 a trip to Spain on a mission, the object of 
 which would, no doubt, fill his friend's 
 heart with joy as soon as it would be ex 
 plained to him. 
 
 Las Casas, on arriving in Sancti Spiri- 
 tus, made a formal renunciation of his Re- 
 partimiento to Governor Velasquez, who 
 said in astonishment: "Father, reflect well 
 on what you are doing ; God knows that I 
 wish to see you prosperous and rich, and 
 therefore I do not admit, for the present, 
 
Life ofBartolom^ de Las Casas. 107 
 
 your renunciation. You have fifteen days 
 to think the matter over ; after which you 
 may come back and tell me what you in 
 tend to do." 
 
 "Sefior," answered L,as Casas :. "consider 
 the fifteen days as already past, and, should 
 I hereafter ever come to you with tears of 
 blood in my eyes to beg you to give me 
 back my Indians, may God never forgive 
 you, if, through love of me, you should 
 grant my request." 
 
 I need not say much of the Clerigo's 
 sermon on that Pentecost Sunday. It 
 made a profound impression, but, like the 
 one preached by Montesino in San Domingo 
 a few years before, it converted nobody. 
 That Friar and this secular Priest were 
 made of the same metal and cast in the 
 same mould. It had not been long since 
 L,as Casas had returned to Xagua, when 
 Renteria's schooner hove in sight. To 
 jump into a canoe and to row a league off 
 shore was done by the Clerigo inside a half 
 an hour. "What did your Reverence 
 mean," said Renteria on seeing the priest, 
 "by writing me that you want to go to 
 Castile? I am the man to go, not you, 
 and as soon as I shall tell you why, I know 
 you'll be pleased to see me start." L,as 
 Casas replied : "Wait until we reach land, 
 
io8 Life ofjBartolom6 de Las Casas. 
 
 and when I shall have told you why, I 
 know you'll think it better that I go." 
 
 They unbosomed themselves to each 
 other, and the layman at once agreed that 
 the priest should go ; first, because his mis 
 sion was of greater importance ; and second, 
 because being a Clergyman and a Licen- 
 ciado, he would have easier access to court, 
 and his words would have more weight. 
 
 The cargo was sold at a handsome profit, 
 and a goodly sum realized, wherewith to 
 pay Las Casas' passage to Spain and de 
 fray his expenses while there. Both priest 
 and layman left their Repartimiento with 
 out a pang, which, in a very short time, 
 would have made them independently 
 wealthy. 
 
 Every reader of "Historia de las Indias" 
 is vexed with Las Casas for telling us not a 
 word more about his holy friend Renteria, 
 and it is really a pity that history gives 
 nothing more of him. His name however 
 shall be linked for all times to that of the 
 Protector of the Indians, and, no doubt, in 
 the world beyond he now enjoys a blessed 
 immortality, while in this world his me 
 mory shall never die. 
 
 Las Casas was yet in Cuba during the 
 early months of 1515. Two weeks before 
 Easter he had the pleasure of welcoming 
 
Life of Bartolomd de Las Casas. 109 
 
 to the Island four Dominican Friars, who, 
 as I have already mentioned, had been 
 sent by Father Pedro de Cordova to found 
 a convent and to evangelize the Natives. 
 The very next day after their arrival (very 
 probably in the town of Trinidad) and 
 every day until Easter Sunday inclusive, 
 they preached, and every body was pleased 
 with their sermons. But they had not yet 
 touched on the subject of Indian slavery. 
 
 On Kaster Monday the Dominicans re 
 quested the Clerigo to preach himself be 
 cause "they wished to hear him." u He 
 accepted, and in order that his doctrine 
 about the oppression of the Indians, which 
 he had preached during the past seven or 
 eight months, might be placed in its proper 
 light ; and inasmuch as some believed that 
 to oppress and to kill men was no sin, 
 others doubted it, some joked about it, and 
 others murmured, he gathered all the dif 
 ferent propositions he had advanced during 
 those months on the subject, especially 
 those that had proved most disagreeable 
 and most rasping to his countrymen, and 
 reaffirmed them all together more vehe 
 mently and with greater freedom than ever, 
 in the presence of the Friars. 77 
 
 These enjoyed the sermon and rejoiced at 
 hearing the bitter truth preached with so 
 
no Life ofBartolom& de Las Casas. 
 
 much evangelical liberty. The Clerigo 
 gave the sermons he had preached before 
 the arrival of the Dominicans to Father 
 Bernardo de Santo Domingo to read. "The 
 good Friar," remarks Las Casas appar 
 ently with some degree of self complacency, 
 4 'swore that, had he known that in Cuba 
 there was a priest who preached such ser 
 mons, he would never have set foot on the 
 Island, because if the Spaniards had not 
 been converted by him, and had not stop 
 ped their murders, he could not hope to do 
 them any good with his preaching. ' ' 
 
 The following Low Sunday Father Ber 
 nardo preached again, and, as was natural 
 for that day, took for his subject: "lam 
 the good Shepherd." The substance of 
 the sermon was that they, the Spaniards, 
 were not the shepherds of the Indians, but 
 hirelings, tyrants and hungry wolves, who 
 tore them to pieces and devoured them. It 
 frightened somewhat the audience, but did 
 not convert them. As it was plainly to be 
 seen that the cruel tyranny of the Spaniards 
 did not diminish, but was rather on the in 
 crease, the same Father Bernardo ascended 
 the pulpit once more on Trinity Sunday, 
 and so threatened the sinners with the 
 divine vengeance, as to cause the Clerigo 
 himself to tremble in his seat. The sermon 
 
Life oj Bartolomd de Las Casas. in 
 
 would perhaps be, even now interesting 
 reading, but L,as Casas only preserved the 
 following passage which I give in full. 
 
 u Since we have come among you we 
 have spoken plainly about the sinful con 
 dition of your souls, because you have 
 oppressed, tyrannized and murdered these 
 people. Not only you have not given any 
 sign of repentance, but you are doing worse 
 every day, shedding the blood of so many, 
 who have done you no harm. I beg the 
 Incarnate God that, on the day of judge 
 ment, the blood he shed for them may be 
 a witness against your cruelty. You will 
 not then be able to plead ignorance and to 
 say that you had not been instructed and 
 warned about the wrongs you are now per 
 petrating against these people. As you 
 are now the witnesses of each other's 
 crimes, so will you then be of the punish 
 ment that shall be meted out to you. ' ' The 
 audience left the church with downcast and 
 sad countenances, but unconverted. 
 
 The Dominicans were now convinced 
 that they could do no good in Cuba ; not to 
 the Indians, while they were oppressed and 
 destroyed by the Christians, nor to the 
 Spaniards, to whom the Sacraments could 
 not be administered while they persisted in 
 living in a state of mortal sin. It was 
 
ii2 Life of Bartolomd de Las Casas. 
 
 therefore decided tliat their Superior, Gu- 
 tierre de Ampudia and Deacon Diego de 
 Alberca should go over to Hispaniola in 
 company of Las Casas, who was now about 
 to leave for Spain. They went to lay be 
 fore their Prelate the condition of religious 
 affairs in Cuba. The three sailed either 
 from Santiago de Cuba or from Baracoa 
 and landed in the Port of Yguana which 
 was the nearest to the coast of Cuba. 
 Thence they proposed to cross, as best they 
 could, the Island in order to reach the city 
 of San Domingo. But they had travelled 
 but a few leagues when the" Dominican 
 Father fell sick of a fever. In a few days 
 he so far recovered as to be able to 
 travel horseback, and the Clerigo loaned 
 him his mare in order that, accompanied, 
 as he was, by the Deacon, who travelled 
 on foot, he might continue on his journey. 
 Las Casas remained behind to procure 
 another horse, his intention being to over 
 take them on the road by following a 
 shorter route. Father Gutierre had gone 
 three days on his journey, when he re 
 lapsed and died on the road, at the house 
 of a Spaniard, who kept a cattle farm. 
 The Clerigo and Diego de Alberta reached 
 their destination in safety. 
 
 The Clerigo 's reasons for travelling to 
 
Life ofBartolomd de Las Casas. 113 
 
 San Domingo were : ist, because then 
 all ships bound for Spain either sailed or 
 touched at that port ; 2d, to settle up his 
 temporal affairs in Hispaniola or to place 
 them in safe hands ; 3d, to inform his 
 friend Pedro de Cordova about the object of 
 his journey to Europe, which was to inform 
 the king about the real state of affairs in 
 his American possessions, and to endeavor 
 to obtain some legislation that would stop 
 the further oppression and annihilation of 
 the American natives ; and 4th, to obtain 
 from the same Pedro de Cordova letters of 
 recommendation to the Dominicans in 
 Spain whereby he hoped to be able to se 
 cure the influence and the support that 
 their powerful Order could afford him at 
 court. 
 
 L,as Casas was quick and impetuous in 
 forming resolutions, but prudent, per 
 severing and shrewd in the choice of 
 means to carry them out. Before leaving 
 Cuba, he took care to obtain from Velas 
 quez a written testimonial, (and to have it 
 properly authenticated by a notary public) 
 of the important services he had rendered 
 to the Spanish crown and to religion in 
 the pacification of the Island. This pre 
 caution was taken to forestall calumnies on 
 the part of the Spanish settlers, who, as 
 
ii4 Life ofBartolomd de Las Casas. 
 
 soon as the real object of his journey to 
 Spain should be known, would not unlikely 
 endeavor to misrepresent him at court. 
 And in order that, on his arrival in 
 Spain, he should not find every door shut 
 against him by the machinations and in 
 trigues of those, who were interested in 
 Indian slavery, if the object of his voyage 
 was known, he allowed his countrymen, on 
 his departure from Cuba, to remain under 
 the impression that he was going to Paris 
 to study, and to obtain, if possible, the 
 coveted degree of that University. Thus 
 Velasquez and his associates were thrown 
 off their guard, and the L,icenciado parted 
 on the best of terms with them all. 
 
 Pedro de Cordova had but lately returned 
 from old Castile, and we know of his 
 doings there from what has been said al 
 ready. To use a familiar expression, he 
 was quite familiar with the lay of the land 
 there, and could not promise much success 
 to L,as Casas in his mission. After hearing, 
 in confidence, the intentions of the Priest, 
 he said : " Father, your labors shall not be 
 lost, because God will keep a good account 
 of them ; but rest assured, that, while the 
 present King lives, you will not accomplish 
 that, which both, you and I, so much 
 desire. 
 
Life ofBartolom6 de Las Casas. 115 
 
 However the Friar praised the Priest's 
 intentions and encouraged him to leave 
 nothing undone to save the lives of the un 
 fortunate natives. The interview ended 
 with the following by L,as Casas : "Father, 
 I will try every possible way, and I shall 
 shirk no labors or trials that I may have to 
 undergo, to accomplish what I have under 
 taken, and I hope that God will help me. 
 If I fail I shall have the satisfaction of 
 having done what a good Christian should 
 do. Your Reverence, I hope, will pray 
 and have others to pray for me." From 
 this conference there sprung between the 
 Clerigo and the Friar a friendship, which 
 ended only in death ; and L,as Casas took 
 pride in consigning the fact to history, 
 that good Father Pedro loved the L,icen- 
 ciado as much, at least, as any of his own 
 fellow- friars. 
 
 The hatred which most of the Spaniards 
 in Hispaniola bore the Dominicans, on ac 
 count of their sermons, had not yet abated. 
 They lived in strictest poverty, sometimes 
 lacking even the necessaries of life. Their 
 convent was as yet but half built, and they 
 could not see their way to finish it. It was 
 therefore decided that Father Montesino 
 should travel to the old country once more 
 in order to solicit from aged king Fer- 
 
n6 Life of Bartolom& de Las Casas. 
 
 dinand, on whom he and Pedro de Cordova 
 had made a favorable impression on their 
 former visit, sufficient alms to build their 
 church and complete their convent. Mon- 
 tesino's experience at court might at the 
 same time be of service to the Clerigo. In 
 September 1515 I find the Priest and the 
 Friar on board the same ship, and it is not 
 rash to say that no better couple ever 
 crossed the Atlantic together or for a holier 
 purpose. On their arrival in Seville, after 
 a prosperous voyage, Montesino went to 
 lodge in a convent of his Order, while L,as 
 Casas put up with some of his relatives. 
 
CHAPTER X. 
 Las Casas' First Visit to the Court of Spain. 
 
 JYJONTESINO introduced the Clerigo in 
 complimentary terms to Diego de Deza, 
 the Archbishop of Seville, who was a Domi 
 nican. This Prelate had been at one time 
 the Confessor of king Ferdinand, and was 
 on terms so intimate with the old Ruler, 
 that, having heard that His Majesty was in 
 poor health, he invited him to come and 
 live in Seville where the mild climate 
 favored old age ; and the invitation had 
 been accepted. 
 
 His Grace, the Archbishop, gave the 
 Clerigo a letter of introduction to the king, 
 warmly recommending the object of his 
 mission at court. Other letters to the dig 
 nitaries surrounding the royal person were 
 intended to facilitate the priest's admission 
 to the king's presence. 
 
 Ferdinand was then in the city of Pla- 
 cencia, and L,as Casas went to see him 
 there, arriving a few days before Christmas. 
 At that time Juan de Fonseca and the 
 
 ("7) 
 
n8 Life ofBartolom& de Las Casas. 
 
 Secretary of State, L,ope Conchillos, were 
 at the head of the bureau for Indian affairs 
 and nothing of importance was done that 
 did not pass through their hands. It would 
 have been folly to apply to them for assistance 
 to redress the wrongs perpetrated on the 
 American Indians ; for they themselves 
 kept hundreds of them at work in the 
 mines of Hispaniola, Jamaica, Cuba and 
 Porto Rico extracting gold to fill their own 
 coffers. And, as it generally happens with 
 absentee landlords, the victims of their 
 greed were treated even more cruelly than 
 the Indians belonging to other Reparti- 
 mientos. Las Casas therefore avoided meet 
 ing them, and took care to let them know 
 nothing of his business at court. On the 
 23d of December he was admitted for a few 
 moments to the presence of the king, and 
 in a few words explained why he had come 
 from the Indies, how the Indians were 
 there perishing daily and disappearing by 
 the thousands, dying without faith and 
 without the sacraments, and how the Spa 
 niards were responsible for their deaths. 
 The Clerigo knew full and well that Fer 
 dinand's predominant passion was avarice, 
 and he did not neglect to say that the 
 Crown was vitally interested in the preser 
 vation of the American natives. He then 
 
Life of Bartolomd de Las Casas. 119 
 
 begged the king to give him an oppor 
 tunity of speaking to him more leisurely 
 about American affairs whenever it would 
 suit His Majesty to grant him another 
 audience. It was granted ; and there and 
 then the king made an appointment to 
 meet again the Transatlantic Clergyman 
 one day within the Octave of Christmas. 
 The Clerigo presented Deza's letter and 
 then, kissing the royal hand, withdrew. 
 The reader must have already perceived 
 that the Clerigo would have made no mean 
 diplomatist ; but hi's adversaries were more 
 than his matches. Deza's letter naturally 
 went to Fonseca and to Conchillos. Those 
 two worthies were fully acquainted with 
 Las Casas 7 doings in the Indies during the 
 past two or three years. 
 
 Velasquez was but the lieutenant of 
 Diego Columbus in Cuba, who, in virtue 
 of his prerogatives of viceroy of all the 
 islands discovered by his father, was, ex- 
 officio, Governor of Cuba. When Las Casas 
 left the Island, Velasquez feared less the 
 impetuous Clerigo should mention to Ad 
 miral Diego Columbus, or to the king 
 something unfavorable to ? himself, con 
 cerning the treatment that the Indians re 
 ceived under his administration. It must 
 be mentioned also that Velasquez was just 
 
I2O Life ofBartolomd de Las Casas. 
 
 then treacherously and ungratefully trying 
 to supplant the viceroy in Cuba, to whom 
 he owed his present important position. 
 Panfilo Narvaez had therefore arrived in 
 Spain about the same time as L,as Casas 
 and Montesino for the purpose of frustrat 
 ing their efforts in behalf of the Indians, 
 and especially for the purpose of acting as 
 solicitor for Velasquez in trying to obtain 
 for him the independent governorship of 
 Cuba. Pasamonte, the royal treasurer 
 at San Domingo, and a confidential 
 creature of king Ferdinand, was vitally 
 interested in Indian slavery and in sup 
 porting Velasquez by supplanting Diego 
 Columbus. On the departure of L,as Casas 
 .from Cuba, Velasquez had written to Pasa 
 monte about the style of preaching which 
 the Clerigo had adopted, and Pasamonte 
 had sent the letter to the two largest slave 
 owners, Fonseca and Conchillo. Narvaez 
 was also the bearer of a gift to the" two 
 State ministers in the shape of a Repar- 
 timiento of Cuban Indians, in whose terri 
 tory a fat gold mine had lately been dis 
 covered. This, it was thought, would 
 easily pave Velasquez' way to the Go 
 vernorship. 
 
 L,as Casas' next step was to interview 
 Tomas de Matienso, a Dominican, and Fer- 
 
Life ofBartolom& de Las Casas. 121 
 
 dinand's present confessor in order to prevail 
 on him to use his influence with the King 
 in behalf of the Indians. Matesino lost no 
 time in doing so, and Ferdinand, through 
 him, made a second appointment to meet 
 Las Casas in Seville, where, he promised, 
 American affairs would be effectually atten 
 ded to. On the advice of the royal con 
 fessor the Clerigo paid a visit to the Se 
 cretary Conchillos and to his Grace of 
 Burgos. The former saw in the Priest a 
 dangerous reformer, who, with his human 
 itarian theories might unsettle the several 
 transcontinental estates, which had lately 
 fallen into his possession. Hence he received 
 him very courteously, flattered him, and 
 gave him to understand that he might be 
 come, if he chose, the wearer of the most 
 precious mitre in America. The attempt 
 at covert bribery proved futile. ''Con 
 chillos 7 blandishment and caresses," says 
 Las Casas of himself, "had little effect on 
 the Clerigo to prevent him from accom 
 plishing the task, which God had inspired 
 him to choose as his own." 
 
 The Archbishop was approached with 
 more formality ; a memorial was prepared 
 and presented reciting and describing the 
 cruel tyranny of the Spaniards over the 
 Indians. Fonseca perused it and, in the 
 
122 Life ofBartolonid de Las Gas as. 
 
 presence of the priest, insultingly remarked: 
 "What an unwitty fool you are; what 
 business of mine is it or of the King? 1 ' To 
 which in stentorian tones the Clerigo re 
 plied ; "Is it none of your business or of 
 the King that so many souls should perish? 
 O great and eternal God, whose business 
 shall it then be?" and he left. Thus Fon- 
 seca, forgetful of his divine calling, en 
 deavored to crush with the weight of his 
 authority a simple, justice-loving Priest. 
 
 Las Casas was in Seville before the ar 
 rival of the King, acquainting Diego de 
 Deza, the Archbishop, of the different 
 steps he had taken and begging him to use 
 his influence in obtaining a protracted 
 audience in which sufficient attention 
 should be paid to American affairs. He 
 desired that it should be held in the pre 
 sence of Fonseca and of Conchillos, in order 
 that an opportunity might be afforded him 
 of formulating a withering indictment, be 
 fore the King, of the two officials, making 
 them responsible ior the murders and mas 
 sacres that were desolating the West Indian 
 Islands. But a messenger arrived an 
 nouncing the death of king Ferdinand, 
 which had taken place the 23d day of 
 January 1516. The work in behalf of the 
 unfortunate Americans was to be done all 
 over again. 
 
Life ofBartolomd de Las Casas. 123 
 
 The heir to the throne of Castile and of 
 Aragon, Charles V. was then a mere boy of 
 sixteen and resided in Flanders. Nothing- 
 daunted, L,as Casas resolved to travel to 
 that far off country to ask of the new mon 
 arch redress for the wrongs that were de 
 cimating the Indians beyond the Atlantic. 
 On his way to Flanders he stopped at 
 Madrid. 
 
 A bit of history is here necessary to make 
 clear this period of L,as Casas' life. Char 
 les V. (the grand-son of king Ferdinand), 
 or his advisors, had known for some time 
 past that Ferdinand was in feeble health 
 and that his demise could not be far off. 
 Hence Adrian, the tutor of Charles, and 
 Dean of the University of L,ouvain had 
 been sent as Ambassador to the court of 
 Spain, with secret instructions in writing 
 to take charge of the reins of government on 
 the death of the failing monarch. On the 
 other hand, Ferdinand had appointed regent 
 the famous Franciscan Friar Francisco 
 Ximenez de Cisnero, the Cardinal of Spain, 
 until such a time as his grandson should 
 take charge of the kingdom himself. Adrian 
 (the future pope) and Ximenez ruled 
 jointly and harmoniously for nearly two 
 years, over the destinies of the most power 
 ful nation in Christendom. Adrian how- 
 
124 Life ofBartolomd de Las Casas. 
 
 ever, wlio never learned how to converse 
 in the Spanish language, discreetly allowed 
 the great Ximenez to be the real regent, 
 contenting himself with affixing his signa 
 ture to all state papers as Ambassador. 
 
 L,as Casas on his arrival at Madrid, pre 
 sented to Adrian a memorial in Latin , in 
 which the cruelties and oppression of the 
 Indians were once more graphically de 
 scribed. The document shocked the Flemish 
 prelate, who was naturally of a mild and 
 compassionate disposition. Without more 
 ado, he passed to the apartments of Xime 
 nez (they lodged in the same house) and 
 showed him the memorial asking if it was 
 possible that the barbarities therein de 
 scribed were being perpetrated in the 
 Indies. The Cardinal, who had not been 
 left in ignorance of the true state of affairs 
 in the Indies by his brother Friars, the 
 Franciscans, answered in the affirmative. 
 "Then," said Adrian, "the Clerigo need not 
 go to Flanders to look for a remedy to the 
 evils afflicting his protegees beyond the 
 Atlantic. It shall be provided for here and 
 now in old Castile." Conferences after con 
 ferences were held between L,as Casas, 
 Ximenez and Adrian, in which one Licen- 
 ciado Zapata, Doctor Carbajal and Palacios 
 Rubios, all eminent jurists, disinterested in 
 
Life ofBartolom& de Las Casas. 125 
 
 Indian slavery, and lovers of justice also 
 took part. Fonseca and Conchillos were 
 carefully excluded, and Indian affairs were, 
 for the first time attended to without their 
 baneful cooperation. The laws enacted in 
 1512 ostensibly for the protection of the 
 Indians were carefully gone over and 
 studied. They were unjust, Las Casas 
 claimed, and the King had been cajoled 
 into signing them by his ministers, who 
 were interested in Indian slavery. They 
 did not provide for the proper feeding and 
 maintenance of the wretches, while they 
 were at work for the Spaniards in the 
 mines and in the fields. Hence they died 
 by the thousands of starvation and want. 
 Only on Sunday were they allowed any 
 meat, as one of the laws provided that each 
 Indian should be given one pound of it a 
 week. 
 
 At one of the meetings, at which the 
 Clerigo made the foregoing pleading, the 
 private secretary of Conchillos was called 
 and made to produce the law and to read it. 
 The scribe read it, not as it had been en 
 acted, but interpolating words that were 
 intended to shield his master from shame. 
 "That law," said L,as Casas, "says no such 
 a thing." 
 
 The Cardinal called upon the clerk to 
 read it a second time. 
 
126 Life of Bartolom& de Las Casas. 
 
 It was done ; but the interpolation was 
 inserted again. 
 
 "That law says no such thing," repeated 
 the priest, who knew it by heart, this time 
 in thundering tones. 
 
 Ximenez vexed at his boldness, said : 
 4 'Be silent, or otherwise mind your words." 
 
 L,as Casas : "May it please your lyordship 
 to have my head cut off if what that in 
 dividual has just read is contained in the 
 law." 
 
 The manuscript was snatched from the 
 clerk's hands and it proved that the Clerigo 
 was correct, and that an attempt had been 
 made at forgery, if not in writing, in word. 
 
 The outcome of the conferences was the 
 appointment of Doctor Palacios Rubios 
 (who always proved himself the friend of 
 the Indians) and of Las Casas as a com 
 mittee to devise means and measures which 
 would insure justice and protection to the 
 oppressed American natives. At the sug 
 gestion of the Clerigo, Father Montesino, 
 who had just arrived in Madrid, was added 
 to the Committee. But he and Palacios 
 Rubios, fully aware that L,as Casas, by his 
 fifteen years residence in Hispaniola and 
 Cuba, better than anyone else, had learned 
 how deep the knife should sink to cure 
 Spanish corruption and Spanish tyranny, 
 
Life oj Bartolom& de Las Casas. 127 
 
 and knowing the Clerigo to be a jurist of 
 no mean calibre, left to him the task of 
 drafting a scheme of legislation that would 
 shield the helpless Indian against the 
 rapacity and cruelty of the white man. 
 The ground work of the report which the 
 Clerigo made in a few days was : 
 
 ist. The system of Repartimientos must 
 be abolished in toto, and the Indians treated 
 like other free vassals of the Crown. 
 
 2d. Spaniards in the Indies must hence 
 forth live of their own industry, commerce 
 or labor as best they can, instead of spend 
 ing their time in demoralizing idleness or 
 in making slaves of the natives as they had 
 done heretofore. 
 
 Montesino and Palacios Rubios approved 
 the report, the latter polishing it and giving 
 it the proper form of a state paper. This 
 was read and approved, with slight modi 
 fications by the full Council of State. 
 Decrees were then formulated, and L,as 
 Casas entrusted with the task of pointing 
 out or suggesting a person or persons well 
 qualified, in his opinion, to execute them. 
 The decrees meant nothing less than the 
 revolutionizing of all economical conditions 
 in the American colonies, the shattering 
 of fortunes already made or in a fair way 
 to be made, and the placing of the masters 
 
Life of Bartolom& de Las Casas. 
 
 on a level witli their slaves. No easy task; 
 nor were all the necessary qualifications to 
 such an executive officer easily to be found 
 in the same individual or individuals. Add 
 to this that the Clerigo had been absent 
 from Spain since he had left the academi 
 cal halls of the University of Salamanca, 
 and was acquainted with few of his own 
 countrymen. Very wisely therefore he 
 decided to leave the choice of the personal 
 to Ximenez, and contented himself with 
 pointing out the qualifications that he 
 should possess, who would accept this im 
 portant and difficult mission. 
 
 Experience had shown that men were 
 easily blinded by the glitter of American 
 gold. Pasamonte, Diego Columbus, Ovan- 
 do, Bobadilla, the great Genoese mariner 
 himself, one and all had been, more or 
 less, affected by it. Evidently the proper 
 man to effect a reformation should have no 
 worldly interest to nurse, and no longing 
 for self agrandisement to satisfy. The 
 great Dominican and Franciscan Orders 
 could furnish many men, able and saintly, 
 who, bound by vows of poverty and obe 
 dience, were proof against the temptations 
 of avarice and ambition. But the remem 
 brance was yet fresh in the minds of all 
 how Montesino, a Dominican, and Espinal, 
 
Life ofBartolomt de Las Casas. 129 
 
 a Franciscan, had appeared in Court five 
 years before; Montesino to plead for the 
 Indians, and Kspinal to defend the Spani 
 ards. While it seemed desirable that one 
 or more members of a religious community 
 should be sent beyond the seas, as officers 
 of the Crown, to free the Americans from 
 the thraldom of servitude, it was at the 
 same time advisable to avoid creating any 
 jealousy between the two powerful, and, to 
 some extent, rival mendicant Orders. Xi- 
 menez therefore cast his eyes on the monks 
 of St. Jerome, then numerous in Spain, 
 and requested their Superior General to 
 select, from amongst his subjects, three men 
 to go to America to set the Indians free. 
 The Superior promised to make an answer 
 in a few weeks. Meanwhile a general 
 Chapter of the Order was held in their 
 mother house of San Bartolome de Supiana, 
 and twelve monks were selected, out of 
 which number, the Cardinal could make 
 his choice of three, or of as many as would 
 be of service to the mission. 
 
 Nearly a year had now elapsed since L,as 
 Casas' arrival in Spain. The American 
 Clerigo's doings had become well known to 
 his enemies, and to the enemies of the In 
 dians, while it was no secret that the great 
 Cardinal regent and Adrian had formed an 
 9 
 
130 Life ofBartolomd de Las Casas. 
 
 exalted opinion of the American priest. 
 Ximenez had more than once praised his 
 zeal in the presence of the highest court 
 officials extolling his disinterestedness in 
 corning from so far and in crossing the 
 dangerous Atlantic at his own expense, 
 with no worldly motive in view, but for the 
 exclusive purpose of pleading in belialf of 
 
 of a downtrodden race The Cardinal 
 
 had said on a certain occasion, when Las 
 Casas had just left his presense, "no doubt 
 this Clerigo was sent here by divine Pro 
 vidence. n After another conference be 
 tween the two cardinals and the priest 
 Adrian remarked "Multa mirabilla audi- 
 vimus de Johanne^ applying the words to 
 Las Casas. 
 
 As was to be expected, the American 
 priest soon became the object of the hatred 
 and of the calumnies of the Spanish colo 
 nists. It had been learned in Santo Do 
 mingo, Cuba, Jamaica, Porto Rico etc. that 
 the Licenciado had not gone to Paris to 
 study, but that he was at court, they said, 
 plotting to ruin them. Hence delegation 
 after delegation arrived in Spain from 
 America to endeavor to undo his work. 
 Ximenez was an uncompromising lover of 
 justice. He had not always been a Friar, 
 and knew the world, especially his country- 
 
Life of Bartolomd de Las Casas. 131 
 
 men, and like all great statesmen was a 
 reader of men's character. The slave 
 owners of America dared not approach the 
 stern old Regent, but they swarmed around 
 the three Monks who had been selected as 
 the heralds of liberty to the red man. 
 While waiting in Madrid for their creden 
 tials and other documents defining their 
 duties, and the extent of their powers and 
 jurisdiction in American affairs, the v/ell 
 meaning, but unexperienced Jeronimites, 
 who had seldom looked beyond the walls 
 of their monastic cells, lodged at first with 
 L,as Casas. But they* soon thought it 
 necessary to learn from his opponents also 
 the true conditions of the Indians, and thus 
 allowed their minds to be poisoned by the 
 misrepresentations, insinuations, lies and 
 calumnies of the Spanish colonists. They 
 removed to a hospital kept by some lay 
 brothers of their Order, where they felt 
 freer to listen to whosoever had aught to 
 tell them about the Indies. When a ship 
 was at last placed at their disposal, on 
 which they were to cross the Atlantic, they 
 alleged frivolous pretexts, but politely re 
 fused to have the Clerigo as their travelling 
 companion, although the latter had been 
 appointed as their official advisor. Before 
 leaving Madrid their dispositions and their 
 
132 Life ofBartolom6 de Las Casas. 
 
 prejudices had become so well known that 
 it was feared by well meaning men, that 
 little good would be done to the Indians 
 by their mission. Good Palacios Rubios 
 chanced one day to hear their views and 
 remarked: "Upon my faith, Fathers, it 
 seems to me that you have little of that 
 charity, which is necessary to the proper 
 management of this important affair with 
 which the King has entrusted you." He 
 then went to Ximenez to persuade him to 
 abandon the idea of sending the Monks to 
 America. But the Cardinal was found 
 dangerously ill, and could not be seen ; 
 while Palacios had to leave the capital for 
 other official duties. Ximenez recovered, 
 and lost no time in drafting the several 
 decrees and instructions by which Las 
 Casas, the three monks and Alonzo de 
 Zuazo, who was to go to the Indies as Judge 
 de Residentia^ were to be governed. It 
 must be remarked that Judges de Residentia 
 had power to investigate the official con 
 duct of government officers, and to try them 
 for their delinquencies. Zuazo' s juris 
 diction extended to all the Crown officers 
 in America. The decrees, the execution 
 of which was entrusted to the Jeronimites, 
 were quite numerous. By one of these they 
 were commanded, on their arrival in Ame- 
 
Life of Bartolom6 de Las Casas. 133 
 
 rica, to deprive at once the members of the 
 Royal Council and other Spaniards not re 
 siding in the Indies of their Repartimien- 
 tos. As this decree was the work of the 
 Clerigo and by him executed, it may be im 
 agined if the love of Fonseca, Conchillos, 
 etc. was thereby increased. A second one 
 also deprived all the judges and other Crown 
 officers in America of their Indians. By a 
 third Zuazo was instructed to try them all 
 for maladministration and malfeasance in 
 office. The instructions given to the 
 monks of St. Jerome were minute and 
 voluminous. They were the work of Las 
 Casas, although mutilated and disfigured 
 by the Council of State. They substan 
 tially contain the legislation adopted twenty 
 five years after (through the efforts of Las 
 Casas) by which perhaps the majority of 
 the native Americans of Mexico, Central 
 and South America were saved, civilized and 
 christianized. They form one of the most 
 important documents concerning the early 
 history of America, which, as far as I know, 
 has never appeared in English. I shall 
 therefore give it in full under its own ori 
 ginal title of : 
 
134 Life of Bartolom& de Las Casas. 
 
 Memorial or Instruction to be given to the 
 Fathers, who, by command of His Most 
 Reverend Lordship (Ximenez) and of the 
 Senor Ambassador are going to reform 
 the Indies. 
 
 "The first thing to be done by the 
 Fathers, who are going thither, as far as 
 can be done, is to visit personally each 
 Island, in order to inform themselves of the 
 number of the Caciques and the number of 
 their respective Indians, and of all other 
 Indians to be found in each one of the 
 Islands. They must next find out how 
 they (the Indians) have been treated by 
 the individuals to whose Repartimientos 
 they belong, and by the governors, judges 
 and other ministers. Let them reduce to 
 writing their findings, in order that proper 
 measures may be adopted in the premises. 
 While visiting the Islands, especially 
 Hispaniola, Cuba, San Juan (Porto Rico) 
 and Jamaica let them study the topography, 
 particularly in the neighborhoods where 
 gold mines are located, and let them take 
 notes of the places which are well suited 
 for the establishing of villages, whence the 
 Indians may conveniently attend the work 
 of the mines and where rivers be found for 
 their fisheries and good lands to cultivate. 
 L,et them begin their work in Hispaniola 
 
Life of Bartolomt de Las Casas. 135 
 
 and Jamaica and push thence to Cuba and 
 San Juan. The villages to be established 
 should be composed of about three hundred 
 families each, and as many houses should 
 be built as necessary according to their 
 customs; and the same should be sufficiently 
 large to accommodate an increase in the 
 families, which increase, no doubt, will 
 come by the grace of God. 
 
 A church, as good as means will allow, 
 must be built in each village with a public 
 square in front of it, and regular streets.* 
 A. house larger and better than the others 
 must be built for the Cacique on the public 
 square, because it will naturally become 
 the meeting place for the gatherings of the 
 villagers. In locating the pueblo (village) 
 the wishes of the Cacique should be grati 
 fied as much as possible, in order that their 
 feelings may not be wounded in their 
 having to -change their place of habitation. 
 Let the Fathers explain to them that all 
 these things are done for their welfare and 
 in order that they be better treated than 
 
 * The sameness of arrangement in the public 
 buildings, of churches and of streets in almost every 
 old village, town or city of Mexico, Central and 
 South America, from the Atlantic to the Pacific 
 Ocean, and from Texas to Argentine and Chili at 
 tracts the attention of every traveller. It had its 
 origin in this Memorial and is therefore attributable 
 to L,as Casas. 
 
136 Life oj Bartolomt de Las Casas. 
 
 heretofore. As to those who are found far 
 away from the mines, let them form pueblos 
 in their own neighborhoods and let them 
 there raise cattle, breadstuff s, cotton and 
 other things, and out of them let them pay 
 a reasonable tribute or tax to the king. 
 This must be done in those Islands where 
 gold is not found, which nevertheless should 
 remain inhabited, because it would grieve 
 the Indians to remove to some far away 
 point, and because climatic changes would 
 be dangerous to them. The Savannah 
 (level lands around the City of San 
 Domingo) must remain inhabited on ac 
 count of its proximity to the port, and the 
 advantages it affords to the commerce with 
 Cuba and the continent. 
 
 Proper territorial boundaries should be 
 assigned to the pueblos, giving to each of 
 them enough of the adjacent land, thus 
 providing for that increase of population 
 which is expected through the grace of 
 God. The best of these lands should be 
 parcelled out among the villagers in pro 
 portion to the size of their families and to 
 their social rank, so that they may plant 
 trees and other things, and raise cazabe to 
 make their bread. To the Caciques should 
 be assigned four times as much land as to 
 an ordinary man of the people. The rest 
 
Life ofBartolomd de Las Casas. 137 
 
 of the land should be left in common for 
 raising hogs and grazing cattle. The Ca 
 ciques and their Indians must be settled in 
 villages to be founded in the neighborhood 
 of their native homes in order that they 
 may gather into them cheerfully. L,et 
 negotiations be entered into with the Ca 
 ciques with a view to their bringing their- 
 people into the villages of their own free 
 accord, if possible, without any other in 
 ducement, and let the Caciques exercise 
 care in governing and ruling over their 
 people in the manner to be stated hereafter. 
 If the Indians of one Cacique be numerous 
 enough to form a pueblo alone, let them 
 do it ; if not, let a sufficient number of the 
 nearest ones bring their subjects together, 
 and let each Cacique continue to exercise 
 authority over his own Indians, and let 
 the minor chiefs obey him, whom they 
 were accustomed to recognize as their 
 superior, who should be given jurisdiction 
 over the entire pueblo jointly with the 
 Friar or secular Priest in charge of the 
 administration of the pueblo. If any pre 
 sent or future Spanish settler shall desire to 
 marry an heiress to a Caciqueship, when 
 no male heir should be living, let it be 
 done with the consent of the acting parish 
 priest and the administrator of the pueblo. 
 
138 Life ofBartolomd de Las Casas. 
 
 The Spaniard so married shall be recog 
 nized, obeyed and served as- trie Cacique 
 his predecessor, in the same manner as 
 other Caciques. Thus it will soon come to 
 pass that all the Caciques will be Spaniards 
 and many expenses will be spared. 
 
 Bach pueblo must have its own separate 
 jurisdiction, and its Cacique must exercise 
 it not only over the delinquents from 
 amongst his own people, but also over the 
 subjects of the inferior chiefs, who may be 
 living in that pueblo. This must be un 
 derstood only of minor offences punishable 
 with nothing worse than a whipping, and 
 even this must not be done without the 
 consent of the Religious or Clerigo in 
 charge of the parish. Jurisdiction over 
 more serious crimes belongs to the king's 
 civil courts. If the Caciques themselves 
 should do what they ought not, or infringe 
 upon the rights of their inferiors, it shall 
 be the duty of the ordinary civil tribunals 
 to punish them. The officers of the pueblo 
 shall be elected by the acting parish priest, 
 the Cacique and the administrator, and in 
 case of disagreement by a majority of them. 
 And, as it is necessary that good order be 
 established and maintained in each pueblo, 
 it is deemed advisable that an administrator 
 be appointed for one, two, three or more 
 
Life of Bartolomt de Las Casas. 139 
 
 villages according to the number of people 
 in them, who should live in a stone house 
 in some centrally located place, but not 
 within the precincts of the pueblo itself, in 
 order that the Indians may not be harassed 
 by the members of his household, or quarrel 
 with them. The administrator should be a 
 Spanish settler and a conscientious man, 
 chosen from among those who are known 
 to have always treated well the Indians of 
 their Repartimientos, and whose character 
 should give promise that he will fulfill the 
 duties of his office faithfully. These duties 
 shall be to visit the pueblo or pueblos of 
 his charge, see to it that the Caciques, 
 especially the principal one of each place, 
 make their Indians adopt and live according 
 to the rules of civilized life, each one in his 
 own house and with his own family ; that 
 he make them attend to their work in the 
 mines, in the fields, in raising cattle and 
 other things which the Indians should do, 
 as shall be hereinafter explained. He 
 must be forbidden from molesting the In 
 dians, and from making them work with 
 promises of rewards, more than they are 
 obliged to. He should also be made to 
 understand that he is responsible to God 
 for any abuse of his power. Upon assum 
 ing the duties of his office he should be 
 
140 Life ofBartolomt de Las Casas. 
 
 made to take a solemn oath to perform 
 them conscientiously; and if ever after he 
 fails to do so, he shall be punished by the 
 courts according to the laws of his Majesty, 
 the King. For the proper performance of 
 his duties he should keep with him three 
 or four Spaniards from Castile or from some 
 other part of Spain; and a sufficient number 
 of arms. He should not allow the Caci 
 ques or their Indians to keep in their pos 
 session any weapons belonging to them 
 selves, except such as shall be deemed 
 , necessary to hunt. If he should choose, or 
 if it should be found necessary to keep 
 more employees, he may do so, provided 
 that he pays them a competent salary in 
 the presence of the parish priest. He shall 
 also be allowed to keep, as members of his 
 household, not more than six Indians, pro 
 vided they enter his service of their free 
 accord, provided he shall not send them 
 to work in the mines, but employ them 
 only on his own premises, and provided 
 they remain free to quit his service and re 
 turn to the pueblo to which they belong 
 whenever they should become dissatisfied 
 with their position. The administrator 
 and the Religious or Clerigo must do their 
 best to reduce the Caciques and their In 
 dians to a civilized manner of life, making 
 
LifeofBartolomddeLasCasas. 141 
 
 them wear clothes, sleep in beds, and take 
 care of the implements or other articles 
 entrusted to their keeping. They must see 
 to it that each man be satisfied to live 
 with his own and lawful wife, not allowing 
 him to quit her, and that the women live 
 chastely. If any of them should commit 
 adultery, on the complaint of her husband, 
 the Cacique must punish her and her 
 accomplice, although the punishment must 
 not exceed a whipping administered with 
 the consent of the administrator and of the 
 acting parish priest. L,et him likewise 
 take care that the Cacique or their Indians 
 do not gamble, barter, sell or give away 
 their belongings without his own or the 
 priest's permission. An exception must 
 be made for eatables or of bona fide alms. 
 They should not be permitted to eat on the 
 floor. The administrators must draw a 
 salary proportionate to their charge, their 
 work and their necessary expenses. Half 
 of their salaries shall be paid by the King, 
 and the other half by the pueblo or pu 
 eblos by them administered. The adminis 
 trators must be married men, in order that 
 the inconveniences, which otherwise might 
 arise, may be avoided, unless a person be 
 found of such a character that he may be 
 trusted, even if he is not married. One of 
 
142 Life ofBartolomd de Las Casas. 
 
 the administrator's duties shall be to keep 
 a registry of all trie Caciques, and of the 
 number of persons in each family and in 
 each pueblo, in order that, if any one 
 should run away, absent himself, or fail to 
 do his duty, it may be easily found out. 
 
 In order that the Indians may be pro 
 perly instructed in our holy faith, and 
 their spiritual wants properly attended to, 
 there must be in each pueblo a Religious 
 or a Clerigo, whose duty it shall be to give 
 them instructions adapted to their capacity, 
 to administer the sacraments and to preach 
 to them on Sundays and Feastdays and to 
 make them understand how, and why they 
 should pay, for God's sake, the tithes or 
 the first fruits of the earth to the Church 
 and her ministers, who hear their confes 
 sions, and minister them the sacraments, 
 bury them, when dead, and pray for them. 
 The priest must see that they attend Mass 
 and sit in good order in church, the men 
 on one side and the women on the other. 
 The clergyman shall be bound to say Mass 
 on Sundays and Feastdays and on what 
 ever other days he shall choose to do so. He 
 shall also see that Mass be said on Sundays 
 and Feastdays in the churches, which 
 shall be erected at the mining camps. 
 The clergymen's salaries shall be paid out 
 
Life ofBartolom de Las Casas. 143 
 
 of the tithes of each pueblo, and they shall 
 also be entitled to ordinary perquisites and 
 offerings that may be made voluntarily by 
 men or women of cazabe, chili etc. They 
 shall not be entitled to any fees for hearing 
 confessions, administering the other sa 
 craments, marrying people, or for burying 
 the dead. In the afternoons of Sundays 
 and Feastdays they shall ring the church 
 bells, and call together the people to teach 
 them catechism ; and, should anybody 
 refuse to come, he must be punished mode 
 rately, and the punishment must be ad 
 ministered publicly, in order that it may 
 serve as a warning to others. 
 
 A sacristan must also be appointed to 
 attend to the church. He should be an 
 Indian, if a competent one be found in the 
 pueblo ; if not, a white man must be se 
 lected. It shall be his duty to teach the 
 Indian children, especially the sons of the 
 Caciques, how to read, write and speak 
 the Spanish language until they shall be 
 nine years of age. He must also do his 
 best to induce the Caciques and their 
 people to speak Spanish. A hospice must 
 also be built in the pueblo, wherein to 
 shelter and to care for the sick, and for 
 aged persons, who can work no longer, as 
 well as for the orphan children. For the 
 
144 Life ofBartolom& de Las Casas. 
 
 maintenance of the liospice the pueblo 
 shall be required to make and to cultivate 
 a plantation of 50,000 Montones.* As it 
 is provided that a married man with his 
 wife be given charge of the establishment, 
 it shall be his duty to solicit contributions 
 to help supporting it ; and inasmuch as the 
 market, for the selling of meat, shall be 
 public property, a pound of meat shall be 
 given daily for every inmate of the hospice, 
 the keeper and his wife included. The 
 distribution of the meat shall be made in 
 the presence of the Cacique or of the parish 
 priest. The male Indians of each pueblo, 
 twenty years, of age, and not over fifty, 
 shall be bound to the following contri 
 bution of labor. At all times one third of 
 them shall be employed in the work of the 
 mines, and, if any be sick or disabled, they 
 must be substituted by others, out of the 
 other two-thirds. They shall go to work 
 at sunrise, or shortly after, and after the 
 noonday meal, they shall have, for rest and 
 recreation, three hours ; after which they 
 shall work until sunset. Every able-bodied 
 man shall be employed in the work of the 
 mines four months of the year, at such 
 times as the Cacique may designate, pro 
 vided that one-third of them be always at 
 
 * The artificial heaps or hills of dirt, in which 
 the cazabe was cultivated, were called montones. 
 
Life ofBartolom& de Las Casas. 145 
 
 work. Women shall not be obliged to 
 work in the mines, unless they do so of 
 their own accord, and with their husband's 
 consent. When so employed each one of 
 them shall count as one man in making the 
 one-third spoken of above. Let the Caci 
 ques send their men to work in squads, and 
 with each squad a foreman, who must be 
 selected from among the Indians them 
 selves ; whose duty shall be to make his 
 men work, to show them how to gather 
 the gold, and to act in the capacity of 
 miner ; for experience has taught that it is 
 not advisable to have Spaniards act as 
 miners or taskmasters. When an Indian 
 shall have given the number of work-days 
 required of him, he shall be allowed to re 
 turn to his home to properly work the land 
 allotted to him, and the Cacique, the acting 
 parish priest and the administrator must 
 see to it, that he work it properly. 
 
 As the Cacique naturally will require 
 much work for the cultivation of his land, 
 every one of his Indians shall be required 
 to contribute fifteen days without wages or 
 board each year, and the children, the 
 women, and old men must attend to keep 
 ing his crops free from grass, whenever 
 necessary. The Indians not at work in the 
 mines must be compelled to work moder 
 ately on their farms. 
 10 
 
146 Life ofBartolomd de Las Casas. 
 
 The plantations found necessary or con 
 venient to trie establishment of the pueblos 
 will be Crown property ; but they shall be 
 assessed at a fair valuation and paid for at 
 the first smelting, out of the share of gold, 
 which shall belong to the Indians. The 
 plantations must then be parcelled out in 
 plots, and one of these be assigned to the 
 head of each family, until such a time as 
 he shall be able to reduce to a state of cul 
 tivation the land which shall be allotted to 
 him in fee simple. The Cacique must take 
 charge of the cattle on these plantations, 
 to use them in the manner hereinafter 
 explained. If possible, each pueblo should 
 have ten or twelve mares, fifty cows, and 
 one hundred sows. All these animals should 
 at first remain common property, and be 
 fed at public expense until the Indians 
 shall have learned and grown accustomed to 
 own and care for some of their own. There 
 must be in each pueblo a butcher, who shall 
 distribute to each family two pounds of 
 meat whenever the husband will be at 
 home, and not at work in the mines, and 
 one pound, when he will be absent. If a 
 family requires more meat it must procure 
 it with its own industry, as it must also 
 provide for itself, on abstinence days, when 
 eating fleshmeat is forbidden. The Caci- 
 
Life ofBartolom& de Las Casas. 147 
 
 que must be given eight pounds of meat 
 daily, and he must see that the wives of 
 those who work in the mines make their 
 own and their husband's bread, prepare 
 chili, corn and all other necessary things, 
 which must be sent, free of charge, to the 
 mines on the mares mentioned above. 
 There must be in each mine a butcher, and 
 each workman must be given one pound 
 and a half or two pounds of meat a day; 
 and, as in Hispaniola fish is not abundant, 
 dispensation should be obtained for eating 
 neshmeat on some of the days of Lent and 
 on some other days of abstinence. In order 
 that the laborers be provided with meat, 
 some of the cattle, which are common pro 
 perty, should be driven to the mines for 
 their slaughter houses, and if a sufficient 
 supply of them is not at hand, others must 
 be bought and paid for on the first smelting- 
 day following. 
 
 All the gold mined must be consigned 
 into the hands of the foreman every evening, 
 as has been done heretofore, and when 
 smel ting-day shall have come, (and there 
 must be one every two months, unless His 
 Majesty's officers should ordain otherwise) 
 said foreman, the Cacique, and the ad 
 ministrator together must take it to the 
 smeltery and see that every thing be done 
 
148 Life of Bartolom& de Las Casas. 
 
 honestly. The gold must tlien be divided 
 in three parts, one of which shall go to the 
 king, and the other two to the Caciques 
 and to the Indians to pay for the plan 
 tations and cattle that were bought for the 
 pueblo and to meet all expenses made in 
 common. The remainder must be divided in 
 to equal shares among the heads of families, 
 the Cacique counting as six, and the fore 
 man as two. With his share of gold mined 
 each laborer must provide his own tools, 
 which shall remain his own property. But 
 in order that said tools be properly looked 
 after, an account of them must be kept 
 in writing. If the whole amount shall 
 not thus have been disposed of, the 
 Clerigo and administrator shall buy for 
 the laborers clothing, and a dozen 
 chickens and a cock, and what other 
 things shall be thought necessary to his 
 family ; and in order that care be taken 
 of these personal articles, a record shall be 
 kept of them also. If a balance should yet 
 remain in favor of the laborer, it shall be 
 given in trust to some honest person, whose 
 name, and the amount received shall go on 
 record, in the manner that the Clerigo and 
 administrator shall deem best, in order that 
 the trustee may be properly summoned and 
 made to disburse it, whenever he shall be 
 called upon to do so. 
 
Life of Bartolom& de Las Casas. 149 
 
 Twelve Spaniards, professional miners, 
 must be employed to prospect for and to dis 
 cover new mines. Half of their salaries 
 shall be paid by the King, and the other 
 half by the Indians' common fund. As 
 soon as a new mine shall have been dis 
 covered, it must be turned over to the In 
 dians to be worked, and then the Spanish 
 miners must proceed to discover other 
 mines, leaving behind none of their ser 
 vants or Spanish settlers, in order that the 
 Indians may not be robbed of their gold or 
 illtreated. And whatever gold the Spanish 
 miners may find in the discharge of their 
 duties shall be turned over to the proper 
 authorities to be divided between the King 
 and the Indians. Very severe penalties 
 must be decreed against the violators of 
 this rule. " 
 
 I have said that the foregoing document 
 was drafted by L,as Casas. But the in 
 fluence of the Spanish- American settlers, 
 who were then pleading at court for their 
 selfish interests, had its bad effects. The 
 Protector of the Indians, far from advising 
 it, protested against the enforced labor of 
 the natives in the mines. He knew full 
 well that it would open a door to the prac 
 tices of those abuses, which had already 
 caused the death of hundreds of thousands 
 
150 Life ofBartolomd de Las Casas. 
 
 of the helpless aborigines. All the clauses 
 relating to the labor of the mines were the 
 work of the royal councillors. The in 
 fluence of the Spanish settlers went farther. 
 The monks of St. Jerome were given a 
 second memorial or set of instructions, 
 which were to be the guide of their conduct 
 in America, in case that the instructions 
 contained in the first memorial should be 
 found impracticable. The second memorial 
 was made up of amendments to the laws 
 enacted four years before by king Fer 
 dinand for the government of the Indies. 
 
 These amendments were radical and all 
 in favor of the Indians, but did not abolish 
 the system of Repartimientos which was 
 real slavery. And as long as the execution 
 of these laws remained necessarily in the 
 hands of the slaveowners, who were se 
 parated from the central government of 
 Madrid by six thousand miles of water, 
 they would, Las Casas knew it, prove in 
 effective and useless. Fortunately for the 
 Indians, Ximenez enacted at the same time 
 another decree, which has become perhaps 
 the best known, as it proved the most bene 
 ficial of all the Spanish state papers con 
 cerning the protection of the American 
 race. It ultimately proved their salvation. 
 It was addressed to Las Casas and must be 
 given in full. 
 
CHAPTER XI. 
 
 Las Casas is made Official Protector of the 
 Indians and Returns to America. 
 
 ur pO Bartolome de Las Casas, Clerigo, a 
 native of Seville and a resident of 
 Cuba in the Indies, the King and the 
 Queen." 
 
 * 'Inasmuch as we have been informed that 
 you have resided for a long time in those 
 countries, and that hence you are by ex 
 perience familiar with their affairs, es 
 pecially those wherein the welfare of the 
 Indians is concerned, and inasmuch as you, 
 by contact with them, have become well 
 acquainted with their customs and manner 
 of living, and whereas we know that you 
 are zealous in the service of God and our 
 own, which makes us hope that you will 
 comply carefully and diligently with our 
 commands and the duties of the charge we 
 hereby give you, and that you -will work 
 for the welfare of the souls and bodies of 
 the Spaniards as well as of the Indians ; 
 therefore, by these presents we command 
 that you go to the Indies, to Hispaniola, to 
 Cuba, to Porto Rico, to Jamaica and to the 
 
152 Life ofBartolom& de Las Casas. 
 
 Continent, and that you advise, counsel 
 and inform the devout Fathers of St. Je 
 rome, whom we send to reform the Indies, 
 and all other persons, who may cooperate 
 with them, about all things concerning the 
 liberty, humane treatment and salvation of 
 the souls and bodies of said Indians of the 
 afore mentioned Islands and Continent, and 
 that you thence write to us, that you inform 
 us, and that you come to inform us about 
 everything done in said Islands ; and in 
 order that you may do everything in a 
 proper manner for the service of Our Lord 
 and our own in the performance of the 
 duties of your office, we hereby give you 
 unreservedly all powers directly or in 
 directly connected or annexed, ordinarily 
 or extraordinarily necessary to the exercise 
 of your office. And we hereby command 
 our admiral and the judges of the courts 
 of appeal and all other judges in said Is 
 lands and Continent, that they respect and 
 cause to be respected this power which we 
 hereby give you, and that they observe and 
 cause to be observed the spirit and the letter 
 of this decree under penalty of our dis 
 pleasure, and a fine of ten thousand mara- 
 vedies for each offense. Given in Madrid 
 the 1 7th day of September 1516. 
 
 F., the Cardinal. 
 
 Adrian, the Ambassador. " 
 
Life ofBartolom& de Las Casas. 153 
 
 These were very indefinite powers ; but 
 their very latitude furnished Las Casas 
 with a weapon wherewith to check the 
 excesses of the Spaniards against the In 
 dians. The white man in America will 
 hereafter know that a man, who can neither 
 be intimidated or bribed, keeps an eye on 
 their conduct and is ready to denounce him 
 to his sovereigns. By another decree Las 
 Casas was declared Universal Procurator 
 and Protector of all the Indians in America, 
 and a salary was assigned to him of one 
 hundred dollars a year, "which," says he, 
 "in those days was not inconsiderable, as 
 that Hell of Peru with its multitude of 
 quintals of gold had not yet been dis 
 covered." 
 
 Zuazo had also received his credentials, 
 and the judge, the monks and the Clerigo 
 were ready to sail for Hispaniola to reform 
 the Indies. But the Protector of the In 
 dians had already lost confidence in the 
 three religious, and taking leave of Xi- 
 menez, he said : u Sefior, I wish to be free 
 from any scruple of conscience, and as I 
 am now in your presence, whom, my office 
 requires, I should keep well informed, I 
 speak. Your most Reverend Lordship must 
 know that these monks of St. Jerome, to 
 whose hands you have confided the des- 
 
154 Life of Bartolomd de Las Casas. 
 
 tinies of an infinite number of souls in 
 those parts, will do no good, but much 
 harm." He explained how they were 
 leaving Spain already prejudiced against 
 the Indians, whom they were sent to ran 
 som and protect, and biased in favor of the 
 Spaniards, whose crimes they were sent to 
 punish. The Cardinal answered: "Well 
 then, whom else shall we trust ? You are 
 going with them ; look after everything 
 yourself." L/as Casas and the monks 
 sailed on different ships from San Lucar 
 the eleventh of September 1516 and safely 
 reached Porto Rico together, where they 
 were all detained four or five days. While 
 in port the Protector of the Indians visited 
 the monks and begged them to allow him 
 to travel on their ship to Hispaniola, in 
 asmuch as his own vessel would be detained 
 a fortnight in Porto Rico to unload. The 
 permission was refused. 
 
 Ivas Casas began actively to perform the 
 duties of his office in Porto Rico itself. 
 One John Bono, a shipmaster, had just ar 
 rived in port with a ship load of slaves, 
 whom he had kidnapped in Trinidad in 
 the following manner. With sixty ma 
 rauders, like himself, he had appeared be 
 fore that Island; and as the Indians gathered 
 on the shore in large numbers, to prevent, 
 
Life ofBartolom& de Las Casas. 155 
 
 as best they could, a landing, lie assured 
 them that his and his companions' inten 
 tions were peaceful and that they had come 
 to make a settlement in their midst. The 
 Indians believed him, fed his people, and 
 treated them as brothers. Bono cajoled 
 the Indians into believing that the white 
 men wished to live all in the same house ; 
 and the Indians set to work to build it as 
 capacious as desired. In a few days the 
 building was nearly completed and Bono 
 invited the natives to come and see it. 
 Some four hundred of them, naked and 
 unarmed had entered the enclosure, when 
 the Spaniards, at a given signal, swords in 
 hand, surrounded the building, and Bono 
 himself announced to the bewildered crowd, 
 that they must either surrender or be cut 
 to pieces. Some attempted to resist, others 
 to flee, and in a few minutes the floor was 
 strewn with the wounded, the dying, and 
 the dead. One hundred and eighty were 
 manacled and placed aboard the ship. And 
 still the cargo was not yet complete. One 
 hundred Indians had fortified themselves in 
 a house of their own, and were ready to 
 defend themselves. Summoned to surren 
 der, they refused ; the building was then 
 set on fire by the Spaniards, and the one 
 hundred human beings cremated. Bono, 
 
156 Life ofBartolom& de Las Casas. 
 
 who himself detailed to Las Casas this 
 act of vandalism, when asked what had 
 prompted him to such inhuman cruelty, 
 answered that he had been instructed by 
 the Oidores (judges of the supreme court) 
 in Hispaniola to capture the Indians peace 
 fully, if he could, but, with sword in hand, 
 if necessary. L,as Casas lost no time in in 
 forming the monks of what had happened. 
 But the one hundred and eighty Indians, 
 who had been sold into slavery, were not 
 set free, neither was Bono or the Oidores 
 ever punished for their crime. 
 
 The Clerigo was taking a stroll on the 
 streets of San Juan de Porto Rico, when he 
 heard the moans and the cries of an Indian, 
 who, tied to a post, was being unmercy- 
 fully whipped by a visitador, i. e. an in 
 spector of Repartimientos, because the 
 wretch had attempted to run away from his 
 master, and had disobeyed him. The priest 
 stepped to the brutish visitador and repri 
 manded him for his cruelty. The scourging 
 was suspended, but no sooner had I^as 
 Casas disappeared, than the fiend resumed 
 the flagellation of the Indian. This too 
 was detailed by L,as Casas to the monks; 
 but no good came of it. 
 
 The reader however must not imagine 
 that the mission undertaken by the Fathers 
 
Life ofBartolom& de Las Casas. 157 
 
 was an easy one. The great Cardinal XI- 
 inenez very probably had not fully realized 
 all the difficulties of the undertaking, and, 
 not unlikely, the Protector of the Indians 
 himself would have failed to reform the 
 Indies had the task been entrusted to him 
 with the same powers that were conferred 
 on the three monks of St. Jerome. Very 
 few instances are recorded in history of 
 slavery having been effectually abolished 
 in any country, by royal, presidential, or 
 other decrees, without bloodshed and war. 
 There is however no evidence that the 
 three monks made any serious effort to 
 carry out the first of the two sets of in 
 structions, which had been given them as a 
 guide of their conduct in the fulfilment of 
 their American mission. They arrived at 
 the seat of the colonial government, San 
 Domingo, thirteen days before L,as Casas. 
 The object of their coming was well 
 known there, and the colonial officers and 
 the judges received them in a manner be 
 fitting the representatives of the Kings. 
 No time was lost *in representing to them 
 that if the Repartimientos were abolished, 
 and the Indians set free, the colonies would 
 be destroyed ; and that, without enforced 
 labor, the Indians could never be civilized 
 or christianized, and that they could not 
 
158 Life of Bartolom& de Las Casas. 
 
 support themselves side by side with the 
 white men. The Fathers lent a willing 
 ear to these arguments, and even before the 
 arrival of their official advisor, if not con 
 vinced, were persuaded into believing that 
 it was impossible to abolish the Repartimi- 
 eiitos. L,as Casas found them far from dis 
 posed to take immediate steps to emancipate 
 his protegees. True, the Repartimientos 
 belonging to absentee landlords, like Fon- 
 seca, Conchillos etc., were undone, but L,as 
 Casas never succeeded in inducing the 
 Fathers to deprive the colonial officers, the 
 judges, the governor, the treasurer, etc. 
 of their Indians. He represented to them 
 daily how the Indians perished under the 
 system, he detailed to them the horrors of 
 the kidnapping expeditions, how the mines 
 might as well be called places of execution, 
 how the Spaniards oppressed, starved and 
 murdered the Indians. But all in vain. 
 The Fathers were slow, and could not be 
 aroused to action. 
 
 The impetuous Clerigo wished to see the 
 ax fall at once at the root of the evil ; the 
 monks reflected and temporized. It was 
 no unusual occurrence to see the Protector 
 of the Indians appear before the Fathers in 
 the company of some well meaning man or 
 woman, who would corroborate his state- 
 
Life ofBartolomt de Las Casas. 159 
 
 nients about the illtreatment of the Indians 
 by the white men, or tell new tales of cru 
 elties, of which they had been eye wit 
 nesses. One day a brother priest, whose 
 charge was at one of the mines fifteen or 
 sixteen miles from San Domingo, came to 
 report to the Protector of the Indians how 
 the native laborers were there abused. He 
 testified, that he had seen them sick from 
 overwork, lying on the neighboring hills, 
 or in the fields, covered with flies, and that 
 nobody concerned himself enough about 
 them, to give them food or nourishment, 
 and that the owners of the Repartimientos 
 allowed them thus to die. Hearing which, 
 Las Casas took him by the hand and led 
 him to the monks. These listened impas 
 sively to the harrowing rehearsal of the 
 narrative ; they first expressed t'hemselves 
 as if in doubt of the veracity of the priest, 
 and ended by palliating and excusing the 
 cruelty of the tyrants. The clergyman, a 
 humane gentleman, who had come to in 
 form Las Casas out of pure compassion for 
 the Indians, because he had heard that he 
 was their Procurator, made the following 
 answer : "Do you know, Reverend Fathers, 
 that I begin to surmise that you will do no 
 more good to these wretched creatures than 
 the governors who preceded you?" Say- 
 
160 Life of Bartolom6 de Las Casas. 
 
 ing which lie departed, leaving the three 
 monks rather sad and dazed. 
 
 Las Casas left nobody in doubt as to his 
 mission in San Domingo. He insisted 
 that the. three commissioners (they were 
 not exactly governors) should set free with 
 out delay the slaves belonging to the 
 judges, officers and other government em 
 ployees. He preached in church, in the 
 streets, and so to say from the house tops, 
 that the Repartimientos must be abolished 
 and all the Indians set free. Thus, while 
 he more and more became the idol of the 
 surviving natives of Hispaniola, he at 
 tracted daily more and more the shafts 
 poisoned by hatred and a desire of revenge, 
 which the Spanish settlers aimed at him. 
 His life was no longer safe, (so, at least, 
 he thought,) in his own house, and on the 
 warning and at the invitation of the Domi 
 nican Fathers, lie went to reside in their 
 convent. Meanwhile Zuazo, the judge de 
 residentia, had also arrived in Hispaniola. 
 After presenting his credentials, he soon 
 began to perform the important duties of 
 his office. The Oidores, or judges of the 
 court of appeal, were summoned to answ r er 
 to charges for malfeasance in office. Las 
 Casas, as Protector of the Indians, had a 
 right to appear as prosecuting attorney. 
 
Life of Barlolomd de Las Gas as.. 161 
 
 Calling into service all his lawyer's train 
 ing and natural talents and all his priestly 
 zeal, he formulated a terrible indictment, 
 accusing the Oidores of murder and theft, 
 in so far as they had allowed, connived at, 
 and participated in enlisting and arming 
 expeditionary forces to kidnap the Indians 
 of the Bahama Archipelago, whereby 
 thousands of homicides had been com 
 mitted, and numberless men, women, and 
 children had been deprived of their liberty. 
 
 L,as Casas tells us himself that it was the 
 general opinion among those who were 
 versed in criminal prosecutions, that the 
 judges would be condemned to death, as 
 they fully deserved. But he does not tell us 
 how the trial ended, remarking however, 
 that the judges are seldom condemned to 
 death, and if they are, the sentences are 
 not often executed. 
 
 The zeal of the Protector of the Indians 
 in discharging the duties of his office, dis 
 turbed the equanimity of the three monks, 
 because the prosecution of the judges em 
 phasized their obligation to declare the In 
 dians free. To shift responsibility, while 
 disregarding the counsels of their official 
 advisor, the three commissioners thought 
 proper to ask the opinions of the judges, of 
 the Franciscan and Dominican Fathers, as 
 11 
 
1 62 Life ofBariolomd de Las Casas. 
 
 to the advisability of abolishing the system 
 of Repartimientos, and of carrying out the 
 first set of instructions they had brought 
 from Spain. They knew in advance what 
 the answer of the judges and of the Fran 
 ciscans would be. But the Dominicans 
 stood, as usual, uncompromisingly for the 
 liberty of the Indians in a written thesis, 
 which they presented to the commissioners 
 signed by all the jurists and theologians of 
 their community. The commissioners gave 
 it slight consideration. 
 
 They had now resided in Hispaniola 
 six months, and their inactivity had con 
 vinced Las Casas that they would accom 
 plish nothing of importance in behalf of 
 the Indians. But just then the following 
 episode came to his knowledge and left no 
 doubt in his mind as to the course to be 
 pursued. 
 
 Some of the commissioners' relatives had 
 come from Spain and had been sent by 
 them to Cuba, with letters to Velasquez, 
 asking him to take them under his patron 
 age, which, under the circumstances, meant 
 to give them the best Repartimiento of In 
 dians to be found. 
 
 4 * They dared not keep them in Hispani 
 ola," Las Casas tell us, "because the Cler- 
 igo was there, who, they knew it, would 
 
Life ofBartolom& de Las Casas. 163 
 
 publicly denounce the crime, if the relatives 
 of those, who had been sent to free the In 
 dians, would be allowed and helped to en 
 rich themselves with their labor. ' ' 
 
 The friends of the latter and of their Pro 
 tector, namely the Dominicans and judge 
 Zuazo were consulted and all agreed that 
 the Clerigo should return to Spain and re 
 port to Ximenez the state of affairs. Zuazo 
 was selected to notify the commissioners 
 that their official advisor was about to sail 
 for Kurope. 
 
 " Don't let him go," said they on hear 
 ing the news ; "he is a torch, that will set 
 every thing on fire." 
 
 "But Fathers," answered Zuazo, "who 
 will dare stop him? He is a clergyman, 
 and moreover has in his possession a royal 
 decree authorizing him to go and inform 
 the Kings, whenever he sees fit, as this is 
 one of the duties of his office." 
 
 The following day the Clerigo himself 
 went to pay a visit to the commissioners. 
 
 "What is this, that we hear about your 
 going to Castile?" remarked one of them. 
 Las Casas cooly answered : "Yes, I would 
 like to go and attend to some business per 
 taining to my office." The subject of con 
 versation was then changed. 
 
CHAPTER XII. 
 
 Las Casas' Second Trip to Spain in behalf of 
 the Indians. 
 
 with testimonials from the Domi 
 nicans and from the French Franciscans 
 as to his zeal, efforts and work in behalf of 
 the Indians, Las Casas sailed some time in 
 May, and fifty days after stood by the bed 
 side of the great Cardinal Ximenez, who 
 was already ill of the sickness that proved 
 his last. , The dying statesman gently com 
 plained with the Protector of the Indians 
 for not having written to inform him how 
 American affairs were progressing. From 
 which the Clerigo learned, for the first 
 time, that his letters from the Indies, which 
 he had mailed regularly on every returning 
 ship, had been intercepted, while those of 
 the three commissioners, in which com 
 plaints and accusations were lodged against 
 him, had reached their destination. He 
 did not succeed, however, in locating the 
 guilty parties. 
 
 The monks of St. Jerome in Hispaniola 
 lost no time in deputizing one of them 
 selves to go to Spain to represent and de- 
 
Life of Bartolom& de Las Casas. 165 
 
 fend them at court. The choice fell on 
 Bernardino de Manzanedo. But Ximenez 
 died a few days after, without seeing his 
 efforts in. behalf of the American Indians 
 bear any fruit. 
 
 Charles V. was expected in Spain for 
 some time past, but nobody seemed to know 
 just when he would arrive. L,as Casas de 
 cided to wait in Valladolid until September, 
 and if by that time an opportunity was not 
 afforded him of interviewing the young 
 Monarch in Spain, he would go to Flan 
 ders to see him there. Father Reginaldo 
 Montesino was a brother of that Antonio 
 Montesino, with whom we are already ac 
 quainted, and like him a Dominican. A 
 learned and eloquent preacher, he was a 
 man of great influence, who offered, with 
 the permission of his superiors, to accom 
 pany the Clerigo and to give him whatever 
 assistance he could, during the journey and 
 while in the Low Countries. The two 
 friends were not, however, long together in 
 Valladolid, when news reached the city that 
 the King had landed on Spanish soil, and 
 that, in a few days, he would arrive in 
 Valladolid itself. Meanwhile they were not 
 idle. Las Casas and Reginaldo were one 
 day in conversation with an exmember of 
 the Bureau of Indian affairs, who remarked 
 
1 66 Life of Bartolom& de Las Casas. 
 
 to the two clergymen that, in his opinion, 
 the American Indian was too low in the 
 scale of humanity to be taught and to learn 
 and practice the Christian religion. Mon- 
 tesino promptly informed him that to say 
 the like was heresy. The friar's boldness 
 irritated the royal counselor, and a dispute 
 followed. This preteiited incapacity of the 
 Indians to learn and understand the Christ 
 ian religion had been from the beginning 
 a powerful weapon in the hands .of their 
 enemies to keep them in bondage, and the 
 two clergymen thought that it ought to be 
 blunted if it was not in their power to 
 break it. Reginaldo wrote therefore to 
 Father Hurtado, prior of the monastery of 
 St. Stephen in Salamanca, who was pro 
 minent in his Order, not only as a profound 
 theologian, but as a saintly man, and in 
 formed him, that the pernicious error, about 
 the American Indians not being able to 
 learn and understand the Christian religion, 
 was held by some of the courtiers, and re 
 quested him to call together the theological 
 faculty of that University to discuss and 
 decide the question. It was done, and the 
 conclusions arrived at were shortly after 
 sent to Montesino and Las Casas properly 
 signed and authenticated. The last con 
 clusion recited that the death penalty by 
 
Life ofBartolomd de Las Casas. 167 
 
 fire should be inflicted on those, who were 
 imbued with that error and pertinaciously 
 defended it, as was done in the case of 
 heretics. The enslavement of men except 
 of criminals, lunatics, idiots, and the like, 
 is undefensible in the light of the Gospel, 
 unless it be assumed that the individuals 
 thus enslaved are not really human beings, 
 but mere brutes, outwardly resembling men. 
 To appreciate the value of that document 
 in the hands of Las Casas to protect the In 
 dians against the tyranny of those who 
 called themselves Christians, we must call 
 to mind the fact that a decision on a point 
 of faith or morals by a university such as 
 that of Salamanca at the beginning of the 
 XVI. century had almost the same effect 
 and bearing that a decree from a Roman 
 Congregation has at the present time. It 
 usually settled the point in dispute. Hence 
 forth the Protector of the Indians will be 
 able to fling that decision in the face of his 
 adversaries and say: The American Indians 
 are men endowed with reason, children, 
 like the white men, of the same Father, 
 who is in heaven, and capable of being 
 christianized ; they were free, and no Chris 
 tian has the right to enslave them. 
 
 "These principles are self-evident to us 
 of the XIX. century, but they were not so 
 
1 68 Life oj Bartolom de Las Gas as. 
 
 clear to our ancestors of the XV. and XVI. 
 centuries." So say the apologists of the 
 early American settlers. Their argument, 
 it seems to me, has little force. The gospel 
 was at least as well understood then as it is 
 now, and the works of St. Thomas Aquinas 
 were widely taught and better known to 
 the clergy of 1517 than they are to the 
 clergy of 1900. Christian faith is, if you 
 wish, the foundation of Christian morals; 
 without the former the latter cannot exist. 
 But Christian faith is sometimes found with 
 the deepest moral depravity in the same in 
 dividual. This is Catholic doctrine and a 
 lesson that history has taught for the past 
 eighteen hundred years. 
 
 Charles V. brought to Spain his own 
 state and court officers. There was a grand 
 chancellor or head of the royal imperial 
 cabinet, who filled the office of the modern 
 English premier, to whom he entrusted the 
 government of Spain and its American 
 dependencies. The high chancellor was 
 one Mosior or L,ord de Laxao and the 
 secretary of state one Mosior de Xevier. 
 Francisco de lyos Cobos, who had been an 
 employee of secretary Conchillo's office, on 
 the death of king Ferdinand, had gone to 
 Flanders to solicit a reappointment and 
 succeeded in gaining the confidence of de 
 
Life oj Bartolomd de Las Casas. 169 
 
 Xevres. As soon as his former master 
 Conchillo was rudely set aside, lie was him 
 self appointed colonial secretary of the In 
 dies. These are the men with whom Las 
 Casas will have henceforth to deal. Two 
 of them were foreigners and the last named 
 a Spaniard. Through Adrian, the hereto 
 fore ambassador, he found easy access to 
 the Flemish high chancellor. As if to give 
 an account of himself, he produced, on the 
 occasion of his first visit, the decree ap 
 pointing him procurator and protector of 
 the Indians, together with the testimonials 
 brought from America from the Dominicans 
 and the French Franciscan Fathers. Not 
 knowing Spanish, the chancellor first 
 perused the letter of the Franciscans, who 
 had written in Latin. As chance would 
 have it, among the signatures he noticed 
 that of a former acquaintance of his. He 
 would have probably given little attention 
 to a paper from Spaniards recommending 
 another Spaniard, but the testimonial from 
 his old friend predisposed him to listen 
 favorably to Las Casas. It did not take the 
 old Dutch chancellor long to discover the 
 metal that the Clerigo was made of, and as 
 he needed to become familiar with American 
 affairs, finding this frank outspoken Amer 
 ican priest thoroughly conversant with 
 
170 Life of Bartolomd de Las Casas. 
 
 them, lie choose him in the course of time 
 as his confidential informant. Las Casas 
 could go and see him and talk to the old 
 gentleman whenever he wished. There 
 was no need of making his obeisance to de 
 Xevres, de Laxao or Francisco de Los 
 Cobos. He and the old chancellor under 
 stood each other well, although their con 
 versation had to be carried on in Latin. 
 
 Meanwhile secretary Conchillo and Fon- 
 seca left not a stone unturned to have them 
 selves reappointed members of the bureau 
 for Indian affairs. But they did not suc 
 ceed, and Las Casas knew why. They 
 went so far as to attempt to exercise their 
 former office without having been reap 
 pointed by the new administration. One 
 day Conchillo provided himself with a 
 bundle of papers concerning America and 
 presenting himself to the chancellor, re 
 quested him to affix his signature to them. 
 "Get you out of here," thundered the 
 Dutchman in angry tones, u it was you and 
 the bishop, who ruined the Indies. n Con 
 chillo understood that his services were no" 
 longer required at court, and withdrew to 
 his estate at Toledo. But Fonseca, whose 
 ecclesiastical dignity yielded only to that 
 of the archbishops of Toledo and Seville, 
 fared better, and was later readmitted as a 
 
Life ofBartolom& dc Las Casas. 171 
 
 member of tlie royal council or bureau of 
 Indian affairs. Las Casas' favor with the 
 grand chancellor grew apace with the 
 downfall of his enemies. Petitions, denun 
 ciations of each others, memorials, com 
 plaints against Las Casas himself, etc. on 
 the part of the American settlers flooded 
 the offices of the high chancellor. They 
 were invariably referred to the Clerigo, 
 who translated them into Latin, adding 
 notes of his own, and giving his views as 
 to what should be done. These services, 
 given gratuitously, were highly appreciated; 
 as in a comparatively short time they en 
 abled the foreign premier to familiarize 
 himself with the administration of the far 
 away transatlantic colonies. The chan 
 cellor thought it advisable to speak to the 
 young monarch about the American priest 
 and lawyer, who, by his experience, up 
 rightness, disinterestedness and well poised 
 judgment greatly assisted him in dispatch 
 ing the business of the American posses 
 sions. Thereupon Charles V. appointed 
 the chancellor and Las Casas a committee 
 to draft a body of laws intended to do even- 
 handed justice to the colonists and to the 
 Indians alike. That same day the Clerigo 
 was a gitest, with many others, of the chan 
 cellor, who, as they were going in to din- 
 
1 72 Life ofBartolomd de Las Casas. 
 
 ner, .took the priest aside and said to him: 
 u Rex dominus noster jubet quod vos et ego 
 ponamus remedia Indiis' ' (it is the command 
 of His Majesty the king that you and I re 
 form the Indies.) "Faciatis vestra memo 
 rabilia." (Write your memorial.) Las 
 Casas' answer was: u Paratissimus sum et 
 libentissime faciam quae rex et vestra domi- 
 natio jubent." (I am ready and will 
 willingly do what the king and your excel 
 lency require of me. ) 
 
 After relating this episode, the Protector 
 of the Indians remarks pathetically: "This 
 was the second time that God seemed to 
 place the salvation and the liberty of the 
 Indians in the hands of the Clerigo. But 
 these bright prospects would vanish of a 
 sudden one way or another, as will be seen 
 later. If this happened on account of the 
 sins of the Spaniards or of the Indians, or 
 of both, only judgement day shall reveal." 
 
 In 1502, while sailing by Cuba, Christo 
 pher Columbus had remarked, pointing in 
 the direction of Mexico, and within hearing 
 of one of his ship's boys, that he expected 
 to discover more extensive territory there, 
 than any yet discovered. That ship's boy 
 in 1517 had grown to be the pilot of a .ship, 
 chartered by one Hernandez, for no better 
 purpose than kidnapping Indians wherever 
 
Life of Bartolomt de Las Casas. 173 
 
 lie and his associates could find them. The 
 pilot chanced to speak to the captain of the 
 remark made by Columbus fifteen years 
 before. Thereupon Hernandez changed 
 his plans, and having obtained a promise 
 from Diego Velasquez, (under whose 
 hospices the expedition was made ready,) 
 that, should he discover new lands, he 
 would be made lieutenant governor there 
 of, loaded on his ship cattle, horses, hogs, 
 etc., and every thing necessary to a new 
 settlement, taking it as a foregone con 
 clusion that Columbus' prophesy would be 
 fulfilled. They sailed west, and first dis 
 covered the island of Cazumel, and then 
 the mainland of Yucatan, landing at Cape 
 Catoche. Thence they discovered the In 
 dian town of Campeche, where they were 
 treated hospitably by the natives. Next 
 they visited Champoton, were a like recep 
 tion was given them at first. But seeing 
 that their bearded visitors tarried in their 
 country longer than it suited them, the In 
 dians invited them to leave. A battle en 
 sued, the outcome of which was that, 
 though many of the natives were killed, 
 the Spaniards were beaten back to their 
 ships, carrying with them many wounded, 
 and leaving behind quite a number of dead. 
 The arrows of the Yucatanese had inflicted 
 
i/ T 4 Life ofBartolomd de Las Casas. 
 
 011 Hernandez himself, (who was known in 
 America as one of the best Indian fighters) 
 not less than thirty wounds, of which he 
 died some months after. When the dis 
 covery of a country was made, rich in gold, 
 with large towns having regular streets, 
 public squares, gardens, statues, monu 
 ments and houses made of stone, brick and 
 mortar, the inhabitants whereof were fully 
 clothed with well woven cotton garments, 
 the like of which had not yet been seen in 
 America, Velasquez broke faith with Her 
 nandez, and instead of appointing him 
 lieutenant governor of the country, hastened 
 to raise a larger and a better equipped ex 
 pedition to take possession of Yucatan, and 
 appointed, as its captain general, his old 
 favorite countryman, Juan de Grijalva. 
 Hernandez, whose wounds confined him to 
 his bed, wrote to L,as Casas, whom he con 
 sidered his friend, bitterly complaining of 
 Velasquez, and asking him to iise his good 
 offices with the king, to have his wrongs 
 redressed. The Clerigo received the letter 
 in Zaragoza, but did not tell us what steps 
 he took, if any in behalf of his friend, the 
 discoverer of Mexico. Hernandez died 
 without revisiting his native country. 
 
 Meanwhile Juan de Grijalva, with two 
 hundred followers, had explored the coast 
 
Life ofBartolom& de Las Casas. 175 
 
 of Mexico, from Cape Catoche as far north, 
 as Vera Cruz, and had returned to Santiago 
 de Cuba, loaded with gold, to report to 
 Diego Velasquez. The news of the dis 
 covery of Mexico was already known in 
 Spain; but nobody attached much impor 
 tance to it, as it was not even known if it 
 was an island or terra firma. At this time 
 delegation after delegation of Americo- 
 Spaiiish settlers swarmed around the royal 
 palaces, some to ask for new grants of In 
 dians or lands, others to have themselves 
 confirmed in the offices, on which they had 
 fattened under the old administration; and 
 everybody sharpened his wits to devise new 
 plans and schemes, whereby to ingratiate 
 himself to the Flemish noblemen, who 
 composed the court. One of these schemes 
 was the following. It was suggested to 
 one of the Dutch magnates, who answered 
 to the title of admiral of Flanders, that he 
 might obtain from his majesty, as a grant 
 or gift, the newly discovered regions, 
 which, in fact, comprised nothing less than 
 the present territory of the Republic of 
 Mexico, which had then perhaps as many 
 inhabitants as it has now. To properly 
 govern Yucatan and Mexico, the admiral 
 of Flanders was told, he should also have 
 himself appointed governor of Cuba, which, 
 
176 Life of Barlolomt de Las Casas. 
 
 owing to its geographical position, would 
 answer very well as a base of supply in the 
 conquest and settlement of the new country. 
 The wealthy Flemish gentleman, whose 
 idea of America went no farther than to 
 know that it was a country far away from 
 Europe, planted in the midst of the limit 
 less Atlantic Ocean, and that it was in 
 habited by a race of men different from the 
 Europeans and not nearly as white as the 
 Dutch, thought it worth while to look into 
 the business, attracted perhaps more by the 
 novelty of the thing, than by anything 
 else. As L,as Casas was then in great favor 
 with the great chancellor, and therefore a 
 very important personage, who knew more 
 about the Indies than any one else, the ad 
 miral thought it advisable to invite him to 
 a dinner, to which a large number of his 
 Flemish friends had also been invited. The 
 Clerigo was treated with great considera 
 tion, was toasted, and in a long after 
 dinner talk was made to give the Flemish 
 gentlemen more knowledge about the trans 
 atlantic Spanish possessions, than they 
 ever had before. The admiral of Flanders, 
 thought that Mexico, with the governor 
 ship of Cuba thrown in for good meas 
 ure, was worth having. He asked for 
 it, and young Charles V. granted it with 
 the same ease, as if the use of a common 
 
Life of Bartolomt de Las Casas. 177 
 
 for tlie pasturing of tlie nobleman's cattle 
 had been asked. The admiral then wrote 
 to Flanders, and in a few months there ar 
 rived in the port of San Linear five ship 
 loads of Dutch laborers, who were ready to 
 go to Mexico and settle it. That republic 
 would perhaps be now made up of Flemish- 
 Americans instead of Spanish- Americans, 
 had not Las Casas interfered. But he did. 
 He thought it best to let his friend Diego 
 Columbus know what was being done, 
 who, in virtue of the vice-royalty granted 
 his father on all the lands discovered by 
 him, was ex ofncio governor of Cuba. 
 Diego lodged a complaint with the king, 
 and the justice of his claim having been 
 recognized, the grant of Mexico to the ad 
 miral of Flanders was declared null and 
 void; and the Dutch laborers, those at least 
 whom the hot climate of southern Spain 
 had not killed, were sent back to the Low 
 Countries. 
 
 About this time, that is towards the end 
 of 1517 or the beginning of 1518, Las 
 Casas made the acquaintance of Magellan, 
 the first circumnavigator of the world. He 
 had come from Portugal, like Columbus 
 surreptitiously, or as a fugitive from jus 
 tice, and like Columbus he claimed to 
 know a way of going to the land of spices 
 12 
 
178 Life of Bartolom6 de Las Casas. 
 
 by a route different from the one followed 
 by trie Portuguese, through a strait 
 known only to himself. He exhibited in 
 the office of the grand chancellor, and in 
 the presence of the Clerigo one of those 
 geographical globes, which, since the dis 
 covery of America, and the turning of Cape 
 of Good Hope by the Portuguese, and their 
 landing in Brazil, were no longer uncom 
 mon. On it the continent of America was 
 carefully delineated, as far as it was then 
 known, but the strait, to which he gave 
 his name, was carefully left out. How 
 ever, he pointed out to the chancellor and 
 to the bystanders where it should be. 
 
 The first American priest was no mean 
 mariner himself. On the contrary he was 
 one of the few then living in Spain or else 
 where, who could sail from a European 
 port and steer a ship by the shortest route 
 to Florida, Cuba, Panama, Brazil, I^a 
 Plata, etc., and withall he was not bashful 
 about asking questions. 
 
 ."What route do you intend to follow, 
 Mr. Magellan?" asked the Clerigo. 
 
 "I'll first make Cape Santa Maria (L,a 
 Plata River) and coast thence southward 
 until I find the strait," replied the Por 
 tuguese. 
 
 Casas: "And if you don't find it?" 
 
Life ofBartolomd de Las Casas. 179 
 
 Magellan: "I'll get there, if I have to 
 follow the Portuguese route." 
 
 Magellan was accompanied by one Luis 
 Faleiro, who pretended to be a great as 
 tronomer. But it was whispered later among 
 the Portuguese, that he had entered into 
 partnership with a devil, whence he got his 
 geographical secret, and that of astronomy 
 he knew nothing. The letters of Hernan 
 dez, his relations with the admiral of Flan 
 ders and with Magellan were incidental 
 episodes in the life of Las Casas, while he 
 was at court. His all absorbing business 
 was to work and to plead for his Indians. 
 The first American priest was at all time a 
 pious man and his rule of life was always 
 to seek divine assistance before engaging 
 in any important undertaking. All his 
 writings show him to have been also a man 
 of great and abiding faith. Before be 
 ginning to write the body of laws intended 
 to reform the Indies (this is his own ex 
 pression) at the invitation of Charles V. 
 and his high chancellor, we find the first 
 American priest going from one to another 
 monastery and to the convents and to all 
 the pious people of his acquaintance, to beg 
 for prayers, that God might enlighten him 
 to do what was best for the salvation, 
 material and spiritual, of his many millions 
 
i So Life ofBartolomd de Las Casas. 
 
 of children in America. His present task 
 however was not a very difficult one. He 
 did little more than copy the memorial he 
 had written for cardinal Ximenez, to put 
 which into execution the three monks of 
 St. Jerome had been sent to Hispaniola. 
 Of course the objectionable ministerial in 
 terpolations were left out. Las Casas how 
 ever made two new and very important 
 recommendations, which have become very 
 famous in the annals of the early history of 
 America. 
 
 The first recited that, inasmuch as the 
 islands of Hispaniola, Cuba, Porto Rico 
 and Jamaica had been wellnigh depopulated 
 of their aboriginal inhabitants, Spanish im 
 migrants, drawn from the agricultural 
 classes, should be imported to repeople 
 them. 
 
 The second recommendation was that, 
 inasmuch as the Spanish settlers were to 
 be deprived of their Repartimientos of In 
 dians, each of them should be allowed to 
 import from Spain a dozen negro slaves, to 
 enable them to continue their planting and 
 mining operations. 
 
 A word must be said here about this re 
 commendation, which has caused so much 
 discussion among historians and sociologists 
 during the last and the present century. 
 
Life ofBartolom6 de Las Casas. 181 
 
 We shall see how it was carried out and 
 how four thousand African slaves were im 
 ported to America. The question, which 
 has been much debated, is: Was L,as Casas 
 responsible for the introduction of Negro 
 slavery in America? 
 
 All modern historians now agree that he 
 was not. There were African slaves in the 
 Indies before the Protector of the Indians 
 ever made his famous recommendation to 
 Charles V. 
 
 i st. L,as Casas himself in the memorial, 
 in which he recommends the importation 
 of Negroes to replace the American Indi 
 ans, mentions the fact that: "On certain 
 farms in Hispaniola, Cuba, etc., belonging 
 to the kings, there were some Negro slaves, 
 although few," and he recommends that 
 they be turned over to the immigrant Span 
 ish laborers, who were to be imported in 
 those islands. 
 
 2d. In the will of Diego Columbus, the 
 brother of Christopher, (dated the 22d of 
 February 1515) we find a legacy of one 
 hundred dollars to a Negro boy, the son 
 of a negress slave named Barbola. 
 
 3rd. Las Casas speaking of John Bono 
 (good) mentioned above, jocularly remarks 
 that his name Bono fitted him about as well 
 as that of John Blanco (white) fitted a cer- 
 
182 Life ofBartolom6 de Las Casas. 
 
 tain runaway Negro, who had become a 
 famous pirate and kidnapper of Indians, 
 previous to the year 1516. 
 
 4th. In a letter of king Ferdinand to 
 Ksteban Pasamonte, dated the 4th of April 
 1514, it is said: "Slave Negro women will 
 be provided for (Hispaniola) to be given in 
 marriage to the Negro men, who are there 
 already, in order to lessen the danger of a 
 rebellion on their part." If there existed 
 already some fear of a Negro uprising, they 
 must have been comparatively numerous. 
 
 5th. In 1510 Diego de Nicuesa carried 
 to Hispaniola for the Spanish government 
 thirty six Negro slaves. 
 
 6th. In the year 1505 the same govern 
 ment sent to Nicolas Ovando seventeen 
 Negro slaves to be employed in a copper 
 mine. 
 
 yth. As early as 1501 permission was 
 given to the same Nicolas Ovando to bring 
 from Spain to Hispaniola Negro slaves. 
 
 But was not Las Casas illogical in com 
 batting unrelentlessly the enslavement of 
 the American Indians while recommending 
 and encouraging African slavery? 
 
 Not necessarily. Slavery existed in Spain 
 at the end of the XV. and at the beginning 
 of the XVI. centuries, and it was recognized 
 by the laws of the land. It was not in 
 
Life ofBartolom de Las Casas. 183 
 
 Casas' power, neither was it Ms duty, as 
 Protector of the Indians, to. endeavor to 
 have it abolished. The slavery of the 
 weak-bodied and indolent American natives 
 of the West Indies was fatal to them, and 
 their enforced labor had already reduced 
 their numbers at least seventy-five per cent. 
 On the contrary African slaves prospered 
 and multiplied in the sunny climes of 
 Hispaniola, Cuba, Porto Rico and Jamaica, 
 where, as Las Casas facetiously remarks in 
 his Historia de las Indias, u a Negro was 
 seldom known to die, unless he was hung." 
 Of two evils he choose the least. If slavery 
 must exist in America, L,as Casas thought, 
 let it be of the Negroes, who were already 
 slaves, and could survive it, instead of the 
 Indians, who were deprived unjustly of 
 their liberty, and succumbed to it. The 
 severest moralist of today could scarcely 
 condemn this mode of reasoning. But the 
 Protector of the Indians would not accept 
 the apology for himself, when, in maturer 
 years, and after having studied, under the 
 guidance of the Dominicans, the subject of 
 slavery more thoroughly, he acknowledged 
 to posterity his error in the following 
 passage of his Historia de las Indias. 
 (Book 3rd, chapter 101.) "This advise 
 that permission be given to import Negro 
 
184 Life ofBartolomd de Las Casas. 
 
 slaves was first given by the Clerigo Casas, 
 who did not then know that the Portuguese 
 capture and enslave them unjustly. After 
 he became aware of the fact, he would not 
 give that advice for the whole world; and 
 ever since he has believed that it is as un 
 just to enslave Negroes, as it is to enslave 
 Indians, and for the same reasons. " And 
 again, in the I28th chapter of the same 
 work, he renews the open confession. u Of 
 that advice which the Clerigo then gave, 
 he repented not a little, and accused him 
 self of thoughtlessness in later years, be 
 cause he understood then, how the slavery 
 of Negroes is as unjust as that of the Indi 
 ans. He understood also how the remedy 
 proposed of importing Negroes to free the 
 Indians was unjust ; and although he then 
 supposed the former to have been justly en 
 slaved, still he is not certain that his 
 ignorance and his good intention will ex 
 cuse him before the judgement seat of 
 God." 
 
 L,et us conclude. If L,as Casas erred, he 
 erred with some of the foremost theologians 
 and jurists of his time, as Cardinal Xime- 
 nez and Cardinal Adrian (afterwards Pope) 
 who signed and approved his first recom 
 mendation for the importation of Negroes 
 in America. If he erred, he erred on the 
 
Life of Bartolom6 de Las Casas. 185 
 
 side of humanity. And the open confes 
 sion of his error in maturer years, when 
 deeper studies had undeceived him, en 
 deared him more to posterity, I think, than 
 if he had not erred at all. 
 
 Leave was granted by Charles V. for the 
 importation of four thousand Negroes; 
 granting the exclusive right to the traffic to 
 one of his Dutch courtiers, who sold it to 
 Genoese merchants. These, in their turn, 
 bought them from the Portuguese, and sold 
 them to the Spanish settlers in America at 
 exorbitant profits. Thus Portugal, Spain, 
 Italy, and Flanders co-operated in estab 
 lishing in the new world the curse of Afri 
 can slavery, and the commerce in human 
 flesh. Not many years after, England and 
 France became their partners. 
 
 The court had not yet left Valladolid for 
 Zaragoza, when it was whispered around 
 that the Archbishop of Burgos and his 
 brother, by the payment to the king or 
 to Monsieur de Xevres, of sixteen thousand 
 ducats, had been reinstated in their offices. 
 Las Casas leaves us in doubt if this was 
 true or not, and suggests that perhaps it 
 was owing to the prominence of their 
 family, and to their having held those po 
 sitions so long under the former administra 
 tion, that it was thought best to reinstate 
 
1 86 Life ofBartolom& de Las Casas. 
 
 them. Hereafter the Protector of the In 
 dians will have to face again the greedy 
 and crafty Juan Fonseca. 
 
 On their way fromValladolidtoZaragoza 
 the king and his court made a halt in 
 Aranda de Duero, and, at a meeting of the 
 council of state, the memorial of L,as Casas 
 was taken up for consideration. Fonseca 
 opposed the sending of laborers to the West 
 Indies on the plea that none could be 
 gotten to go. "Twenty years ago I tried 
 to send laborers to Hispaniola, and not 
 twenty were found willing to go," said the 
 archbishop. Thereupon the Clerigo 
 pledged himself to gather three thousands 
 of them, and to accompany them to Ame 
 rica, provided that the inducements he 
 himself had suggested should be offered to 
 the emigrants, were carried out in good 
 faith. He argued with Fonseca that con 
 ditions had changed. Between 1495 and 
 1502 the greatest punishment, that could 
 be inflicted on a Spaniard, was to exile 
 him to America; whereas ever since 1502 
 every Spanish settler in America con 
 sidered it a great punishment to be ex 
 pelled from the colonies and forced to re 
 turn to Spain. 
 
 The principal inducements to be offered 
 to the laborers were the following: 
 
Life ofBartolomd de Las Casas. 187 
 
 1. Each emigrant shall have his travel 
 ling expenses paid at the rate of half a Heal 
 (six cents and a half) per day from his 
 home to Seville. 
 
 2. While in Seville he shall be lodged in 
 the Casa de Conlratacion ( offices and ware 
 houses of the government's commercial 
 agencies) free of charge, and he shall be 
 given from eleven to thirteen Maravedies a 
 day (between three and four cents a day of 
 our American money) for his board. 
 
 3. Free passage to America. 
 
 4. Board and lodging, during one year, 
 while employed in making his first crop. 
 
 5. After the first year, should the immi 
 grant need further assistance to establish 
 himself, it shall be given to him in the 
 shape of a loan, to be repaid into the royal 
 treasury at a time to be agreed upon. 
 
 6. The farms or plantations, which were 
 then crown property, the Negro slaves 
 thereon, and all apurtenances thereto, ex 
 cept the Indians, who were to be set free, 
 were to be divided among the immigrants. 
 
 7. Agricultural implements were to be 
 furnished free to each colonist. 
 
 8. As much land shall be given him, as 
 he wished to cultivate. 
 
 9. If sick, he should be cared for at the 
 expense of the state, the king paying for 
 medicines and doctor's fees. 
 
i88 Life ofBartolom6 de Las Casas. 
 
 10. The towns or parishes, founded by 
 the immigrants, shall exercise the jus 
 patronatusover all ecclesiastical benefices 
 established in said towns or parishes, in 
 the sense, that appointments to vacancies 
 were to be made by concur sus, or competitive 
 examination, to which however only the 
 children or descendants of the immigrants 
 were to be admitted. 
 
 Negotiations were pending in Aranda, 
 when L/as Casas fell sick, and they were 
 temporarily suspended. But the Clerigo 
 even while confined to his bed, was not 
 idle. One day there came to visit him, in 
 the name of the high chancellor, his Flem 
 ish chaplain with a bundle of papers con 
 taining an American petition, which, if 
 granted, would have seriously infringed on 
 the rights of Diego Columbus, the admiral, 
 and, de jure at least, viceroy of all the In 
 dies. The sick man was requested to state 
 what he thought of it. Las Casas, though 
 just then harrassed by a burning fever, got 
 out of bed, and perusing the document, 
 translated it from Spanish into Latin, giv 
 ing at the same time his opinion as to what 
 should be done. 
 
 Charles V. and his court departed from 
 Aranda for Zaragoza and left the Clerigo 
 behind. L,as Casas, however, was not long 
 
Life ofBartolom& de Las Casas. 189 
 
 in recovering his usually robust health, 
 and, as the Dutch grandees' gait was not 
 fast, he overreached them before the end of 
 their journey. Writing fourty-five years 
 after, at the age of ninety, in the quiet cell 
 of a Dominican monastery in Valladolid, 
 the Protector of the Indians delighted in 
 detailing to posterity how great an attach 
 ment the Flemish grand chancellor had 
 contracted for the Clerigo. "Many times," 
 says he (Historia de Las Indias, Book III. 
 Chapter CIII.) "did the grand chancellor 
 speak of the Clerigo during the journey, 
 showing how deeply he felt for him in his 
 sickness. I wonder, he would say, how 
 Micer Bartolome is doing? And when, by 
 the grace of God, the Clerigo succeeded in 
 rejoining him at a certain stopping place, 
 great was the joy of the grand chancellor in 
 seeing him well again, and many were the 
 complimentary things he said of him. As 
 the Clerigo ascended the stairs, leading to 
 his apartments, there met him Don Garcia 
 de Padilla who said: 'Quick, quick, Father, 
 go up, and see the grand chancellor, who 
 is in tears for you, fearing that you might 
 die.' " 
 
 The court had scarcely reached Zaragoza 
 when Fonseca fell sick, and L,as Casas' 
 affairs had once more to be set aside for 
 
190 Life ofBartolomd de Las Casas. 
 
 three or four weeks. While patiently 
 waiting, he received a letter from his 
 friend, Reginaldo Montesino, telling him 
 that a Franciscan Friar, by the name of 
 Francisco de San Roman, had just arrived 
 from the American colony on the mainland 
 of South America, and that the Father 
 assured him (Montesino) that during his 
 stay on those coasts he had been an eye 
 witness to the slaughtering, by the swords 
 of the Spaniards, of more than forty 
 thousand Indians. The letter, of course, 
 was translated into Latin for the benefit of 
 the grand chancellor. It dismayed him, 
 and L,as Casas was prevailed upon to pay a 
 visit to his lordship, who was convalescent. 
 Having heard the letter read to him, Fon- 
 seca briefly remarked : "Give my regards 
 to his Excellence, and say to him, that, as 
 I have already told him, it will be well that 
 we get that man out of those parts." Fon- 
 seca referred to Pedrarias de Davila, of 
 whom more anon. 
 
 It was also during Fonseca's illness at 
 Zaragoza that L,as Casas one day met the 
 wife of ex-secretary Conchillo in the royal 
 palace. "Oh. Father," she exclaimed on 
 seeing him, "may God forgive you for hav 
 ing taken the bread out of my children's 
 mouths." But a fitting reply to the insult 
 
Life ofBartolom& de Las Casas. 191 
 
 was ready. "May tlieir blood be upon me 
 and upon my kinsmen." The answer ad 
 mitted of no further remarks. The silly 
 woman, who dressed in silks, decked her 
 self with jewels and lived in palaces, vent 
 ured to reproach the apostolic man for 
 daring to protect the Indians, on whose 
 blood she, her children, and her husband 
 had fattened. 
 
 Fonseca recovered, and the grand chan 
 cellor was anxious to expedite the Clerigo's 
 business. But God, in his unscrutable de 
 signs, thought proper once more to cast to 
 the winds his servant's hopes, who after 
 years of travel, waiting, pleading, begging 
 and praying for his beloved Indians, was 
 then about to touch the goal, of his heart's 
 aspirations. One Saturday evening the first 
 American priest was dining with the chan 
 cellor, when word was brought in, that the 
 latter 's nephew had died. The news so 
 shocked the aged statesman, as to compel 
 him to retire at once to his apartments. 
 Next morning he felt worse, and by the fol 
 lowing Tuesday was a corpse. "With the 
 chancellor, " wrote L,as Casas, "seemed to 
 have died also the last hope for the Indians. ' ' 
 The bishop (Fonseca) shot up to the skies, 
 and the Clerigo went down to the abysses. 
 The archbishop of Burgos, once more at 
 
192 Life of Bartolom& de Las Casas. 
 
 the head of the bureau of Indian affairs, 
 surrounded himself with men directly or in 
 directly interested in maintaining the statu 
 quo in America ; and L-as Casas found the 
 doors leading to the colonial offices shut 
 against him. 
 
 One of the first acts of the new adminis 
 tration was to recall from America the three 
 monks of St. Jerome. It will not be found 
 amiss to give here the names of the three 
 recluses, who, for two or three years, had 
 the destinies of this western continent in 
 their keeping. They were Alonzo, who 
 had been prior of a monastery in Seville, 
 Bernardino de Manzanedo, and IL/ui's de 
 Figueroa, who had been sent to watch the 
 movements of Las Casas. After hanging 
 around the royal palaces for some time, he 
 retired to his monastery as soon as he saw 
 the management of Indian affairs fall once 
 more into the hands of Fonseca. Having 
 been practically appointees of L,as Casas, 
 they had nothing to hope for from the arch 
 bishop of Burgos. Indeed the good religi 
 ous, heartily sick of worldly affairs, wel 
 comed their dismissal from office, and 
 quietly retired to enjoy again the peace of 
 their monastic cells. 
 
 The reader remembers, no doubt, how 
 the Dominicans and the French Franciscans 
 
Life of Bartolomd de Las Casas. 193 
 
 had established convents in Cumana and in 
 Chiribichi. They had begun their evan 
 gelical work in earnest, had gained the 
 confidence of the Indians and made some 
 converts. But the outrages, committed by 
 Spanish marauders during their kidnapping 
 expedition along the coast, scandalized the 
 natives, and inclined them to think that all 
 white men were bad, cruel and ferocious. 
 Thus the self-sacrificing devotion of the 
 Friars was made barren by the crimes of 
 their countrymen. I have detailed some 
 what at length the kidnapping expedition 
 of Juan Bono to the Island of Trinidad. 
 That had happened in 1516. About a year 
 later another such unqualifiable act of bar 
 barism took place on the same Island on a 
 larger scale. The slaves thus captured 
 were being sold at auction on the public 
 square of San Domingo in Hispaniola in 
 the presence of the two monks of St. 
 Jerome, who had remained in America. 
 Pedro de Cordova, the provincial of the 
 Dominicans, having heard of it, rushed to 
 the house of the commissioners, and, burn 
 ing with indignation, bitterly reproached 
 them for allowing that traffic in human 
 flesh of the helpless Indians, whose only 
 crime was overconfidence and overkindness 
 to the white men. The public sale was 
 13 
 
194 Life ofBartolomt de Las Casas. 
 
 stopped, but tlie slaves were taken to the 
 government offices and quietly disposed of 
 to this or that miner or planter. The 
 Island of Trinidad, and the pueblo, whence 
 hundreds of men were thus stolen and sold 
 into captivity, was almost in sight of Chiri- 
 bichi. Pedro de Cordova, who saw the 
 works of his brothers nullified by the crimes 
 of the Spaniards, connived at and partici 
 pated in by the highest royal offices in the 
 colonies and tolerated by the very monks, 
 who had been sent to America to free the 
 Indians, wrote to L,as Casas ; and, after hav 
 ing described the kidnapping and murder 
 ing raid and the sale of its surviving victims, 
 said : "Sure as I am of the turn affairs are 
 taking, I feel constrained to speak my mind 
 plainly, regardless of consequences." The 
 letter ended by asking his friend the Clerigo 
 to beg the king to issue a decree forbidding 
 the Spaniards from settling, or landing 
 ships in the neighborhood of the Franciscan 
 and Dominican Missions. One hundred 
 leagues of coast should be reserved to the 
 Friars, wherein they may, undisturbed by 
 the blithing influence of the white man, 
 attend to the conversion of the natives. 
 If one hundred leagues could not be ob 
 tained, lyas Casas was to ask for ten, and if 
 these could not be gotten, he was to beg for 
 
Life ofBartolom& de Las Casas. 195 
 
 some small Islands fifteen or twenty leagues 
 from the mainland, whose inhabitants could 
 be formed into Christian communities, and 
 where other Indians might find a shelter 
 from the persecution of the Spaniards. The 
 Protector of the Indians, who had greatly 
 at heart the preservation of those Missions, 
 and who had even seriously thought of go 
 ing himself to Chiribichi to share the labors 
 of the good Dominicans in the capacity of a 
 secular priest, read the contents of Pedro de 
 Cordova's letter to Fonseca and to his as 
 sociate ministers. He was paid for his 
 trouble with the following cynical answer 
 of the archbishop : "Well, would I attend 
 to the king's interest, if I should turn over 
 to the Friars, without any compensation 
 whatever, one hundred leagues of terri 
 tory?" "The remark," wrote Las Casas, 
 "was little worthy of a successor of the 
 Apostles, who laid down their lives to do 
 just what he was asked to do, and which 
 he was strictly bound to do by the divine 
 law under pain of eternal damnation." 
 
 The death of the high chancellor, and 
 the consequent ascendency of Fonseca 
 checked the influence of Las Casas for a 
 time, but did not destroy it altogether. He 
 had yet one powerful friend at court in the 
 person of Adrian the ambassador, to whom 
 
196 Life ofBartolom& de Las Casas. 
 
 Charles V., on liis coming to Spain, had 
 brought a cardinal's hat, and who was now 
 known as the Cardinal of Tortosa. He also 
 formed very soon the acquaintance of an 
 other upright and truly Christian gentle 
 man, who, knowing something of the 
 Clerigo's business at court, undertook to 
 help him and to cooperate with him in his 
 mission of mercy. He was Monsieur de la 
 Mur, the nephew of Monsieur de lyaxao, 
 the high chamberlain. Both uncle and 
 nephew, having learned how to appreciate 
 the disinterested zeal and the open character 
 of the accomplished American priest, 
 showed him much favor, which served him 
 as a wedge to gain that of the other officers 
 of the Flemish court. Meanwhile a sleepy 
 ecclesiastic from Flanders had been ap 
 pointed to fill the office of high chancellor 
 ad interim, and it was with him that Las 
 Casas had to deal in drafting the measures 
 and arranging the details for the coloniza 
 tion of the West Indies with Spanish 
 laborers, as the death of the grand chancel 
 lor had left in suspense the treatment of all 
 American affairs. The relations of the in- 
 perturbable Flemish statesman and the fiery 
 Hispano-American Clerigo are amusingly 
 described by the latter. (Hist. De Las Ind. 
 Book III. Chapter CHI). 
 
Life of Bartolomd de Las Casas. 197 
 
 u The dean (of a Northern Chapter) was 
 so sluggish and phlegmatic that sometimes 
 he dozed in open meetings of the council, 
 and even when the Clerigo undertook to 
 lecture him into some show of activity and 
 goaded him on, he did not get vexed, owing 
 to his exceedingly phlegmatic tempera 
 ment. To the Clerigo, w r ho gave him no 
 rest morning, noon, or night, he remarked 
 one day with a bland smile on his face : 
 ' ' Commendamus in domino, domine Bartolo- 
 mee, vestram diligentiam." The Clerigo 
 was forced to laugh, although he rather felt 
 like weeping at this way of attending to 
 affairs of state. And, forsooth, when a 
 hot headed man, like the Clerigo, and the 
 quintessence of phlegm like the dean are 
 yoked together to do business jointly, it is 
 exceedingly trying to both individuals.'' 
 
CHAPTER XIII. 
 
 Las Casas' Efforts to Work a Scheme of 
 Colonization. 
 
 JN spite of Fonseca, who opposed him at 
 every step, L,as Casas succeeded, through 
 the influence of his Flemish friends, in hav 
 ing his scheme of colonization approved, 
 and he took upon himself the task of gather 
 ing the three thousand laborers and accom 
 panying them to the West Indies. I/etters 
 of recommendation to all the archbishops, 
 bishops, abbots and superiors of religious 
 communities throughout the kingdom were 
 given to the Clerigo, begging their assist 
 ance in facilitating the recruiting of the 
 immigrants. Other letters were given him 
 commanding all the officers of the crown to 
 use their influence in the same direction. 
 Instructions were also sent to the officers of 
 the Casa de Contratacion at Seville, to re 
 ceive, lodge and board the emigrants, to be 
 sent there by Las Casas, and to get ships 
 ready to transport them to America. Another 
 decree directed the crown officers in His- 
 paniola and Cuba to receive, shelter and 
 (198) 
 
Life ofBartolom& de Las Casas. 199 
 
 provide for trie incoming laborers, and to 
 turn over to them the farms and plantations 
 belonging to the king, as soon as they 
 should land on the shores of those islands. 
 Last of all a salary was assigned to the 
 Clerigo as commissioner of immigration, 
 and another to his assistant, both of whom 
 were to travel through Spain at the expense 
 of the crown. 
 
 Unfortunately Las Casas allowed himself 
 to be persuaded by an influential member of 
 the royal household to select, as his assistant, 
 one Berrio, whose business was to be that 
 of an advertising agent. On his and Las 
 Casas' arrival in a city, town, village or 
 country district, he was to act the part of a 
 royal herald, call together the people, and 
 make known to them the inducements 
 offered by the crown to whosoever was will 
 ing to emigrate to America. The Clerigo, 
 who wished to recommend the interests of 
 his beloved Indians to his friends in court, 
 during the three or four months required to 
 gather the emigrants, spent some days in 
 paying visits and in making the necessary 
 preparations for his tour. Meanwhile Ber 
 rio visited Fonseca, who on seeing him, 
 said: "What are you doing here? Why 
 don't you start out?" "The Clerigo does 
 not care to start as yet," answered Berrio, 
 
200 Life ofBartolom& de Las Casas. 
 
 "and I am commanded by the king to go 
 with him." The archbishop replied an 
 grily: "Go yourself alone, and do what you 
 should have done with him." 
 
 Berrio. "I can't do anything without 
 him, as the decree recites that I go with 
 him and do what he tells me." 
 
 Thereupon Fonseca caused the decree to 
 be altered, and instead of "do what he shall 
 tell you," he inserted, u do what you shall, 
 think proper. ' ' 
 
 Technically speaking, the archbishop , as 
 president of the council for Indian affairs, 
 had the right to alter the wording (not the 
 substance) of a royal decree. This altera 
 tion however, inspired by jealousy and 
 hatred, unworthy of an archbishop and 
 royal councillor, defeated the undertaking 
 of the zealous missionary. 
 
 L,as Casas started out with Berrio. On 
 arriving in a village or town the induce 
 ments to emigrants were published, and 
 the peasants were invited to hear in the 
 church the American priest speak about 
 America. The Protector of the Indians 
 lacked none of the exuberant eloquence of 
 the modern immigration agent; and the 
 climate, the fertility and the healthfulness 
 of Hispaniola and Cuba were painted in 
 
Life ofBartolom& de Las Casas. 201 
 
 glowing colors. Across the Atlantic the 
 Spanish farmer, who was now a tenant and 
 a vassal of his landlord, would become a 
 freeholder and an independent citizen, with 
 wealth within his reach. The attractions 
 were irresistible, and so numerous were the 
 well to do farmers found ready to sell their 
 holdings and to inscribe their names among 
 the prospective colonists, as to threaten the 
 depopulation of entire estates, villages, and 
 towns. The emigration ship was now un 
 der full sails having left port, figuratively 
 speaking, with a favorable wind. But it 
 soon ran aground. Spain, in 1518, had 
 not yet shuffled off the feudal system of 
 landtenure. The landlords and the tenants 
 were then co-owners of the land. While 
 the former could not expel the latter from 
 his holding as long as the rent was paid, 
 the tenant could not dispose of his interest 
 in the farm without the consent of the land 
 lord. Now let the reader consider that the 
 large landed estates of Castile would have 
 been rendered valueless to the landlords, 
 had the cultivators of the soil been ex 
 ported, and he will understand at once why 
 the gentry of Spain made violent opposition 
 ! to Las Casas' propaganda. After a speech 
 1 or two by the enthusiastic orator, more 
 would-be emigrants presented themselves 
 
202 Life of Bartolom& de Las Casas. 
 
 than lie cared to enroll. But a day or a 
 week after there would appear an announce 
 ment by the landlord of the place, inform 
 ing the public that all purchases of hold 
 ings from the would-be emigrants would be 
 considered as null and void. Then the 
 American clergyman was politely requested 
 to leave the estate. A remedy had to be 
 found to the high handed proceedings of 
 the counts, marquises and barons; and Las 
 Casas went back to court to look for it. 
 
 The recruiting tour had lasted but a few 
 days, when the Clerigo's assistant asked 
 permission to go and pay a visit to his wife 
 in another part of the country. Of course 
 it was repeatedly refused. But Berrio, 
 trusting to his credentials, which had been 
 altered by Fonseca, took French leave of 
 L,as Casas and went. He not only visited 
 his family, but undertook to transact some 
 business on his own account. Then, some 
 weeks later, two hundred men, mostly tav 
 ern keepers, ruffians and vagabonds, with 
 a sprinkling of real agriculturists, arrived in 
 Seville, accompanied by Berrio. They 
 were the emigrants he had gathered ; and, 
 although no word had been received from 
 L,as Casas about them, on the strength of 
 his assistant's- credentials, were promptly 
 shipped to America. In Santo Domingo, 
 
Life of Bartolomd de Las Casas. 203 
 
 wliere they arrived safely, nothing was 
 known of them, as Las Casas had thought 
 it advisable not to dispatch the royal decrees 
 until he would be ready to sail himself 
 with the immigrants. Of the two hundred, 
 who landed without money or provisions, 
 some fell sick and died very soon, and of 
 the survivors some turned again tavern 
 keepers, others found employment on cattle 
 farms, and some on the piratical ships en 
 gaged in the Indian slave trade. As soon 
 as the news of the emigrants' departure 
 from Seville reached L,as Casas, he lost no 
 time in causing provisions to be shipped to 
 feed them. But these arrived too late, 
 when the laborers had already scattered, 
 and the cargo was put tcT other uses. 
 
 When lyas Casas arrived in Zaragoza 
 from his recruiting tour, the king had al 
 ready left, and the court was leaving for 
 Barcelona. For several days no business 
 was transacted. But scarcely had the 
 statesmen settled down to work again, 
 when the Clerigo was found on hand to 
 push his immigration scheme. Adrian, 
 who had taken from the beginning a lively 
 interest in the undertaking, was first inter 
 viewed. On hearing that so many laborers 
 were found ready and willing to emigrate 
 to the West Indies, the cardinal very graci- 
 
204 Life of Bartolom& de Las Casas. 
 
 ously complimented tlie American priest, 
 and remarked that in the course of time he 
 would build up another kingdom for his 
 majesty, the king. The archbishop of Bur 
 gos was next visited, who, when the Cle- 
 rigo announced triumphantly that ten 
 thousand, instead of three thousand laborers 
 could be readily found to go to America, 
 remarked " Great things indeed you are 
 doing." But it was hard to tell if Fonseca 
 meant to be complimentary or ironical. 
 
 The Protector of the Indians had not 
 been many days in Barcelona when word 
 came from America that all the royal farms 
 in Hispaniola, Cuba, Porto Rico and Ja 
 maica had been sold by the monks of St. 
 Jerome. This was bad news, as they had 
 been counted on to shelter the emigrants 
 for one year, while engaged in clearing 
 their own lands and building their own 
 houses. Berrio's escapade, the sale of -the 
 farms and the violent opposition of the 
 landlords to the emigration of their tenants 
 threw a damper on the undertaking. And 
 when the Clerigo at an informal meeting 
 of the council of the Indies asked that he 
 be placed in possession of the decree in 
 which provision was made for the support 
 of his emigrants for one year after their ar 
 rival on the Islands, Fonseca remarked: 
 
Life of Bartolomd de Las Casas. 205 
 
 "At this rate these laborers will cost the 
 king more than an army of twenty thousand 
 men." Las Casas who had never for a 
 moment thought of importing peasants into 
 Hispaniola or Cuba to set them adrift as 
 soon as landed in a new country, and, many 
 of them, penniless, replied rather vexedly: 
 u Now that the Indians of the islands are 
 dead and buried, does your lordship think 
 of appointing me the executioner of the 
 Christians?" He meant to say: You have 
 caused the death of the Indians, and now 
 you wish to appoint me the hangman of 
 the Christians. Fonseca, who was no fool, 
 understood him well, but bit his tongue 
 and said no more. The decree for the sup 
 port of the emigrants was, however, never 
 issued, and without it Las Casas was not 
 willing to assume any further responsibility 
 in the matter, although ready to be paid 
 into his hands was the cash necessary to 
 transport the two hundred desirable agri 
 culturists, whom he had already recruited, 
 and who were ready to start. The emigra 
 tion scheme was finally abandoned and Las 
 Casas turned his attention to another pro 
 ject of legislation, which had in view the 
 evangelization of some, at least, of the In 
 dians on the American continent. 
 
CHAPTER XIV. 
 
 Las Casas Tries a New Scheme for Saving 
 and Evangelizing the Indians. 
 
 reader remembers How Fonseca had 
 promptly rejected the proposal sug 
 gested by Friar Pedro de Cordova, that one 
 hundred leagues of coast be set aside as a 
 sort of reservation, where Spaniards were 
 to be forbidden from settling or landing. 
 In Hispaniola, Porto Rico and Jamaica 
 perhaps seventy per cent of the native 
 population had already perished, and it 
 was evident that in Cuba they would soon 
 meet with the same fate. I^as Casas' efforts 
 were now directed to save the natives of the 
 continent. His conviction was, that the 
 Indians could be brought to the knowledge 
 and practice of the Christian religion and 
 to adopt a civilized manner of life. This 
 could only be done, he believed, by preach 
 ing to them the Gospel of Him, who had 
 called Himself meek and humble of heart. 
 Had he not gained, in Hispaniola and 
 Cuba, by the practice of evangelical charity, 
 that influence and ascendency over the un 
 tutored children of the forests, that made 
 (206) 
 
Life of Bartolomd de Las Casas. 207 
 
 them promptly comply with his smallest 
 requests and desires? He proposed now to 
 demonstrate by actual experience to the 
 ruling powers, that what was done by the 
 Apostles for the Greeks, the Romans and 
 the barbarians, could be done to the ab 
 original Americans. To the Indians he 
 proposed to show that the religion of the 
 Christians was not one of blood, murder and 
 rapine, but of peace, fraternity and love. 
 
 The Dominicans and the French Fran 
 ciscans had already established themselves 
 in Venezuela, and built convents in two In 
 dian pueblos. They had not landed with 
 swords and fire-arms in their hands, but 
 with their breviaries and the crucifix as 
 their only weapons. Should these havens 
 of peace, the monasteries, be destroyed in 
 order that the Spaniards' thirst for gold 
 might be quenched? Should the shepherds, 
 the Friars, see their flocks slaughtered be 
 fore their eyes? Shall Spain, the foremost 
 nation in Christendom, allow a few of her 
 cruel and unnatural sons to rob, enslave, 
 murder, and finally wipe off the face of the 
 earth the millions of helpless human beings 
 of the western world, whom Providence 
 had entrusted to her keeping? A remedy 
 for the Indians should be easily found. No 
 great army is required to prevent a set of 
 
2oS Life of Bartolom& de Las Casas. 
 
 men, who called themselves Christians, and 
 were supposed to be governed by her most 
 Catholic Majesty, from destroying the 
 countless peoples of unbounded regions, 
 which were granted to Spain by the Vicar 
 of Christ in order that the kingdom of God 
 on earth might be extended and the num 
 bers of believers increased. 
 
 These reflections, that spring spontane 
 ously in one's heart, occupied the mind of 
 the philanthropist, the priest, the apostle, 
 the Protector of the Indians. But experi 
 ence had taught him that, for the time be 
 ing at least, neither royal decrees, or the 
 devoteduess of the ministers of religion, 
 like the Dominicans, the Franciscans and 
 the secular priests, could stem the torrent 
 of blood which his countrymen had set 
 allowing in America. The insatiable thirst 
 for gold must be reckoned with. When the 
 proposition was made that one hundred 
 leagues of coast be set aside, where the In 
 dians could be evangelized peacefully, had 
 not Fonseca remarked laconically: there is 
 no money in it for the king? 
 
 A shrewd Cuban cacique, by the name of 
 Hatuey, had honestly believed that the 
 white man's god was gold, and to save 
 himself and his people from his cruelty, 
 endeavored to propitiate him by causing his 
 
Life ofBartolomt de Las Casas. 209 
 
 assembled tribe to give divine honor to a 
 shining lump of the yellow metal. Las 
 Casas devised a scheme, by which, he 
 thought, he could replenish the royal cof 
 fers, and call into service the white man's 
 love of gold in the work of converting and 
 saving his beloved Indians. But, as the 
 unfortunate Hatuey learned too late that 
 the god gold could not be propitiated, and 
 was burned at the stake, so L,as Casas 
 learned by bitter experience that the same 
 censer cannot be used in offering incense to 
 both God and mammon. I will let him 
 unravel his own plan, which was an im 
 provement on Pedro de Cordova's sugges 
 tion. 
 
 "It appeared to him that he could find 
 in those islands (Hispaniola, Cuba, Porto 
 Rico and Jamaica) as many as fifty men, 
 friends of his, who, being well inclined and 
 reasonable, would cheerfully engage in -such 
 a praiseworthy undertaking more through 
 virtuous motives and a desire of serving 
 God, than for the sake of profit, even sup 
 posing that they would keep an eye open 
 to business, and that acquiring wealth in a 
 lawful manner would be an incentive to 
 them. He did not intend at first to select 
 more than fifty individuals, for two reasons. 
 First because it was his intention of ap- 
 14 
 
210 Life of Bartolomd de Las Casas. 
 
 preaching the Indians by peaceful ways, 
 attracting them with presents, instead of 
 accepting anything from them, unless they 
 gave it of their own accord. To do so, 
 fifty men were sufficient, inasmuch as the 
 Indians are by nature good and inoffensive, 
 unless provoked. One hundred or even 
 five hundred would do no better, but, on 
 the contrary become a hindrance to each 
 other, the Spanish settlers being restless 
 and quarrelsome. This needs no proof, as 
 it is known to everybody. Secondly: be 
 cause fifty men are more easily amenable 
 to the dictates of reason, than one hundred 
 or more. He calculated that ten thousand 
 ducats would suffice to make a beginning, 
 which would be contributed easily by fifty 
 associates at the rate of two hundred ducats 
 each. With that amount enough of pro 
 visions could be bought to last one year, 
 many triflings from Europe to be given as 
 presents to the Indians to attract them and 
 to gain their affections, all miscellaneous 
 articles necessary to the settlement, and 
 lastly two caravels to transport men and 
 goods to be kept and used afterwards as 
 needed. He decided that all the fifty men 
 should wear a white uniform, and over it 
 certain crosses, of the same color and shape 
 as those worn by the knights of Calatrava, 
 
Life of Bartolomd de Las Casas. 211 
 
 with the addition, over the crosses, of cer 
 tain fenilike brooches, which made them 
 more ornamental and attractive. He adopted 
 this uniform, in order that his fifty com 
 panions should appear to the Indians as a 
 different kind of men from the wicked 
 Spaniards, whom they had seen or heard 
 of, and in order that they should be easily 
 distinguishable. They were to tell the In 
 dians how they had been sent by the king 
 of Spain, their good and powerful lord, 
 that he (the king) having heard of the 
 wrongs, scandals and oppression inflicted 
 on them and their neighbors by the Spani 
 ards, had been grieved at the news, and 
 that it had all been done against his will. 
 They were also to inform the Indians that 
 now the king had sent to them the fifty 
 white-robed men to greet them in his 
 name, and to distribute amongst them 
 many presents, which he sent them from 
 Spain as tokens of his affection for them. 
 Henceforth they would also be protected 
 against the wrong doings of the other white 
 men. 
 
 "Should God prosper the undertaking, it 
 was the Clerigo's intention, to ask the Pope 
 and the king to form his men into a religi 
 ous sodality or confraternity." 
 
 The plan thus far was promising, but 
 
Life of Bartolome de Las Casas. 
 
 Fonseca's zeal for the revenues of the king 
 had also to be reckoned with, and satisfied. 
 Inducements must therefore be offered, suf 
 ficient to move fifty decent Spanish settlers 
 in America, to become the associates of the 
 Protector of the Indians in the good work 
 of conquering by peaceful ways, materially 
 and spiritually, the inhabitants of the 
 western continent to the crown of Spain, 
 and to the Church. Las Casas had nothing 
 less in view, and instead of one hundred 
 leagues of coast, he asked for a thousand, 
 that is for more than had then been ex 
 plored. His intention was to make an ex 
 periment with fifty nren; but, should it 
 have proven successful, it would not have 
 been difficult to locate other batches of fifty 
 white-robed knights at different points of 
 the coast. Las Casas' aim was also to oust 
 from the continent the notorious Pedrarias 
 de A vila, who was governor of the settle 
 ments in the South American countries. 
 In wan toil cruelty, and reckless destruction 
 of life, Pedrarias had already acquired an 
 unenviable reputation. The continent had 
 yet seen little more than four years of his 
 rule, when his Indian victims could have 
 been counted by the hundred of thousands. 
 Las Casas' dream was to convert the In 
 dians of Central and South America and 
 
Life of Bartolomd de Las Casas. 213 
 
 then establish among them an ideal Chris 
 tian government, such as the Jesuits suc 
 ceeded, two centuries later, in giving to 
 those farther South. 
 
 The plan of his Indian reservation and 
 scheme of colonization are contained in the 
 following articles of agreement, which he 
 asked the king to accept. The Clerigo 
 bound himself : 
 
 u ist. With the help of God to induce, 
 within two years, ten thousand Indians to 
 acknowledge, of their own accord, the 
 sovereignty of the king of Spain, and to 
 live peacefully with the Spaniards. 
 
 3d. To collect from the Indians and 
 from the Spaniards settled within the re 
 served territory, (which was to be measured 
 from a point on the Gulf of Venezuela and 
 run along the southern coast one thousand 
 leagues) and to pay into the royal treasury, 
 five thousand ducats yearly, for the first 
 three years ; fifteen thousand for the next 
 three ; thirty thousand for the next four 
 years ; and sixty thousand ducats for every 
 year thereafter. 
 
 3d. To establish, within five years, three 
 colonies of fifty white-robed crusaders and 
 a sufficient number of Dominican and Fran 
 ciscan Fathers to evangelize the Indians. 
 
 4th. To erect a fortress in each of the 
 
214 Life of Bartolomd de Las Casas. 
 
 white settlements, as a protection against 
 any possible uprising of the Indians. 
 
 5 til. To explore the country, and faith 
 fully to inform the king of the rivers and 
 localities, where gold might be found. 
 
 6th. To comply with the five foregoing 
 articles without doing any violence to the 
 Indians, but on the contrary, to do nothing 
 without their good will and full consent. 
 
 yth. To do every thing possible to con 
 vert the Indians to the Christian religion 
 without putting the king to any expense 
 whatever.' 7 
 
 In consideration of these obligations, 
 which lyas Casas was to take on himself, he 
 asked the king the following favors and 
 privileges : 
 
 " i st. His majesty must ask from his Holi 
 ness the Pope a brief, authorizing the Clerigo 
 to select from the Dominican and Francis 
 can Orders, twelve subjects, who would 
 volunteer to become his associates in the 
 work of the evangelization of the Indians, 
 and to grant a plenary indulgence, in ar- 
 ticulo mortis, to all who should die on the 
 journey or while engaged in or helping the 
 Missions. 
 
 2d. Authority should be given the Clerigo 
 to select from among the Indians of His- 
 paniola and Cuba ten individuals, who would 
 
Life ofBartolomd de Las Casas. 215 
 
 go of their own accord, to tlie main land, 
 on whatever Repartimiento of the Spaniards 
 they might be found, and the latters' pro 
 tests and opposition notwithstanding. 
 
 3d. All Indians stolen, or otherwise ex 
 patriated from within the limits of the one 
 thousand leagues reserved, and now held in 
 Cuba, Hispaniola, Porto Rico or Jamaica, 
 should be delivered to the civil authorities 
 to be brought back to their own countries. 
 
 4th. One twelfth of the income accruing 
 to the crown from this enterprise of the 
 Clerigo should be granted to the fifty lay 
 men, who were to be his helpers and as 
 sociates, with power of disposing of it by 
 will to the first, second, third and fourth 
 generation. 
 
 5th. All the fifty men should be knighted 
 as knights of the golden epaulet, making 
 their knighthood hereditary in perpetuity. 
 They should be allowed the use of side 
 arms, and coat-of-arms on the Islands and 
 Continent of America, as soon as the king's 
 income should reach the yearly sum of 
 fifteen thousand ducats ; and, when three 
 settlements should be made, the fortresses 
 erected, etc., then their privileges of full- 
 fledged knighthood of the golden epaulets 
 should be recognized throughout all the 
 domains of his majesty. 
 
216 Life oj Bartolomd de Las Casas. 
 
 6tli. Tlie fifty men and their descendants 
 were to be forever exempted from all 
 taxation on personalty and realty, except in 
 the forms expressed in this capitulation. 
 
 7th. The Clerigo should have the right 
 to appoint the officers of the fortresses to be 
 erected and of the white settlements to be 
 made. 
 
 8th. The knights, with the permission 
 of the Clerigo (but not without it) should 
 have the right to trade for pearls with the 
 Indians, giving a royalty to the king of one 
 fifth of the profits, as long as his yearly in 
 come from the reservation would not exceed 
 fifteen thousand ducats ; and after, of one 
 seventh. The same rule was to apply to 
 profits derived from bartering Castilian 
 goods for gold. Of the gold mined or 
 gathered by the knights, one sixth should 
 go as a royalty to the king. 
 
 9th. Each knight was authorized to buy 
 from the Indians not more than one square 
 league of land to be used as farm, planta 
 tion or pasture, the same to be his in per 
 petuity and in fee simple, the crown of 
 course retaining all rights of sovereignty. 
 
 loth. As soon as one settlement of fifty 
 ,knights should be made each one of them 
 should have the right to import three negro 
 slaves, and when as many as three settle- 
 
Life oj Bartolomd de Las Casas. 217 
 
 ments of fifty men should be made, seven 
 more slaves for each man should then be 
 allowed to be imported, provided that it 
 should appear advisable to the Clerigo to do 
 so. The slaves were to be half males and 
 half females. 
 
 1 1 th. Each knight should have the priv 
 ilege of citizenship in each one of the white 
 settlements, if he owned a house and kept 
 an agent there, while engaged in develop 
 ing his lands, provided that at no time, he 
 should enjoy said rights of citizenship in 
 more than five settlements. 
 
 iath. The knights should enjoy a total 
 exemption from the tax on the salt con 
 sumed by themselves and their households 
 while on the reservation. 
 
 1 3th. Each knight should enjoy the right 
 of importing into the reservation any mer 
 chandise, goods or cattle, for ten years from 
 any of the Spanish dominions, free from 
 port, import or export duty. 
 
 1 4th. The knights should* be required 
 to obtain mining licenses ; but these should 
 be granted, whenever asked for, without 
 the payment of any fees. 
 
 1 5th. In case of death of one of the 
 knights, his immediate heir, if of age, is 
 bound to report in person, at the reservation 
 for duty, and if a minor, through a substi- 
 
2i8 Life ofBartolomd de Las Casas. 
 
 tute, of whose qualifications the Clerigo was 
 to be the judge ; and if no substitute is ap 
 pointed by the heir or his representative, 
 the Clerigo was empowered to appoint one 
 at his discretion to do duty, during the 
 heir's minority. 
 
 1 6th. Merchants and traffickers, who 
 should cast anchor in any of the ports of 
 the reservation for the purpose of barter 
 ing, were forbidden under pain of death, 
 and the confiscation of all their property, 
 from doing any harm or damage, giving 
 scandal or stealing from the Indians, and 
 from tarrying on shore after their com 
 mercial operations were completed. 
 
 1 7 th. The Indians of the reservation 
 were to be assured by the Clerigo of their 
 liberty, as long as they continued to live 
 peacefully and to pay tribute as other vas 
 sals of the king, who pledged himself never 
 to place the Indians of terra firma and of 
 the Islands within the limits of the reserva 
 tion, under the tutelage of the Spaniards or 
 to parcel them out into Repartimientos, or 
 to allow their enslavement. 
 
 1 8th. The king should send to, and keep 
 on the reservation, a royal treasurer and an 
 auditor to receive and receipt for the 
 amounts due to him according to these 
 stipulations, and to keep him informed of 
 the doings and progress of the colony. 
 
Life of'Bartolomd de Las Casas. 219 
 
 1 9 tli. The king should also appoint a 
 judge for the administration of civil and 
 criminal justice to the fifty knights, and 
 other people, Indians as well as white men 
 on the reservation, provided that the said 
 judge be not allowed to meddle in other 
 affairs of the colony or the conversion of the 
 Indians, except when requested by the 
 Clerigo. The colonists should have the 
 right to appeal from his sentences to the 
 Audiencia (court of appeals) in the Island 
 of Hispaniola. 
 
 20th. The king reserved the right to 
 send, every ten months, or as often as he 
 saw fit, commissioners to report on the pro 
 gress of the colony and to take charge of 
 the gold, pearls and other property belong 
 ing to the crown in virtue of this agree 
 ment. 
 
 2ist. Should, during the first ten years, 
 any island or mainland be discovered by 
 the colonists either North or South, the dis 
 coverers should enjoy the same privileges 
 and emoluments that were, by letters patent, 
 granted to Velasquez for the discovery of 
 Yucatan. 
 
 22d. The king bound himself to carry, 
 on his ships (the colonists paying reason 
 able freight charges) to the reservation, 
 fifty mares, thirty cows, fifty hogs and 
 fifteen pack mules or donkeys. 
 
220 Life of Bartolom& de Las . Casas . 
 
 23rd. As soon as tlie revenues of the 
 king shall have reached the yearly sum of 
 fifteen thousand ducats, he binds himself to 
 contribute two thousands of them to the 
 conversion of the Indians to the Christian 
 religion and to civilized life. 
 
 24th. The following items were also to 
 be charged to the king, as soon as his re 
 venues should reach the sum of fifteen 
 thousand ducats: the provisions necessary 
 for the first eight months' residence in the 
 reservation by the colonists ; all freight 
 charges incurred in transporting the colo 
 nists and their goods to the reservation; 
 the expenses of building the fortresses and 
 collecting the revenues of the king; what 
 ever presents should be made to the Indi 
 ans or their caciques in order to induce 
 them to enter the service of the king as 
 his free vassals, provided that no more than 
 three hundred ducats yearly, or three 
 thousand ducats in ten years be spent in 
 such allowances. 
 
 25th. The king pledges himself to give 
 credence to no reports concerning the work 
 ings and progress of the colony, except 
 such as he shall receive from his treasurer 
 and auditor. 
 
 26th. The fifty knights bind themselves 
 juridically to abide by the articles of this 
 
Life of Bartolomd de Las Casas. 221 
 
 agreement under penalty of forfeiting all 
 their possessions. 
 
 27tli. The Clerigo was empowered to 
 give new rivers, provinces and localities 
 such names as he thought proper." 
 
 This remarkable and peculiar contract 
 between the ruler of one half of Europe 
 and of all that was known of America, and 
 the simple American priest, was solemnly 
 signed with all due formality by Charles V. 
 in his own handwriting and by L,as Casas 
 the iQth day of May 1520 in the city of 
 Corufia. 
 
 But the biography of L,as Casas would be 
 incomplete without some detailed account 
 of his struggles, maneuvres and pertinaci 
 ous perseverance necessary to obtain the 
 royal signature to the foregoing agreement. 
 The project naturally had to pass through 
 the hands of the councillors composing the 
 bureau for Indian affairs. Some of these 
 had not forgotten that the Clerigo had been 
 the cause of their loosing their Repartimi- 
 entos in the times of Ximenez. Moreover 
 the new departure of attempting to con 
 vert, and bring into subjection the Indians 
 by peaceful means, was a condemnation of 
 the archbishop's former policy of enslave 
 ment and oppression. L,as Casas therefore 
 could expect nothing but opposition to his 
 
222 Life of Bartolom& de Las Casas. 
 
 scheme from tlie council of tlie Indies. He 
 spoke of it privately to the Flemish states 
 men, and discussed it with the grand chan 
 cellor in particular, who approved of it and 
 used his influence, in a quiet way, to have 
 it accepted by Charles V. But no sooner 
 was it made public and proposed to the 
 councillors for their consideration, than 
 these converted themselves, to use Las 
 Casas' own expression, into a battery of ar 
 tillery to attack it and demolish it, because 
 the very shadow of the Clerigo had become 
 to them more hateful than the fleshless 
 skeleton of death. No serious objection 
 could, however, be made to the new plan. 
 There is no money in it for the king, Fon- 
 seca had said, when the petition of Pedro 
 de Cordova for an Indian reservation was 
 presented to him. But Las Casas had now 
 provided for an income for the royal 
 treasury. To reject it without debate or 
 consideration, was not feasible, because it 
 had been presented by the grand chancellor 
 himself. They decided to shelve it, in the 
 hope that the penniless American priest 
 could not much longer hang around their 
 offices to press his project of creating and 
 colonizing knights to help converting the 
 Indians by peaceful methods. In fact Las 
 Casas had already spent five or six years in 
 
Life ofBartolom6 de Las Casas. 223 
 
 going and coming from America, in follow 
 ing the court from place to place, in look 
 ing after the doings of the Monks of St. 
 Jerome, in recruiting laborers, etc. His 
 funds were wellnigh exhausted, and to 
 make matters worse, just at that time, 
 when his business should have been pressed 
 to an issue, Xevres and the grand chancel 
 lor had to leave for France on an embassy. 
 Of course, during their absence, no atten 
 tion was. paid to the Clerigo's business, 
 who, wellnigh worn out by the councillors' 
 inactivity, remarked one day to Monsieur 
 de la Mure, that he would be compelled to 
 abandon his undertaking for lack of funds 
 to remain longer at court. The Dutch 
 nobleman and another officer of the king, 
 a kinsman of his, came to his assistance 
 with a loan. 
 
 On the return of Xevres and the grand 
 chancellor Las Casas became once more a 
 frequent attendant at the meetings of the 
 councillors for the Indies. Fonseca and 
 his associates, who were often handled 
 without gloves by the American priest to 
 the great satisfaction of the Flemish cour 
 tiers, daily advanced some new cr frivolous 
 objection to the Clerigo's plan, which, 
 though promptly answered, afforded the 
 Spanish councillors pretexts for postponing 
 
224 Life of Bartolomt de Las Casas. 
 
 from day to day the final decision. Some 
 outside pressure was necessary. The per 
 severance, or it might be called the perti 
 nacity of Las Casas and his unceasing ac 
 tivity in behalf of the Indians has been a 
 subject of admiration for all students of 
 early American history. The fertility of 
 his mind in devising means to his ends was 
 perhaps equally as remarkable. 
 
 Bach court of Europe, at the beginning 
 of the sixteenth century, had its official 
 preachers, and that of Spain had eight of 
 them. As these proved themselves the 
 friends of the American Indians, and the 
 advocates of right and liberty, I think that 
 their names should not be left unregistered. 
 They were : Luis and Antonio Coronel, 
 who had obtained their degrees in theology 
 in the university of Paris; Doctor La Fu- 
 ente, who was doing honor to the newly 
 established (by Ximenez) university of Al- 
 cala. These three were secular priests, like 
 the fourth, whose name is not given. The 
 fifth was Miguel de Salamanca, a Domini 
 can, who died bishop of Cuba. The sixth 
 was a Franciscan Friar named Alonzo de 
 Leon, and the seventh an Augustinian by 
 the name of Father Dionisio. Las Casas, 
 who wrote these details thirty-two years 
 after, could not remember the name of the 
 last one. 
 
Life o/ Bartolom de Las Casas. 225 
 
 "The duty of these preachers," he 
 thought, "is to defend truth, and to call 
 the king's attention to the great evils, 
 which dishonored the Christian religion, 
 and damned the souls of millions of their 
 neighbors." He therefore decided to en 
 gage, if possible, their zeal and their in 
 fluence in behalf of his Indians. At first 
 he approached them privately, and finding 
 them willing listeners, he prevailed on 
 them to meet together and to hear the tale 
 of woes that came from beyond the seas. 
 I'll let the reader imagine with what burn 
 ing eloquence the first American priest 
 painted to the preachers the pitiless op 
 pression, the brutal slavery, the savage car 
 nage of his beloved Indians by the Spani 
 ards. The blame lay at the door of the 
 bureau for Indian affairs, and with arch 
 bishop Fonseca in particular. 
 
 Those eight preachers were no mere or 
 namental orators hired to tickle the ears of 
 royalty on state religious occasions. Their 
 sermons and instructions, they thought, 
 should serve to shape and mould the morals 
 and the policies of those, who then ruled 
 over the greatest empire the world had ever 
 seen. They met together in the convent of 
 St. Catherine, and after mature deliberation 
 decided, that it was their duty before God 
 15 
 
2^6 Life ofBartolom& de Las Casas. 
 
 to endeavor to stop the extermination of 
 tlie American Indians. Their meetings 
 were numerous and were always called by 
 Las Casas. "Day after day," says he, "at 
 the same hour that Fonseca gathered his 
 councillors in his house to devise means to 
 destroy the Indians, the Clerigo called the 
 preachers together in the convent of St. 
 Catherine, to formulate plans for saving 
 them." They first bound themselves by 
 solemn oath, taken in the presence of Las 
 Casas and on the gospels, to stand by each 
 other and not to falter or withdraw from 
 the compact until they should obtain from 
 the council, or if necessary, from the king, 
 the abolition of slavery or Repartimientos 
 of the Indians, their liberty and protection. 
 The scope of their deliberations had 
 widened. With them the question was no 
 longer the obtaining for the zealous Amer 
 ican priest a piece of unexplored territory 
 for an Indian reservation, wherein to ex 
 periment in the conversion of its inhabi 
 tants, but to put a stop to the enslavement, 
 oppression and destruction, by the Spani 
 ards, of the aborigines. Las Casas did not 
 accomplish the work of firing the zeal and 
 the eloquence of the eight royal preachers 
 single-handed. There happened to be then 
 present at court two of those noble French 
 
Life ofBartolomt de Las Casas. 227 
 
 Franciscans from Picardy, who had estab 
 lished a monastery at Cumana, in what is 
 now Venezuela. One of them was the 
 brother of the queen of Scotland. The 
 Clerigo introduced them to the grand chan 
 cellor and to the preachers and invited 
 them to several of their meetings to confirm 
 his own statements concerning the cruel 
 ties and barbarities of the Spaniards in 
 America. 
 
 The preachers, while firm in their reso 
 lutions to- leave nothing undone to obtain 
 their object, began by complying with the 
 injunction of Christ of first admonishing 
 privately their erring brethren, i. e. Fon- 
 seca and his councillors. Having agreed 
 upon the manner in which the admonition 
 should be administered, they presented 
 themselves unheralded at a meeting of the 
 council. "Most illustrious Lords, and Most 
 Reverend Archbishop," they said through 
 their spokesman Miguel de Salanianca, 
 u we, the preachers of his majesty the king, 
 have ascertained that in the Indies our 
 countrymen have committed unheard of 
 crimes against the native population, whole 
 sale thefts and massacres, that have pro 
 voked the anger and the vengeance of God, 
 and have brought dishonor on the Christian 
 religion. Numberless human beings have 
 
228 Life ofBartolomd de Las Casas. 
 
 perished and lience large islands and a por 
 tion of the mainland, erstwhile teeming 
 with population, are now desolate and tin- 
 inhabited, to the everlasting disgrace of 
 the Spanish crown. For, witness Holy 
 Writ, 4n the multitude of the people there 
 is honor and dignity for the king, while 
 contrarywise a decreasing nation points to 
 his dishonor and disgrace.' Knowing as 
 we do the wisdom and ability of the distin 
 guished personages composing this council, 
 to whom God has intrusted the government 
 of the New World, and whom he shall* call 
 to a strict account for their official policies 
 and conduct, and knowing also that those 
 peoples beyond the seas, who heretofore 
 lived peacefully in their own countries, 
 could not have given us cause for exter 
 minating them, we were abashed at first at 
 the intelligence received, but concluded 
 that they alone should be held accountable 
 for the irreparable damage done, who gov 
 erned them. It is our duty, as preachers 
 to his majesty, to expose, to combat, and, 
 by our exhortations, to endeavor to extir 
 pate every abuse, that dishonors and 
 offends the Divine Majesty of God. Hence 
 we decided to present ourselves to your 
 lordships and speak to you of said crimes, 
 and to beg you to explain to us how so 
 
Life ofBartolom& de Las Casas. 229 
 
 great an evil could have been left so long 
 nnremedied. And, inasmuch, even to this 
 day, such thefts and massacres continue, 
 we admonish you to put a stop to them. 
 By so doing, we need not tell you, your 
 lordships will deserve God's choicest bless 
 ings, and, by not heeding our warning, his 
 most terrible vengeance. We beg of you 
 also, with all the respect and reverence due 
 to your persons, not to attribute our com 
 ing thus to address you to presumption or 
 temerity, but to receive our admonition in 
 the spirit that dictated it, which is, a desire 
 of doing that, to which we are bound by 
 God's commandments. ' ' 
 
 The fearless speech wounded the coun 
 cillors to the quick, especially Fonseca. 
 He gave vent to his spleen in the following 
 words which were taken down by the 
 preachers: u Rash and daring has been 
 your presumption in coming to reprimand 
 the king's council. Casas must be behind 
 this affair. What have the king's preach 
 ers to do with his government, which he 
 carries on through his several councils? 
 He feeds you that you may preach the 
 Gospel to him, and not to have you meddle 
 with the government of his dominions." 
 
 The unwitty but insulting words of the 
 archbishop stung Doctor De la Fuente, 
 
230 Life ofBartolomd de Las Casas. 
 
 who replied : "Casas is nowhere here about, 
 but the casa (house) of God, i. e. his honor, 
 required our presence here, and to defend 
 that honor we are ready to lay down our 
 lives. Does it appear to your lordship pre 
 sumptuous that eight doctors in theology, 
 who can sit in and address a whole ecu 
 menical council of the universal Church, 
 should come to proffer an admonition to a 
 council of the king? It is our right and 
 our duty to come and admonish the king's 
 councillors, and hence we are here, my 
 lords, to exhort you and to notify you that 
 you must correct the many wrongs per 
 petrated in the Indies, which are the cause 
 of damnation of so many souls, and of so 
 . many sins against God. And unless you 
 do correct them, my lords, we shall preach 
 against you as against those who do not 
 keep the commandments of God, and do 
 not do their duty to their king. And this, 
 sirs, is not only to preach, but to comply 
 with the Gospel." 
 
 De la Fuente's speech surprised the 
 councillors and frightened them. One of 
 them, a layman, blandly answered him: 
 "This council is doing its duty; it has for 
 mulated many very wise laws for the good 
 of the Indies, which, though your pre 
 sumptuous conduct does not deserve it, we 
 
Life ofBartolamd de Las Casas. 231 
 
 shall show you, that you may realize the 
 hight of your temerity and of your pride." 
 
 "You shall have to show us those laws, 
 and if they will be found good and just, we 
 shall praise them, but if bad and unjust, we 
 shall send them to the devil and whomso 
 ever upholds them with them. Your lord 
 ships, I presume, do not wish to keep them 
 company on the road." 
 
 The preachers were about to leave un 
 ceremoniously, when the councillors, 
 changing their tone, assured them that 
 they would be glad to show them all the 
 'laws that had been enacted, and that their 
 opinions on them would be welcomed. 
 The eight doctors were invited to come 
 back another day for that purpose, and the 
 invitation was accepted. On their second 
 visit, having heard said laws read to them, 
 the preachers asked for time to put their 
 opinions in writing. They, who are famil 
 iar with the noble Castilian tongue, may 
 read it in extenso in the CXXXV. and 
 CXXXVI. chapter of the third book of 
 Historia de Las Indias by Las Casas. But 
 as I have not met anywhere in history a 
 more eloquent or more forcible plea for 
 American liberty, by either lawyer, canon 
 ist or theologian, I'll give of it the first 
 English translation, however disfigured and 
 
232 Life ofBartolomd de Las Casas. 
 
 emasculated it may appear in a foreign 
 dress. The translation is a free one and 
 only the preamble is left ont. 
 
 "My Lords. To say that we are the 
 men directly appointed by Almighty God 
 to instruct you would be intolerable arro 
 gance; but we do affirm that we are, as it 
 were, the eyes of this noble court. While 
 you are profoundly absorbed in the trans 
 action of temporal affairs, we employ our 
 time in the study of the law of God and of 
 the writings of its expounders. To do the 
 duties of our office, and thus do the will of 
 God, we must be ever on the watch to see, 
 if in every department and in every office 
 of this court the law of God is observed. 
 Those who are zealous in the performance 
 of their duties we must praise, but the 
 guilty and the laggard we are bound to ad 
 monish, and, if necessary, to denounce, in 
 order that they may either reform or be 
 held unexcusable. Had we done our full 
 duty in the past, perhaps there would not 
 now be so much corruption in many places. 
 May God forgive us our past shortcomings, 
 and give us strength to repair them in the 
 future. That we might not be found guilty 
 of further negligence God was pleased to 
 move and to quicken our intelligences to 
 give serious consideration to the important 
 
Life ofBartolom& de Las Casas. 233 
 
 subject upon which we are here to address 
 you. A subject so vital to the interests of 
 God and of his Church, that perhaps not 
 in a thousand years has Divine Providence 
 assigned to a ruler or to a nation a mission 
 more important than the guardianship and 
 christianization of the countless thousands 
 of people beyond the seas. It is zeal, my 
 lords, that has moved us thus far, and it 
 was zeal that made us study and ponder on 
 the measures which have been adopted by 
 this council. We studied them to enable 
 ourselves to decide if they would suffice to 
 remedy the past evils, and to prevent fur 
 ther ones, and to see if they gave promise 
 of bearing all the fruits, which God and his 
 Church expects of that part, of the king's 
 dominion, and which this nation should be 
 able to offer them. This is the conclusion 
 which careful study and mature delibera 
 tion have led us to. Should we take it for 
 granted that the Repartimientos or Kn- 
 comiendas of Indians are just and right, 
 then we say that your lordships could not 
 have enacted better or holier laws, to pre 
 vent their illtreatment by our countrymen, 
 and to advance their spiritual welfare. But 
 everything considered, it is evident, that 
 they will never afford them that protection, 
 which we are bound by the law of God to 
 
234 Life ofBariolomd de Las Casas. 
 
 give tliem, and of which they stand in 
 need as long as the Repartimientos are 
 allowed to stand, and this for two principal 
 reasons : ist, because your laws, let them 
 be ever so good and holy, never will be 
 properly executed as long as the Reparti 
 mientos are allowed to have a legal exist 
 ence. 2d, because your laws, though good 
 in themselves, are based on a most unjust 
 foundation, namely that of the Repartimi 
 entos, which have been the cause of well- 
 nigh all the evils with which the Indies 
 are afflicted. As long as that cause is not 
 removed it shall remain impossible to cure 
 the evils. As you see, we have but two 
 propositions to prove, and if we shall prove 
 the second, we shall have proved them 
 both. The greatest of the evils, that have 
 depopulated some of those countries, and 
 that, which will desolate the remaining 
 ones, that, which cannot reasonably or 
 with justice be tolerated, are the Kncomi- 
 enclas of the Indians or parcelling them out 
 to the Spaniards, and allowing the latter to 
 force the Indians to work for them, appro 
 priating to themselves all the fruits of the 
 bondsmen's labor. The Kncomiendas as 
 they exist now, are detrimental, ist to the 
 Indian's wellfare; 2d they are unreasonable 
 and unwise; 3d they are against the in- 
 
Life ofBartolomt de Las Casas. 235 
 
 terests of the Spanish crown; 4tli they are 
 opposed to all the rules of civil and canon 
 law; 5th they contradict the teachings of 
 moral philosophy and theology; 6th they 
 are forbidden by the laws of God and of his 
 Church. You shall see, my lords, if, while 
 as damnable an institution as the Kncomi- 
 endas is allowed to stand, the evils, directly 
 traceable to it, can be eradicated by statu 
 tory enactments. That you may not accuse 
 us of exaggeration, I will proceed to prove 
 logically and to your satisfaction each of 
 our six assertions. 
 
 We said first that the Kncomiendas are 
 detrimental to the Indian's wellfare. We 
 cannot argue against facts. Since the 
 time, when, under pretext of bringing into 
 close contact the Indians with the Spani 
 ards, in order that, it was said, the former 
 might learn from the latter the Christian 
 religion, the system of Repartimientos was 
 established, those once thickly inhabited 
 countries became deserts. Should all man 
 kind set to thinking for the purpose of de 
 vising a plan more destructive of society 
 among the Indians, they could not find it. 
 For the Kncomiendas make a state or com 
 monwealth impossible among them. In 
 every civil community of men there must 
 necessarily be found a diversity of offices, 
 
236 Life of Bartolomd de Las Casas. 
 
 professions and trades. But all these are 
 merged into one by the Repartimientos, 
 that of digging dirt. Who has ever heard 
 of a whole people or nation of diggers? As 
 things are now, there can't be amongst the 
 Indians either soldiers, philosophers, men 
 of letters, tradesmen, etc., and thus those 
 peoples, fitted out by the Creator to form 
 themselves into well ordered nations, are 
 forced to engage only in the lowest occupa 
 tion, that of digging dirt. Our islands 
 beyond the Atlantic shall be compared to 
 those on which the Romans exiled the mar 
 tyrs and the malefactors, ad fodienda me- 
 talla. Nay, we do worse than the Romans; 
 for they did not kill the exiles with labor, 
 as the Spaniards do the natives of the In 
 dies. The Kncomiendas are detrimental to 
 the Indians because they make slaves of 
 them, and to enslave men is against the 
 law of nature and the law of God. That 
 the Kncomiendas are nothing less than 
 slavery is proved by your own ordinances. 
 In fact one of them ordered the lyicenciado 
 Figueroa to set free those among the In 
 dians, who should -ask for their liberty. 
 They must therefore have been slaves. 
 However, in order that our argument may 
 not have even the semblance of cavil or 
 sophistry, we shall prove aliunde that the 
 
Life ofBartolomd de Las Casas. 237 
 
 Kncomiendas constitute real slavery. He 
 is free who can dispose of his own actions. 
 But, if the life, the industry, the work and 
 all the fruits thereof of the Indians belong 
 to some one else, how can they be said to 
 be free? Their liberty is but a dead letter, 
 written in your laws, but unknown to the 
 unfortunate bondsmen. If you say, my 
 lords, that they are paid a salary for their 
 labors, and that they are fed, we answer 
 that the salary and the food they get is not 
 equal to half what the legal slaves get here 
 in Spain. The cloak of liberty, with 
 which the Spaniards clothe the Indians, is 
 but an additional instrument of torture and 
 of death. Were they legal slaves, they 
 would have a commercial value, and their 
 masters would care for them and treat them 
 better, as their death would be a loss to 
 them. But granting, for argument's sake, 
 that the Indians are free, is it recorded in 
 the annals of history that any other people 
 were ever treated as the native Indian is 
 by the Spaniard? The slavery to which 
 Pharao subjected the children of Israel is 
 but an ounce in the pound compared to 
 the condition of the Indians in the Indies. 
 The Jews, though compelled to work, were 
 not robbed of their possessions by the Egyp 
 tians, and, although in bondage, were 
 
238 Life ofBartolom6 de Las Casas. 
 
 never dispossessed of their wealth.. And so 
 true it is that they were well treated that 
 later, while in the wilderness, they wished 
 to return to the flesh pots of Egypt. The 
 children of Israel in slavery increased and 
 multiplied; but, though you left the Indi 
 ans with a phantom of liberty, they perished 
 and made of their country a desert. Who 
 ever heard of the prince or of the tyrant 
 that compelled his people to work for him 
 or his favorites more than nine months in 
 the year? The blind can see that it is un 
 just. Can we expect anything better than 
 a commensurate punishment for such an 
 unspeakable crime? May we not expect 
 (and would to God that we prove false pro 
 phets) that it shall cause the undoing and 
 destruction of this our Spanish common 
 wealth? In seeking to prove that the Kn- 
 comiendas are detrimental to the Indians, 
 we have proved that they are detrimental 
 to Spain also. To force the Indians, who 
 were bred and born in idleness, to work 
 continuously in the mines, nine months in 
 the year, means to condemn them to death. 
 The forty days which you call vacation, 
 serve only to hasten their destruction. In 
 fact, during that time, they are required to 
 work their lands, which is but a continua 
 tion, if a change, of labor. The frequent 
 
Life ofBartolomd de Las Casas. 239 
 
 change of climate from tlie mines to the 
 fields, the change of diet and mode of life, 
 instead of strengthening, debilitates them 
 more and more. At the end of the forty 
 days of partial freedom, experience has 
 taught, they reenter the mines to succumb 
 and perish. 
 
 The Bncomiendas are in every way un 
 wise and unreasonable. All the laws that 
 your lordships may formulate, be they as 
 numerous as those of both the civil and the 
 criminal codes combined, all the provisions 
 that the judges in the Indies may adopt, 
 let both the legislators and the judges be as 
 incorruptible as the angels of God, will not 
 avail to correct the abuses which yearly 
 decimate the Indians. Who shall coerce 
 the Spaniards to keep the laws? In moun 
 tain fastnesses, where only the eye of God 
 and the fowls of the air see them, where a 
 justice of the peace, a court or a marshal is 
 not to be found within fifty or sixty 
 leagues, those Christians manage the Indi 
 ans with an iron hand. Who shall bridle 
 their greed or curb their avarice, and pre 
 vent them from working the Indians to 
 death? Especially when before them shines 
 the yellow metal si dolosi spes refulserit 
 numif Your lordships have legislated as 
 to the quality and the quantity of food to 
 
240 Life of Bartolomd de Las Casas. 
 
 be given the Indians. But who shall weigh 
 the meat before it goes into the pot? Who 
 shall accuse the Spaniard, if the Indian die 
 under the lash or the cudgel? You will 
 say that, the visitadores (visitors) will in 
 quire into abuses and punish the delin 
 quent. At the mines there are only the 
 Indians and their masters or their represen 
 tatives. Will the wretched slave dare to 
 accuse his master to the visitador, if, the 
 latter gone, it will be in his power to roast 
 him alive? We need not go to the Indies 
 for proofs of our assertion. If there be an 
 inquest held in a murder case, do we go to 
 the servants or slaves of the suspected 
 criminal for the evidence of his guilt? You 
 well know, my lords, that the Indian is 
 but a servant or slave of him, of whose 
 Kncomienda he is part and parcel. But 
 experience has taught that, should the In 
 dian complain, his testimony would not be 
 accepted, because the visitador looks upon 
 the master as a man or perhaps as a bene 
 factor, and upon the slave as a beast. Un 
 less you place on every Repartimiento an 
 angel, who neither sleeps or eats, you can 
 not, my lords, correct the cruel abuses by 
 statutory enactments, as long as the En- 
 comiendas are allowed to stand. The En- 
 comiendas are detrimental to the king, be- 
 
Life of Bartolomd de Las Casas. 241 
 
 cause they deprive him of that, which, 
 according to the scriptures, make him 
 great and powerful, the people. Secondly, 
 because they deprive him of the revenues, 
 which might be legitimately derived from 
 the Indies, and which would increase his 
 wealth and that of his kingdom. Me think, 
 I hear those fertile lands themselves cry out 
 that the Spaniards are making them barren, 
 while elsewhere throughout the world 
 many human beings are starving. Thirdly, 
 they are detrimental to the king, because 
 they deprive him of the only just title he 
 has to the supreme dominion over those 
 countries. Every prince, king or ruler can 
 only have a title to his dominions in one of 
 the following manners : ist, by right of in 
 heritance ; sd, by the transferance by a 
 superior power (no human being is with 
 out a superior) and for a just cause, of a 
 people from the dominion of one to that of 
 another ruler ; 3rd, by the submission of a 
 people themselves, and of their own accord 
 to the dominion of the ruler. He is neither 
 prince, king or ruler, but a tyrant, who 
 does not hold one of these titles to his pos 
 sessions. Now it is notorious that the 
 kings of Spain do not hold their trans 
 atlantic possessions by either the right of 
 inheritance or the free will of the Indians. 
 16 
 
242 Life ofBartolomd de Las Casas. 
 
 Their only title to tliem is the apostolic 
 concession which, it expressly recites, was 
 made for the good and the advancement of 
 those people. As the Kncomiendas oppress 
 them and destroy them or make them un 
 willing vassals, it follows that they destroy 
 the only title that our monarchs have to 
 rule over the Indians. The Encomien- 
 das proclaim our monarchs tyrants. For 
 all this the king shall have to give a strict 
 account to God; and it behooves your lord 
 ships, who, as his agents and representa 
 tives, have assumed his responsibility, to 
 look into and to scrutinize the subject with 
 mature deliberation and care. We must 
 go a step farther. The Encomiendas are 
 worse than an open enemy in battle array. 
 That enemy could only deprive the king of 
 those possessions, but never of his right to 
 them. The Encomiendas deprive him of 
 that right, and, in the end, of the posses 
 sions themselves. 
 
 The Encomiendas break all rules of phi 
 losophy and of moral theology. The end 
 of man is the possession of God in the 
 hereafter. The practice of the moral vir 
 tues is the means to that end, and the pres 
 ent life was intended to give us an oppor 
 tunity to practice them. Life itself then is 
 a means to virtue, as food and raiment are 
 
Life ofBartolom& de Las Casas. 243 
 
 the means to life, and money the means of 
 procuring food and raiment. Is it right to 
 barter the futnre and the present life, the 
 virtues and the very food of the Indians for 
 the sake of money? Nay, more. Ex 
 perience has taught that the thirst for 
 gold has not only prevented the moral vir 
 tues and religion being taught to the In 
 dians, but it caused the Christians to lose 
 their faith and to abandon the practice of 
 the Christian virtues. They are growing 
 more inhuman and more merciless than the 
 tigers in the forest. The Kncomiendas are 
 manifestly not according to the will of God, 
 qui vult omnes homines salvos fieri. With 
 out faith, your lordships know it, it is im 
 possible to enter eternal life ; and, because 
 faith comes from hearing, the Son of God 
 came to preach it, and, in order that every 
 creature might hear it, he transformed his 
 twelve rude disciples into masters of elo 
 quence and wisdom. At last in order that 
 the glad tidings of Redemption might reach 
 those vast transatlantic regions, the Indians 
 were intrusted to our care. But alas ! the 
 damnable Encomiendas choke the voice of 
 the apostles and estop the work of God. 
 For how shall the preacher instruct a people 
 oppressed and broken down by labor? The 
 Spaniards possessed of Encomiendas are 
 
244 Life ofBartolom& de Las Casas. 
 
 the greatest enemies of those apostolic 
 clergymen, who are engaged in the evan 
 gelization of the Indians. They fear that 
 if their bondsmen are taught to know the 
 difference between virtue and vice, they 
 will also learn how deficient is the former 
 and how abundant is the latter in their 
 masters. The Indians, they think, hate us 
 now, but they will look upon us as devils 
 incarnate, if they learn the Christian re 
 ligion. And it is not sufficient to preach 
 the faith ; the words of the preacher must 
 not only carry conviction to the intelligence 
 of the hearer, but it must also gain their 
 affections, and touch their hearts. How 
 shall the Indians be convinced of the divine 
 origin of God's law, and how shall they 
 learn how to love it if the so-called Chris 
 tians are their cruel taskmasters, oppressors 
 and executioners? 
 
 The Kncomiendas are, last of all, detri 
 mental to the Church of God. Inasmuch 
 as in the Indies everybody is busy digging 
 the earth, to look for gold, those fertile 
 lands remain untilled and unproductive. 
 Hence no tithes can be collected, where 
 with to support zealous bishops and priests 
 to teach the Gospel to as many, (as would 
 be converted) as there are now faithful 
 throughout the world . Let those , who ad vo- 
 
Life ofBartolomd de Las Casas. 245 
 
 cate and uphold the system of Kncomiendas, 
 tremble at the strict account they shall have 
 to give to God, Our Lord, who is no accepter 
 of persons, and who cares not a farthing 
 whether he, who is to be judged, be a great 
 prince, a prelate or a swine-herd. It is 
 time, my Lords, for you to act. God and 
 the king, to honor you, and as a testimonial 
 of your past services, have charged you 
 with this delicate and difficult mission of 
 eradicating so many evils and uplifting the 
 yoke from an oppressed people. If you do 
 it, my lords, we shall pray that God may 
 give you honor and prosperity in this life, 
 and an endless reward in the next. Amen. ' ' 
 
 The oratorical form of the foregoing ad 
 dress belongs to the preachers exclusively. 
 But as Las Casas was their principle source 
 of information, the substance of it must be 
 attributed to him. 
 
 Thus far the Clerigo and the preachers 
 had acted harmoniously. But when they 
 came to suggesting means for correcting 
 abuses, they parted ways. All agreed that 
 the Kncomiendas must be abolished. But 
 the eight doctors were of opinion and re 
 commended that the Indians be gathered 
 into pueblos or villages of some two hun 
 dred families each ; that to each pueblo be 
 assigned a governor with a fixed salary to 
 
246 Life ofBartolom& de Las Casas. 
 
 be paid by the king, who should train them 
 to agricultural pursuits, assigning to each 
 family a tract of land to be owned in sev- 
 eralty, and worked under his supervision. 
 The governor should also select a number 
 of male Indians from every pueblo and 
 assign them to the work of the mines at 
 certain seasons of the year. No individual 
 however should be forced to said work 
 more than six months in the year, and the 
 profits of mining and farming should accrue 
 to the Indians exclusively, after deducting 
 the expenses of administration, a reasonable 
 royalty for the king, and the tithes due the 
 Church. 
 
 Las Casas, who knew the mines had been 
 in the past, and that they would continue 
 to be the graves of the Indians, would agree 
 to nothing less than absolute freedom for 
 his protegees. Let them go back, he 
 argued, to their native hamlets, to their 
 native clime and surroundings, let them 
 again work in their own way their own 
 patches of maiz, of cotton, of sugar, the 
 yucca root, etc., and like rabbits, they will 
 once more multiply in their forest homes, 
 instead of perishing suffocated, so to say, by 
 the atmosphere of an artificial civilization 
 forced on them too suddenly. Meanwhile 
 the priest will go to them, evangelize them 
 
Life of Bartolom6 de Las Casas. 247 
 
 and teach tliem the beauties and the benefits 
 of Christian life without depriving them of 
 their liberty. Civilization, the social and 
 political life of the old world will come 
 later, gradually and naturally. Had not 
 the preachers' plan been tried by the monks 
 of St. Jerome and failed? And why? Be 
 cause even if a scaffold should be erected 
 near the door of every Spaniard's house in 
 the Indies, the natives would continue to 
 be oppressed by the white as long as these 
 were allowed any authority over the Indians. 
 The council had listened to the address of 
 the preachers respectfully, and had promised 
 to adopt of their suggestions what appeared 
 to be advisable and feasible. But L,as Casas 
 had lost faith in Fonseca and his council 
 lors. He knew that nothing would come 
 of their promises ; and as the doctors had 
 come to the conclusion that they had fully 
 complied with their duty and their oath, 
 the American priest was left once more to 
 prosecute singlehanded his scheme of an 
 Indian reservation and colonization. 
 
 Finding it necessary to come to open 
 hostilities with Fonseca and his council, 
 he detailed at length to all the favorites of 
 Charles V. (especially to the Dutchmen) 
 now in writing, now in private conversa 
 tions, all the rottenness and wickedness of 
 
248 Life ofBartolomd de Las Casas. 
 
 their former administration of Indian affairs, 
 not forgetting to explain how in past years 
 they had held Kncomiendas of thousands of 
 Indians, most of whom had been worked to 
 death by their agents to fill the coffers of 
 the absentee landlords. The past recom 
 mendations of the Clerigo had caused the 
 loss of their Encomiendas, and hence this 
 vengeful opposition to every thing pro 
 posed by the Protector of the Indians in 
 their behalf. The youthful but shrewd 
 monarch, who kept well informed about 
 the doings and pleadings of the American 
 priest, decided at last to have his scheme 
 looked into and studied by a special com 
 mittee appointed ad hoc, and left at first the 
 selection of its members to the Clerigo him 
 self. But, fearing criticism for appearing 
 to decide in advance the point to be dis 
 cussed, he ordered that all the different 
 councils of state, that for the Indies as well 
 as that of war, the one for the government 
 of Flanders, that of the inquisition, etc., 
 should sit as an investigating committee to 
 inquire into the advisability of accepting 
 L,as Casas' plan of colonization within the 
 boundaries of an Indian reservation. The 
 meetings of this committee were quite 
 numerous, and as many as forty council 
 lors attended them, among them the cardi- 
 
Life of Bartolomt de Las Casas. 249 
 
 nal of Tortosa, the future Pope Adrian the 
 IV. With some complacency, L,as Casas 
 remarks that it was quite an extraordinary 
 occurrence to see a simple priest, without a 
 title, or an estate, and the most hated man 
 in the Indies induce all the court of Spain 
 to sit in judgment as between a royal coun 
 cil and himself over a proposal made by 
 him alone. But he knew not himself the 
 magnitude and importance of what he was 
 asking. The one thousand leagues of 
 coast, which no man should set foot upon 
 without his consent, had been reduced to 
 two hundred and fifty. Nevertheless, by 
 referring to a map, the reader will see that 
 his Indian reservation would have included 
 the greatest portion of Spanish South 
 America, from the northern boundary of 
 the present republic of Venezuela to Cape 
 Horn. He learned it however before his 
 death; for he wrote about the year 1550 
 that, although only two hundred and sixty 
 leagues had been granted, the territory of 
 his reservation extended two or three 
 thousand leagues inland. 
 
 A certain L,icenciado Aguirre, member of 
 more than one royal council, having heard 
 that L,as Casas (whom he had always ad 
 mired as a disinterested and zealous priest) 
 had promised the king certain revenues in 
 
250 Life of Bartolom& de Las Casas. 
 
 exchange for privileges and favors to be 
 granted to the knights of the golden epaulet, 
 was scandalized at the new way of preach 
 ing the gospel, which, it seemed to him, 
 bore the stamp of a worldly bargain. "I 
 would never have believed that of Las 
 Casas ;" said he to a friend. The Clerigo 
 heard of the remark, and meeting him one 
 day, "Sir," he said, "if you should see 
 Our Lord Jesus Christ illtreated by some 
 villain who should lay hands upon Him 
 and load Him with abuse, would you not 
 beg and entreat with tears, that He be 
 turned over to you in order that you may 
 adore Him, serve Him, and do Him homage, 
 and everything else that would suggest 
 itself to you as a Christian?" "Most 
 assuredly, 7 ' said Aguirre. "And if the 
 villain would not give Him to you, but 
 would offer to sell Him, would* you not buy 
 Him?" Aguirre: "Most undoubtedly." 
 "Then," said the Clerigo : "That has been 
 my way of doing. When I left the Indies, 
 Our Lord was being scourged, buffeted and 
 crucified, not once, but a thousand times, 
 as far as the work of our countrymen is 
 concerned, who beat down the Indians, 
 oppress them and deprive them of the 
 opportunity to be converted, by killing 
 them, and sending them into eternity with- 
 
Life ofBartolom& de Las Casas. 251 
 
 out faith, and without sacraments. I have 
 begged and I have entreated times without 
 number the royal council, to put a stop to 
 the crimes of the Spaniards, who block 
 their way to eternal life by enslaving them. 
 I have begged that the bondsmen be set 
 free, and that the Spaniards be not allowed 
 to go where the missioners, the servants of 
 God, have already begun to preach the 
 gospel, in order that the natives may be not 
 made to curse the name of Christ on account 
 of the cruelties and the scandals of the 
 whites. They answered me that it was 
 not advisable to turn over those countries to 
 the friars, who would pay no tribute to the 
 king. As I saw that it was their intention 
 to sell me the privilege of preaching the 
 gospel, and to sell me Christ who was thus 
 by them scourged, buffeted and crucified, 
 I made up my mind to buy him by promis 
 ing worldly goods, revenues and riches to 
 the king in the manner you have heard of. ' ' 
 The ingenious answer, which displayed a 
 burning love of God and of the Indians, His 
 creatures, silenced any further criticism of 
 his scheme from all well-meaning men, and 
 increased among the courtiers, who heard 
 of it, the number of his friends. But the 
 battle by any means was not yet over. 
 Fonseca received it as an insult that the 
 
252 Life ofBartoloin& de Las Casas. 
 
 Clerigo sliould have been allowed to name 
 several members of the commission, and 
 knowing in advance that he would find 
 nearly the whole conrt his antagonists, and 
 the partisans of the simple American priest, 
 refused several times to attend its meetings, 
 alleging indispositions and other frivolous 
 pretexts. But the grand chancellor fetched 
 him more than once by simply calling him 
 to council without indicating the subject to 
 be discussed, and even allowing the im 
 pression to prevail that it would be now a 
 council of war, now a council of state, of 
 both of which departments the bishop was 
 a member. L,as Casas in his Historia de 
 Las Indias, describes amusingly several 
 passages at arms between himself and the 
 archbishop of Burgos. The Clerigo, though 
 having no voice in the council, was called 
 in several times as a witness, and to defend 
 his own cause. The plaudits freely given 
 to the brave priest, and the almost un 
 animous opposition of the councillors, so 
 angered the courtier prelate, that he ceased 
 to appear at the palace without the com 
 pany of influential and popular Antonio 
 Fonseca, his brother. The final decision 
 reached at these cabinet meetings, as we 
 would call them nowadays, was that the 
 Clerigo be granted what he asked, and that 
 
Life of Bartolomd de Las Casas. 253 
 
 lie be afforded an opportunity, through the 
 ministration of the Dominicans and Francis 
 cans, of having the gospel preached to the 
 South American Indians. The necessary 
 decrees were being prepared, and Las Casas 
 thought that his labors at court had come 
 to an end. But Fonseca had not yet given 
 up his case. It happened just then that 
 Gonzalo Hernando de Oviedo had arrived 
 from the settlement governed or misgoverned 
 by Pedrarias in South America. The 
 famous official chronicler had gone to the 
 Indies an appointee of Fonseca, to be veedor 
 or royal inspector of that distant colony. 
 There were then as usual hanging around 
 the court agents sent by the Spaniards in 
 Hispaniola, Porto Rico, Cuba and Jamaica 
 to protect their interests, the Reparti- 
 mientos, and to counteract the influence of 
 the Clerigo, who had assumed the task of 
 destroying them. At the instigation of 
 Fonseca Oviedo and the Hispaiio-Ameri- 
 cans got together, and presented, through 
 the Indian council, a memorial to the king, 
 in which they gave their reasons why the 
 grants made to Las Casas should be an 
 nulled and the policy of the archbishop of 
 Burgos readopted. They offered at the 
 same time to guarantee double the amount 
 of revenues promised by the Clerigo to the 
 
254 Life ofBartolomd de Las Caaas. 
 
 king in case a similar concession should be 
 made to them. The proposition was first 
 presented to the grand chancellor, who, by 
 this time had learned to appreciate at its 
 value the spirit of hatred, jealousy and 
 malice that moved Fonseca to oppose L,as 
 Casas. He refused to consider it. But the 
 memorial found its way to Charles V. , who 
 ordered that the grant of the Indian reser 
 vation be reconsidered by the united royal 
 councils assembled as a committee of the 
 whole. I will let L,as Casas himself describe 
 one of their meetings. 
 
 "There was one meeting, among others, 
 of all the councillors, who had participated 
 in the former ones, at which the Clerigo 
 was called. Placed in the midst of so many 
 notable, learned and illustrious personages, 
 he was surrounded by friends and enemies. 
 The enemies, amongst whom were the 
 archbishop and the members of the Indian 
 council, feeling that they were in a small 
 minority, listened, but spoke scarcely a 
 word. The friends on the contrary, who 
 were all the members of the other councils, 
 either because they wished to satisfy them 
 selves more fully that reason and justice 
 stood on the side of the Clerigo, who was 
 their protegee, or because they felt a certain 
 relish in goading him to speak of the bad 
 
Life oj Bartolomd de Las Casas. 255 
 
 government, which the archbishop and his 
 men had established in the Indies, over 
 whelmed him with questions and objections. 
 It was amusing to see how he gave to every 
 question an answer and to every objection 
 a solution, invariably ending in defense of 
 the Indians and in exposing the injustices 
 and wrongs inflicted on them, the murders 
 of thousands of them, and the many ob 
 stacles placed in the way of their salvation. 
 As the bishop and his companions remained 
 dumb, although the philippics were ad 
 dressed to them, Antonio de Fonseca 
 ventured to say: " Reverend Father, you 
 cannot now say that these gentlemen of 
 the Indian council are killing the Indians, 
 for you have taken away from them all 
 they had." The Clerigo boldly and as 
 quick as lightning said : "Sir, their L,ord- 
 ships have not killed all the Indians, but 
 very many of them when they had them. 
 The butchery is carried on now by private 
 Spanish citizens, but their L,ordships are 
 their abettors." The bishop, who felt in 
 sulted, turned as red as fire in the face, 
 although he was of a greenish-dark com 
 plexion, and said angrily: u Has it come 
 to this that a councillor of the king, in 
 the discharge of his duties, has to quar 
 rel with Casas?" But the retort was 
 
256 Life ofBartolom6 de Las Casas. 
 
 again bold and ready. u Has it come to 
 this that Casas, who through many perils 
 and dangers, travelled two thousand leagues 
 to call the attention of the king and of 
 his councillors to the fact that their 
 tyranny and their destroying so many 
 peoples and countries is fast sending them 
 to hell, instead of being thanked for it, 
 and rewarded, is forced to quarrel with 
 the council?" 
 
 The majority of the assembled statesmen 
 were astonished at the answer given to 
 Antonio Fonseca, but the quick repartee to 
 his brother pleased them and filled them 
 with admiration at the fearless freedom and 
 zeal of the doughty American priest. The 
 grand chancellor gave a signal to L,as Casas 
 to withdraw from the assembly room and a 
 vote was taken. The grant of two hundred 
 and sixty leagues of coast for an Indian 
 reservation and for a colony was reaffirmed 
 and reconfirmed. 
 
 But the undaunted Clerigo was only at 
 the beginning of his trouble, the Fonsecas 
 and the Indian councillors had left the hall 
 boiling with rage. In a few days every 
 Spanish-American then in Barcelona, at 
 the instigation of the enemies of L,as Casas, 
 got together : and out of the numerous 
 memorials, petitions and remonstrances, 
 
Life ofBartolomd de Las Casas. 257 
 
 that liad rained upon the Indian bureau 
 ever since the Clerigo had been an attendant 
 at court, they formulated against him 
 charges and accusations, which, together 
 with others freshly invented by themselves 
 during their conventicles, numbered no less 
 than thirty. 
 
 4 'The thirty articles against, the Clerigo 
 should find a place here in order that the 
 reader may understand the blindness of that 
 most reverend bishop and his clique. But, 
 as at that time he had no thought of writ 
 ing the history of those events, the manu 
 scripts were given to the flames as soon as 
 he thought that there would no longer be 
 any need of them." (Historia De Las 
 Indias. Ch. CXI,. Book III.) 
 
 He writes, however, from memory of 
 some of the accusations and of the answers 
 he gave to them. 
 
 The ist was that L,as Casas being a 
 clergyman, enjoyed canonical exemption, 
 and could therefore steal- the territory itself 
 because not amenable to any civil tribunal. 
 
 The 2nd that he had given scandal in 
 Cuba where he had resided several years. 
 
 The 3rd that he would or might ally him 
 self with the Venetians or the Genoese and 
 run away to their country with the plunder 
 he might steal in the Indies. 
 17 
 
258 Life of Bartolomd de Las Casas. 
 
 The 4th that he had deceived cardinal 
 Ximenez and had disregarded his orders. 
 
 The 3Oth and last was couched in the 
 following words : "Many secret reasons 
 which we prefer to communicate to your 
 majesty, when it shall be your pleasure to 
 hear them. ?> 
 
 The charges were calumnies so flimsily 
 veiled that they contained in themselves as 
 good a defense as the Clerigo could have 
 made of himself. Nevertheless Fonseca 
 and his partisans succeeded to hold in sus 
 pense the carrying out of the decrees for 
 the Indian reservation for several months. 
 Fonseca caused another meeting of the 
 general states council, to be held when the 
 charges against lyas Casas were read and 
 discussed, in his absence. Cardinal Adrian, 
 on leaving the council hall, met the Clerigo, 
 and smiling said: "Oportet respondere." 
 "You must make an answer." The even 
 ing of the same day Las Casas called to see 
 the chancellor who made the same recom 
 mendation, and requested of secretary Cobos 
 that the documents containing the thirty 
 objections or accusations should be brought 
 to him. Cobos, who was a creature of 
 Fonseca, at first refused to comply with the 
 request, for fear that the papers should fall 
 into the hands of the Clerigo. But the per- 
 
Life ofBartolomd de Las Casas. 259 
 
 sistent Gattinara would, from time to time, 
 renew trie request ; and Cobos would each 
 time put forward a new pretext for not 
 obeying. Two months or more had passed 
 in tergiversations, when the chancellor 
 peremptorily commanded that the docu 
 ments be produced. The secretary obeyed, 
 but under condition, that the papers should 
 not pass into the hands of anybody else. 
 No sooner was it done, than the chancellor 
 invited the Clerigo to dinner, and, after the 
 meal, they closeted themselves into Gatti 
 nara 's private office, who, drawing forth 
 the coveted documents, said to Las Casas : 
 "Sit down right here and answer these 
 objections and accusations." 
 
 "It took them three months to formulate 
 them, and it took you two months longer 
 to get them here, and you want ' me to 
 answer* them in a credo? (the space of 
 time necessary to recite the Credo, or 
 Apostles creed.) Let me have them for 
 five hours and you will see if I don't answer 
 them." 
 
 "I can't do that," replied Gattinara ;" 
 "for I pledged my word not to let them go 
 out of my possession. ' ' At this junction a 
 message from the king called the chancellor 
 to the royal palace. Before leaving, how 
 ever, he said to the Clerigo: "Remember 
 
260 Life ofBartolom& de Las Casas. 
 
 that eacli objection is a question asked of 
 the king. Answer accordingly. Come of 
 a night and do your writing in my room." 
 Five consecutive nights found the Clerigo 
 and the chancellor hard at work at the 
 same desk, the latter attending to other 
 important state affairs, the former writing 
 his defense. At eleven o'clock they would 
 lunch together, and retire. Las Casas 
 answered the first objection by offering to 
 give bond, in the sum of twenty or thirty 
 thousand ducats, that he would appear be 
 fore the king wherever and whenever sum 
 moned, which effectively answered also the 
 third accusation that he might run away to 
 Venice or to Genoa. The Marquis of 
 Aguilar had proffered to become his bonds 
 man. The reader, no doubt, remembers 
 how Las Casas before leaving Cuba and 
 San Domingo the first time, had taken care 
 to provide himself with flattering testi 
 monials from Governor Velasquez and the 
 other colonial officers of the king, of his 
 services to the crown in the pacification of 
 the islands, in ministering to the Spaniards 
 and instructing the Indians, etc. Those 
 testimonials came into service now in effect 
 ively answering the second accusation that 
 he had given scandal in Cuba. The fourth 
 objection was answered equally as triumph- 
 
Life oj Bartolom& de Las Casas. 261 
 
 antly by producing the original decrees 
 given by cardinal Ximenez constituting the 
 Clerigo official adviser of the monks of St. 
 Jerome, and universal Protector of the In 
 dians with a competent salary. Instead of 
 disregarding the orders of the great car 
 dinal, L,as Casas demonstrated that he had 
 endeavored to comply with the duties of his 
 office and the spirit and the letter of said 
 decrees. His conduct had not always 
 worked to the advantage of certain royal 
 councillors ; hence the complaint. I/as 
 Casas, it is quite plain, in becoming a 
 Clerigo, had not forgotten that he had 
 been a Licenciado, or attorney at law. 
 His answers to objections and accusations 
 were generally so shaped as to appear 
 more like severe indictments of his enemies 
 than an apology for his actions. Thus he 
 managed to incorporate in his brief such 
 statistics as the following; u Pedrarias, the 
 creature and the appointee of Fonseca, had 
 cost the royal treasury between fifty-two 
 and fifty-four thousand ducats. Between 
 the year 1514, when he first landed on the 
 Darien settlement, and 1519, he had man 
 aged to rob the Indians of gold amounting 
 to the value of over one million ducats, and 
 to send to hell, without faith or sacraments, 
 a half a million of souls. During all that 
 
262 Life of Bartolomt de Las Casas. 
 
 time not a penny was paid into the royal 
 treasury, unless they were the three thous 
 and ducats just brought over by the first 
 bishop of that colony, Juan Cabedo. He 
 also detailed the modus operandi of Pedra- 
 rias and his associates. Of all the ill- 
 gotten wealth, they set aside one fifth 
 for the king, out of which they drew 
 their salaries, and if a balance was left 
 over, they kept it as a reserve fund where- 
 from to draw their pay, should their 
 marauding expeditions in future fail to 
 bring in a harvest of gold. 
 
 It is not surprising if, Las Casas' de 
 fense being read in open council general, 
 Fonseca came out of it defeated again 
 .and the Clerigo triumphant. On leaving 
 the meeting the courtier prelate unwitting 
 ly remarked, that it must have been the 
 royal preachers who wrote that brief for 
 Casas. But the chancellor retorted: "Do 
 you then take my friend Bartolome to be 
 such an idiot as to beg somebody else to de 
 fend him? In my opinion he is well able 
 to defend himself and to do much more 
 than that." 
 
CHAPTER XV. 
 
 Las Casas' Famous Audience and Speech in 
 the Presence of Charles V. 
 
 "PEFORK accompanying the first Ameri 
 can priest once more to the Indies, 
 something must be said of what he called 
 U A terrible combat and the victory which 
 he gained by the grace of God and the 
 power of truth." 
 
 We have seen how Juan Cabedo, the 
 first bishop of the first diocese on the 
 American continent, had returned from 
 Darien, the bearer of some cash, which 
 Pedrarias had sent to the king. The 
 early history of America mentions the 
 names of numerous priests secular and 
 regular, who were not only saintly in 
 their own lives, but endowed with burn 
 ing zeal for the conversion of the Indians 
 and the reformation of the Spaniards' 
 morals. We have already met with quite 
 a number of such apostolic men, who 
 succeeded, in the end in catholicizing 
 two thirds of the western world. Not 
 quite as much can be said of some of the 
 
 (263) 
 
264 Life of Bartolomd de Las Casas. 
 
 earliest American bisliops, who were al 
 ways the appointees, and not unfrequently 
 the creatures of the Spanish monarchs. 
 The baneful effects of the Jus patronatus 
 or royal placet in the appointment of 
 bishops were perhaps never so visible as 
 during the one hundred years immediately 
 preceding the council of Trent. Juan 
 Cabedo, from a royal preacher, had been 
 presented by the king and accepted by the 
 Pope as the first continental American 
 bishop. His salary was drawn from the 
 doubtful revenues accruing to the crown 
 from the colony on the Gulf of Darien. 
 
 Las Casas had now been at court full 
 five years engaged in obtaining measures 
 and decrees to free the Indians and thereby 
 impoverish the Spaniards in America. He 
 had in consequence become the most hated 
 man among the settlers of all the different 
 colonies of Whites, while all the Indians, 
 who came in contact with the Spaniards, 
 considered him their friend and protector. 
 
 The Bncomiendas and the mines of Cuba 
 during the years 1518 and 1519, during 
 which the memorable and interesting 
 events happened that I am about to re 
 late, were yet a source of great revenue 
 to almost every Spaniard on the island. 
 Bishop Cabedo stopped there on his way 
 
Ufe of Bartolomt de Las Casas. 265 
 
 from Darien to Spain, interviewed gov 
 ernor Velasquez and, for a consideration, 
 engaged to use his influence in having 
 the detested Clerigo expelled from court. 
 Shortly after his arrival in Barcelona he 
 was invited to dinner by his old friend 
 and quondam fellow-royal preacher the 
 bishop of Badajoz, who had always proved 
 one of the staunchest friends and faithful 
 supporters of the Clerigo, during all the 
 series of negotiations and controversies 
 with Fonseca and his councillors. Cabedo 
 just before the dinner hour went to meet 
 the bishop of Badajoz at the royal palace, 
 whence the two prelates were to go, after 
 business hours, to the latter's house. I^as 
 Casas happened to see Cabedo in one of the 
 royal apartments, and approaching him 
 politely said: u As a priest of the Indies I 
 feel it to be my duty to kiss the hand of 
 your lordship who is a bishop of the 
 Indies.'* Cabedo was then in conversation 
 with one Samano, an employee of the court. 
 "Who is that priest?" said he to him. 
 "Senor Casas,'* answered Samano. Then 
 turning to the Clerigo the bishop half 
 jocularly and half impertinently remarked : 
 "Sefior Casas, I have had for quite a while 
 a little sermon of mine prepared especially 
 for your benefit." I^as Casas promptly and 
 
2,66 Life of Bartolomd de Las Casas. 
 
 rather vexedly replied : "I have indeed for 
 quite a while wished to hear your lordship 
 preach, but I must inform you also that, 
 for quite a while, I have had in readiness a 
 couple of little sermons, which, if your' 
 lordship should consent to hear them, and 
 digest them, will do you more good than 
 all the gold you have brought from the 
 Indies." The bishop added an insulting 
 remark, to which Las Casas had an appro 
 priate answer on his lips, when the entrance 
 of the bishop of Badajoz put a stop to the 
 peppery conversation. But it was renewed 
 two hours after. Las Casas, fearing that 
 the American - bishop might prejudice 
 Badajoz against him made it convenient 
 to pay him a visit, calling at his house just 
 after dinner, where he found the host and 
 Diego Columbus engaged in a game of 
 baggamon. Cabedo and some other guest, 
 who had also been in America, were carry 
 ing on a conversation, the subject of which 
 was, if wheat could be grown in Hispaniola 
 or not. One speaker affirmed it and the 
 other, the bishop, denied it. Thereupon 
 Las Casas, joining in the conversation, said 
 respectfully: u Beyond a doubt, my lord, 
 I have seen very good wheat grow in 
 Hispaniola. I have some grains of it with 
 me. Here they are." He had gathered 
 
Life ofBartolom6 de Las Casas. 267 
 
 them in the orchard of the Dominicans in 
 San Domingo and had kept them in his 
 pocket ever since. The argument in re of 
 the plainspoken Clerigo angered the bishop, 
 who felt discomfitted a second time, and 
 haughtily replied: "What do you know 
 about it ? What business have you here, 
 or at court ? ' ' 
 
 "Is there anything wrong about my 
 business at court?" mildly replied L,as 
 Casas. The bishop came to it again : 
 "Where did you learn how to transact 
 court business ? Where is your science and 
 your learning for such a calling ? n 
 
 Las Casas: "My learning may not be 
 greater than you think, but I will tell you 
 some of my business at court. One of them 
 is to show that you have failed, like a good 
 shepherd, to give your life for your sheep 
 in order to free them from the hands of the 
 tyrants, who slaughter them. Another is 
 to show that you have been feeding and 
 slacking your thirst on the blood of your 
 sheep. Another still is to show that unless 
 you make restitution of all you brought 
 from the Indies, you have no more chance 
 of being saved than Judas Ischariot." 
 
 The bishop feeling worsted another time, 
 endeavored to turn the encounter into a 
 joke, and to poke fun at his antagonist, but 
 
268 Life of Bartolom& de Las Casas. 
 
 the priest in dead earnest added to liis other 
 cutting remarks another. "You laugh, 
 my lord, but you should rather weep over 
 the pitiful condition of yourself and your 
 flock. " 
 
 Cabedo made another effort to turn into 
 ridicule the Clerigo's seriousness and indig 
 nation by saying: "If you so desire I'll 
 draw a few tears out of my pocket," (re 
 ferring to Las Casas' exhibition of the 
 grains of wheat) "and I will do a little 
 weeping. ' ' But quickly came the answer : 
 "True tears of repentance, my lord, are a 
 gift of God, and you should earnestly beg 
 Him to give you tears of your heart's blood, 
 the better to bewail the miserable state of 
 yourself and of your flock. " 
 
 At this junction admiral Diego Columbus 
 and the bishop of Badajoz arose from their 
 game, and the latter turning to the Clerigo 
 with an expression on his face, that spoke 
 approval of what he had heard, put an end 
 to the contention with a single word : 
 "enough." The bishop went back to the 
 royal palace chuckling over the lecture read 
 by the Clerigo to the American prelate ; 
 and Las Casas returned to his lodgings, 
 thinking that he had already fulfilled his 
 promise of preaching to his lordship of 
 Darien a couple of little sermons. Cabedo 
 
Life ofBartolomd de Las Casas. 269 
 
 remained a while longer in conversation 
 with the other guest, and admiral Diego 
 Columbus took occasion to speak very favor 
 ably of his antagonist, who, he explained, 
 had gained great influence at court and was 
 held in high esteem by all of the king's 
 favorites. 
 
 The bishop of Badajoz had no sooner 
 reached the apartments of Charles V. than 
 he detailed to him the amusing encounter 
 between the two clergymen from the Indies, 
 and recited almost verbatim the little sermon 
 of the priest to the bishop. By this time 
 the youthful monarch, whose judgment 
 seemed to have reached maturity before he 
 got out of his teens, had reached the con 
 clusion that there was something rotten, 
 not in Denmark, but in America. He de 
 cided to acquaint himself personally with 
 the state of affairs and to learn how his 
 transatlantic possessions were governed. 
 He knew already that Micer Bartolome (the 
 name by which L,as Casas was generally 
 known amongst the Flemish) was a dis 
 interested priest and the fearless Protector 
 of the Indians. He wished it understood 
 that the simple priest would be heard in 
 the interests of justice as well as the high 
 dignitaries of church and state. It was 
 therefore ordered that both the priest and 
 
270 Life ofBartolom& de Las Casas. 
 
 the bishop from the Indies should be sum 
 moned to appear before him three days 
 after. And, as Diego Columbus was vitally 
 interested, and was supposed to be thor 
 oughly conversant with American affairs, 
 he too was called to the royal presence. A 
 Franciscan father had just returned from 
 Hispaniola, and, having heard that Las 
 Casas was laboring to obtain the freedom of 
 the Indians, had gone to proffer his services 
 and his help in the good work. It needs 
 not be said that the priest and the friar be 
 came fast friends. 
 
 The court, on account of an epidemic 
 that was then raging in Barcelona was 
 quartered in a castle a few miles from the 
 city. In the neighboring village there was 
 but one church, where the courtiers were 
 compelled to attend divine service. Under 
 color of giving an opportunity to the plain 
 country folk of hearing something about 
 far away America, it was arranged that the 
 good Franciscan should occupy the pulpit 
 on several consecutive days. The substance 
 of his discourses were mostly made up of 
 descriptions of the cruel oppression to 
 which the Indians were subjected. It 
 reached the ears of Charles V. who 
 ordered that the friar be summoned also to 
 appear at the solemn audience with bishop 
 
fe ofBartolom& de Las Casas. 271 
 
 Cabedo, Diego Columbus, and Las Casas. 
 The day and the hour having arrived, the 
 three clergymen and the admiral, viceroy 
 of the Indies, were assembled in the hall of 
 the castle. The emperor was then only 
 nineteen years of age, but the famous Peter 
 Martyr could already write of him that u so 
 great was his gravity as to appear conscioiis 
 of having at his feet the universe." Ac 
 companied by the highest court officials he 
 entered the hall amidst profound silence, 
 and sat on his throne. On the right of the 
 monarch were Monsieur de Xevres, next to 
 him Diego Columbus, next bishop Cabedo, 
 next the Licenciado Aguirre, etc. At the 
 left sat the grand chancellor, the bishop of 
 Badajoz, etc., all the assembled notabilities 
 forming an eliptical figure at one end of 
 which sat Charles V., and facing him 
 Las Casas and the Franciscan friar. 
 
 The chancellor and de Xevres rose from 
 their seats, and facing jointly the emperor, 
 bent their knees on one of the steps of -the 
 throne, and in that posture held, in subdued 
 tones, a brief consultation with Charles, 
 and then rising took their seats again. A 
 moment of silence, and the chancellor in 
 measured Latin words thus addressed the 
 American bishop : "Right reverend bishop 
 his majesty commands that you speak, if 
 
272 Life ofBarlolomti de Las Casas. 
 
 you have any information to give about the 
 Indies. ' ' The bishop rose and in an elegant 
 preamble said that for a long time he had 
 desired to behold the face of his king, and 
 that now he was happy, because he had 
 ascertained that fades Priami diana erat 
 imperio, i. e. that the face of the king was 
 worthy of the empire. (A reference to a 
 passage in Homer. ) Then he added that 
 he wished to speak to the king and his 
 councillors in private about the information 
 he had to give about Indian affairs, and 
 begged that all, who were not members of 
 the royal council, should be made to with 
 draw. And he waited for a signal from the 
 grand chancellor to sit down. A second 
 consultation, accompanied by the same 
 ceremonial, as described above took place 
 between the grand chancellor Xevres and 
 Charles V. ; after which the measured 
 tones of Gattinara were heard again : 
 "Right reverend bishop, his majesty com 
 mands that you speak even if you have 
 anything secret to say." 
 
 The prelate assured the emperor again 
 that the things he had to communicate 
 were secret, and that it was unbecoming 
 they should be heard by others than him 
 self and his councillors. He added, that 
 his grey hairs and his position would not 
 
Life ofBartolomt de Las Casas. 273 
 
 permit Mm to engage in a controversy. 
 Thereupon a third consultation took place 
 and the chancellor said again: " Right 
 reverend bishop, his majesty commands 
 that you speak, if you have any thing more 
 to say, because everybody here present 
 was individually invited to sit in this 
 council. n 
 
 Then the bishop spoke as follows : "Sire, 
 the Catholic king, your grandfather, hav 
 ing decided to send an expedition to make 
 a settlement on the mainland of the Indies, 
 petitioned the Holy Father to make me the 
 first bishop of that colony. The expedi 
 tion was very numerous, and as our provi 
 sions lasted no longer than the voyage, the 
 vast majority of the people died of hunger. 
 To escape a similar fate, we, the survivors, 
 did nothing else, during the five years I 
 spent in those parts, than steal, kill and 
 eat. As I saw the country going to ruin, 
 and as I knew that the first colonial gov 
 ernor had been bad, and that the second 
 was worse, I decided to come and inform 
 my lord the king. As to the Indians of 
 the country whence I came, and those I saw 
 in other lands on my homeward journey, I 
 say, that they are servi a natura (natural 
 slaves) etc. n 
 
 Another consultation followed the speech 
 18 
 
274 Life of Bartolom& de Las Casas. 
 
 of tlie bisliop and then the chancellor said : 
 "Micer Bartolome, his majesty commands 
 that you speak." The following is the 
 famous address of the first American priest 
 to Charles V. 
 
 "Most powerful and most high lord and 
 king. I am one of the oldest immigrants 
 to the Indies, where I have spent many 
 years and where, I have not read in histo 
 ries, that sometimes lie, but saw with my 
 own eyes, and, so to speak, came in contact 
 with the cruelties, which have been in 
 flicted on those peaceful and gentle people, 
 cruelties more atrocious and unnatural than 
 any recorded of untutored and savage bar 
 barians. No other reason can be assigned 
 for them than the greed and thirst for gold 
 of our countrymen. They have been prac 
 tised in two ways ; first, by wicked and un 
 just wars, in which numberless Indians, 
 who had been living in perfect peace in 
 their own homes, and without molesting 
 anybody, were slaughtered. Their coun 
 tries, that formerly teemed with people and 
 villages without number, have been made 
 desolate ; secondly, by enslaving, after do 
 ing away with their chiefs and rulers, the 
 common people,, whom they parcelled 
 among themselves in Encomiendas of fifty 
 or a hundred, and cast them into the mines, 
 
Life ofBartolom& de Las Casas. 275 
 
 where, overwhelmed by incredible labors, 
 they all perish. In coming to Spain I left 
 them behind to die whenever they come in 
 contact with the Spaniards. And, alas ! 
 one of the originators of this tyranny was 
 my own father, who, thank God, has not 
 now anything more to do with it. At the 
 sight of the injustices and atrocities inflicted 
 upon a people, who had never harmed us, 
 my heart was touched, not because I was a 
 better Christian than anybody else, but 
 because I am compassionate by nature. 
 Hence I journeyed to these realms to inform 
 his Catholic majesty, your grandfather. I 
 found him in Plasencia, where he kindly 
 granted me an audience, during which I 
 told him the things which I am about to 
 detail to you. He was then on his way to 
 Seville, where he promised me that meas 
 ures would be adopted to correct the evils. 
 But he died on the way, and my petition as 
 well as his royal will in behalf of the In 
 dians were frustrated. I next applied to 
 the regents, cardinal Ximenez and his 
 eminence the cardinal of Tortosa. They 
 promptly enacted the necessary legislation 
 to stop the tyranny and the slaughter of so 
 many people. But the persons selected to 
 execute their laws, to root out the poison 
 ous source of so many crimes, and to sow 
 
276 Life of Bartolom6 de Las Casas. 
 
 instead the good seed, were found unfit for 
 the task. When I heard that your majesty 
 had come to Spain, I hastened to renew my 
 representations to you, and had not your 
 first high chancellor died in Zaragoza, a 
 remedy would by this time have been found, 
 and applied. I am to do the same work 
 over again. But I find that the ministers 
 of the enemy of all good are not wanting 
 here about, who endeavor, through their 
 selfish interests, to block my way. Sire, 
 the spiritual interests of your soul excepted, 
 nothing is of greater importance to your 
 majesty than the finding of a remedy for 
 these evils. For not one of your European 
 kingdoms or all of them together equal in 
 vastness and greatness your transatlantic 
 possessions. In telling'you so, I feel certain 
 of rendering to your majesty as great a 
 service, as mortal vassal has ever rendered 
 to his king. For so doing I ask no reward 
 or favor, inasmuch as my first object is not 
 to do a service to your majesty. I desire to 
 speak with all the respect and reverence 
 due to as high a personage as my king your 
 majesty. But, were I not bound to do so, 
 as liege to my lord, I would not, forsooth, 
 move to the corner of this room to do you 
 service, if I did not think and know that, 
 by so doing, I would make a pleasing offer- 
 
Life ofBartolomd de Las Casas. 277 
 
 ing to God, who is a jealous God, and does 
 not share with others the honors and glory 
 due to Him by His creatures. For His honor 
 and glory alone, I have undertaken this 
 selfimposed task. But I know that I can 
 not take a step forward without doing, at 
 the same time, an inestimable service to 
 your majesty. That the meaning of my 
 words may not be misunderstood, I hereby 
 renounce and decline any favor or temporal 
 reward that your majesty might hereafter 
 offer me. And should it come to pass that 
 I, either personally or through a third 
 party, directly or indirectly, should solicit 
 any favor or reward for my services, I am 
 willing to be branded as a liar and a traitor 
 to my lord the king. 
 
 The people of whom the New World is 
 swarming are not only capable of under 
 standing the Christian religion, but amen 
 able, by reason and persuasion, to the 
 practice of good morals and the highest 
 virtues. Nature made them free and they 
 have their kings or rulers to regulate their 
 political life. The bishop of Darien has 
 told you that they are servi a natura because 
 the philosopher (Plato) said at the begin 
 ning of his politicus that vigentes ingenio 
 naturaliter sunt rector es et domini alionim^ 
 whereas the deficientes a ratione naturaliter 
 
278 Life oj Bartolomt de Las Casas. 
 
 sunt servi. Between the meaning attributed 
 to those words by his lordship and that in 
 tended by the philosopher, there is as much 
 difference as between heaven and earth. 
 But granting that the bishop understood 
 him right, the philosopher was a pagan, 
 who is now burning in hell, and those of 
 his doctrines only must be followed, which 
 do not contradict our Christian morals and 
 our Christian faith. Our holy religion 
 adapts itself equally as well to all the na 
 tions of the world ; it embraces them all 
 and deprives no human being of his natural 
 liberty under pretext or color that he or she 
 is servus a natura, as the bishop, if I under 
 stood him right, would have you believe. 
 Sire, it therefore behooves your majesty 
 that you banish, at the beginniug of your 
 reign, that gigantically tyrannical system, 
 which, horrible alike in the sight of God 
 and man, is the ruin of the majority of 
 mankind. This do, in order that Our 
 Lord, who died for those people, may bless 
 and prosper your rule for many days to 
 come." 
 
 The foregoing must have been only the 
 notes or substance of the speech, for he tells 
 us that his address had engaged him, in 
 delivering it, three good quarters of an 
 hour. 
 
Life ofBartolom& de Las Casas. 279 
 
 The friar was next invited to speak. 
 His remarks were few and his arguments 
 but one. But he spoke, as it were, wofds 
 of fire, that caused some of the bystanders 
 to tremble and to think that they stood 
 already before the judgment seat of God. 
 He said in substance : 
 
 "Sire; I lived for a few years in the Island 
 of Hispaniola. It once fell to my lot to 
 travel with others all over the Island in 
 order to take a census of all the Indians in 
 habiting it. Two years later we were 
 ordered to perform the same duty a second 
 time. The two censuses disclosed the fact 
 that numberless Indians had disappeared 
 during the two years. It is thus that count 
 less thousands of people on that Island have 
 perished. Now if the blood of one man 
 (Abel) never ceased crying to God, until it 
 was avenged, what shall not the blood of 
 the thousands do, who having perished by 
 our tyranny and oppression, now cry to 
 God vindica sanguinem nostrum Dens nos 
 ier. By the blood of Jesus Christ, and by 
 the stigmata of St. Francis I beg and be 
 seech your majesty to put a stop to that tor 
 rent of crime and murdering of people, in 
 order that the anger of God may not fall 
 upon us all." 
 
 Diego Columbus spoke last. He said 
 briefly: 
 
280 Life ofEartolDm^ de Las Casas. 
 
 ( "Sire; The crimes which have been 
 and are yet perpetrated in the Indies, of 
 which these reverend fathers have spoken, 
 are well known. Priests and friars, who 
 witnessed them preached against them, 
 and, as yon see, have come here to de- 
 iionnce them. However much yonr majesty 
 may snffer by the destruction of those 
 people, I suffer more, because, even though 
 all of your dominions beyond the seas 
 should be lost, you would not cease to be a 
 great lord and king ; whereas I would be 
 left without possessions of any kind. Hence 
 I came to inform the Catholic king (may 
 he rest in peace) and I am waiting on your 
 majesty now to beg you to please look into 
 this weighty affair, and find a remedy to 
 these evils. " 
 
 Bishop Cabedo asked to be heard again. 
 But the chancellor, after speaking to the 
 king, arose and said: "Right reverend 
 bishop, his majesty commands that, if you 
 have anything more to say, you put it in 
 writing, and it shall be read." 
 
 Thus ended the audience. Its descrip 
 tion gave us a glimpse of the dignified, but, 
 to us, rather pompous ceremonial and 
 etiquette with which royalty was want to 
 surround itself during the sixteenth cen 
 tury. It is an almost literal translation of 
 
Life ofBartolomd de Las Casas. 281 
 
 the 148. and 149. chapters of v the III. Book 
 of Historia De Las Indias. 
 
 Bishop Cabedo was not, all in all, a bad 
 man, although he was not by any means a 
 saint. His vanity, we have seen it, would 
 not permit him to be corrected by a simple 
 priest. The new surroundings on the con 
 tinent of America and the daily scenes of 
 carnage he had been there compelled to 
 witness, bewildered him, and blunted his 
 moral perception. Perhaps for a time he 
 allowed the crimes of the Spaniards to go 
 unrebuked. But when aroused to a sense 
 of duty, he left the new World to seek a 
 remedy in the old. But on the road, and 
 even in Spain he had made up his mind to 
 crush the plain Clerigo with the weight of 
 his official position and episcopal character, 
 although the zealous priest was engaged in 
 doing the very work he journeyed from 
 Darien to do. His was a weak mind and 
 he was not made to swim against the cur 
 rent. He had been a good friar and a good 
 preacher, but he should never have been 
 made a bishop, especially of a new diocese 
 on the Western continent. He was good, 
 when in good company, and almost wicked 
 when in the neighborhood of worldlings. 
 As commanded by the king, he wrote two 
 memorials. In one he faithfully painted 
 
282 Life ofBartolomd de Las Casas. 
 
 the crimes of the Darien colony, and in the 
 other suggested remedies for its reforma 
 tion. He delivered them to the high chan 
 cellor on a certain occasion, when he and 
 De Laxao had been invited to dine with 
 him. The memorials were read after the 
 meal, and in the course of conversation the 
 two -high officials asked the bishop : "What 
 do you think of the scheme of Micer Barto- 
 lome?" "Very favorably indeed," an 
 swered the prelate, "he has justice on his 
 side, and his ways are the ways of God." 
 
 That same evening, the Clerigo, who had 
 an inkling of the trio's meeting, paid a 
 visit to the chancellor to see if he could 
 smell what had transpired at the interview 
 between the bishop and the two officials, 
 (para oler que habia de la junta y comida 
 del Obispo con aquellos senores sucedido.) 
 He had not been long in his private apart 
 ments when, drawing the two memorials 
 the chancellor said : "Micer Bartolome, sit 
 down in that yonder corner and read them. ' ' 
 
 Las Casas did so attentively and then 
 called out: "will your lordship loan me a 
 pen?" 
 
 The chancellor: "What for?" 
 
 Las Casas : "I wish to sign my name to 
 these memorials. Did I ever paint in 
 darker colors the ruins and the massacres 
 in those countries?" 
 
Life ofBartolom de Las Casas. 283 
 
 The bishop had evidently opened his 
 eyes, and in Spain he looked at the doings 
 of his countrymen in America in a different 
 light. 
 
 Three days later, the first bishop of the 
 American continent took sick of a fever and 
 died humbly confessing his shortcomings 
 and begging the blessed mother of Christ 
 to intercede for him. His death, L,as Casas 
 remarks, attracted a good deal of attention 
 for having happened just after his telling 
 the truth about those evil things in the 
 Indies, which he had almost approved by 
 contradicting the Clerigo, and just after 
 having spoken favorably of him whom he 
 had treated unkindly. 
 
 We have arrived at the end of the year 
 1519, and, although the Clerigo's project 
 of an Indian reservation had been passed 
 upon and approved, the formal agreement 
 or capitulacion, as he called it, had not yet 
 been signed by Charles V. Las Casas 
 was not however wedded to one plan of 
 saving the American Indians from extermi 
 nation. In fact just after having practically 
 obtained his two hundred and sixty leagues 
 of coast, a vaster scheme and a better one, 
 he thought, presented itself to his fertile 
 mind. 
 
 Diego Columbus and his half brother 
 
284 Life ofBartolomd de Las Casas. 
 
 Hernando were in Spain looking after their 
 law suit with the crown concerning the 
 grants and privileges promised to their 
 father before the first voyage of discovery. 
 Theirs was certainly the most important 
 litigation of ancient or modern times. The 
 main contention was whether Diego Colum 
 bus was entitled to the viceroyalty of the 
 whole of America, already explored, or to 
 be explored, and to one eighth of all the 
 revenues accruing to the crown therefrom, 
 or only to the viceroyalty of Hispaniola, 
 Cuba, etc., and that part of the continent 
 discovered and explored personally by 
 Columbus himself. Both Diego and Her 
 nando were humanely inclined and the 
 friends of I/as Casas. As their lawsuit had 
 already lasted several years with no im 
 mediate prospect of its being decided in 
 their favor, Las Casas proposed to Diego a 
 plan, which would practically afford him 
 as great, if not greater benefits than the 
 viceroyalty, while it would put a stop to 
 the extermination of the Indians and create 
 an opportunity of converting them and of 
 instructing them in the Christian religion. 
 "Ask of the king," was the Clerigo's advice 
 to Diego, "the exclusive privilege of barter 
 ing and trading with the Indians of the con 
 tinent, binding yourself, as a quid pro quo. 
 
Life of Bartolom6 de Las Casas. 285 
 
 to erect a fortress on every one hundred 
 leagues of coast, for a thousand leagues, 
 and to maintain fifty men in each one of 
 them as a garrison, as well as for the pur 
 pose of trading with the Indians in a friendly 
 maniier. Bind yourself also to keep two 
 or three ships, plying backward and for 
 ward, from one fortress to the other, first to 
 provide each station at convenient intervals 
 with stocks of goods or trifles to be given 
 to the Indians, in exchange for their gold 
 and ether commodities of their countries ; 
 secondly, to afford you or your officers fre 
 quent opportunities of seeing, if the natives 
 are treated with justice and kindness by the 
 Spaniards. All the Indians of the coast, 
 when thus treated will become your friends, 
 and of their own accord will submit to the 
 sovereignty of our king. When the Riparian 
 tribes shall have been made your friends 
 and allies, they will help you to penetrate 
 into and explore the interior of the con 
 tinent, and to erect at convenient distances, 
 other fortresses. With an abundant supply 
 of needles, buttons, little bells, small look 
 ing glasses and other trifles, you will soon 
 gather up all the gold that many past gen 
 erations of Indians have treasured up. 
 After that, a few novelties from Seville will 
 entice them to the mines to gather more. 
 
286 Life oj Bartolom& de Las Casas. 
 
 Wliile you, and your lay employees, will 
 perform these comedies, I and other zealous 
 priests and friars will quietly attend to the 
 evangelization of the Indians." 
 
 Diego Columbus at first entered heart 
 and soul into the plan suggested by the 
 Clerigo, who offered to use all his influence 
 to have it accepted and approved by the 
 Flemish statesmen and the king. But 
 vSpain was not then worthy of being the 
 evangelist and savior of so many people (it 
 is substantially the remark of Las Casas) 
 and the plan miscarried. Hernando Colum 
 bus, who, by his literary and scientific at 
 tainments, had made himself famous in 
 Spain, and well known through Europe, 
 exercised a controlling influence and as 
 cendency over his brother. He insisted 
 that Diego, in making the proposal to 
 Charles V. should ask as one of the con 
 ditions that the governorship of the con 
 tinent should be vested in perpetuity in him 
 self, his brother, and their descendants. 
 This was tantamount to a decision .of the 
 law suit in their favor. Las Casas acknow 
 ledged the justice of Diego's claim, but 
 knew that it would never be granted, and 
 therefore advised that the governorship or 
 viceroy alty be not mentioned. Unfortu 
 nately for the aboriginal Americans, Her- 
 
Life ofBartolom de Las Casas. 287 
 
 nando's counsel prevailed. The proposal 
 was made and rejected. 
 
 An event of considerable importance 
 in ecclesiastical history happened just be 
 fore the articles of agreement between 
 Las Casas and Charles V. were signed. 
 The court was then at Coruna whence the 
 king was about to sail for Germany, to be 
 crowned emperor. 
 
 During the seven days preceding the 
 departure, much business concerning the 
 Indies was transacted. At one of the 
 meetings of the entire royal council, 
 cardinal Adrian (who became pope twenty- 
 one months after, i. e. January 9, 1522) 
 delivered a very solemn and learned oration, 
 and proved that the laws of nature and of 
 God, as well as the authority of the holy 
 doctors of the church and the civil and the 
 canon law required that those people (the 
 Indians) should be led to the knowledge of 
 Christ and to the bosom of the church by 
 love, peaceful and evangelical ways, ac 
 cording to the rules layed down in the 
 gospel by Christ himself, and not by wars 
 and slavery. He thus condemned the con 
 duct of those Spaniards, who had settled in 
 those countries by ways befitting rather 
 Mahomedans than Christians. The oration 
 of the holy cardinal so moved the audience 
 
2 88 Life of Bartolom6 de Las Casas. 
 
 tliat all or nearly all present subscribed to it, 
 and praised his truly catholic doctrine. 
 Not a soul dared oppose him ; so that, there 
 and then, it was determined that the In 
 dians, generally speaking, should be free, 
 and that they should be treated as free men. 
 It was also finally decided that the Clerigo 
 should be charged with the conversion of 
 the Indians in his reservation, according to 
 the method he had proposed. 
 
 The royal fleet had scarcely set sails, 
 when the Clerigo went to pay his respects 
 to Adrian, in whose hands Charles V. had 
 left the reins of government of the Spanish 
 kingdom. He found him in company of a 
 certain lyicenciado Soza, a mutual friend, 
 who remarked on seeing him: "Here 
 Casas, come and kiss the hand of his 
 eminence. It was he alone who set free all 
 your Indians." 
 
 Honesty, frankness, boldness, with the 
 peasant as with cardinals and crowned 
 heads, were the salient traits in the first 
 American priest. Therefore the student of 
 his biography will look in vain for even an 
 unguarded word or action suggestive of 
 adulation. He humbled himself , he begged 
 and implored and . pleaded with the great 
 ones of the world in behalf of his Indians, 
 but he never used adulation as means to his 
 
Life of Bartolom& de Las Casas. 289 
 
 end. His answer to Soza was such as 
 might have been expected of him. With 
 the Dutchmen he always spoke in Latin, 
 and said. "Ad plura tenetur Heverendis- 
 sima Dominatio sua Deo et proximis, quid 
 unicuique mandavit Deus de proximo suo." 
 As much as to say : His eminence has done 
 no more than his duty. The cardinal, who 
 had learned to appreciate the uncompromis 
 ing virtue of the Clerigo, was pleased to 
 answer laughing : "At least you ought to 
 pray for me." And Las Casas, who very 
 often managed to have the last word, 
 wishing to show how deeply he appre 
 ciated the service rendered his beloved 
 Indians, replied: "I have formed the re 
 solution of remaining in the service of 
 your eminence till death, inclusive." The 
 prospects of American liberty were once 
 more bright and promising. But, alas ; 
 no sooner was the king and his Flemish 
 courtiers gone, and Fonseca left at the 
 head of Indian affairs, than the freedom 
 of the native Americans was forgotten. 
 Nothing came of the resolution adopted, 
 that they should be treated as freemen. 
 However, Las Casas gives the bishop of 
 Burgos credit for treating him thereafter 
 "very well, thereby showing that, after 
 all, he was generous and noble hearted, 
 19 
 
290 Life ofBariolomd de Las Casas. 
 
 considering that the Clerigo had hereto 
 fore given him considerable annoyance." 
 
 The enemies of the Protector of the In 
 dians played their last card against his 
 project of colonization and evangelization 
 of his protegees when they began to ridi 
 cule it. Certain exconvicts of the tribunal 
 of the inquisition were made to wear a pe 
 culiar attire, with over it certain badges 
 indicative of their condition of penitents. 
 
 The attire, the badges, and the ex- 
 convicts themselves were known in Castile 
 as Sanbenitos. The opponents of the 
 Clerigo delighted in referring to his 
 knights of the golden epaulet as San 
 benitos. 
 
CHAPTER XVI. 
 
 Las Casas sails for America to settle with 
 
 his Knights of the Golden Epaulet, 
 
 on the Venezuelan Coast. 
 
 JTROM Cortina governor Adrian, Fon- 
 seca, the royal councils and Las Ca 
 sas went to Valladolid, where all the neces 
 sary decrees were drawn and addressed, 
 with commendable expedition, to the royal 
 officers in the Indies to enable the Pro 
 tector of the Indians to carry out his 
 project of colonization and evangelization. 
 With the decrees in his pocket, the Clerigo 
 went to Seville, gathering on the way a 
 number of emigrants from the agricultural 
 classes sufficient to make the beginning 
 of the settlement on the American con 
 tinent. The knights of the golden epau 
 let, the reader must remember, were to 
 be selected from among the Spanish sett 
 lers on the West Indian Islands. In his 
 native city Las Casas was compelled to 
 borrow considerable sums, perhaps from 
 his relations and friends, to pay for his 
 own and the emigrants' passage. For 
 his two trips to and from America and 
 (291) 
 
292 Life of Bartolom& de Las Casas. 
 
 his residence at court for several years 
 had left him penniless. Charitable people 
 of wealthy Seville provided him with an 
 abundance of toys and trifles to be given as 
 presents to the Indians to make them 
 approachable and friendly. 
 
 On the 25th of November, 1520, L,as 
 Casas sailed for his adopted country full of 
 buoyant hopes, but not without some mis 
 givings that his countrymen, the Spanish- 
 Americans, might once more block his way 
 to his freeing and evangelizing, some at 
 least, of the Indians. While the Clerigo 
 crosses the Atlantic, for the fifth time, I in 
 vite the reader to witness the tragedies that 
 are meanwhile enacted on his Indian reser 
 vation. 
 
 "Un pecador de hom'bre (the scoundrel 
 of a fellow) by the name of Alonso de 
 Ojeda, who had settled on the island of 
 Cubagua, where the pearl fisheries were 
 located, wished to procure for himself 
 some slaves, as others had done before 
 him, to employ them to dive for pearls. 
 With some other worthies like himself 
 he undertook a pilgrimage down the 
 coast, to look for Cannibals! to enslave 
 them by peaceful ways, if possible, but 
 sword in hand if necessary. With the 
 connivance, and perhaps authorized by 
 
Life oj- Bartolomd de Las Casas. 293 
 
 the alcalde of tlie island, tliey boarded 
 a small boat, that had been used in the 
 fisheries, and made for the little bay of 
 Chiribichi, situated some twenty miles 
 south, which the Dominicans had named 
 Santa Fd de CMribichi, where their convent 
 was located. There were then in the 
 house only two of those servants of God, 
 a priest and a lay brother, as the others 
 had gone to Cubagua to preach a mission 
 to the Spaniards, who needed it as much 
 as the Indians. The marauders jumped 
 on shore with as little fear, as if they 
 were entering their own houses, because 
 the Friars had been living in that neigh 
 borhood five years, and the example of 
 their holy lives had made the inhabitants 
 of the surrounding country so gentle and 
 tractable, that a Spaniard could, with 
 perfect safety, travel alone twelve or 
 fifteen miles in the interior loaded with 
 Castilian trinkets, and return with the 
 wealth of the country in his possession. 
 Ojeda and his companions made straight 
 for the convent, where the Friars re 
 ceived them with great rejoicing; first 
 out of kindness and hospitality, and 
 secondly because, accustomed as they 
 were to live with only Indians as their 
 neighbors, they were always glad to meet 
 
294 Life of Bartolomd de Las Casas. 
 
 witli some of their countrymen. A lunch 
 was served and a pleasant chat was in 
 progress, when Ojeda, rather abruptly, 
 asked to see the chief or cacique of the 
 Pueblo. His name was Maraguay, a brave, 
 shrewd and reflecting man. He had not 
 always been pleased with the conduct of 
 the Spaniards, but, having in his power, 
 as hostages, the inoffensive friars, he fre 
 quently closed an eye and pretented not to 
 see certain illdoings of his bearded neigh 
 bors. The Pueblo was separated from the 
 convent by a creek or bayou. Maraguay, 
 having been sent for by either the friar or 
 Ojeda himself, promptly put in an appear 
 ance. The captain and two of his under 
 lings took the cacique aside, and, as he 
 called for writing materials, the Father in 
 charge of the convent brought them to him, 
 not in the least suspecting, that, in so doing, 
 he would hereafter arouse the suspicions of 
 the chief. Then Ojeda asked the Indian if 
 it was true that in the interior, back of the 
 Pueblo, there were some caribs or canni 
 bals. The cacique who knew full well 
 what the consequences would have been, 
 had his answer been in the affirmative, 
 surmising the truth, that the visit of Ojeda 
 and his companions was for the purpose of 
 looking for a pretext for attacking him or 
 
Life ofBartolom6 de Las Casas. 295 
 
 his neighbors andkinfolks, answered fierce 
 ly, "that there were no cannibals there 
 about/' and then arose to depart. They 
 tried to placate him, but the Indian nursed 
 thereafter his indignation and anger. 
 
 The marauders proceeded ten or twelve 
 miles farther down the coast to Maracapan, 
 an Indian village over which ruled a chief, 
 who, some time before, had paid a visit to 
 Hispaniola, where he was entertained by a 
 Gil Gonzales, whose name he adopted in 
 sign of appreciation of the hospitality re 
 ceived. He was as wise as Maraguay and 
 had not always admired the ways of his 
 white neighbors of Cubagua. Nevertheless 
 he found it convenient to treat very hospit 
 ably the Spaniards, who would chance to 
 land on his dominions. Neither did he fail 
 to entertain Ojeda and his companions. 
 The captain told Gil Gonzales that his-bus- 
 iness at Maracapan was to buy of some 
 native farmers living a few miles in the in 
 terior, a considerable quantity of corn or 
 maiz. In fact he and most of his men pro 
 ceeded to the country and readily agreed 
 with some of the inhabitants on the price 
 of fifty sacks of the grain and on the com 
 pensation to be given to fifty men for 
 carrying it to Maracapan. Evidently the 
 carriers suspected no treachery, and on 
 
296 Life ofBartolom de Las Casas. 
 
 their arrival at trie Pueblo threw down 
 their loads at a certain spot indicated by 
 the Spaniards and sat upon them waiting 
 to receive their pay. But of a sudden 
 they found themselves surrounded by the 
 Christians, who held drawn swords in 
 their hands. Of those who endeavored 
 to flee some were wounded, some killed, 
 and thirty-five of them, rather than be cut 
 to pieces, allowed themselves to be brought 
 on board the ship. The news of the 
 capture spread with incredible rapidity 
 for hundreds of miles around, and, at a 
 meeting of the neighboring caciques, it 
 was decided that, not only Ojeda and his 
 companions, but the friars also, who always 
 sheltered and treated as brothers those 
 wicked countrymen of theirs, should be 
 put to death. They suspected besides that 
 the paper given by the priest to Ojeda 
 at Chiribichi must have had something 
 to do with the dastardly treachery, they 
 had witnessed. Strange to say, Ojeda did 
 not set sail at once. Perhaps he thought 
 that Gil Gonzales would side with him 
 rather than with the Indians of the in 
 terior, and his conduct, on the following 
 Sunday, cannot be explained otherwise. 
 The Indians had noticed that on that day 
 of the week the white men did not work 
 
Life ofBartolomd de Las Gasas. 297 
 
 but rested and amused themselves. Hence 
 no outward sign of warlike preparations 
 was given in the neighborhood during 
 the week, but when Sunday came, and 
 Ojeda and a majority of his followers 
 went ashore for a walk, they were sur 
 prised while crossing the streets of the 
 Pueblo, and perished, captain and all, at 
 the hands of the Maracapans. The In 
 dians even tried to capture the vessel, 
 but failed. The two friars of Chiribichi 
 were allowed to live for a week longer. 
 But the following Sunday the lay brother 
 was called, by the ringing of the monastery 
 bell, to the door, where he was felled and 
 killed, and the priest, who had already 
 vested for Mass had his head split in two 
 by an ax. The convent was fired and the 
 horse, which had for the past five years 
 been used in tilling the land, was also 
 killed. 
 
 Las Casas landed safely in Porto Rico 
 November nth, 1520. There he heard the 
 harrowing tale of the massacre of the Do 
 minicans. Their mission was situated 
 within the boundaries of his reservation. 
 There a convent had already been built, 
 quite a number of acres were in cultivation, 
 and a beautiful orchard had been planted, 
 the trees of which were just beginning to 
 
298 Life ofBartolom6 de Las Casas. 
 
 bear. Naturally the Clerigo had built great 
 hopes on the Dominicans of Chiribichi. In 
 fact the half Christian Pueblo, with its 
 goodly number of converts and catechu 
 mens, would have proved, from the begin 
 ning, a powerful lever in his gigantic un 
 dertaking. He did not however loose heart , 
 and it being known in Porto Rico that an 
 expedition was being fitted out in San 
 Domingo for the purpose of avenging the 
 death of the Dominicans by fire and sword, 
 he resolved to wait and try to stop it on its 
 way to the continent. A difficult task, as 
 the Spaniards coveted nothing more than a 
 reason or a pretext for war, in order to load 
 their ships with prisoners to be captured 
 and held as legal slaves, who could be dis 
 posed of on the public market. The flotilla 
 arrived in Porto Rico in a few days in com 
 mand of Gonzalo de Ocampo. L,as Casas 
 produced the royal decrees granting to him 
 the exclusive jurisdiction on that part of the 
 continent, and forbidding any body else 
 from landing on those shores. He argued 
 that therefore he alone had power to punish 
 the slayers of the friars. Ocampo answered 
 that his business and his duty, as captain 
 of that expedition, was simply to obey the 
 orders of his immediate superior officers, 
 the royal Audiencia of San Domingo, pro- 
 
Lije ofBartolomd de Las Casas. 299 
 
 testing however the greatest reverence for 
 the documents carried by the Clerigo. 
 Ocampo proceeded to the pearl coast to 
 make slaves, and L,as Casas to San Do- 
 miiigo, to free those, who had been previ 
 ously enslaved and stolen from that same 
 coast and were now held in bondage on the 
 Island. 
 
 The decrees granting to Las Casas an 
 almost unlimited territory, rich in gold and 
 other precious metals, had a good com 
 mercial value, and he had no trouble to 
 borrow money in Porto Rico. With five 
 hundred dollars in gold he bought a vessel, 
 on which he made his passage to San Do 
 mingo in Hispaniola, and which he intended 
 to use later in the service of his missions. 
 The laborers were left behind in batches 
 of four and five and were intrusted to the 
 care of the planters on the Island. 
 
 In the colonial capital L,as Casas did not 
 receive much of a welcome, as he was held 
 by nearly all the white settlers as their 
 greatest enemy. In good time he presented 
 his decrees to Diego Columbus, who had 
 returned to America, and to the royal Audi- 
 encia. The documents were published with 
 due solemnity, with trumpets sounding, 
 and in the presence of the assembled citi 
 zens. The Clerigo did not fail to summon 
 
300 Life ofBartolomt de Las Casas. 
 
 the authorities of San Domingo to recall, 
 as soon as possible, the flotilla that had 
 been sent, in charge of Ocampo, to punish 
 the people of Maracapan and Chiribichi 
 alleging that the killing of the Dominicans 
 was justified by the insolence and the crimes 
 of Ojeda, and that, if any punishment was 
 to be inflicted, not they, but he alone was 
 competent to apply it in virtue of the royal 
 decrees that gave him exclusive jurisdiction 
 over the territory. "We will look into the 
 matter," replied the judges: and quite a 
 number of days were spent in parleying, in 
 order to give time to Ocampo to do his 
 work. 
 
 A calker from Biscay had settled in San 
 Domingo and was doing a good business in 
 the exercise of his trade. By in vest ing his 
 savings in stock companies, whose main 
 business was to kidnap Indians in order to 
 sell them as slaves, he had accumulated 
 quite a little competence, and was now the 
 owner of two ships of his own. When he 
 heard of L,as Casas, and of his intention to 
 free all the Indians, thereby making his 
 occupation unprofitable, "No lepeso menos 
 quesi viera al diablo," i. e. it pleased him 
 about as much as if he had seen the devil. 
 The calker and other interested parties be 
 gan to whisper it around that the Clerigo's 
 
Life ofBartolom& de Las Casas. 301 
 
 vessel was unseaworthy and beyond repair. 
 The Audiencia promptly appointed a com 
 mittee of experts, the chairman of which, 
 of course, was the calker himself, to ex 
 amine the craft. It was condemned, for 
 the purpose, L,as Casas thought, of blocking 
 his enterprise. Not only he lost the five 
 hundred dollars in gold, but found himself 
 unable to proceed to his destination. The 
 fifty well-to-do settlers destined to become 
 white knights of the golden epaulets were 
 yet to be found. 
 
 Meanwhile shiploads of Indians began to 
 arrive in San Domingo from the pearl 
 coast, and were being sold under the very 
 nose of the Protector of the Indians. The 
 poor priest frothed, wept, threatened the 
 authorities, who listened impassively. 
 These however feared that he might do 
 them serious damage, as the Clerigo was 
 known to be a determined man, who had 
 never failed to obtain from the king what 
 he asked for, while they, having no com 
 mission to do so, had undertaken that war 
 of extermination at the expense of the 
 crown. The wiley judges of the Audiencia 
 knew also full well that the grant which 
 the priest carried in his wallet, while it 
 threatened to destroy their principal source 
 of income, the kidnapping of Indians, was 
 
302 Life ofBartolom& de Las Casas. 
 
 in itself a very valuable one. In fact his 
 Indian reservation, besides the pearl fish 
 eries, which paid them very fat dividends, 
 was known to have within its boundaries 
 numerous gold mines. They decided there 
 fore to take advantage of his embarrassing 
 position, and by apparently coming to terms 
 with him, endeavor to appropriate to them 
 selves a controlling interest in his enter 
 prise. All the high functionaries of the 
 crown in the Island agreed to propose to 
 him a plan that would enable him to carry 
 out his scheme of colonization. A stock 
 company was to be formed and the stock 
 was to consist of twenty-four shares, six of 
 which were to become the property of the 
 king, to compensate him for the expenses 
 of fitting out the expeditionary flotilla ; six 
 were to go to the Clerigo and to his fifty 
 knights of the golden epaulet, three to 
 viceroy Diego Columbus, one of each to the 
 four judges, one to the royal treasurer, one 
 to the general auditor, one to the general 
 agent, and one to each of the two secretaries 
 of the Audiencia. The flotilla in charge of 
 Ocampo was to be placed at the disposal of 
 Las Casas, but only one hundred and 
 twenty men, who were all to work for a 
 salary, were to be left to man the vessels, 
 while the remaining one hundred and eighty 
 
Life of Bartolomd de Las Casas. 303 
 
 were to be discharged. When the plan 
 was presented to him, the Clerigo, promptly 
 accepted it, and thus rendered himself liable 
 to serious criticism. It seems in fact 
 difficult to understand why he should have 
 associated himself with men who were 
 actuated by exclusively worldly interests in 
 a scheme, the sole purpose of which was the 
 salvation and evangelization of the Indians. 
 True, he alone was charged in the royal de 
 crees with their execution, and he alone 
 was to remain at the head of affairs. Never 
 theless he ought to have foreseen that men, 
 who put their cash in the enterprise, might 
 be expected to claim a right to interfere in 
 the management of the company's business. 
 However the strictest moralist will scarcely 
 find anything radically wrong in the accept 
 ance of the assistance (they called it with 
 that name) proffered by the crafty politici 
 ans. Writing forty years after, the Pro 
 tector of the Indians assigns the following 
 reason for his action. ' 'Seeing that, for 
 the present, there was no other remedy and 
 that there was no prospect of his being able 
 to work out his scheme without their assist 
 ance and cooperation and seeing also that 
 meanwhile the land was being made desolate 
 and its inhabitants enslaved, the Clerigo 
 made answer that he wished to see the com 
 pany organized. " 
 
304 Life ofBarlolomd de Las Oasas. 
 
 He must however have signed the articles 
 of agreement (capitulacion) with some mis 
 givings, for he says that the document was 
 not unlike certain superstitious invocations, 
 that begin with God, and end with the 
 devil. Under duress he signed a document 
 containing some clauses, which he did not 
 approve and which (he says so himself) he 
 never had the slightest idea of observing. 
 For so doing, history will ever condemn the 
 first American priest. If we suppose that 
 another clause recited or implied that noth 
 ing in the agreement should be understood 
 as binding him to do anything against the 
 laws of God, as was probably the case, it 
 would yet be true that this action of his 
 was not in keeping with the man's general 
 character, although it would acquit him of 
 any moral wrong. My opinion is, that, in 
 this instance, he stretched somewhat his 
 conscience in striking a bargain, whereby 
 to buy Christ, whom he saw daily crucified 
 in his Indians. Writing in decrepid old 
 age he lays a good portion of the blame at 
 the door of the colonial officers in the follow 
 ing lines. 
 
 4 'Great was indeed the blindness and 
 ignorance, if it was not malice, of those 
 gentlemen, in believing that the absurd and 
 horrible conditions would be complied with 
 
Life ofBartolomd de Las Casas. 305 
 
 by the Clerigo, whom they held as a good 
 and disinterested Christian, and who was 
 ready to die in order to free the Indians 
 and help saving them. As to the Clerigo, 
 he accepted them to extricate himself from 
 his vexatious position (por redimir su veja- 
 cion) fully determined to carefully look after 
 their interests in every way not sinful or 
 prejudicial to the Indians, or incompatible 
 with the main object of his mission as given 
 to him by the king. He intended to allow 
 the bartering of European trinkets for gold 
 all along the coast, to endeavor, by winning 
 ways and by presents, to induce the Indians 
 to fish for pearls on the little Island, and to 
 utilize, for their benefit, any other honest 
 source of wealth that the land might afford. 
 Thus the returns for their investments 
 would not have been by any means little. 
 But they were satisfied with nothing less 
 than to see their houses, plantations and 
 mines filled with Indian slaves, than which, 
 nothing was further in the Clerigo' s mind. ' ' 
 We shall see however, that he did not shirk 
 his share of responsibility, and that having 
 discovered, at a later period, his error, he 
 bewailed it bitterly. 
 
 The company provided Las Casas with 
 two good vessels, and loaded them with 
 wine, oil, vinegar, cheese, and all other 
 20 
 
306 Life ofBariolom& de Las Casas. 
 
 provisions, as well as witli tlie munitions 
 necessary to the little fortress, which he in 
 tended to bnild 011 the first settlement to be 
 made. He sailed from San Domingo in 
 July 1521, and after touching at the island 
 of L,a Mona, where he loaded a large 
 amount of cazabe bread, made for Porto 
 Rico, to pick up the emigrant laborers he 
 had left there, on his way from Spain. 
 But, lo and behold ! they had all dis 
 appeared, and had joined certain expedi 
 tions gotten up for the purpose of kidnapp 
 ing Indians in the islands and on the con 
 tinent. He could do no better than pro 
 ceed without them to his destination. Sail, 
 sail away, nothing daunted, thou hero of 
 the gospel, while I'll tell of the work of 
 thine enemies to block thy way. 
 
 Ocampo had arrived in time at the little 
 port of Maracapan. Chief Gil Gonzales at 
 the sight of the flotilla went out in his 
 canoe to see what was wanted, but, fearing 
 the vengeance of the white men, kept at 
 first at quite a distance. There appeared 
 on board the flag-ship but three or four 
 men, who, by signs and gesticulations, 
 pretended to desire only some information 
 about that country, its name etc. Ocampo's 
 ruse consisted in creating the impression, 
 that his company had come direct from 
 
Life of Bartolomd de Las Casas. 307 
 
 Spain, and not from treacherous Ojecla's 
 country. Five years residence by the side 
 of the Dominicans had taught Gonzales 
 some Spanish, and drawing near Ocampo, 
 he gave the desired information in broken 
 Castilian. The sight of wine and wheat- 
 bread had enticed the Indian alongside the 
 ship, when one of the sailors, an expert 
 swimmer, darted from under cover, sprang 
 into the canoe, grappled with Gonzales and 
 stabbed him to death. 
 
 Then the three hundred Spaniards landed, 
 and with those of the Pueblo, whom they 
 did not massacre, filled the ship and sent 
 them to Hispaniola. Las Casas saw them 
 sold in San Domingo, whither he had gone 
 to free those of their countrymen, who had 
 met a similar fate before. It would not 
 have been prudent to attempt a settlement 
 at Paramana or Chiribichi and the Clerigo 
 landed four miles further south, at Cumana, 
 where the French Franciscans had founded 
 a convent at the same time that the Do 
 minicans had established theirs at Chiri 
 bichi. The members of the community 
 had heard from Ocampo of the grant of that 
 country to the Clerigo, and, when they saw 
 him landing, went to meet him singing the 
 Te Deum and the antiphon Benedictus qui 
 venit in nomine Domini. I leave it to the 
 
308 Life ofBartolomd de Las Casas. 
 
 reader to imagine tlie rejoicing at the meet 
 ing of the good friars with the devoted 
 secular priest. The latter admired the ex 
 tensive orchard with its oranges and other 
 luscious fruit. The convent stood on the 
 banks of the river Cumana, a few hundred 
 yards from the seashore. 
 
 Ocampo was found busy with some of his 
 followers (the others were engaged in pil 
 laging the country around, and in making 
 slaves) building a town, which he had 
 called New Toledo, a mile or so further up 
 the river. The occurrences of Paramana 
 were well known to the Indians for hundreds 
 of miles around, who, frightened by the 
 presence of the marauders, had left the 
 neighborhood. The scarcity of provisions, 
 the monotony of their occupation of slaught 
 ering or enslaving Indians, and the hard 
 labor required of them to build Toledo 
 had so dissatisfied the men under Ocampo, 
 that threats of mutiny were heard on all 
 sides, and, as Las Casas put it, even if 
 Toledo had been called Seville, they would 
 never have consented to make it their home. 
 The news therefore that the country was to 
 be turned over to the Clerigo, and that 
 whosoever desired to return to Hispaniola, 
 might do so, was welcomed. With sufficient 
 provisions, given them by Las Casas, they 
 
Life of Bartolomd de Las Casas. 309 
 
 sailed for San Domingo, and only a few 
 of them remained as a sort of body guard 
 in his excursions through the country, a 
 few servants, who probably had followed 
 him from Spain, and the crews of the two 
 vessels on which he had come to Cumana, 
 took the place of the knights of the golden 
 epaulets, and were to be the only helpers of 
 the Clerigo in the work of civilizing the in 
 habitants of a territory that proved to be 
 seven hundred miles wide and between 
 three and four thousand miles long. His 
 first occupation was to build a large ware 
 house or shed, in which to store his pro 
 visions. By means of an Indian convert, 
 whom the friars had named Mary, he next 
 went about reassuring the natives, by tel 
 ling them that the king of the Christians 
 had sent him as an ambassador to inform 
 them, that they, at last, would have 
 nothing more to fear from the white men . 
 He distributed little presents, carefully 
 watching at the same time, that his own 
 men should not give occasion to the least 
 scandal. The history of nearly all the 
 missions among the heathen, undertaken 
 by the Catholic church in the last several 
 centuries, tell the same tale. The greatest 
 impediment to their success is the bad 
 example of the Christian layman. The re- 
 
310 Life ofBartolomd de Las Casas. 
 
 fuse of Christian communities are fre 
 quently found side by side with the 
 apostles on the frontiers of civilization, 
 the latter to extend its limits, the former 
 to retard it. We have seen the work of 
 the Spaniards of Cubagua at Maracapan, 
 headed by Alonzo de Ojeda. The Fran 
 ciscan convent was nearer to Cubagua 
 than Maracapan ; and, as the island 
 afforded no potable water, the pearl fisher 
 men were in the habit of coming frequently 
 to fetch it in barrels from the river Cumana. 
 From these almost daily visits arose scan 
 dals without number. Now it would be a 
 Spaniard insulting an Indian woman, next 
 day a young man bartering his liberty, for 
 months at a time, for a bottle of Castiliaii 
 wine, and again drunken brawls among 
 the Indians themselves, or between white 
 and red men, the effects of trading gold for 
 the coveted red liquor. 
 
 L,as Casas had promised to build some 
 fortresses on the different settlements con 
 templated, and he concluded that the mouth 
 of the Cumana river afforded a desirable 
 location for the first one. It would answer 
 the purpose, not only of protecting the con 
 vent against any possible insurrection of 
 the Indians, but, if occasion arose, of 
 teaching also some manners to the Spaniards 
 
Life oj Bartolomd de-Las Casas. 311 
 
 of Cubagua, who could not conveniently 
 get drinking water anywhere else. L,as 
 Casas had with him a quarryman and 
 stone cutter, who was' put to work at once 
 on the new fortress at a salary of eight 
 gold dollars a month. But the worthies 
 of Cubagua took the hint and either by 
 persuasion, bribe, or hard cash, soon 
 enticed the man away ; and the Clerigo 
 was left in the impossibility of using 
 what artillery he had brought with him. 
 Meanwhile the intercourse of the Spaniards 
 with the natives produced worse effects 
 daily ; drunkeness especially was on the 
 increase, and, while in a state of intoxi 
 cation, the Indians had already more than 
 once used against each other, and against 
 the Spaniards, poisoned arrows. Con 
 viction forced itself at last, in the mind 
 of the Protector of the Indians, that their 
 evangelization was impossible, while these 
 conditions existed. The very thought of it 
 made his heart bleed ; but in the bitterness of 
 his anguish he even resolved at times in his 
 mind how he could abandon the enterprise 
 altogether. He had assured the Indians, 
 in the name of the king, that they would 
 be molested no longer, and, under his very 
 eyes, his countrymen did the reverse of 
 what the king had decreed. The articles 
 
312 Life ofBartolomd de Las Casas. 
 
 of agreement called for a judge, who 
 should have resided on the reservation to 
 administer justice. But nowhere is a 
 judge, magistrate or justice of the peace 
 mentioned as having come to Cumana 
 with Las Casas. He went one day in a 
 skiff to see the alcalde, who resided in 
 Cubagua. His pleading, entreating, threat 
 ening the anger of the king, if the Spaniards 
 were allowed to further trespass on the ter 
 ritory of his grant, availed nothing. Things 
 went rather from bad to worse. Bitter ex 
 perience taught the priest, that, if it took 
 five or six years to have the necessary laws 
 enacted to protect the Indians, it was even 
 more difficult to enforce them at a distance 
 of seven or eight thousand miles from the 
 seat of the central government. He and 
 his friend, the superior of the Franciscan 
 community, Juan Garceto, reached at last 
 the conclusion that something should be 
 done as the danger to their own and their 
 companions' lives was growing daily. It 
 was agreed that the king alone or the royal 
 Audiencia at San) Domingo could put a 
 stop to the outrages of the Spaniards of the 
 Island of Cubagua, and that their authority 
 should be appealed to. But, who should 
 journey to Hispaniola, or even to Spain, to 
 make the necessary representations? At 
 
Life of Bartolom6 de Las Casas. 313 
 
 first L,as Casas spurned the very thought 
 of leaving the little settlement without a 
 head and entirely at the mercy of the 
 Cubaguan outlaws. The country would 
 soon be pillaged by the whites, and the' 
 Indians would seek vengeance on his asso 
 ciates. Many conferences were held with 
 the Friars, at which Garceto invariably in 
 sisted that the Clerigo himself should go. 
 Daily the Clerigo, after celebrating Mass to 
 implore the divine assistance, would meet 
 Garceto and the other Friars, to consult to 
 gether, discuss and debate on different 
 plans. But invariably the meetings ended 
 with a remark from Father Superior, "that 
 the Clerigo himself should go." A couple 
 of vessels were then loading salt for Hi- 
 spaniola scarcely a league from Cumana. 
 At the very last moment, when one of the 
 vessels was ready to set sails, Las Casas de 
 cided, against his own better judgment, to 
 follow the Friar's advise. Taking with 
 him only his wearing apparel and some 
 books and manuscripts, he departed for 
 San Domingo. Minute instructions were, 
 however, given in writing to Francisco 
 de Soto, who was left in charge of the 
 settlement as its commanding officer, under 
 no circumstances, to allow the two vessels 
 to get out of sight of the Curnana convent, 
 
314 Life of Bartolomd de Las Casas. 
 
 * 
 
 but to have them ready to sail at any time, 
 should an emergency arise necessitating the 
 removal of men and goods. This De Soto 
 was a Spanish nobleman, who had come 
 'from Spain with I^as Casas to look for a 
 fortune. 
 
 The salt-laden ship on which the Clerigo 
 had sailed, had scarcely disappeared on the 
 horizon, when he thought that his chance 
 had arrived. Hastely drawing out of the 
 ware -house a lot of Castilian trinkets and 
 trifles, he loaded them into the two ships, 
 and sent them in opposite directions to 
 barter for gold. The contingent of white 
 men at Cumana consisted of perhaps forty 
 individuals, a majority of whom were re 
 quired to man the vessels and only ten 
 or twelve were left with De Soto and the 
 Friars. The Indians decided to follow 
 the example of their brothers of Mara- 
 capana and Chiribichi, and do away, from 
 their shores, with the white men, Friars 
 and all. The day for the massacre was set. 
 But faithful old Mary felt in duty bound to 
 warn her former benefactors of their in- 
 pending fate. The friars managed to find out 
 the very day on which the assault was to be 
 made. Fourteen guns were gotten ready 
 and an effort was being made to organize a 
 defense. But the powder was found to be 
 
Life ofBartolomt de Las Casas. 315 
 
 wet and unserviceable. After a sleepless 
 night, De Soto went reconnoitering early 
 in the morning, to see if any unusual com 
 motion or warlike preparation was taking 
 place in the Pueblo, situated a gunshot 
 away, on the seashore. At sunrise three of 
 his men were busy spreading out some of 
 the powder to dry, when a swarm of In 
 dians in ambush fell upon them and killed 
 them. Their comrades, warned by the 
 savage warcry, took shelter in the ware 
 house, and De Soto, though wounded by a 
 poisoned arrow, managed to join them 
 there. One of the doors in the building 
 opened into the orchard which was en 
 closed by a high fence or palisade, and was 
 traversed by a deep irrigation-ditch or 
 canal, which the Friars had opened to 
 facilitate the watering of their plants, 
 vegetables and fruit trees. The savages 
 thirsting for more blood, and unable to 
 reach new victims endeavored to set the 
 ware-house on fire. Meanwhile the be 
 sieged made their exit into the orchard, 
 and creeping along side of the tall fence 
 reached the irrigation-ditch, crawled into 
 a canoe, that was moored there about, 
 and, protected by the embankment, made 
 their way to the river. The frail craft 
 was drifting rapidly towards the sea, 
 
316 Life oj Bartolom& de Las Casas. 
 
 when an old lay brother was heard cal 
 ling to them from a cane-break to be 
 taken on board. They saw him standing 
 on the river shore a short distance be 
 hind them, and made frantic efforts against 
 the current to reach him, but made little 
 or 110 progress. The good old man, seeing 
 that he endangered the lives of all on 
 board, waved to them to save themselves, 
 and to leave him to his fate. They 
 reached the sea, and had made half the 
 distance to the ship that was loading 
 salt, when a pirogue was spied, loaded 
 with Indians in hot pursuit. The blood 
 thirsting savages were armed, and, as 
 theirs was the lighter boat, the distance 
 between the two crafts was visibly be 
 coming smaller and smaller. Escape on 
 water was impossible, and the Spaniards 
 made for the shore followed by the In 
 dians. The land about there was grass- 
 less and treeless, but overgrown by a 
 thicket of gigantic cactuses, frequently 
 met with in Central and South America, 
 the thorns of which are as stout and as 
 long as shoemakers' awls. The white 
 men, protected by their clothes, managed 
 to find hiding places, whereas the naked 
 natives dared not follow them. Three 
 days past, however, before the last of the 
 
Life of Bartolom de Las Casas. 317 
 
 famished and forlorn fugitives, with their 
 garments tattered, and their bodies clotted 
 with blood, reached the ship. De Soto 
 alone was missing, who, when seen last, 
 was laying in the shade of a cactus. A 
 skiff was manned to look for his body, but 
 he was found alive, though perishing from 
 thirst rather than from the wound inflicted 
 by the poisoned arrow. No sooner was 
 water given to him than he died in a 
 paroxism of hydrophobia. 
 
 The survivors sailed with the cargo of 
 salt, and reached San Domingo safely. 
 It is presumed that the two vessels, owned 
 by Las Casas, which De Soto had sent on 
 a gold hunting expedition, must have also 
 reached a port of safety, as he states that, 
 of all those who had followed him to 
 Cumana, only four had been killed, besides 
 the lay brother. The Indians not only 
 fired the ware-house and the convent, but 
 cut the trees in the orchard, killed the 
 animals and left not a vestige of that former 
 abode of peace.*) 
 
 *) The authorities of San Domingo sent some 
 time after an expedition to Cumana, terrorized and 
 pacified the Indians, reestablished the pearl fisheries 
 of Cubagua and built a fort on the very spot where 
 Las Casas had begun his. On the famous little 
 island a town was built and called New Cadiz, 
 which lasted as long as the pearl fisheries and was 
 then abandoned. 
 
318 Life of Barlolom& de Las Casas. 
 
 We parted company with the Clerigo, 
 while he was journeying to Hispaniola. 
 His former associates, and the Friars, ar 
 rived in San Domingo long before him. 
 The captain of his freight-ship, who had 
 little experience of those southern waters, 
 lost his reckoning and after wandering for 
 many days, landed at last at the port of 
 Yaquimo, more than two hundred miles 
 east of San Domingo. Two months had 
 been wasted in trying to sail back, against 
 the gulf stream, to the city, when L,as Casas 
 went ashore, made for the town of Yaguana, 
 and thence travelled on foot to San Do 
 mingo, a total distance of some two hundred 
 and fifty miles. A couple of servants had 
 accompanied him from Cumana, who 
 shared with him the long tramp. They 
 were Hearing their journey's end, when one 
 day the Clerigo stopped to eat and rest, 
 and, after the meal, went to sleep under a 
 tree. Some travellers from San Domingo 
 happened to pass by, and the priest's 
 servants asked them, if they had any news 
 from San Domingo or the old world. 
 
 "None," they answered, "except that 
 the Indians of the pearl coast have killed 
 the Clerigo Las Casas, and all the members 
 of his household." 
 
 "As to that," replied the servants, "we 
 are living witnesses that it is impossible. ' ' 
 
Life of Bartolomd de Las Casas. 319 
 
 A dispute as to the truth of the news was 
 in progress, when Las Casas awoke and 
 overheard it. The information stunned 
 him, and dazed him, and he says that he 
 then felt as if he had just emerged from an 
 abyss. The surviving Friars had arrived 
 in the city from Cumana, and, as frequently 
 it happens in similar cases, the catastrophe 
 had been exaggerated. The Clerigo had not 
 been seen or heard of, and was given up for 
 dead. It was welcomed news to many, 
 who were glad to be ridden of a severe 
 censor, and of the man, who blocked their 
 way to wealth and agrandisement. 
 
 As the first American priest regained the 
 full use of his senses, it flashed through his 
 mind that it had all happened as a just 
 punishment from God, for having chosen 
 as his associates, men, who worked, not for 
 the glory of God or the salvation of souls, 
 but for their own selfish interests. He even 
 feared or believed that he had offended 
 God, in attempting to use means so different 
 from those that had been adopted by our 
 Lord and his apostles in evangelizing the 
 nations Why had he not followed the 
 plan, he had first proposed to himself, and 
 chosen fifty good Christians for his com 
 panions and colaborers, even though these 
 would have had in view some temporal 
 
32O Life of Barlolomd de Las Casas. 
 
 gain, while working to spread the gospel 
 and save souls? God, in his mercy, must 
 have looked at his good intentions, rather 
 than at his work; for he preserved him 
 from an imminent and cruel death . He ends 
 the narrative of his disastrous attempt at 
 colonization as follows : ' 'The Clerigo pro 
 ceeded on his journey in great anxiety and 
 sorrow, to learn more minutely the parti 
 culars of what had happened. Some friends 
 of his came to see him and to console him, 
 offering to loan him four, five or more 
 thousand dollars, if he wished to make 
 another trial of the enterprise. If their 
 motive was the glory of God and the sal 
 vation of souls, or rather temporal gain, 
 God only knows, who alone will decide it 
 on last judgement day. I will conclude the 
 life of the Clerigo by saying that, as soon 
 as he arrived in San Domingo, he wrote 
 to the king all that had happened, and then 
 determined to wait for an answer, because 
 he had not the means then to travel per 
 sonally to the court, although friends were 
 not wanting who would have helped him 
 with a loan of money. And, had he gone, 
 he would have succeeded, no doubt, in pre 
 venting the evils and destructive catastro 
 phes, that followed each other in those 
 lands, in having the men punished, who 
 had blocked his way and caused the rebel- 
 
Life ofBartolomd de Las Casas. 321 
 
 lion of tne Indians, because the king had 
 then returned from Spain and with him the 
 influential gentlemen, who had backed him 
 before. In fact, as they heard what had 
 happened, they wrote him to come back, 
 and that he would be favored by the king 
 more than he had been before. Pope 
 Adrian wrote him also ; but the letters ar 
 rived at a time when he could no longer 
 dispose of his own actions. Had he had 
 the means, and gone at once to Spain on 
 his arrival in San Domingo, perhaps he 
 could have put a stop to the tyranny, by 
 which the Indians were then, and have 
 since been oppressed. But, indeed God did 
 not put it in his heart to do so, either be 
 cause, according to the decree of his in 
 scrutable divine providence, those people 
 (the Indians) were destined to perish, or 
 because the cup of iniquity had not yet been 
 filled by our own natixm. He waited for a 
 few months for an answer, during which 
 the Dominican Fathers were almost his 
 only associates. His time was mostly spent 
 in the company of one of them named 
 Domingo * ) de Betanzos, a very virtuous and 
 
 *) Father Domingo de Betanzos was one of the 
 first Dominicans, who went to Mexico. He was 
 elected bishop of Santiago de los Caballeros (old 
 Guatemala City), but declined the mitre. In 1535 
 he was elected first provincial of the Dominicans in 
 Mexico. 
 
 21 
 
322 Life ofBartolomd de Las Casas. 
 
 pious man. The good Father often tried to 
 convince the Clerigo, that he ought to be 
 come a Friar, saying that he had labored 
 long enough in behalf of the Indians, and 
 that, inasmuch as his Cumana venture, 
 though good in itself, had proved a failure, 
 it was a sign that it was not God's will he 
 should continue in similar undertakings. 
 The Clerigo advanced many objections to 
 his entering a religious community, among 
 others that it was but proper that he should 
 wait for an answer from the king, and see 
 what his wishes were. "But Sefior," said 
 then the good Father warmly, "what if 
 you should die in the mean time ? who 
 should then receive the orders of the king 
 or his letters ? ' * The words made a deep 
 impression on the heart of the Clerigo 
 Casas, who ever after thought more and 
 more seriously about his vocation. He 
 ended by considering himself already dead 
 to the world, should the letters come. He 
 asked for the religious habit and got it. 
 
 As the news spread that the Clerigo had 
 become a Friar, there was general rejoicing ; 
 in the Dominican convent as well as 
 throughout all the Indies. In the con 
 vent, because its inmates were glad to see 
 their beloved friend converted to their 
 manner of life, and into a member of their 
 
Life of Bartolomd de Las Casas. 323 
 
 community ; and outside of it, because the 
 worldlings were glad to see him buried in 
 a cloister, who had proved the most power 
 ful obstacle to their dishonest conduct in 
 the accumulation of temporal wealth. But, 
 to the disappointment of many, he rose 
 again, by the will of God, it appears, to 
 prevent some of their evil doings, and to 
 point out and make it as clear as daylight, 
 that the state, in which many of them 
 lived, was dangerous, and that theirs was a 
 lethargic sleep and inconceivable blind 
 ness, which prevented them from seeing, 
 that sins, more grievous than any com 
 mitted since the fall of man, were not sins 
 at all. He had already entered the novitiate 
 when letters came from cardinal Adrian, 
 who had become Pope, and from the 
 Flemish gentlemen, advising him to come 
 back to court, and assuring him that they 
 would favor him as much as ever, or more. 
 But the superior of the convent, not to 
 trouble him (porque no se inquietase quiza) 
 did not show them to him .... And here 
 we must stop speaking of the Clerigo, now 
 Fray Bartolome de Las Casas, for a few 
 years, during which he seems to have been 
 asleep. But there are many more things 
 to be said of him, and we will write them 
 at the proper time if God will prolong our 
 
324 Life ofBartolomd de Las Casas. 
 
 life." (Historia de Las Indias, book III. 
 chapter CI^X.j *) 
 
 It is scarcely probable that trie Protector 
 of the Indians, who lived until July 1566 
 enjoying good health and the full pos 
 session of his faculties, should have sud 
 denly abandoned the greatest literary work 
 of his life. As Remesal, his earliest bio 
 grapher, tells of certain events, that 
 happened as late as 1533 as being spoken 
 of in the Historia de Las Indias of Las 
 Casas , it seems to be evident, that we do 
 not possess all of the important historical 
 work, which ends abruptly with the year 
 1521. Among his many titles to the 
 gratitude of posterity, the first American 
 priest deserves especially to be called the 
 Father of American history. I^et us hope 
 that some lucky student may soon unearth 
 the IV. and the V. book of Historia de 
 Las Indias, which must be buried in some 
 library of Seville or Madrid, or possibly in 
 
 *) God did prolong his life five or six years, but, 
 of all that is known to exist of his great Historia, 
 not a word more is found about the Clerigo or Fray 
 Bartolom6. The Historia de las Indias, as we have 
 it, ends with the IJI. book and with these words : 
 "And may it please God, that in this current year 
 1561 the council of the Indias may be free from it. 
 (Ignorance and blindness.) And with this impre 
 cation to the honor and glory of God, we end this 
 third book." 
 
Life ofBartolom& de Las Casas. 325 
 
 Paris, where some of liis other writings 
 were found. Meanwhile I regret being 
 compelled to continue the thread of his 
 life, without the Historia de Las Indias, 
 which heretofore has been my main guiding 
 star. 
 
CHAPTER XVII. 
 Las Casas a Friar. 
 
 CASAS entered the Dominican no 
 vitiate in 1521, and was admitted to 
 make his vows in 1523, being then 49 years 
 of age. Hardships he had seen in Cuba, 
 while following the expeditionary forces of 
 Velasquez, and during his disastrous 
 attempt at colonization in Cumana. But 
 as a student in Salamanca, as the adminis 
 trator of his father's interests in Hispaniola, 
 and, later, as a miner and landed proprietor, 
 he may be said to have lived the first part 
 of his life in comparative affluence, as a 
 Spanish Hidalgo, or gentleman. *) A 
 Dominican convent in Hispaniola and the 
 austere requirements of the rule must have 
 had few attractions to flesh and blood. 
 Nevertheless it is not improbable that a 
 disgust for a deceitful and treacherous 
 
 *) In the VIII. Chapter of the V. dome of his 
 Historia Apologetica, Las Casas tells us that he 
 owned a plantation on the shores of the river Yuna, 
 in Hispaniola, the produce of which were worth 
 $100,000. "Tuvo labranza de pan de la tierra, que 
 valian, cada ano, mas de cien mil Castellanos." 
 
 (326) 
 
Life of Bartolomd de Las Casas. 327 
 
 world, which had caused the failure of his 
 Cumana venture ^ contributed as much to 
 his determination to enter the monastic 
 state, as the arguments of good Friar Be- 
 tanzos. The biographers of Las Casas are 
 unanimous in rejecting as unhistorical the 
 insinuation of Oviedo, that the Clerigo 
 availed himself of the shelter and protection, 
 which the cloister afforded him to shield 
 himself from the consequences of his 
 disastrous undertaking. And indeed nothing 
 could be imagined more unconsonant to the 
 character of the first American priest, than 
 cowardice or pusillanimity. 
 
 Very little is known of Las Casas' life 
 during his novitiate and the four years 
 immediately following it. The transition 
 was radical and violent. From an eminent 
 man of the world and adviser of kings, the 
 uncompromising champion of the liberty of 
 the American Indian, and the promoter of 
 gigantic schemes of colonization, the 
 American priest placed himself under the 
 direction of a Master of Novices, and, for a 
 few years, his life was spent in the per 
 formance of religious practices and in study. 
 His name was seldom mentioned outside 
 the convent walls. He had died to the 
 world, but soon to rise again. The first 
 years of his religious life were a training 
 
328 Life ofBartolom& de Las Casas. 
 
 school, a palestra, in which the athlete 
 strengthened and further fitted himself for 
 his task and unfinished mission. 
 
 In those ages of faith civil law was based 
 on moral theology, and canon law on the 
 scriptures. Hence a diploma in both civil 
 and canon law could not be obtained from a 
 university, without a study of theology and 
 the scriptures sufficient to entitle the grad 
 uate to holy orders. But a regular course 
 of dogmatic and moral theology L,as Casas 
 had never made. In becoming a member 
 of the order of Friars Preachers in holy 
 orders, the first American priest to comply 
 with the rule of the order, applied himself, 
 during the first years of his religious life, 
 to a systematic and serious study of the 
 ecclesiastical sciences. Those were per 
 haps the happiest days of his life, which 
 were spent in the quiet seclusion of the 
 Dominican convent of the town of San 
 Domingo. It was there that he witnessed 
 the death of the founder of the Dominican 
 order in America, Father Pedro de Cordova, 
 which occurred on the 2 8th of June, 1525. 
 The short life and death of that holy man 
 seems to have exercised a wholesome and 
 powerful influence on the Protector of the 
 Indians, who makes frequent mention of 
 him in his writings always in terms 
 
Life ofBartolomti de Las Casas. 329 
 
 denoting profound admiration and ven 
 eration. *) 
 
 In the CCIV. chapter of his Historia 
 Apologetica he says of him: "The first 
 ecclesiastic to go to that province (of 
 Chiribichi) for the purpose of spreading the 
 catholic faith, and drawing its people to 
 their creator, Jesus Christ, was a holy and 
 learned man, and a graceful preacher, in 
 whose person shined eminent prudence and 
 many other virtues. It was he, who first 
 brought over and founded in these Indies 
 the Order of St. Dominic, which he pre 
 served in strict religious discipline, truly 
 leading it back to its primitive observance. ' ' 
 
 L,as Casas spent about five years in mak 
 ing his novitiate and in the study of the 
 religious sciences. But when he entered 
 anew the active ministry, we find him pro 
 foundly versed in civil and canon law, in 
 moral and dogmatic theology, intimately 
 acquainted with the conditions, civil, moral 
 and religious both of Europe and America. 
 No mean orator and withal an able dialect 
 ician, he was one of the best educated men 
 of his times. His short monastic seclusion 
 served to highten and intensify his zeal, 
 his faith and his enthusiasm. Such a man 
 could not long remain unknown and un- 
 
 *) Pedro de Cordova died at the age of about 43. 
 
330 Life ofBartolomd de Las Casas. 
 
 heard in a cloister. It is known that as 
 early as 1527, lie was already superior of 
 a community of his order. "Three leagues 
 west of the Vega, there is the port of La PI at a, 
 and adjoining it, is the town of that name, 
 and on a hill overlooking it, a Dominican 
 convent, where I began writing this history 
 during the year 1527." 
 
 A letter, written in 1533, by the judges 
 of the supreme court of Hispaniola to Philip 
 the second, then crown prince of Spain, 
 tells us that Las Casas had been, but was 
 then no longer prior of the convent of La 
 Plata. It says : " Father Bartolome de Las 
 Casas, well known to your royal council of 
 state, was once prior of the Dominican con 
 vent at Puerto de Plata. That prior caused 
 some scandal or uneasiness in that town, 
 and spread certain opinions among the in 
 habitants concerning the Indians, that 
 caused them to entertain some scruples of 
 conscience." 
 
 This document, discovered by Don An 
 tonio Fabie, the latest biographer of Las 
 Casas, shows not only that he was superior 
 of that convent shortly after his novitiate, 
 and theological studies, but that once more, 
 he considered it his duty to protect the 
 Indians with all the impetuosity and fixed 
 ness of purpose, that seems to have been 
 
Life ofBartolomd de Las Casas. 331 
 
 the most salient trait of his character. A 
 slaveholder of La Plata was at the point of 
 death, and Las Casas was either called, or 
 went uninvited, to hear the dying man's 
 confession. The penitent was warned, 
 that he would be damned, unless he set free 
 his Indian slaves. The consequence was, 
 that a new will was there and then drawn, 
 in virtue of which the unfortunate natives 
 became free men. Only then was the 
 parish priest, who meanwhile had been 
 waiting in an adjoining room with the 
 blessed sacrament, admitted to the sick 
 man, to administer the holy viaticum. The 
 letter of the judges tells us also how his 
 connections with the convent of La Plata 
 were ended. u After the man's death, " 
 they say, u he took possession of the 
 property of the deceased, thus despoiling 
 the natural heirs, and disposed of it, as he 
 thought proper. To avoid similar incon 
 veniences, we asked his superior to remove 
 him to this convent, (of San Domingo) 
 where he is at present. n 
 
 Evidently the first American priest had 
 learned his duties well, and forced the sick 
 man to restore his illgotten wealth, offering 
 himself as the intermediary for the resti 
 tution. 
 
 His endeavors to reduce to practice the 
 
332 Life ofBariolom& de Las Casas. 
 
 doctrine, that tlie Spaniards in America 
 were bound to restitution of all the wealth 
 acquired through and by means of Indian 
 slavery, will afford some interesting read 
 ing. It is enough to say here, that from the 
 spring of 1514, when he preached to the 
 Spaniards of Cuba, that they had no chance 
 of salvation, while retaining Repartimientos 
 of Indians, to the hour of his death, the 
 Protector of the Indians never wavered in 
 his opinion for an instant. 
 
 The scruples of conscience of the people 
 of L,a Plata were caused by the sermons of 
 Las Casas, and by his private conver 
 sations. In his possession was a copy of 
 Father Montesino's address at San Do 
 mingo, and the style of his discourses is not 
 difficult to imagine. He had not forgotten 
 his title of Protector of the Indians, and the 
 Spaniards of Hispaniola soon found out 
 that the old Clerigo, now Fray Bartolome 
 de Las Casas, who, they thought, had been 
 buried in a cloister, had rather suddenly 
 come to life again. Nor was his voice to 
 be heard only in an obscure settlement of 
 that West Indian Island. 
 
 I have already mentioned that the Fran 
 ciscans, as early as the year 1510, had built 
 a convent at Vera Paz, in the province of 
 Xaragua. There they had adopted, so to 
 
Life ofBartolomd de Las Casas. 333 
 
 speak, the son of a neighboring Cacique, 
 educated him, and baptized him with the 
 name Henrique (Henry). Don Henrique, 
 or, as he was generally called, Henriquillo 
 (little Henry) married an Indian girl, 
 known by her Christian name of Dona (lady) 
 Mencia, like her husband, of aristocratic 
 lineage. The young couple and the In 
 dians of their Caciquedom were given in 
 encomienda to a certain unmarried young 
 gentleman, by the name of Valenzuela. 
 It is not said how, but Henriquillo had come 
 in possession of a mare, which was his own 
 individual property, and was valued by its 
 owner more than all his other possessions. 
 Valenzuela appropriated the animal to him 
 self, and later abducted the Indian's wife 
 as well. Henriquillo complained of the 
 cruel wrong, and got a severe whipping for 
 his trouble. He then appealed to the civil 
 authorities of a neighboring town, and was 
 there threatened with severer punishment, 
 should he further complain of Valenzuela. 
 After having been kept under surveillance 
 for a few days, the educated Indian, as a 
 last resort, appeared before the audiencia in 
 San Domingo, and there lodged a com 
 plaint against his would-be master. But 
 he got nothing better than a friendly letter 
 of recommendation to the civil authorities, 
 
334 Ltf e ofBartolomd de Las Casas. 
 
 who had placed him under arrest, which, 
 as a matter of course, afforded him no 
 redress. But Henriquillo had not received 
 his education in vain. He fained satis 
 faction at the treatment received in San 
 Domingo, as long as his people were at 
 work in the mines or on Valenzuela's plan 
 tation. But as soon as these were allowed 
 to return to their mountain homes, in the 
 neighboring sierra to make a crop for their 
 own sustenance, Henriquillo accompanied 
 them, and there resolved to resist any 
 attempt to force him or his braves to return 
 to work for the white man. He contrived 
 to provide himself with a supply of Castilian 
 weapons, lances, swords, etc., and drilled 
 his followers to handle them to advantage. 
 Having heard of the chief's doings, Valen- 
 zuela, accompanied by ten other Spaniards 
 went to fetch him back, by force, if neces 
 sary. The erstwhile servant, on seeing his 
 master, politely advised him to go home. 
 His words aroused Valenzuela, who at 
 tempted to capture Henriquillo. A general 
 fray ensued, during which two Spaniards 
 were killed and their leader taken prisoner. 
 But happily for Valenzuela the Indian had 
 learned from the Franciscans to practice 
 even the heroic virtue of forgiveness. 
 Strict orders had been given by the Indian 
 
Life ofBartolom& de Las Casas. 335 
 
 general to liis followers, under no circum 
 stances, to harm the white men or their 
 property, except in defending their own 
 and their persons. The chief set his 
 prisoner free, contenting himself with the 
 words : u You should thank me, Valenzuela, 
 that I spare your life. Go home and come 
 back no more. Beware. n 
 
 Henriquillo did not neglect his quarter 
 master department for his handful of brave 
 followers. In many of the wildest and most 
 secluded nooks of the sierra he tilled numer 
 ous patches of ground many miles apart 
 from each other. His vigilance against 
 surprises or ambuscades would have done 
 credit to a Napoleon. He slept but a few 
 hours each night, with a body guard on 
 each side of him, personally doing picket 
 duty the rest of the night and during the 
 day. 
 
 Meanwhile the news of Valenzuela's de 
 feat had spread throughout the island, and 
 reached the offices of the Audiencia at 
 San Domingo. Eighty soldiers were sent 
 to apprehend the outlawed chief, or to kill 
 him. Henriquillo, who was warned of their 
 approach, first decoyed them to pursue 
 him through the mountain forests for 
 several days, and when he felt assured, that 
 the Spaniards were famished and ex- 
 
336 Life ofBartolom& de Las Casas. 
 
 hausted, gave tliem battle, and routed 
 them. The fame of his victory brought 
 him many more recruits from among run 
 away slaves, who were ready to risk life 
 and all in order to breathe once more the 
 air of freedom. These too were drilled 
 and disciplined. 
 
 The problem of this Indian insurrection, 
 as the Spaniards were pleased to call it, 
 had become serious, when Father Remis, 
 who had been the teacher of Henriquillo, 
 and was then superior of the French. 
 Franciscans, offered to make an attempt 
 to induce him to surrender peacefully. 
 He sailed to the southern part of the island, 
 where the chief was thought to be. There 
 he was met by some of the latter 's scouts, 
 who, obedient to their leader's orders did 
 not harm him, but contented themselves 
 with stripping him of his habit, which they 
 brought to camp. The Friar's apparel and 
 a note from him, fetched the chief to the 
 shore, where the old teacher was treated 
 with the utmost courtesy. But to the 
 pleadings of the teacher the pupil answered 
 in rounded Castilian periods, reciting the 
 tyranny of the Spaniards, the massacre of 
 his ancestors, the thefts of Valenzuela, etc., 
 and nothing came of the interview. 
 
 Ramirez de Fuenleal had come to Hi- 
 
Life of Bartolonid de Las Casas. 337 
 
 spaniola in 1527, as chief justice of the 
 Audiencia, and as bishop of San Domingo. 
 The rebellion of Henriquillo being by this 
 time well known in Spain, the judge-bishop 
 had received instructions to crush it. An 
 army was recruited to carry them out, 
 which was also defeated. Letters came 
 a year later to the Audiencia, insisting that 
 the rebellion be put down at any cost. To 
 make matters worse, two other Caciques, 
 Ciguayo and Tamayo, encouraged by the 
 successes of Henriquillo, had also taken 
 to the mountains : but unlike the hero 
 Christian chief, they lived by rapine, and 
 many were the murders with which they 
 were charged. 
 
 The judge-bishop at last put on his 
 thinking cap, and decided to call in con 
 sultation Las Casas, the Protector of the 
 Indians, who, it was known everywhere, 
 had more influence and a greater as 
 cendency over the Indians, than any one 
 else in all America. He proff erred cheer 
 fully to make a second attempt to induce 
 the chief to surrender peacefully. But the 
 president of the Audiencia represented that 
 the mission of Father Remis had ended in 
 failure. To which Las Casas answered : 
 
 ' 'My lord, how many times have you, 
 and this Audiencia, endeavored to bring 
 that man to the king's obedience by war?" 
 22 
 
338 Life ofBartolom& de Las Casas. 
 
 "Many times", replied Fuenleal ; ''near 
 ly every year an army has been raised and 
 sent against him, and we shall have to raise 
 more until he dies or surrenders." 
 
 L,as Casas : u And how many times did 
 you try to conquer him by peaceful ways?" 
 
 Fuenleal: "As far as I know, only 
 once." 
 
 L,as Casas : u Why then did you get tired 
 of peaceful ways so easily, and tried them 
 only once, and adopted on the contrary the 
 harsh and difficult ways of wars that have 
 always proved futile? I have a mind to 
 recommend this affair to God very earnest 
 ly ; and I don't think it possible that He 
 will not encourage those ways of peace and 
 meekness with which He has charged us to 
 treat our enemies. With the permission of 
 my superior and yours, I propose to go to 
 the Cacique, and I trust in Our Lord, that 
 I will succeed in fetching him at the feet of 
 your lordship, or, at least, to have with him 
 an understanding about a modus Vivendi, 
 by which an end shall be put to this plague, 
 of which the island has been suffering for 
 the past ten years." 
 
 Don Henrique (the Spaniards had learned 
 to speak of the chief respectfully, and ad 
 dressed him as Don) and his followers had, 
 no doubt, heard in their boyhood days of 
 
Life ofBarlolom& de Las Casas. 339 
 
 their friend Behique, who had never 
 proved untrue to an Indian. When there 
 fore Las Casas made his way alone to Hen 
 riquillo 's mountain fastnesses, he was re 
 ceived very respectfully by his spies. 
 Having heard that the Protector of the 
 Indians was approaching, Henriquillo de 
 signated a shady spot as their place of 
 meeting. And now we behold a scene 
 worthy of Buonarotti's pencil. There sat 
 the noble Christian chieftain, the son of 
 a dethroned ruler, who, strong in the 
 justice of his cause, had defied the power 
 of Charles V. for full ten years ; and by 
 his side Behique, the man of God, the 
 friend of the Indians. "You must lay 
 down your arms," the priest had come to 
 tell him, "for unless you shall forgive your 
 enemies from the heart, you shall not 
 enter the kingdom of heaven." To which 
 Henriquillo must have answered : "Must I 
 bend my neck to the despoiler of my 
 father's people? Must I forgive them, 
 who oppressed, starved and murdered my 
 kinsfolks? Forgive them, who made of 
 my country, erstwhile a garden spot in 
 midocean, a mining camp, a slave market 
 and a graveyard, where the unburied bones 
 of my ancestors are now bleaching?" 
 "Unless you forgive your enemies from the 
 
34 Life ofBartolom& de Las Casas. 
 
 heart, you shall not enter the kingdom of 
 heaven." This must have been the -sum 
 total of the arguments of the first American 
 priest with Henri quillo. Nevertheless a 
 treaty of peace, so to speak, was there and 
 then signed, by the terms of which the 
 Indian acknowledged the sovereignty of 
 Spain over his country, while not only 
 amnesty for himself and his followers was 
 insured, but freedom to live unmolested in 
 their mountain pueblos without a master. 
 
 Las Casas returned to San Domingo, 
 and the news of his successful mission 
 became a source of rejoicing all over the 
 island. Henri quillo doubted not the word 
 of the Protector of the Indians. But, 
 would his countrymen carry out in good 
 faith the treaty of peace between the 
 white and the red man just signed by 
 their ambassador? He had therefore re 
 quired of Las Casas that he should cause 
 to be formally ratified the articles of 
 agreement by the proper and highest 
 authorities in the island. 
 
 A certain San Miguel, one of the oldest 
 settlers, who had come to Hispaniola with 
 Christopher Columbus on his second 
 voyage was chosen by the Audiencia to 
 be their plenipotentiary and envoy extra 
 ordinary to sign and ratify the treaty of 
 
Life of Bartolom& de Las Casas. 341 
 
 peace. Tlie old gentleman, to give him 
 self and his mission great airs of im 
 portance, thought proper to go and look 
 for Henriquillo accompanied by a squadron 
 of one hundred and fifty armed men. 
 The Cacique was notified by Las Casas 
 of his coming. But fearing treachery at 
 the hands of that large body of men, 
 Henriquillo thought proper to make the 
 Spaniards travel for several days over the 
 mountains to look for him ; and having 
 satisfied himself that, tired as they were 
 and hungry, no harm could be done by 
 them to himself and his men, designated 
 at last a place of meeting. This was a 
 mountain gorge on the sides of which 
 arose two rocky perpendicular cliffs, the 
 summits of which were within easy 
 speaking distance of each other. 
 
 During the years of insurrection there 
 had landed on the southern coast of Hi- 
 spaniola (how, when, or why, it is not 
 said) a cargo of gold from the continent, 
 which had fallen in Henriquillo's hands. 
 He agreed to deliver the precious metal to 
 San Miguel at a certain spot on the sea 
 shore, where he caused to be gathered also 
 an abundance of provisions and some 
 presents, wherewith to entertain the 
 Spaniards. To that place the meeting on 
 
342 Life ofBartolomd de Las Casas. 
 
 the cliffs (the Indians spoke from one and 
 the Spaniards answered from the other) 
 was adjourned. A few days later San 
 Miguel was on the seashore surrounded by 
 an even greater military contingent. Hen- 
 riquillo, who more than ever feared treach 
 ery, was not there alleging as a cause for 
 his absence an indisposition. His men 
 however delivered the gold to the Spaniards 
 and entertained them hospitably. San 
 Miguel returned to San Domingo fully 
 convinced of the good faith of the Cacique, 
 but without having fully accomplished the 
 object of his mission. This happened in 
 1529. It was only three years later that, 
 through a second mediation of Las Casas, 
 the famous Henriquillo was induced to 
 formally acknowledge the sovereignty of 
 Spain and to surrender. The reader will 
 be told how. 
 
CHAPTER XVIV. 
 
 Third Voyage of Las Casas to Spain in 
 Behalf of the Indians. 
 
 have reached the year 1530. The 
 most stirring events in the history of 
 the American continent had taken place 
 since the first American priest had donned 
 the white habit of the Dominicans. Her- 
 nando Cortez with a handful of followers 
 had landed on Mexican soil, and with the 
 help of native allies, the Tlascalans, the 
 traditional enemies of the Aztecs, had taken 
 possession of the ancient empire of Monte- 
 zuma in the name of the king of Spain. 
 In 1530 the standard of Charles V. floated 
 from the Atlantic to the Pacific and from 
 northern Mexico to Panama. The inhabit 
 ants of this empire, as large as the half of 
 Europe, had been Encomendados, that is 
 partially enslaved by the Conquistadores. 
 From his convent of Hispaniola Las Casas 
 watched the current of events, which 
 threatened the extinction of the native race 
 on the continent, as well as on the islands, 
 but was powerless to stem it. 
 
 (343) 
 
344 Life of Bartolom& de Las Casas. 
 
 Francisco Pizarro had already had the 
 first glimpse of the Peruvian shores and 
 had partly heard and partly guessed, that 
 beyond them lied a vast and rich empire. 
 In 1528 he journeyed to Spain, to obtain 
 on the Pacific a grant similar to that 
 which L,as Casas had obtained, ten years 
 before, on the Atlantic. He returned to 
 America during the first part of 1530 
 with the grant of the viceroyalty of two 
 hundred leagues of coast and of the cor 
 responding interior, which he hoped to 
 add to the already almost limitless do 
 minions of the Spanish crown. L,as 
 Casas, who since the end of his novitiate, 
 had kept in touch with the doings of the 
 Spanish court, and with the epoch-making- 
 events that followed each other in rapid 
 succession in America, thought of the 
 natives of Peru, and decided to take the 
 necessary steps in time to prevent the 
 poisonous tree of the Repartimientos be 
 ing planted on Peruvian soil. With the 
 consent, and perhaps by the command of 
 his Dominican superiors, he undertook to 
 cross for the fifth time the Atlantic in 
 behalf of the Indians. 
 
 Fonseca, his old antagonist, had died, 
 and better men than he were now manag 
 ing Indian affairs. Within less than six 
 
Life oj Bartolom& de Las Casas. 345 
 
 months lie obtained from Charles V. the 
 necessary legislation to prevent the natives 
 of Peru from sharing the sad fate of 
 those, who dwelt in New Spain or 
 Mexico. In so readily obtaining the ob 
 ject of his journey he was backed by the 
 influential Dominican order, many of 
 whose members occupied the highest ec 
 clesiastical and civil dignities. His suc 
 cessful mediation between the Audiencia 
 of San Domingo and the Cacique Henri- 
 quillo must also have added to his in 
 fluence at court. He had proved that the 
 old Protector of the Indians, better than 
 any one else, understood the character of 
 the aboriginal Americans, and their needs. 
 He was no longer a simple Clerigo, but 
 the prior of a Dominican convent, versed, 
 not only as before in canon law and 
 jurisprudence, but in moral and dogmatic 
 theology. The courtiers, his old friends, 
 looked upon him no longer as the simple 
 and untitled, though zealous and bold 
 priest, but as upon the holy and learned 
 theologian of an order, who counted those 
 among its many thousand members by the 
 hundred, who taught in the most renowned 
 universities, sat in councils of state, worked 
 in artists' studios, and preached in the most 
 celebrated pulpits in Christendom. Al- 
 
346 Life ofBartolomd de Las Casas. 
 
 though young in his religious profession, he 
 was already favorably and prominently 
 known in the order. While in Spain, the 
 first American priest was invited more than 
 once to preach to the court. The reader 
 may imagine the themes of his sermons. 
 
 L,as Casas returned to Hispaniola with 
 an imperial decree addressed to Francisco 
 Pizarro, and to Almagro his partner, for 
 bidding them as generals of the expedition 
 ary forces then in Peru, and their inferior 
 officers, under no circumstance or for any 
 reason whatever, to enslave the natives of 
 that country. They were also forbidden to 
 parcel them into Repartimientos ; and were 
 commanded to allow them to enjoy their 
 freedom and their possessions as any other 
 free vassal of the king in Spain or else 
 where. 
 
 Las Casas returned to Hispaniola at the 
 end of 1530 or during the early part of 
 1531 ; and his fellow friars, who were then 
 holding the first American provincial 
 chapter, gave him a hearty welcome. But 
 the most trying part of his journey was yet 
 to be made. He was on his way to deliver 
 to Pizarro and Almagro the royal decrees, 
 which he had brought over from Spain. 
 
 The success met with in obtaining them 
 perhaps inspired him with new hopes of 
 
Life of Bartolomd de Las Casas. 347 
 
 ultimately accomplishing, through, the 
 council of the Indies, for all the Indians in 
 America, what he had obtained, he thought, 
 for those of Peru. In fact it appears, that, 
 during the short time he spent at his con 
 vent of L,a Plata between his return from 
 Spain and his setting out for Peru, he ad 
 dressed a memorial to the councillors dated 
 the 6th of June, 1531. It is a forcible and 
 fearless exposition of the tyranny and op 
 pression of the American natives, and 
 might be mistaken for an apostolic sermon 
 preached to the gentlemen, who, from far 
 away Spain, managed and sometime mis 
 managed American affairs. It covers 
 twenty-two octavo pages of ordinary print. 
 I'll give of it only the opening paragraph. 
 "My Lords. Christian charity, which 
 should never pause or rest through our life 
 pilgrimage, zeal for the house of God, 
 and the sorrow I feel in witnessing the 
 wasting away of his majesty's dominions 
 (for whose service God knows that I would 
 not shirk any labor whatever) have spurred 
 and compelled me to put aside other occu 
 pations, in order to write to your lordships 
 the selfsame things which I labored for six 
 consecutive years in repeating by word of 
 mouth, in years gone by, before the royal 
 council, of which some of you were then 
 
34$ Life of Bartolomd de Las Casas. 
 
 members. I mean the endless miseries, 
 the unspeakable tyranny under which the 
 unhappy heathen people of these yet un 
 explored countries have been groaning. 
 Not a day of rest, no respite, no amelior 
 ation have they seen ; on the contrary their 
 sufferings are constantly on the increase. 
 As I have done in the past, I propose to 
 end my life's journey, even to give it, if 
 occasion offers, in attempting to find a 
 remedy for these evils, knowing that it 
 would be but a small price to be paid for 
 what I ask. I am likewise impelled to 
 follow my course by the numberless trials, 
 to which the kingdoms of Spain and all 
 Christendom are subject to in these troubl 
 ous times of ours. Are we not afflicted by 
 horrible and bloody wars and other intoler 
 able visitations? Who knows, if by heal 
 ing the wounds, from which mankind is 
 bleeding in these parts, the ailments of the 
 entire mystical body of Christ (the church) 
 would not be healed? . . . . " 
 
 Father Francisco de San Miguel was 
 elected prior of the Dominican convent in 
 the City of Mexico by the chapter men 
 tioned above. Las Casas sailed for Vera 
 Cruz in his company, and, on his arrival at 
 the capital of New Spain, became for a 
 time the guest of his travelling companion. 
 
Life of Bartolomd de Las Casas. 349 
 
 Here lie liad the pleasure of meeting once 
 more his old friend Father Domingo de 
 Betarizos, who had passed from Hispaniola 
 to Mexico in 1526. Many Dominicans had 
 by this time settled in the Indies, and in 
 Mexico alone were to be found over fifty 
 professed Fathers. It seems that the new 
 comers were not all made of the same metal 
 as those, who had first settled in Hispani 
 ola and at Chiribichi, like Father Pedro de 
 Cordova, Montesino, Betanzos etc. In fact 
 on the arrival of the new prior the com 
 munity of Mexico City received him coldly, 
 and much dissatisfaction developed about 
 his election. L,as Casas, during his first 
 visit to Mexico, employed his zeal and his 
 fraternal charity in smoothing the way for 
 Father San Miguel. 
 
 By the end of 1531 the Protector of the 
 Indians must have heard that Pizarro and 
 Almagro were about to set foot on Peruvian 
 soil. It was of the greatest importance 
 that the decrees, forbidding them to en 
 slave Indians, should reach them, before an 
 opportunity be afforded them of engrafting 
 the poisonous seed of the Repartimientos 
 on the empire. L,as Casas therefore lost 
 no time in setting out for Central America, 
 whence he intended to sail for Peru. He 
 was then sixty years of age. L,et the 
 
350 Life oj Bartolonid de Las Casas. 
 
 reader reflect on what a journey from 
 Mexico City to Nicaragua meant in those 
 days. It had to be made partly on horse 
 back and partly on foot, a distance of about 
 a thousand miles ; and the traveller's sub- 
 sistance had to be drawn from what the 
 natives and a few white settlers could give 
 him here and there. His travelling com 
 panions were Father Bernardino de Minaya, 
 an old gentleman venerated and highly 
 thought of by the Dominicans, and a young 
 man, just ordained, named Pedro de An- 
 gulo, who, for quite a number of years be 
 came Las Casas' companion and assistant. 
 They were bound for the Port of Realejo, 
 now known as Corinto, in Nicaragua, and 
 their route was through Santiago de los 
 Caballeros, the first capital of the then pro 
 vince, and now republic of Guatemala. A 
 Dominican convent had been built there a 
 few years before, but it had been aban 
 doned. The three travellers lodged in it 
 during their short stay in the town. The 
 entire white population turned out to meet 
 and to welcome them headed by the parish 
 priest, Francisco Marroquin, who, three 
 years later, became the first bishop of Gua 
 temala. But the enthusiasm of the plan 
 ters and miners abated considerably, when 
 it was discovered that one of the three 
 
Life ofBartolom& de Las Casas. 351 
 
 Dominicans was the renowned L,as Casas, 
 the most hated man in America. They 
 were, however, begged by Father Marro- 
 quin, who might be called the father of the 
 Church in Guatemala, to settle there and 
 to reopen the convent, because there was in 
 those parts extreme need of evangelical 
 laborers. But their important mission to 
 Peru precluded their accepting the invita 
 tion. Las Casas proceeded to the Port of 
 Realejo, where a ship was then loading 
 provisions and ammunition destined for the 
 Pizarros in Peru. Breathing not a word 
 about the decrees that were locked in his 
 wallet, for fear of being refused passage, if 
 their contents were known, Las Casas 
 sailed for Tumbez in the neighborhood of 
 the present city of Guayaquil, where Piz- 
 arro and Almagro were then encamped. 
 
 c1 ^^j^;BLSnJBSW^r^^^i 
 5a || 
 
CHAPTER XIX. 
 Las Casas in Peru. 
 
 He returns to Nicaragua and founds a Dominican Con 
 vent; then goes to Hispaniola and back to 
 Nicaragua and thence to Guatemala. 
 
 IN 1521 the herald's trumpet had sounded 
 in the plaza of San Domingo, and the 
 public crier had read aloud to the citizens 
 the decree ordering all Indian slaves from 
 the continent to be turned over to their 
 Protector, who was to embark them for and 
 set them free in their native countries. But 
 the Indians' shackles were not then broken, 
 in spite of the decree of powerful Charles 
 V. Pizarro's little army is now on parade 
 at Tumbez. White habited L,as Casas ap 
 proaches and produces the decrees for 
 bidding the enslavement of the Peruvian 
 natives. The herald's trumpet sounds 
 again ; the will of the Spanish monarch is 
 proclaimed, and a profession of obedience 
 is made from the generals down to the 
 private soldiers. The student of Peruvian 
 history knows that as soon as a serious 
 effort was made to enforce this, and other 
 
 (352) 
 
Life of Barlolom& de Las Casas. 353 
 
 more important decrees to insure the free 
 dom of the Peruvians, rebellion, civil war, 
 and anarchy followed. 
 
 I v as Casas' object in going to Peru was 
 not only to deliver the king's decrees, but 
 also to found a Dominican convent in that 
 southern country. The famous Vicente 
 Valverde (who subsequently became the 
 first bishop of Peru) and Father Reginaldo 
 de Perazza had followed the expeditionary 
 forces of Pizarro and Almagro from the 
 beginning, and met L,as Casas on his ar 
 rival at Tuinbez. The five Dominicans, 
 L,as Casas, Pedro de Angulo, Bernardino de 
 Minaya, Vicente Valverde and Reginaldo 
 de Perazza, conferred together and decided 
 that the time had not yet come to build 
 convents in Peru, as but little of the coun 
 try was as yet in possession of the Spani 
 ards, and the Peruvians showed no disposi 
 tion to submit to them without war. I^as 
 Casas therefore and his two companions 
 availed themselves of the first opportunity 
 to return to Nicaragua where I find them 
 already at the beginning of 1532. 
 
 Diego Alvarez de Osorio was the bishop 
 of the extensive new diocese of L,eon in 
 Nicaragua ; and instructions had lately 
 reached him from Spain authorizing him to 
 establish a Dominican convent to help him 
 23 
 
354 Life of Bartolomd de Las Casas. 
 
 administer his vast jurisdiction and evan 
 gelize trie natives. The Nicaraguans, ever 
 since the advent of the white men (in 
 1524) had shown a disposition to embrace 
 the Christian religion, and to learn its 
 tenets. The emperors of Mexico had, in 
 centuries gone by, subjected them to their 
 rule, and had introduced the Aztec lan 
 guage, with which the prominent men of 
 the country were now acquainted. It 
 happened that Pedro de Angulo had famil 
 iarized himself with it, during his several 
 years' residence in the capital of Monte- 
 zuma. It was therefore possible to enter 
 at once into relations with the Indians, and 
 to begin the work of evangelization. At 
 the same time the three Dominicans proved 
 a Godsend to the bishop, who was thus en 
 abled to carry out at once, and without 
 expense, the instructions just received from 
 Spain. L,as Casas set to work without 
 delay to build the convent of St. Paul in 
 the episcopal city of L,eon, and to learn the 
 language of the common people of the 
 country. 
 
 We must now return from the Pacific to 
 the Atlantic, to San Domingo, the home, 
 for many years, of Las Casas. Chief Hen- 
 riquillo had lived peacefully the past three 
 years in his mountains, and no Spaniard 
 
Life ofBartolom& de Las Casas. 355 
 
 had been harmed either by him or his fol 
 lowers. But he was absolute lord of his 
 own domains ; neither had the Audiencia 
 ever thought it advisable to look for the 
 lion in his lair. But Charles V. was not 
 the man to tolerate an imperium in imperio. 
 Every man within his dominions must be 
 made to acknowledge him as his liege-lord. 
 A certain licenciado Cerrato had lately ar 
 rived from Spain to succeed Fuenleal, as 
 chief justice or president of the Audiencia. 
 One of his first cares was to devise means 
 to induce Henriquillo to formally acknow 
 ledge the sovereignty of the Spanish crown. 
 The history of the past fifteen years had 
 convinced the licenciado that the object in 
 view might best be accomplished by peace 
 ful ways. He therefore wrote to Las Casas 
 ordering him to come at once to Hispani- 
 ola, because the king's service required his 
 presence there. 
 
 The Protector of the Indians left the 
 works of the Missions and the building 
 of St. Paul's convent in charge of de 
 Minaya and of some other Fathers, who 
 had lately arrived in Nicaragua, and set 
 out to traverse the American continent a 
 second time, on his way to Hispaniola. 
 His way, however, was not this time 
 through Mexico, but through Honduras, 
 
356 Life of Bartolom& de Las Casas. 
 
 on the Atlantic coast of which, either at 
 Port Caballo or Trujillo, a ship had been 
 dispatched by licenciado Cerrato to fetch 
 him to San Domingo. On his arrival 
 there, he was given a hearty welcome, very 
 unlike the one they had given him when, 
 as a Clerigo, he was about to start for Cu- 
 mana. Cerrato had called L,as Casas to 
 Hispaniola principally to ask him to use 
 again his good offices with Henriquillo to 
 induce him to submit peacefully to the 
 sovereignty of the king. A second time 
 we see the Protector of the Indians climbing 
 the mountains in the company, this time, 
 of Father de Angulo, to look for the out 
 lawed chief. He made quite a stay with 
 him, and two months had past before a 
 word was heard of him in San Domingo. 
 The judges of the Audiencia had begun to 
 feel uneasy, lest his mission had failed, and 
 harm been done to him and his companion ; 
 when one day he made his appearance un 
 heralded in the city, in the company of 
 Henriquillo himself. The same people 
 who for years had hated and dreaded the 
 Cacique, now received him as it were in 
 triumph, and feasted him for several days. 
 This episode in the life of the first Amer 
 ican priest ended with his accompanying 
 Henriquillo to the offices of the Audiencia, 
 
Life of Bartolomd de Las Casas. 357 
 
 where all the promises and guarantees, pre 
 viously given by Las Casas, were solemnly 
 confirmed and ratified. To the credit of 
 the Audiencia they were kept faithfully. 
 Henriquillo was allowed to retire to the 
 pueblos over which his ancestors had ruled 
 as lords of their tribe, and the best of feel 
 ings existed ever after between the king's 
 officers of San Domingo and the Indian 
 chief. Strange to say, the latter became a 
 warm supporter of Spanish rule in his 
 country. 
 
 We have reached the end of A. D. 1533. 
 The news of Pizarro's conquest of an em 
 pire as large as that of Mexico and richer 
 beyond comparison, had been received in 
 San Domingo, and the name of the in 
 trepid and lucky conquistador was on 
 everybody's lips. L,as Casas' mission in 
 Hispaniola having been happily accom 
 plished, he must start for the southern Kl- 
 dorado, attracted, not by the shining metal, 
 but by a burning zeal for the salvation of 
 souls. He must be there and see for him 
 self, if the decrees of Charles V. guaran 
 teeing the freedom of the natives were 
 faithfully observed. Cerrato and the San 
 Dominguians provided him with every 
 thing necessary to the long journey. As 
 the idea of establishing Dominican con- 
 
358 Life of Bartolom& de Las Casas. 
 
 vents in Pern liad never been abandoned 
 but only postponed, before leaving Hispa- 
 niola Las Casas petitioned for some Fathers, 
 who shonld become the first apostles of 
 Peru. The request was granted ; and four 
 priests sailed with him, one of whom was 
 iLuis Cancer, favorably known, not only 
 for his sanctity, but for the important ser 
 vices he had heretofore rendered his order. 
 If their route was through Mexico and 
 Guatemala, or, as appears more probable, 
 by the way of Honduras, is not clear. But 
 by the middle of 1534 we find Las Casas 
 again in the convent of St. Paul in Leon, 
 Nicaragua. He was then busy making 
 preparations for his voyage to Peru. In 
 charge of St. Paul's convent he left three 
 of the four Fathers, who had come with 
 him from Hispaniola, and selected as his 
 travelling companions Luis Cancer and 
 Pedro de Angulo. By this time Panama 
 had become a busy port, through which 
 and the isthmus of the same name com 
 munication was kept open between the 
 Pacific and the Atlantic, .between Central 
 America, Peru and Hispaniola and Europe. 
 It naturally had also become a sort of 
 entrepot and shipping point for goods and 
 men to and from the Pacific coast. Oppor 
 tunities for travelling from Panama to Peru 
 
Life ofBartolomt de Las Casas. 359 
 
 were not wanting, but several months 
 would sometimes intervene between the 
 sailing of one and another ship from the 
 port of Realejo for Panama. A very small 
 vessel was, however, about to make the 
 passage, and the three friars sailed on it. 
 The tiny craft fought for days and weeks 
 against the powerful currents of those seas, 
 and the crew was undecided between en 
 deavoring to force their way to Panama 
 and returning to Realejo. It was agreed to 
 let chance reconcile their differences of 
 opinion. Lots were drawn and blind for 
 tune decided that they should proceed on 
 their way to Panama. But storms com 
 pelled them to return at last to Realejo. 
 Las Casas' earliest biographer, Antonio 
 Remesal, tells us that, in his Historia de 
 las Indias (in that part of it which is lost 
 to us) the Protector of the Indians describes 
 pathetically the frightful sufferings, which 
 he and his companions had to undergo 
 during that second futile attempt to establish 
 a convent in Peru. From Realejo they made 
 their way back to the convent of St. Paul 
 in Leon. Meanwhile Marroquin, who had 
 just been made bishop, had heard of Las 
 Casas' disastrous expedition to Peru, and 
 wrote him a long letter representing how 
 his vast diocese was almost destitute of 
 
360 Life of Bartolomd de Las Casas. 
 
 evangelical laborers, it having within its 
 confines but one other priest besides him 
 self. At the same time, said he, there 
 stood in his episcopal city of Santiago de 
 los Caballeros a Dominican convent already 
 built, but deserted, while the province of 
 Nicaragua suffered from no such dearth of 
 priests or friars. The letter ended by in 
 viting L,as Casas and earnestly begging 
 him, now that two attempts at establishing 
 Dominican convents in Peru had failed, to 
 come to Guatemala and become his co- 
 laborer in the evangelization of that impor 
 tant province. The first American priest, 
 who had learned to appreciate the earnest 
 character of the Guatemalan prelate during 
 his first visit to his episcopal city, could 
 not resist so reasonable an appeal. In 
 company again of Luis Cancer and Pedro 
 de Angulo he left Nicaragua and set out 
 for Guatemala, arriving there about the 
 first of January 1535. 
 
 -A ' 
 
CHAPTER XX. 
 Las Casas in Guatemala. 
 
 JN Santiago de los Caballeros the three 
 famous Dominicans were again com 
 pelled to learn an entirely new language, 
 the Quiche. It was radically different 
 from the Aztec, but happily bishop Mar- 
 roquin, who had mastered it, had already 
 composed a grammar and, under his di 
 rection, the friars soon learned it suf 
 ficiently to communicate with the natives. 
 L,as Casas remained in Guatemala the 
 whole year of 1535 and the best portion of 
 1536. The Indians thereabout were in 
 telligent, docile and easily amenable to 
 the Christian religion. The friars ' time 
 was divided between ministering to the 
 Spanish settlements, and evangelizing the 
 natives. During his residence in Guate 
 mala L,as Casas wrote his short treaty 
 called De Unico Vocationis Modo. As the 
 title of it shows, it treats of the method 
 to be employed in converting the Indians. 
 It never was printed and no copy is now 
 known to exist. But Remesal preserved 
 
 (361) 
 
362 Life ofBartolom6 de Las Casas. 
 
 for us quite a lengthy extract in its origi 
 nal Latin. He says of *the work: "The 
 same father Bartolome de L,as Casas had 
 also, some years before, written a book 
 which he entitled De Uhico Vocationis 
 ModOy in which he proved that through 
 the redemption of Christ Our I,ord and 
 Head of the Church, all those who were 
 predestinated of all nations and tribes, 
 were to be called and invited into one 
 body ; that no nation in the whole world 
 had been excluded from participation in 
 the effects of redemption ; and that out of 
 every nation some individuals, many or 
 few, are in fact predestined to eternal 
 life. It followed that this doctrine must 
 be understood as applying to the people 
 of the new world. He proved next that 
 the multitude, gravity and turpitude of 
 the sins either of a whole people, or of 
 individuals do not constitute an evidence 
 of their not being predestined even if 
 they intend to persevere in their sins, and 
 although they be found to be naturally 
 fickleminded, lazy, vain, timid, untruth 
 ful, inconstant, fierce and cruel. Further 
 more it is not possible that a whole 
 nation, people, city, or village be possessed 
 of so little intelligence as not to be able 
 to receive the gospel, although it be true 
 
Life ofBartolom& de Las Casas. 363 
 
 that the natural intelligence of one people 
 is superior to that of another. He showed 
 that necessarily the same difference existed 
 among the many different peoples of the 
 Indies, but that they were generally in 
 telligent above the average of mankind, 
 and that, if any were found deficient in 
 this respect, they were in a very small 
 minority .... 
 
 They are temperate in eating and drink 
 ing, and because they trouble themselves 
 little about temporal affairs, and live an 
 easy-going life, the passions, which cause 
 sorrow and unhappiness, are not ab 
 normally developed in them. They are 
 ingenious and skilful in the mechanical 
 arts, and much of their handiwork is a 
 cause of wonder to the white man. They 
 have already given signs of their pro 
 ficiency in the fine arts. 
 
 He writes next and explains the only 
 natural way by which the predestined 
 ones must be called to, and brought over 
 to the faith of Jesus Christ, Our lyorcl, 
 and to the Christian religion, which cal 
 ling is incipient predestination itself. 
 His thesis was : The one and only way 
 appointed by divine providence to teach 
 men the true religion, is that which, 
 through reason, convinces the intellect, 
 
364 Life of Bartolomd de Las Casas. 
 
 and through kindness and charity, moves 
 the will. This applies to all men irre 
 spective of their religious errors and their 
 moral corruption. He proves his thesis in 
 thirty-six long paragraphs, ist by natural 
 reason, 2d by the examples of the Holy 
 Fathers of the old and of the new testament, 
 3d by the examples of Christ himself, Our 
 Redeemer, 4th by the precepts he gave to 
 his apostles, as to how they should preach 
 the gospel, 5th by the examples of the 
 apostles, 6th by the weighty authority of 
 the doctors of the Church, yth by the 
 practice of the primitive Church, 8th by the 
 decrees of many of the Roman pontiffs. 
 
 Then in eight other paragraphs he paints, 
 in the same elegant and eloquent style, the 
 opposite method of spreading the gospel by 
 compelling converts to accept the faith by 
 force of arms. In the two last paragraphs 
 he lays down the following conclusion 
 founded on the authority of God and man : 
 
 Wars waged against the heathen to sub 
 ject them to the sovereignty of the Christians 
 in order that they may be prepared to ac 
 cept the faith and the Christian religion, 
 or, in other words, in order to remove the 
 obstacles that prevent them from accepting 
 it, are rash, of doubtful efficacy, wicked, and 
 tyrannical." 
 
Life ofBartolom& de Las Casas. 365 
 
 It may be said with truth that all the 
 writings of Las Casas, which are very 
 voluminous, have the same object in view, 
 namely to prove directly or indirectly the 
 foregoing conclusion, and the proposition 
 that naturally follows from it, that the en 
 slavement of the Indians by means of Re- 
 partimientos or otherwise, is unjust and 
 tyrannical. Not unlikely the preparation 
 of De Unico Vocationis Modo was begun 
 by the author as early as 1528 or 1530 
 while he was prior of the convent of La 
 Plata, in Hispaniola. Certain it is that the 
 themes of his sermons there consisted fre 
 quently in inveighing against the wars that 
 were constantly waged against the natives, 
 and in defense of their liberty. From 
 Remesal it is known that Las Casas had 
 put in writing his ideas concerning the con 
 version and government of the Indians in 
 1530; and this biographer takes it for 
 granted that said ideas had been suggested 
 to the council of the Indies in a memorial 
 presented during that year, while the Pro 
 tector of the Indians was in Spain. The 
 good seed planted then was at last about 
 to bear fruit. 
 
 About the middle of A. D. 1536 there 
 arrived at Santiago de los Caballeros a 
 royal decree concerning the conversion and 
 
366 Life of Bartolomt de Las Casas. 
 
 government of the Indians. It gave minute 
 instructions as to how many and what days 
 were by them to be kept holy ; on how 
 many and what days the converts should 
 fast, and what religious observances they 
 should practice. *) 
 
 The Spaniards of Guatemala were, no 
 doubt, familiar with the notions of L,as 
 Casas on the subject of slavery, and of the 
 Repartimientos. Some of them must even 
 have read circulating copies of his De Unico 
 Vocationis Modo. But they looked upon 
 them as preposterous and impractical 
 theories of a pious but fanatical friar. They 
 smiled and indulged in an occasional joke 
 at the expense of good Fray Bartolome, and 
 continued to deal with the natives as if they 
 were scarcely human beings. Among them 
 were many well meaning men, like the 
 thousands of well meaning men, who, less 
 than a century ago, saw no harm in buying, 
 for so much cash, black human flesh just 
 
 j *) While travelling in Southern Mexico some 
 years ago, the writer noticed, posted prominently at 
 the entrance of several country churches, and 
 printed in large type, a catalogue of feasts and fast 
 days to be observed by the aboriginals, with along 
 side of it a longer one of the feasts and fast days to 
 be kept by the whites. I did not know then that 
 the difference in these church laws originated with 
 the first American priest. 
 
Life ofBartolomd de Las Casas. 367 
 
 landed on the streets of New Orleans or 
 Charleston from the coasts of Africa. 
 
 But when the decree arrived from Spain, 
 commanding that serious efforts should be 
 made, by the settlers in general, to convert 
 the Indians into citizens and Christians, it 
 caused no little commotion in the colony, 
 especially because it was known that the 
 bishop (at that time) and practically all 
 the clergy were of one mind on the subject. 
 The decree was on everybody's lips and 
 much criticism was indulged in against Las 
 Casas, who was known to have been the 
 prime mover in bringing the visionary 
 theory into vogue. They bandied with 
 and challenged him to convert the red man 
 with nothing better than words and holy 
 exhortations. Surely, they said to him, if 
 you be in earnest, do not fail to undertake 
 a task that promises so much for the honor 
 and glory of God and of his Church, and so 
 much credit to yourself. If you succeed, 
 we shall acknowledge ourselves unjust 
 soldiers, lay down our arms, free the 
 Indians, and make restitution of what we 
 have acquired by war. A secret conviction 
 lurked in the minds of some of them, that, 
 should the friar make the attempt, he would 
 either fail or pay with his life for his fool- 
 hardiness and rashness. In either case they 
 
368 Life ofBartoloin& de Las Casas. 
 
 would be freed from the meddling censor 
 ,who could no longer pester them with his 
 sermons and pamphlets. The first Ameri 
 can priest did not hesitate to pick the 
 gauntlet thrown at his feet. There was, 
 not far from Santiago de los Caballeros, 
 the land of ivar. It was a mountainous 
 country cut up by deep canons and pre 
 cipitous ravines, which were easily turned 
 into raging torrents by the almost daily 
 tropical rains. Although all the surround 
 ing country had been pacified, and made to 
 acknowledge the supremacy of the Spanish 
 rulers, and although three attempts had 
 been made by governor Maldonado to pene 
 trate and subdue those regions, they had 
 all ended in failure, and the hardy mount 
 aineers continued to defy Castilian valor 
 and the power of Charles V. Hence the 
 name land of war. 
 
 Las Casas proffered to convert that land 
 of war to the gospel and to the allegiance 
 of the Spanish crown. He asked for no 
 soldiers or arms to protect him, he asked 
 for no royal aid, even to procure the neces 
 saries of life, during the work of evangeliz 
 ation, provided that sufficient guarantees 
 be given him that, when the Indians of the 
 land of war should have been converted and 
 submitted to the sovereignty of the Span- 
 
Life ofBartolomd de Las Casas. 369 
 
 iards, tliey should be for ever left in pos 
 session of their liberty and of their lands, 
 and granted the benefits of home rule. 
 These guarantees were cheerfully given by 
 governor Maldonado, whose previous con 
 duct had pointed him out as one of the 
 most humane of the Conquistadores. They 
 are contained in the following articles of 
 agreement, called by Las Casas a capitu- 
 lacion, which bore the signature and seal of 
 the governor and was preserved to posterity 
 by the Protector of the Indians himself. 
 
 "If you, or any of the friars here present, 
 namely Father Bartolome de Las Casas, 
 Rodrigo de Ladrada * ) and Pedro de Angulo 
 shall by your care and industry induce the 
 Indians of any province or parts thereof 
 within the limits of my jurisdiction to peace 
 and to recognize his majesty as their lord, 
 and to pay him moderate tributes according 
 to their means and wealth, in gold, if it be 
 found in their country, or in cotton, maize 
 or other produce or merchandise ; I say and 
 promise and give my word of honor in the 
 name of the king and in virtue of the 
 powers he gave me that : I will leave them 
 
 *) Father Ladrada had come from Peru to Guate 
 mala a short time before. The reader will see how 
 he remained the constant companion of Las Casas 
 from the year 1536 to the time of the latter's death 
 in 1563. 
 
37 Life ofBartolomd de Las Casas. 
 
 and tlieir countries subject only to his 
 majesty, whom alone they shall have to 
 serve as free vassals, and that I shall not 
 give them to any person whatever or parcel 
 them out into Repartimientos for the benefit 
 of any Spaniard, now or at any future time. 
 I will also forbid, under severe penalties, 
 any Spaniard from molesting them and 
 from going to their countries for the next 
 five years to come ; and this in order that 
 no disturbance or scandal may take place 
 while you will be engaged in their con 
 version. I alone will be permitted to visit 
 them, with your permission, and in your 
 company. I desire to fulfill the will of 
 God in this matter, and that of his majesty 
 the king, and to help you as far as lies in 
 my power in the labors which you will 
 have to undergo in bringing them to the 
 knowledge of God and to the service of his 
 majesty ....'* 
 
 Bishop-elect Marroquin had gone to the 
 city of Mexico to be consecrated. The ar 
 ticles of agreement were sent there to be 
 approved by him as the ordinary of the 
 diocese, and to be approved also by the 
 viceroy of New Spain, that they might have 
 additional binding force. Meanwhile the 
 Fathers set to work to prepare themselves 
 for their difficult task. A spiritual retreat, 
 
Life of Bartolomd de Las Casas. 371 
 
 spent in fast and prayer, was first made by 
 the whole community, to implore light and 
 help from God. Then lenghty consulta 
 tions took place to decide on the ways and 
 the means of evangelizing the land of war. 
 The catechism in the Quiche language was 
 given a poetical garb, it being arranged in 
 couplets from beginning to end. The 
 verses were then set to music, as it had 
 been noticed that the Indians of Central 
 America had a special fondness of rhyth 
 mical songs. The first couplet told of the 
 creation of the world and of man ; another 
 of the fall of Adam and Kve, another of the 
 Redemption. The life of Our Lord was 
 treated in plain but attractive language. 
 In a word, a short but complete exposition 
 of Christian doctrine was for the first time 
 set to music. 
 
 The mountaineers of the land of war 
 were paying dear for their independence, 
 isolated and almost besieged as they were, 
 in their mountain homes. They could no 
 longer, as they did before the advent of 
 the white man, descend to the neighboring 
 pueblos of the plains, neither could they 
 buy, sell or barter with the Spaniards, who 
 surrounded them. All the old avenues of 
 commerce had been shut up. Some In 
 dians of Santiago saw in the misfortunes of 
 
372 Life ofBartolom& de Las Casas. 
 
 the land of war an opportunity for making 
 a few honest dollars. Four of them, who 
 were already Christians, had turned pedd 
 lers and made regular trips to the pueblos 
 on the mountains, going loaded with the 
 produce of the plains and returning with 
 those from the higher latitudes. 
 
 L,as Casas and his companions decided 
 that the travelling merchants should open 
 for them a w T ay to the land of war ; and 
 succeeded to interest the quartette in the 
 project of evangelizing their countrymen. 
 The peddling excursions were suspended 
 for a while, and the four Guatemalan 
 Christians took lodgings in the cells of the 
 Dominican convent. I imagine the first 
 American priest sitting with his four pupils 
 and helping them to memorize one by one, 
 the catechetical couplets, and I hear him 
 sing with them for hours at a time. Hap 
 pily the Central American natives were 
 found endowed with retentive memories, 
 while they were withal a poetical and 
 musical people. The novelty of the rhyth- 
 * mical cadences and the simple melodies 
 exercised so powerful an attraction on 
 them, as to make the scholars throw their 
 hearts and souls in their work and in their 
 study. They must also have felt no little 
 pride in being able to speak and to sing 
 
Life ofBartolomt de Las Casas. 373 
 
 tlie poetry and tlie music of tlie wliite men. 
 It was to be, not vocal only, but instrumen 
 tal music as well. It had been noticed 
 that the native Guatemalans played on in 
 struments of their own invention with con 
 siderable skill. 
 
 Naturally the negotiations with the gov 
 ernor, the retreat, the long course of cate 
 chetical instructions, and the music les 
 sons, required much time, and it was 
 August 1537 before the four peddlers could 
 be got ready to start for the land of war. 
 Besides their packs of ordinary goods of 
 the country, L,as Casas took care to give 
 them another full of Castilian trifles, ex 
 tremely attractive to the Indians, such as 
 scissors, knives, timbrels, little looking 
 glasses, etc. From the peddlers the 
 Fathers had informed themselves very 
 carefully of the social, moral and political 
 conditions of that wild country. They 
 learned, for example, that of all the 
 caciques and petty chiefs, there was one, 
 who exercised a controlling influence over 
 the others. Nothing of importance was 
 ever undertaken in all Tuzulutlan (this 
 was the Indian name of the land of war) 
 without his consent. It was owing especi 
 ally to the astuteness of that fearless war 
 rior that the several attempts of the Spani- 
 
374 Life of Bartolomd de Las Casas. 
 
 ards to subjugate the province had failed. 
 For these reasons and because his home 
 was nearer the frontiers of civilization than 
 that of any other important chief, the com 
 mercial evangelists were directed by the 
 Fathers to endeavor to attract his attention 
 first, and to gain his good will. 
 
 The apostles in the garb of merchants 
 arrived safely in Tuzulutlaii, and displayed 
 their wares near the court or wigwam of 
 the chief, whom Las Casas did not hesitate 
 to call a native prince. The news that 
 goods, never seen before, were for sale 
 fetched quite a large number of customers, 
 and business proved so good that the pedd 
 lers, after closing hours, could afford to 
 make a handsome present to the cacique. 
 
 A frugal meal had been partaken of, and 
 the tropical moon was shooting her rays 
 through the feathery foliage of a gigantic 
 tree, round which were squatted on the 
 ground hundreds of fierce warriors. One 
 of the peddlers calls for a -templanaste (a 
 native instrument), a second draws out of 
 his wallet a pair of castanets, another a pair 
 of small cymbals and the last a timbrel, and 
 the quartet began to sing, accompanying 
 their own music. The first lay told of the 
 creation of the world. When more music 
 was called for, the creation of man was 
 given. 
 
Life ofBartolom6 de Las Casas. 375 
 
 Nothing like it had ever Deen heard in 
 all Tuzulutlan. I need not say it, the 
 catechism class lasted until late in the 
 night. The audience were enraptured and 
 enthused not by the strains of music only, 
 but especially by the wonderful tale of 
 Paradise and of Redemption. The musi 
 cians were invited to give another concert 
 the following night. 
 
 Before sunset men, women and children 
 were seen issuing forth from their wigwams 
 perched on the neighboring summits and 
 gather from many miles around to hear 
 the strange music and stranger history 
 of man's origin and destiny, which the 
 minstrels had played and sung the night 
 before. The attraction was repeated to a 
 much larger audience, many of whom had 
 pondered all day long on the meaning of 
 what the songs had taught them. When 
 the performance came to a close, the 
 cacique, who had listened in speechless 
 astonishment, asked for an explanation of 
 the lesson taught by the poetry and the 
 music. 
 
 "That we cannot do," answered the 
 peddlers ; "we have given you all we had. 
 The Fathers alone, down in the white 
 men's pueblo, can give the explanation." 
 Of course everybody wished to know 
 
376 Life of Bartolom& de Las Casas. 
 
 who tlie Fathers were. "They are men 
 who live without wives, possess nothing 
 of their own, live together in one house, 
 within which no woman ever enters. Their 
 principal business is to do good to others 
 and teach the people the way to Heaven. 
 Their habit is white and over it they wear 
 sometimes a black mantle. Their heads 
 are shaved, and only a few locks are left to 
 grow around the head. Should you wish 
 to hear an explanation of what we sung, 
 they will take pleasure to come and give it 
 to you. Nor need you fear from them, for 
 they are very different from all the other 
 longbearded white men hereabout. On the 
 contrary they are the friends and the Pro 
 tectors of the Indians. " 
 
 Curiosity was aroused, and it was agreed 
 between the peddlers and the cacique that 
 the latter 's brother, a youth some twenty- 
 two years old, would accompany them to 
 the white people's pueblo, and invite the 
 friars to come to Tuzulutlan to give an ex 
 planation of their strange religion. The 
 real object, however, of the astute chief in 
 sending his brother to Santiago was to 
 ascertain if the peddlers had told him the 
 truth about the Fathers. Some presents, 
 out of what the land afforded, were got to 
 gether and the young man was dispatched 
 with his four companions. 
 
Life of Bartolom& de Las Casas. 377 
 
 His arrival was a cause of surprise and 
 gratification to every Spaniard in the settle 
 ment. The friars received the young man 
 with unspeakable joy, as his request and 
 invitation to visit his people was an un 
 mistakable sign that their labors of the past 
 two years had not been in vain, but prom 
 ised, on the contrary, abundant fruits in 
 the near future. The cacique's brother 
 remained a few days the guest of the Dom 
 inicans, watching their every movement in 
 order to make an intelligent report about 
 their manner o.f life, and to ascertain if it 
 really corresponded with the description 
 given by the four minstrels. 
 
 After a consultation among themselves, 
 and after further imploring divine assist 
 ance, the friars decided that Father L,uis 
 Cancer, who, of them all, was the most 
 proficient in the common language of the 
 country, should accompany their guest to 
 his home and there study, on the spot, its 
 conditions and the dispositions of the 
 people. Loaded with presents for himself 
 and for his kinsmen, the youthful ambas 
 sador, with Father Cancer as his travelling 
 companion, made his way back to the land 
 of war, to which he had dispatched couriers 
 to notify his brother of his coming. Father 
 Cancer found the approaches to Tuzulutlan 
 
378 Life ofBartolomt de Las Casas. 
 
 lined with, arches and bowers of green 
 foliage, and the road itself levelled and 
 swept. There was general rejoicing among 
 the tribesmen at his coming. Imagine the 
 feeling of the apostle. Perhaps the green 
 bowers reminded him of Palm Sunday and 
 the Hosamias of to-day might be changed 
 into the crucifiges of the morrow. But the 
 thought only intensified the joy then re 
 bounding in his priestly heart. Had he 
 not left his beloved Zaragoza, in far away 
 Aragon, to look for the crimson crown of 
 martyrdom in the wilds of the New World? 
 
 The cacique caused a chapel of trunks of 
 trees, with over it a thatched roof of pal 
 metto leaves, to be built, and Luis Cancer 
 made to flow in it the life blood of Christ, 
 that was to save and redeem the land of 
 war. 
 
 The Holy Sacrifice made a profound 
 impression on the cacique' and on his 
 people. How unlike was the clean, silk- 
 robed, peace loving and peace breathing 
 priest of the Christians, to the filthy, trucu 
 lent, naked, savage medicine man of his 
 tribe, whom they had watched from child 
 hood, while he snatched the bleeding heart 
 out of the disentrailled victim during the 
 sacrificial hour? 
 
 The cacique was converted and baptized, 
 
Life of~Bartolom de Las Casas. 379 
 
 receiving the name of John. Hereafter he 
 will be known among the Spaniards as 
 Don Juan (Sir John). The capitulacion 
 between the Dominicans and the governor 
 helped Father Cancer not a little in ob 
 taining these results. To remain free and 
 almost independent lord of his country and 
 people and to acquire at the same time the 
 friendship of the whites was a weighty 
 consideration with the farseeing chief. Not 
 only did he become a Christian himself, 
 but turning apostle, he exhorted his tribes 
 men to follow his example. He also prof 
 fered his services as travelling companion 
 to Father Cancer during the several excur 
 sions that the missionary made to become 
 better acquainted with the surrounding 
 country. L,uis Cancer returned to Santiago 
 towards the end of October to bring the 
 glad tidings of his success to his fellow- 
 friars. 
 
 The rainy season was about over and 
 Las Casas, accompanied by Father Angulo, 
 undertook the journey to the land of war. 
 Why Cancer was left behind is not said. 
 The same welcome was given to him as 
 had been given to Father Cancer by chief 
 Don Juan and his people. It appears that 
 his brother, the same who had visited 
 Santiago to invite the Fathers, had lately 
 
380 Life of JBartolom6 de Las Casas. 
 
 married, and his bride had just arrived 
 from the distant pueblo of Coban, within 
 the limits of Tuzulutlan province. A 
 large number of prominent people had 
 come along to see the newly wedded maid 
 installed in her new home in the cacique- 
 dome of Don Juan. These at first did not 
 take kindly to the latter's change of reli 
 gion and set fire to his chapel. But on the 
 arrival of Las Casas, the chief caused a 
 better one to be built at once, where the 
 missioners said Mass daily. After which, 
 now here and then there, in different 
 neighborhoods, the priests spent the day 
 in preaching and catechizing the people in 
 the open air. 
 
 But the dominions of Don Juan were not 
 by any means the only ones in the land of 
 war. Farther north and in another moun 
 tain range, were the most savage people of 
 that country, who spoke a different dialect. 
 Coban might have been called their capital 
 and they too must be brought within the 
 fold of s Christ. Las Casas wished to go 
 thither, but Don Juan opposed his going, 
 fearing that the Father might lose his life 
 in the attempt. Seeing, however, that the 
 priest's resolution was irrevocable, the 
 cacique provided him with a body guard of 
 seventy men selected from among the 
 
Life ofBartolomd de Las Casas. 381 
 
 bravest of his tribe, whom lie made respon 
 sible for the life of his friend. There was 
 no need of them ; for the Indians of Coban 
 and those of other caciquedoms on the 
 route, received the missioner everywhere as 
 a friend and made no objection to his teach 
 ing them the new religion. 
 
 This was but a tour of exploration, and 
 Las Casas soon returned to Don Juan to 
 whom he explained the difficulties to be 
 encountered in instructing innumerable 
 people scattered through a large area of 
 mountainous and almost unaccessible coun 
 try. It was necessary, he argued, to build 
 a pueblo and gather them into it, where 
 they could be taught, not only religion, 
 but trades also and professions. It took 
 the priest days to make the Indians under 
 stand the advantages of civilized life. Don 
 Juan himself entered readily enough into 
 the ideas of the missioner, but his people 
 were loath to abandon their wigwams on 
 the mountain sides, and the ways of their 
 ancestors. For "let it be ever so humble," 
 who is not attached to his native home? 
 This is specially true of people living in 
 high latitudes. The Indians of the Mesas 
 or table lands of Central America and- 
 Mexico prefer to-day earning thirty-five 
 cents a day at home, than move to the At 
 lantic or the Pacific coasts, where a dollar 
 
382 Life ofBartolom& de Las Casas. 
 
 a day is paid to them. No wonder then 
 to learn that the first American priest 
 risked the success of his entire undertaking 
 by insisting that the Indians for five, ten 
 and twenty miles around should abandon 
 their cornfields, the huts in which they 
 were born, and the surroundings of child 
 hood, to be housed on the streets of a sym 
 metrical pueblo. But had not the Protec 
 tor of the Indians told the king in Spain 
 that this was the only way to permanent 
 success in evangelizing and civilizing the 
 aboriginal Americans? Don Juan was 
 therefore persuaded to have as many as a 
 hundred huts or houses built around the 
 chapel and near his own home. Las Casas 
 called the pueblo Rabmal,*) which was 
 the name by which the Tuzulutlans desig 
 nated that particular locality. 
 
 At first the will of the cacique and of the 
 white men was resisted, and a revolt was 
 even threatened. But the daily Mass fol 
 lowed by an instruction and some songs 
 
 *) The village founded by Las Casas is yet in 
 existence. It may yet become quite a town, as some 
 mines have .lately been found in the Sierra. Coban 
 too stands yet, an enduring monument to the zeal 
 of the first American priest, and a witness of his 
 apostolic labors. A railroad will soon penetrate an 
 cient Tuzulutlan, and a number of citizens from the 
 U. S. have lately settled there to raise the favorably 
 known Cobau coffee. 
 
Life of Bartolomd de Las Casas. 383 
 
 that the children were taught to sing, 
 .brought every day a larger audience, and 
 one by one the houses became tenanted. 
 Indomitable perseverance triumphed at last, 
 and the town was founded. 
 
 There must have been occasional com 
 munications between the land of war and 
 Santiago de los Caballeros ; for the bull of 
 Pope Paul III. defining that the Indians of 
 the New World were rational and freewilled 
 men, and that therefore they should be 
 taught, like other people, the religion of 
 Jesus Christ, reached Las Casas at Rabinal 
 at about this time, 1538. He translated it 
 at once and sent copies of it wherever he 
 thought they might do the most good. *) 
 
 * The famous bull of Paul III. "Sublimis Deus 
 Sic D ilex it" etc. has never yet appeared in English, 
 as far as I know. I'll give a translation of it omit 
 ting only the technical phraseology to be found in 
 all similar papal documents. 
 
 "Inasmuch as man was created, as the scriptures 
 teach, to enjoy eternal life and eternal happiness, 
 which cannot be obtained without faith in Christ, it 
 necessarily follows that he must be naturally fit to 
 receive it. Whoever therefore has the nature of 
 man is capable of receiving the faith of Christ. No 
 body in fact, who can understand what faith means, 
 can be so deficient in intelligence as to be unable to 
 understand the means by which it is transmitted. 
 Hence Our Lord, who is truth itself, and can neither 
 deceive nor be deceived, said to the first preachers of 
 the faith, when he appointed them to their office : 
 "Go and teach all nations." He said, all nations, 
 without a single exception, because all are capable 
 
384 Life ofBartolomt de Las Casas. 
 
 If the reader finds it strange that a 
 papal definition should have been neces 
 sary to prove that the aboriginal Ameri- 
 
 of the faith. The devil, who is the enemy of man= 
 kind and of all good works, to prevent God's child 
 ren from reaching their eternal destiny, invented 
 a new and unheard of method to prevent the faith 
 being preached to the people and thus prevent their 
 salvation. This method consists in persuading 
 some soldiers, his allies, to constantly proclaim that, 
 inasmuch as the Indians and other people, who in 
 habit the regions in our own times discovered to the 
 west and to the south. of us, are not capable of the 
 faith, we may make the same use of them in our 
 temporal affairs that we make of the beasts of the 
 fields. 
 
 But we, who, although His unworthy servant, have 
 been appointed by Jesus Christ his vicar on earth, 
 and who with all our power endeavor to bring into 
 His fold the sheep entrusted to our care, considering 
 that the Indians, who are true men, not only are 
 capable of the faith, but, as we are informed, 
 earnestly desire to embrace it ; in order to stamp out 
 this pernicious doctrine, by our apostolic authority 
 and by these present .... define and proclaim that 
 said Indians or any other people, who may be here 
 after discovered by Catholics, although they be not 
 Christians, must in no way be deprived of their 
 liberty or their possessions, and that on the con 
 trary they may and must be allowed to enjoy freely 
 and lawfully of said liberty and possessions ; that 
 they must not be in any manner enslaved ; and that, 
 if they be so enslaved, their slavery must be con 
 sidered as null and void. 
 
 By the same apostolic authority we define also that 
 the said Indians must be called to the faith of Jesus 
 Christ by the word of God and the examples of good 
 and holy lives. 
 
 Given in Rome the 17th of June 1537. 
 
 PAUI, POPE; III. 
 
Life ofBartolomd de Las Casas.' 385 
 
 cans were men, let him remember that 
 during this XIX. century more than one 
 work has been written (one at least by 
 a so-called minister of the gospel) to 
 prove that our negroes are not descended 
 from Adam and Eve, and that therefore 
 they are not men. Slavery can be re 
 conciled with the spirit of the gospel only 
 on that supposition, and the defenders of 
 the slavery of the inferior races, who 
 called themselves Christians, never could 
 long hold their position without having 
 recourse to that unchristian and unscien 
 tific theory. 
 
 Las Casas was now armed with a new 
 weapon with which to defend his doctrines 
 and the Indians. He and his companion 
 De Angulo, indefatigable as they were, 
 could not attend to all that was to be 
 done in Tuzulutlan. Las Casas therefore 
 called to his assistance Luis Cancer and 
 personally accompanied him to Coban, 
 where they received again a hearty wel 
 come. On his return to Rabinal he learned 
 that bishop Marroquin had arrived in 
 Santiago from Mexico and that Pedro de 
 Alvarado, the direct representative of the 
 king in all Central America, was also in 
 town. Was it a call from the civil and 
 ecclesiastical authorities of the diocese, or 
 25 
 
386 Life of Bartolom& de Las Casas. 
 
 was it because the Protector of the In 
 dians had been inspired with new hopes 
 of unshackling all the natives of America 
 by the Pope's bull, that he decided to 
 abandon for a time at least the mission 
 ary field that was laden with abundant 
 harvest? Subsequent events seem to show 
 that Las Casas thought Spain and not the 
 Indies to be the place where the battle 
 for the Indians' freedom was to be fought. 
 Whatever may have been the reasons, 
 certain it is, that leaving the mission of 
 Rabinal in charge of Father Angulo, L,as 
 Casas departed for Santiago, ostensibly to 
 confer with bishop Marroquin about ob 
 taining more evangelical laborers for that 
 part of the Lord's vineyard, which was 
 yet known as the land of war. 
 
 To convince the Spaniards of Guate 
 mala that his theory of converting the 
 natives by persuasion and peace, was not 
 a Utopia, Don Juan was invited to accom 
 pany him to the city, and the invitation 
 was accepted. But the chief wished to 
 travel with quite an army of his warriors, 
 while the priest feared that some embar 
 rassing mishap might be caused by a large 
 number of Indians entering Santiago at 
 once. He reasoned with Don Juan, that 
 the Spaniards at home were not nearly 
 
Life of Bartolomt de Las Casas. 387 
 
 as dreadful and as cruel as they were on 
 the battlefield, and he and a smaller cpn- 
 tingent of followers would have nothing 
 to fear at their hands. The Cacique was 
 at last persuaded to undertake the journey 
 with an escort sufficiently large to empha 
 size the importance of the ruler of Tuzu- 
 lutlan, but not so numerous as to give 
 umbrage to the Spaniards, or cause for 
 apprehension, on the part of the missioner, 
 of possible disorders. Word was sent to 
 Father Ladrada, the only Dominican left 
 in the convent of Santiago, that Don Juan 
 and his suite were coming. In a few 
 days the grounds of the convent were 
 literally covered with huts and tents to 
 accommodate the expected visitors, while 
 an abundance of provisions were gathered 
 wherewith to feed them. 
 
 The entry of L,as Casas and his Indians 
 from the land of war may be better imagined 
 than described. The bishop hastened to 
 pay Don Juan a visit at the convent, where 
 he had an opportunity of observing and of 
 admiring the gravity of the Indian chief, 
 whom he found, relatively speaking, extra 
 ordinarily well instructed in the Christian 
 religion. The interview between the suc 
 cessor of the apostles and the new convert 
 made so good an impression on the former, 
 
388 Life ofBartolomd de Las Casas. 
 
 that he assured Pedro de Alvarado that it 
 was worth his while to pay him an official 
 visit. Alvarado complied with the bishop's 
 wishes, and at the end of a long conver 
 sation, so carried away was he by the 
 manly bearing, the kingly dignity, the 
 wisdom and common sense of Don Juan, 
 that, taking from his own head the of 
 ficial rich taffeta chapeau, he placed it on 
 that of the Indian. He was severely criti 
 cised by the bystanding Spaniards for so 
 doing ; but the chief thanked the official for 
 the honor conferred upon him, and never 
 gave him cause for regretting his generous 
 action. 
 
 With a view to -further impress Don Juan 
 with the advantages and splendor of Euro 
 pean civilization, and to leave no doubt in 
 his mind that the Spaniards' friendship 
 was genuine and worth having, word was 
 passed around to the merchants of the town, 
 to make, on a given day, as brilliant a dis 
 play of their goods as possible, and to 
 present the Indian chief with any article in 
 their shops for which he might exhibit a 
 special liking. The bishop would settle 
 the bills. In company of his lordship Mar- 
 roquin and of Don Alvarado, Don Juan 
 visited the different establishments of San 
 tiago ; but while expressing with gravity 
 
Life ofBartolom^ de Las Casas. 389 
 
 his admiration for many European articles, 
 the like of which he had never seen, as 
 silk stuffs, gold and silver ware, he declined 
 to accept all the many presents offered 
 him, except one. This was a large picture 
 of Our Blessed Lady. He questioned the 
 bishop about it, and his explanations, he 
 said, tallied with what the missioners had 
 told him about the Blessed Mother of Christ. 
 Having received it reverentially, he turned 
 it over to a prominent man of his suite, 
 with instruction to handle it very carefully. 
 No doubt Don Juan wished the Spaniards 
 to understand that the allegiance of the 
 lord of Tuzulutlan was not to be bought 
 with presents. As to the Blessed Virgin's 
 picture he wished it, I reckon, to adorn his 
 chapel at Rabinal. 
 
 The members of his suite were not so 
 particular ; and they returned to their 
 homes, in company of Las Casas and Father 
 Ladrada, loaded with presents. The reader 
 needs not be told that the convent of San 
 tiago remained deserted. From Rabinal 
 Las Casas wished to travel to distant Coban 
 with Father Ladrada to found there a per 
 manent missionary establishment. In this 
 undertaking they received the willing as 
 sistance of two Caciques, the neighbors of 
 Don Juan, one of whom was called Don 
 
390 Life ofBartolom& de Las Casas. 
 
 Pedro, and the other Don Miguel. Mean 
 while other Dominicans were summoned 
 from elsewhere to replace the missioners to 
 the land of war. 
 
 The four apostles, L,as Casas, I^adrada, 
 Cancer and Angulo, continued in the work 
 of evangelization in Tuzulutlan, until the 
 year 1538, at the beginning of which, 
 through their confreres of Santiago they 
 were called by the bishop to a conference 
 to devise ways and means of providing the 
 extensive new diocese with a sufficient 
 number of priests to attend to the spiritual 
 welfare of the growing white population as 
 well as of the natives, who were flocking 
 to the Church daily in larger numbers. 
 The prelate told the Fathers that he set 
 aside in Guatemala certain sums to be used 
 to defray the travelling expenses of new 
 missionaries besides some cash held by a 
 friend of his in Spain for the same purpose. 
 His lordship's preference was that the new 
 comers should be Dominicans and Francis 
 cans, but wished to have the opinion of 
 the Fathers on the important subject. It 
 would be necessary to the object in view to 
 send to Spain somebody influential enough 
 to gather together a sufficient number of 
 missioners. 
 
 The views of the bishop were concurred 
 
Life of Bartolomd de Las Casas. 391 
 
 in unanimously, and very naturally Las 
 Casas was pointed out as the proper person 
 to undertake the journey. In a few days 
 the first American priest in company of his 
 hereafter fidus acates, Father Rodrigo de 
 Ladrada was on the march to cross for the 
 fourth time the American continent in the 
 interests of the Indians. His travelling ex 
 penses this time came out of the episcopal 
 treasury. They journeyed to Mexico City 
 through the land of war, where Don Juan 
 was at first dismayed to hear that Las Casas 
 was about to leave for his native Spain, but 
 was soon consoled by the promise that his 
 return would not be long delayed. The 
 leave taking at Rabinal with those whom 
 he had lately engendered in Christ, reminds 
 us of St. Paul's farewell to his converts of 
 Kphesus and Miletum. (Act. Apost. 
 Cap. XX.) 
 
CHAPTER XXI. 
 
 Las Casas Crosses the Atlantic the Seventh 
 Time in the Interest of the Indians. 
 
 Casas selected the longer route to 
 Spain by Mexico City to attend a pro 
 vincial chapter of the order, to have his 
 trip to Spain approved by the same, and 
 to have other Fathers sent to the land of 
 war to continue the evangelization of that 
 country. After some delay, the chapter 
 approved L,as Casas' voyage, and Father 
 Ivuis Cancer was summoned to become 
 an additional travelling companion, new 
 Fathers were sent to Rabinal, Coban and 
 Santiago and de Angulo was appointed 
 Las Casas' vicar general in those parts 
 during his absence. 
 
 Governor Maldonado had given the 
 Protector of the Indians a letter of re 
 commendation to Charles V. on the oc 
 casion of his leaving Santiago. After 
 describing the work already accomplished 
 in Tuzulutlan the governor ended his 
 letter with the following paragraphs : 
 
 (392) 
 
Life ofBartolom& de Las Casas. 393 
 
 "Fray Bartolome de Las Casas goes to 
 those kingdoms (Spain) in company of 
 Father Ladrada. He is a person of good 
 and exemplary life, who is well known 
 here for his zeal in instructing and pro 
 tecting the natives and insuring their 
 good treatment. Furthermore his in 
 tentions and his efforts are directed to 
 your majesty's service. I beg your majesty 
 to favor him and to encourage him to per 
 severe in his good undertaking. He is 
 well informed about everything that is 
 going on in these parts, and will be able 
 to give you any information that you may 
 desire. " 
 
 As this letter is dated October 16, 1539, 
 it is clear that Las Casas could scarcely 
 have reached Spain before the beginning 
 of 1540. But by the 9th of January of 
 that year, he had already caused a decree 
 to be issued by the council of the Indians 
 addressed to the governor and to the 
 bishop of Guatemala, in which it is ordered 
 that the religious instruction of the slaves 
 belonging to the Spanish settlers be care 
 fully attended to. His activity is again 
 evidenced by another decree confirming 
 the privileges granted to the Indians of 
 Rabinal, Coban and the rest of the land 
 of war, and forbidding the Spaniards to 
 
394 Life ofBartolomd de Las Casas. 
 
 settle on, or to travel through it, without 
 the consent of the Fathers. Their free 
 dom and almost total independence is also 
 guaranteed thereby. About the same time 
 letters were written and dispatched in the 
 name of Charles V. to the Christian Ca 
 ciques of Tuzulutlan congratulating them 
 on their acceptance of the Christian faith, 
 and once more assuring them that the 
 aforementioned guarantees would be faith 
 fully observed. In still another decree ad 
 dressed to the highest judicial authorities 
 in New Spain (Guatemala was then a part 
 of it) the judges of the Audiencia of Mexico 
 City are commanded to see to it that the 
 infractors of the foregoing and other similar 
 laws be properly punished. This last decree 
 is dated October the lyth, 1540. 
 
 It is not difficult to explain why L,as 
 Casas was now granted so readily all that 
 he asked for his Indians. Old Fonseca 
 had died, and cardinal Loaysa, Archbishop 
 of Seville, had succeeded him in the pre 
 sidency of the bureau for Indian affairs, 
 the personel of which had also been greatly 
 changed. While the offices of the Indian 
 council were of old not unfrequently closed 
 against the Clerigo L,as Casas, they were 
 now wide open to Fray Bartolome de 
 Las Casas. Although the biographers of 
 
Life ofBartolom& de Las Casas. 395 
 
 the first American priest have generally 
 overlooked it, it is nevertheless a fact that 
 the change of policy in regard to the ab 
 origines by the Spanish government was 
 due very largely to the bull of Pope 
 Paul III. 
 
 By the end of 1540 Las Casas was ready 
 to sail for America with all the Domini 
 cans and Franciscans whom Bishop Mar- 
 roquin wished to import into Guatemala. 
 But perhaps it was because cardinal Loaysa 
 had requested him to tarry longer in Spain, 
 that he wrote to Charles V. , who was then 
 in Germany, the following letter, which 
 explains itself : 
 
 u Most high and most powerful lord! 
 
 While in Guatemala, in the Indies, I 
 received your letters and provisions, where 
 by your Majesty directed that I and some 
 other members of my order of St. Dominic 
 should continue the work of pacification of 
 certain several provinces, which had not 
 yet accepted your sovereignty, and that we 
 should induce them to acknowledge them 
 selves your subjects. We began the work 
 and were making good progress. In fact 
 the native lords of those provinces have 
 already come to see us privately, and we 
 hope, with the help of God Our Lord, that 
 we will be able to bring them, and many 
 
396 Life ofBartolom& de Las Casas. 
 
 more, to the knowledge of their Creator 
 and to the obedience of your Majesty, by 
 the ways of peace, charity and good works. 
 Thus the kingdom of Christ will be ex 
 tended and your dominions and revenues 
 increased. But things of more importance 
 and of greater service to your Majesty, 
 which concern the whole of that New 
 World, which Divine Providence has con 
 signed to your protection and administra 
 tion, induced me to come to kiss your 
 Majesty's hand and report to you per 
 sonally about abuses so serious, that, if 
 they be not corrected, interests more im 
 portant than those of all your other king 
 doms will be endangered. Therefore I 
 thought it advisable to suspend for a while 
 my work in Guatemala, and to undertake 
 a journey hither. But on my arrival in 
 Castile, I found that your Majesty was ab 
 sent. Should I return without making to 
 you my report, I feel that much harm 
 would thereby accrue to the Indies, by the 
 postponement of remedies to the afore 
 mentioned abuses. In order therefore that 
 I may not fail in the obedience which I 
 have promised my monastic superiors, I 
 ask your Majesty to be pleased to command 
 me, and by your royal letters to instruct 
 the Provincial of this province to command 
 
Life ofBartolom& de Las Casas. 397 
 
 me also, to wait for your coming. I am 
 certain that you will consider my report a 
 service rendered by me and by the Domin 
 ican order to your Majesty. If not, I will 
 return to the Indies conscious of having 
 clone my duty to God and to my king. The 
 bearer of this letter is Father James de 
 Testera, an apostolic man of the order of 
 St. Francis, who has done much service to 
 your Majesty in the Indies. May God 
 prosper and prolong the years of your 
 Majesty's reign. 
 
 Your servant, etc. 
 
 Fray Bartolome de L,as Casas." 
 Why did he not set out at once for 
 America with the Dominican and Francis 
 can Fathers? The question must be an 
 swered as follows : Although there is no 
 documentary evidence to prove it, the fact 
 may nevertheless be properly surmised in 
 the light of subsequent events. Armed 
 with the bull of Paul III., L,as Casas had, 
 during his past ten months residence in 
 Castile, left not a stone unturned to induce 
 the council of the Indies to enact the 
 necessary legislation to insure the liberty 
 and protection of the Indians. No doubt 
 he had brought over to his way of think 
 ing cardinal L,oaysa, and the majority of 
 the members of the bureau for Indian 
 
398 Life of Bartolom& de Las Casas. 
 
 affairs. But nothing of importance could 
 be done in the absence of the king. Should 
 he bury himself once more in the wilds of 
 the land of war? If he did so, the Pro 
 tector of the Indians knew that the unfor 
 tunates would soon pass again out of mind 
 of the Spanish court, and that the evils of 
 slavery would meanwhile cast deeper and 
 deeper roots on American soil. His re 
 maining longer in Spain was evidently of 
 a paramount importance to his wards, the 
 Indians. But practically he was an agent 
 of bishop Marroquin, at whose expense he 
 had come to Europe, and, in virtue of his 
 vows, his actions were also subject to the 
 direction of his monastic superiors. To 
 enable himself to remain longer in Castile 
 with propriety, and to show bishop Mar 
 roquin that, if he did so, it was for suffi 
 cient reasons, L,as Casas had recourse to 
 the subterfuge of asking the emperor to 
 command him to prolong his stay in Spain. 
 At first sight the conduct of the first 
 American priest, viewed in this light, is 
 subject to criticism. But countless genera 
 tions of the American aborigines have good 
 reasons, as we shall see, to thank him for 
 having had recourse to that subterfuge in 
 their behalf. For otherwise the nuevas 
 leyes or ordenanzas (about which much is 
 
Life ofBartolom& de Las Casas. 399 
 
 to be said presently) would perhaps never 
 have been enacted, and without them it is 
 doubtful if a vestige would now remain of 
 the native race on the western continent. 
 
 Charles V., who had not forgotten the 
 bold Clerigo, micer Bartolom&, and who 
 had probably kept well informed about his 
 late doings at Madrid, granted his request 
 without difficulty, and Las Casas postponed 
 his departure. 
 
 The recruits for the missions of Guate 
 mala, Dominicans and Franciscans, were 
 now gathered in Seville and the Protector 
 of the Indians was with them. The decrees 
 concerning the Indians of Tuzulutlan were 
 published by the public crier at the sounds 
 of the herald's trumpet in front of the 
 great cathedral at ten o'clock in the morn 
 ing of the 2ist of January 1541. 
 
 Las Casas, who had just received orders 
 from Loaysa (the readers know why) to 
 remain longer in Spain, decided to send 
 Luis Cancer to accompany the missioners, 
 to deliver to the proper American authori 
 ties the decrees obtained, and to see to it 
 that they were executed and put in force. 
 
 The council of the Indies recommended 
 to the emperor that all past legislation con 
 cerning the American Indians should be 
 remodelled and recast in their favor. All 
 
400 Life ofBartolom& de Las Casas. 
 
 contemporary writers and all trie bio 
 graphers of L,as Casas are agreed, that he 
 was the prime mover in inducing the coun 
 cil to reach this decision. As had been 
 done in 1519 and in 1520, juntas or con 
 ventions of learned ecclesiastics, jurists, 
 statesmen, and theologians were again 
 called together, who for days and weeks 
 met again and again to discuss the needs 
 of the Indians, and to formulate laws 
 which were intended to do justice to the 
 Spaniards and. to the Indians alike. As 
 usual in such gatherings many shades of 
 opinion developed, and L,as Casas was al 
 ways in evidence to advocate his own in 
 that forcible style so peculiar to the first 
 American priest. As a matter of course, 
 the Protector of the Indians was the leader 
 of those who stood for the complete eman 
 cipation of the Americans. 
 
 At one of the meetings Las Casas pre 
 sented a voluminous memorial of the con 
 tents of which the following quotation will 
 give an idea. He suggests sixteen remedies 
 for the reformation of the Indies, of which 
 "the eighth is the one most important and 
 essential, because, without it, the others 
 would be worth nothing, as all of them are 
 subordinate to this one, and are directed to 
 it as means to an end. The importance of 
 
Life of Bartolom& de Las Casas. 401 
 
 it is greater than could be expressed in 
 words, so great in fact, that its adoption or 
 rejection will decide if your Majesty will 
 retain or lose all the Indies and all their 
 people. It consists in this : Let your 
 Majesty order and command by pragmatic 
 sanction, and by the highest law of your 
 realms, proclaimed in the presence of the 
 Cortes solemnly assembled, that all the In 
 dians in the Indies, those who are already, 
 as well as those who will hereafter become 
 your subjects, be declared the free vassals 
 of the united kingdoms of Castile and 
 Leon, recognizing no other lord than your 
 Majesty ; that none of them shall ever be 
 given in Kncomiendas to any Spaniards, 
 that on the contrary it shall for ever be 
 unconstitutional, contrary to your will and 
 to the supreme law of the land, to give 
 them to anybody in Encomiendas or other 
 wise or to exact from them any personal 
 service for any necessity or need whatso 
 ever. To give it greater binding force, let 
 your Majesty take a formal oath upon your 
 Christian faith and upon your royal word, 
 your crown, or"*any thing else that Christian 
 princes are wont to swear by, that, at no 
 time, either personally or through those, 
 who will succeed you in these and those 
 kingdoms (the American) you will revoke, 
 26 
 
402 Life ofBartolomd cle Las Casas. 
 
 as far as you are concerned, this supreme 
 law. Let your Majesty insert also in your 
 royal testament a clause commanding that 
 it be forever defended, guarded and up 
 held " 
 
 Charles V. was perhaps, at this period, 
 surrounded by as wise, far - seeing, and 
 sagacious councillors as any monarch had 
 ever been before. They saw that the 
 measures recommended by Las Casas, un- 
 blunted and unmitigated, were those of an 
 ex-parte advocate, who considered ex 
 clusively his own point of view. They 
 would defeat themselves, they thought, 
 and lead to revolution and anarchy. His 
 views were accepted in principle, but legis 
 lation" was so shaped as to make its en 
 forcement practicable. The nuevas leyes 
 (new laws), so called for many years after, 
 which were enacted in 1541 and 1542, have 
 formed the admiration of every historian 
 and jurist, who studied them deeply in con 
 nection with the social conditions then pre 
 vailing in America. Las Casas had gained 
 the battle of his life. Slavery was abol 
 ished, if not at once and by one stroke of 
 the pen, after one generation. 
 
 The world should know it. The orig 
 inator of the crusade in favor of truly 
 American liberty was a simple Catholic 
 
Life ofBartolomt de Las Casas. 403 
 
 priest, who broke trie shackles of not less 
 than thirty millions of human beings, who 
 were or would have been slaves, on this 
 western continent, at the very time, when 
 the so-called Reformation caused the Old 
 World to be drenched in blood. It was a 
 cardinal and numerous other prelates of 
 the old Church, who drafted the plan of 
 legislation that saved the American race 
 from utter extinction. 
 
 I need quote but a few of the new laws 
 to show that, if they were not clothed in 
 his words, they contained almost in toto 
 the ideas of the first American priest. 
 
 " i st. The Kncomiendas heretofore estab 
 lished .legally, shall not pass to the chil 
 dren or the wives of the conquistadores, 
 but only tributes shall be collected from the 
 Indians, who shall become the free vassals 
 of the king. 
 
 2d. It is forbidden to employ Indians 
 as carriers, except in unavoidable circum 
 stances ; and the Indians so employed 
 shall be paid wages. They shall not be 
 employed in the mines or the pearl fish 
 eries. The personal, enforced labor of the 
 Indians is abolished, and tributes shall be 
 levied instead on the Indians, for the bene 
 fit of the owners of Kncomiendas. 
 
 3rd. All participants in the disturbances 
 
404 Life oj Bartolom6 de Las Casas. 
 
 caused by Pizarro and Almagro in Peru 
 shall be deprived of their Encomiendas. 
 
 4th. Bishops, hospitals, governors, 
 mayors of towns, judges and his majesty's 
 officers shall be deprived of their Encomi- 
 endas. 
 
 5th. It is hereby forbidden, even in 
 case of rebellion, or for any other reason 
 whatever, to enslave Indians, and we wish 
 that all the natives of the Indies be treated 
 like, as in fact they are, free vassals of 
 the crown of Castile. 
 
 6th. It shall be forbidden to compel the 
 Indians to do service against their will and 
 consent. 
 
 7th. As it is forbidden in any manner 
 whatever to enslave Indians, it is ordered 
 that the Audiencias summon all those who 
 have Indian slaves in their possession, and 
 if it be found that these have been enslaved 
 without reason or right, the same must be 
 set free summarily and without process of 
 law. The burden of proof, to show the 
 legal ownership of the slaves, shall rest 
 with the slaveholders. And as it may 
 happen that for want of attorneys or re 
 presentatives the Indians may acknowledge 
 themselves as slaves, it is ordered that 
 conscientious and careful men be appointed 
 as attorneys, and that the same be paid out 
 
Life oj Bartolomt ae Las Casas. 405 
 
 of the court fees to represent the Indians. 
 
 8th. It is also ordered and commanded 
 that hereafter no viceroy, governor, Audi- 
 encia, discoverer of new lands, or any 
 other person whatever shall have power to 
 give Indians in Encomiendas as a remuner 
 ation for services rendered, or as a gift, or 
 sale or in any other manner whatsoever, 
 even if the case be of an Kncomienda which 
 has become vacant. When the holder of 
 an Kncomienda shall die, the Indians there 
 of shall be declared the free vassals of the 
 crown ; and it shall be the duty of the Audi- 
 encia to inform themselves about the rank 
 of the deceased, his character, his merits 
 and his services, if he left a wife, children 
 or other heirs, and to make a report on the 
 matter to the king, as well as on the quali 
 ties of the Indians themselves and of their 
 lands ; in order that what shall appear right 
 and equitable may be done for the wife, 
 children or heirs. If in the meantime it 
 shall appear to the Audiencia that said 
 wife, children or heirs be in need of tem 
 porary assistance, it may be given to them 
 out of the tributes that the Indians shall 
 pay, as these must be declared free vassals 
 of the king." 
 
 The new laws were enacted in Valladolid, 
 and received the signature of Charles V. 
 November soth of the year 1542. 
 
f 
 
 406 Life of Bartolomd de Las Casas. 
 
 What liad aroused and decided the coun 
 cil of the Indies and the emperor himself 
 to adopt rather suddenly the foregoing and 
 other radical reforms ? No doubt the bull 
 of Pope Paul III. acted as an incentive on 
 the friars, bishops, archbishops and the 
 cardinal, who sat as members of the bureau 
 for Indian affairs, and no less on His Most 
 Catholic Majesty. But a little pamphlet 
 by Las Casas had more to do with it than 
 anything else. He called it a u Brevisima 
 Relation de la Destruction de las Indias, 
 i. e. A very brief expose of the destruction 
 of the Indies," from which itself enough 
 can be gathered that it was written during 
 the years 1541 and 1542, and that the 
 original draft was retouched later, when it 
 was published by Las Casas himself. In 
 fact a manuscript copy of the original, 
 lately found by Antonio Fabie, begins as 
 follows: "The Indies were discovered in 
 1492 ; the following year they began to be 
 settled, so that it is now fourty-nine years 
 since they were taken possession of by 
 any considerable number of Spaniards. 
 The author therefore must have been 
 writing either in 1541 or rather about 
 May 1542 ; for it was in that month of 
 the year 1493 that Columbus landed in 
 Hispaniola with some two thousand imi- 
 
Life ofBartolom& de Las Casas. 407 
 
 grants. Again the author, speaking of 
 Hernando.de Soto in Florida, says : "The 
 fourth tyrant went there lately during the 
 year 1538 .... It is now three years 
 since he has not been seen, and nothing 
 has been heard of him." This therefore 
 must have been written in 1541. 
 
 The pamphlet consists of about seventy- 
 five closely printed octavo pages. L,as 
 Casas, ever since he was appointed official 
 Protector of the Indians, had lost no oppor 
 tunity to gather evidence everywhere and 
 from everybody, who had any to give, of 
 the cruelties and oppressions practiced by 
 the Spaniards against his wards. In 1541, 
 or at the beginning of 1542, when the 
 Spanish court had set to work in earnest to 
 remodel American colonial legislation, lyas 
 Casas gathered the vast mass of memoran 
 dums he had made during the past twenty 
 years, then dipped his pen in gall, and 
 wrote the pamphlet which soon became the 
 most famous of his works. It is a graphic 
 and exaggerated (at least all writers think 
 so) description of all the massacres, kid 
 napping expeditions, brutal wars, wanton 
 cruelties and thefts of the American sett 
 lers from New Mexico to Chili, and from 
 Argentina to Florida. The pamphlet was 
 no doubt presented to the councillors, who 
 
408 Life oj Bartolomt de Las Casas. 
 
 were at work on the laws in 1542. It must 
 have caused a thrill of horror in the heart 
 of Charles V. and of his son Philip, and on 
 all the grandees of tlie court. Hence the 
 prompt enactment of the new laws. In 
 1552, as many abuses, although greatly 
 abated, still continued in America, in spite 
 of said laws, I^as Casas revised his pamphlet, 
 added to it, and then gave it to the press. 
 It was translated into Italian and into 
 French, and soon became the stock in trade 
 of many foreign writers, who used it as an 
 armory, whence they drew their weapons 
 to fight Spain often unscrupulously, and 
 by misrepresentations. L,as Casas however 
 never accused the Spanish nation as such, 
 or its government of being guilty of the 
 atrocities he describes in his pamphlet, al 
 though in later writings of his he does not 
 wholly exonerate either the nation or the 
 government from enriching themselves at 
 the expense of the American Indians. The 
 historian is forced to acknowledge that the 
 central government of Ferdinand and Isa 
 bella, of Charles V. and Philip II. en 
 deavored unremittingly to ameliorate the 
 condition of the unfortunate Americans 
 and to protect them from the cruelty and 
 rapacity of the European immigrants. But, 
 as has been said before, during the first 
 
Life of Bartolomd de Las Casas. 409 
 
 fifty years of American colonization scarce 
 ly more than the scum of Spain crossed 
 the Atlantic to settle in the Indies. Those 
 immigrants first ignored, and then defied 
 the governing power of Madrid, and were 
 subject only to the whims and ambition of 
 whatever conquistador happened, for the 
 time being, to be in the ascendency. The 
 conquistadores were in the main men of 
 low extraction, who by daring deeds of 
 valor, and by chance, were in several in 
 stances converted into veritable monarchs 
 who barely acknowledge allegiance to the 
 mother country. A Cortez, a Pizarro, an 
 Alvarado, an Almagro etc. each conquered, 
 in a few months, a vast empire with a 
 handful of followers. Bach of these, after 
 wading through torrents of blood, that made 
 them callous to the gentler instincts of 
 humanity, clamored for a division of spoils, 
 for wealth and for a life of ease and de 
 bauchery, as soon as the semblance of order 
 was established in the new countries. The 
 conquistadores were compelled to yield or 
 fall. The thirst for wealth and gold could 
 only be satiated at the expense of the 
 natives. No doubt, as Las Casas demon 
 strates in his pamphlet, thousands, and per 
 haps millions, of aboriginal Americans 
 perished at the hands of the Castilian con- 
 
410 Life ofBartolom6 de Las Casas 
 
 querors. It is nevertheless to the credit of 
 Spain that in less than three quarters of a 
 century it brought order out of chaos in 
 America, and placed not less than thirty- 
 five millions of savages (including the 
 Filipinos) on the way to civilization. If 
 we look at the map of the 'world at the 
 present time and read the history of the 
 past four centuries, we find that scarcely a 
 tribe has been brought within the pale of 
 Christian civilization during that period, 
 except by Spain. Look over the almost 
 limitless possessions of the colonizing 
 nations, England, France and Holland, and 
 it will be found that the native races have 
 either disappeared or remained strangers to 
 Christianity or European civilization, des 
 tined only to have their lifeblood sucked 
 out of them for the enrichment of their 
 white masters. * ) 
 
 *) Perhaps an exception might be made in favor 
 of Russia, who, during the present century has un 
 doubtedly extended the confines of civilization and 
 of Christendom in a westerly and southwesterly 
 direction. 
 
 History seems to teach that savage nations can be 
 civilized only by a strongly centralized and absolute 
 government in combination with a compact union 
 of Church and state. Under every form of represen 
 tative government the weaker race invariable suc 
 cumbs to the stronger and nothing remains but the 
 survival of the fittest. Watch South Africa where 
 a cruel war is now (Dec. 1899) raging between two 
 
Life of Bartd!om de Las Casas. 411 
 
 I will end this chapter with an extract 
 from Las Casas' Brevisima Relation de la 
 Destruction de Las Indias. It will give 
 an idea of the bitter, caustic and ex 
 aggerated style of that famous work. It 
 will also check our inclination to hero- 
 worship, as he will tell us what he 
 thought of Ponce de Leon, Panfilo de 
 Narvaez, and of Hernando de Soto. 
 
 "To that province (Florida) have gone 
 at different times three tyrants, beginning 
 with the year 1510 or 1511**) to do the 
 work that others had done elsewhere. 
 Two of them (Ponce de Leon and Panfilo 
 de Narvaez) had reached positions in 
 other parts of the Indies, disproportionate 
 with their former condition, through the 
 blood and deaths of their fellow-men 
 (the Indians). All three of them died 
 bad deaths, and lost their lives and 
 the fortunes, which they had accumulated 
 by shedding human blood. I was ac- 
 
 peoples of teutonic descent. Let the English or the 
 Boer be the victor, it matters not. The black man 
 in either case is doomed. 
 
 **) School books generally tell us that the dis 
 coverer of Florida was Ponce de I/eon, and that he 
 landed in 1512. Las Casas tells us more than once 
 that the first white men to land in Florida were 
 certain kidnappers of Indians, who stumbled on the 
 northern shore of the Gulf of Mexico not later than 
 1511. 
 
Life ofBartolomt de Las Casas. 
 
 quainted with all three of them, and their 
 memory is now forgotten as if they had 
 never lived. They left in that land 
 (Florida) scandals and their names in ab 
 horrence on account of certain massacres 
 of which they were guilty. These mas 
 sacres however were not numerous, as 
 God killed them before they could do 
 more of their work. Almighty God had 
 selected that country as the place where 
 condign punishment was to be administ 
 ered for the crimes, which I knew they 
 were guilty of in other parts of the In 
 dies, of which I was an eye witness. 
 The fourth tyrant (Hernando de Soto) 
 began his expedition after much prepa 
 ration and with great eclat as late as 1538. 
 It is now three years since anything was 
 seen or heard of him. I feel certain that, 
 as soon as he landed, he began his cruelties, 
 and then disappeared, or, if he is living, 
 that he and his followers have, during the 
 last three years, destroyed many people 
 wherever they found them ; for he (Her 
 nando de Soto) is an experienced leader in 
 such works, and one of those, who, to 
 gether with his followers, did most harm, 
 and caused most destruction in many pro 
 vinces and kingdoms. But I am inclined 
 to think that God meted out to him the 
 same fate that he had visited on the others. 
 
Life of Bartolom& de Las Casas. 413 
 
 Three or four years after I had written 
 the foregoing there came forth, out of that 
 land of Florida, the other tyrants, who 
 had followed the chief tyrant, whom they 
 left behind dead. From them I learned 
 of the unheard of cruelties and barbarities, 
 which, especially during his life time, 
 but also after his unhappy death, those 
 inhuman men had there perpetrated against 
 the innocent and harmless ones of that 
 country, as if what I had foretold, was 
 bound to be fulfilled. So many were the 
 said cruelties as to prove the truth of the 
 rule laid down at the beginning of this 
 work that the further they proceeded in 
 their discoveries, in their massacres and de 
 struction of people, the greater were their 
 iniquities and outrages against God and 
 against their neighbors. I am sick of re 
 counting so many, so horrible and bloody 
 works, not of men, but of savage beasts, 
 and I care not to write of more than the 
 following. They oppressed them and 
 killed them using them as beasts of burden. 
 The wretches, so loaded, were made to 
 march in single file chained one to the 
 other by their necks, and if any one of them 
 got tired or fainted, they cut his head with 
 a sword, this falling to one side and the 
 body to the other; and thus they spared 
 
414 Life of Bartolom6 de Las Casas. 
 
 themselves the trouble of unchaining those, 
 who went before him in the way that I have 
 described before. They entered a pueblo, 
 where they were received with signs of re 
 joicing, and where they got plenty to eat 
 and more than six hundred Indians, des 
 tined to be their carriers and their order 
 lies. On leaving the place one of the 
 captains, a relative of the chief tyrant, re 
 turned to the town, and sacked it after hav 
 ing killed the cacique and done other cruel 
 ties. In another pueblo, where the people, 
 who had heard of the horrible and infamous 
 deeds of the Spaniards, were shy of them, 
 they killed everybody, men, women and 
 children. 
 
 The tyrants cut the noses of many. On 
 one occasion, when some two hundred In 
 dians had come to camp either uninvited, 
 or because they had been summoned to do 
 so by the tyrants, they cut the noses of 
 them all, and sent them back so disfigured, 
 in torments and in blood, to spread the 
 news of the works and miracles of those 
 preachers of the Holy Catholic faith. Now 
 imagine the dispositions of those people, 
 how they must love the Christians, how 
 readily believe in their religion, and in 
 their God. Enormous and abominal were 
 the atrocities committed in that land by 
 
Life of Bartolom& de Las Casas. 415 
 
 those miserable men, tlie children of per 
 dition. Thus died their hapless leader 
 (De Soto) without confession, and I doubt 
 not that he was buried in hell, unless per 
 chance God dealt with him according to 
 his exceeding mercy, and not according to 
 the man's deserts." 
 
CHAPTER XXII. 
 Las Casas a Bishop. 
 
 new laws were dispatched to every 
 officer of trie crown, to every bishop 
 and priest, and to every white settlement in 
 the Indies. While they were being dis 
 cussed in Valladolid, every district in Ame 
 rica was represented by procurators, who 
 swarmed around the government offices, 
 endeavoring, by hook or crook, to prevent 
 their enactment. As soon as their promul 
 gation had became known in Spain, the 
 American settlers were informed by their 
 agents that the author, or at least the pro 
 moter of them had been Fray Bartolome 
 de L,as Casas. The answers that began, 
 a few months later, to pour into Spain 
 from beyond the Atlantic were filled with 
 abuse and calumnies against the Protector 
 of the Indians. Many of them are spicy, 
 and afford entertaining reading matter. 
 Here is one written in the name of the 
 town council of Guatemala city, informing 
 the council of the Indies of the state of 
 
Life ofBartolom& de Las Casas. 417 
 
 the popular mind in reference to the new 
 laws. It begins thus : 
 
 "They (the people) speak very boldly 
 against the emperor, and ask if this is 
 the way he repays them for their twenty 
 and thirty years services in conquering 
 for him at the peril of their lives and 
 without any expense to him, so many 
 and so distant lands." 
 
 They end the description of the popu 
 lar clamor against the laws by quoting 
 their saying: "If these laws are enforced 
 many will very likely die of despair. " 
 
 Then Las Casas gets pepper. 
 
 4 'It is reported, they say, that Fray 
 Bartolome de Las Casas had a hand in 
 drafting this cruel sentence against them, 
 and they claim to be astonished that so 
 old an institution (the Repartimientos) 
 and so well thought of by many learned 
 ecclesiastics, could be upset by an ignorant 
 friar, who is anything but a saint ; jeal 
 ous, vain, irascible, restless, scandalous, 
 and so disagreeable that he was expelled 
 from every place in these Indies, in which 
 he has been. They can not bear him in 
 any monastery, and he obeys nobody and 
 is always on the go. In this city and 
 province alone could he remain through 
 the indulgence of our bishop. We bore 
 27 
 
418 Life of Bartolomt de Las Casas. 
 
 with, him and sent him with an abundance 
 of money to get more friars. But he pre 
 ferred to make a show of himself by his 
 passions, doing harm to everybody in 
 general, in order to revenge himself of 
 individuals, rather than do what we had 
 sent him to do. He says that he spent 
 in these parts thirty or more years. Those 
 thirty years he spent in Hispaniola and 
 Cuba, where the Indians disappeared in a 
 short time, and he helped, to some ex 
 tent, to kill them. He did no more than 
 pass through this country on his way to 
 Mexico, and as he found no audience to 
 listen to his scandalous declamations and 
 denunciations, he came back to us be 
 cause he thinks that we are fools. He 
 can give no information about the Indians 
 of New Spain, and what he saw here on the 
 roads through which he passed, is, that the 
 Indians are well instructed. Would to 
 God that Fray Bartolome would come with 
 his soldiers (a reference to his Cumana 
 venture) to make the conquest, which, it is 
 reported, he asked should be given in his 
 charge. He would then give us one more 
 proof of his vanity and of his ignorance, 
 and he himself would revenge us for the 
 rancor he has displayed against us." 
 
 The colony of Guatemala, with its well 
 
Life of BartolomG de Las Casas. 419 
 
 bred Alonso Maldonado as governor, and 
 the zealous and energetic Marroquin as its 
 bishop, was one of the most conservative 
 and best behaved in America. What must 
 have been the rage and fury of the colonists 
 elsewhere, when it became known that Las 
 Casas practically and substantially was the 
 author of the new laws? 
 
 But what cared he for the faraway 
 murderous conquistadores? He had fulfilled 
 his mission and saved the American race 
 from extermination. And had he not 
 earned the esteem and plaudits of all his 
 countrymen, whose good opinion was worth 
 having, to say nothing of the gratitude 
 and love of countless helpless fellow-men 
 beyond the Atlantic? 
 
 At the beginning of the year 1543 the 
 court of Spain was sitting at Barcelona, 
 and Las Casas went there also to thank 
 Charles V. for having enacted the new laws 
 in favor of the Indians. One Sunday 
 evening Francisco de Los Cobos, the secre 
 tary of the bureau for Indian affairs, pre 
 sented himself to the Protector of the In 
 dians to hand him an imperial decree de 
 signating him as the first bishop of the new 
 See of Cuzco, in Peru. Los Cobos presented 
 at the same time an earnest request of his 
 majesty to Fray Bartolome that he accept 
 
420 Life ofBartolomd d'e Las Casas. 
 
 the mitre. L,as Casas politely declined re 
 ceiving the document on the plea, that be 
 ing a friar, his superiors must first be con 
 sulted on the subject. 
 
 He had not forgotten that twenty-two 
 years before, very near that same city of 
 Barcelona in the presence of the highest 
 court officials he had solemnly and impas- 
 sionately said to the emperor : 
 
 "That my meaning may not be mis 
 understood, I hereby renounce and decline 
 any favor or temporal reward that your 
 majesty may hereafter offer me. And 
 should it come to pass that I, either per 
 sonally or through a third person, directly 
 or indirectly, should solicit any favor or 
 reward for my services, I am willing to be 
 branded as a liar and a traitor to my king. ' ' 
 
 That however was not the only reason 
 for declining the bishopric of Cuzco. He 
 could have done so without breaking his 
 word, for the mitre of that See, on which 
 were set more thorns than jewels, could 
 scarcely have been considered as a reward. 
 He could otherwise have accepted it on the 
 plea that it was his duty to comply with 
 the wishes of his sovereign and not refuse 
 the burden. I reckon that his real reason 
 for not accepting the proffered honor, was 
 because he did not think himself the proper 
 
Life ofBariolomti de Las Casas. 421 
 
 person to fill the See of Cuzco under tlie 
 conditions then prevailing in Peru. He 
 had called that country "Aquel infierno del 
 Peru" ("that hell of Peru"). And indeed 
 it was little better just when he was called 
 upon to become the bishop of Cuzco, the 
 largest Indian town of the empire of the 
 Iticas, where a handful of Spaniards, after 
 having massacred thousands of the Indians, 
 were ready at any moment to cut each 
 others throats. In less than four years 
 time, Peru had seen two bloody revolutions, 
 and was now prepairing for another. Cuzco 
 itself had seen the execution of Almagro 
 the partner of Pizarro in the conquest in 
 1538, and that of his half breed son in 1542, 
 while Pizarro himself had been assassinated 
 at Lima June the 26th, 1541. Blasco 
 Nunes de Vela was then about to sail for 
 Peru as its first viceroy to publish and to 
 enforce the new laws, which, in that 
 country meant the total abolition of the 
 Repartimientos and the shattering of colos 
 sal fortunes accumulated or to be accumu 
 lated through the labors of the Indians. 
 Las Casas, to whom every ship arriving in 
 Spain from the new world, brought a bag 
 of letters from almost every part of the In 
 dies, where Spaniards had settled, was well 
 informed of the state of affairs in Peru. 
 
422 Life ofBartolom& de Las Casas. 
 
 Blasco Nuiies was liot headed, proud and 
 unyielding. His attempt to enforce the 
 new laws ended first in revolution and then 
 in open rebellion, during which he lost his 
 life. Pedro de La Gasca, his successor was 
 compelled to yield in the matter of those 
 same new laws and agree to a compromise. 
 Clearly Las Casas, the promoter, if not the 
 author, of the laws was not the man to be 
 come the bishop of the largest diocese in 
 the country, and another Dominican, Juan 
 Solano was appointed instead. 
 
 But cardinal Loaysa, who had been in 
 strumental to the first American priest be 
 ing selected as bishop of Cuzco, thought 
 that the best informed and the most zealous 
 ecclesiastic in the Indies, should wear a 
 mitre. Chiapa, or as it was then called, 
 Ciudad Real de Chiapa in the province of 
 Guatemala had been lately erected into a 
 diocese, and Juan de Arteaga had been se 
 lected to be its first bishop. But he died 
 in the city of Puebla, in Mexico, while on 
 his way to take possession of his See. The 
 diocese of Chiapa was contiguous to the 
 land of war, which, by a special decree 
 approved by the pope, was annexed to its 
 jurisdiction. Las Casas was therefore 
 nominated bishop of Chiapa. He declined 
 the mitre a second time. But his prayers, 
 
Life ofBartolomd de Las Casas. 423 
 
 his tears, his protests were all in vain. The 
 wishes of the king, the command of his 
 superiors, the good of his children of Tuzu- 
 lutlan caused him at last to yield. 
 
 While waiting for the papal bulls author 
 izing his consecration, L,as Casas went from 
 Barcelona to Toledo, where a general 
 chapter of the Dominican provinces was 
 then in session. The object of his journey 
 was to beg the superiors of the order there 
 assembled, to allow him to select quite a 
 large number of Fathers willing to work 
 in faraway Chiapa in the evangelization of 
 the Indians. Not less than sixty volun 
 teered, and L,as Casas accepted them all, 
 although ultimately only forty-five sailed 
 with him for America, thirty-five priests, 
 five deacons and as many lay brothers. 
 They came from different parts of Spain 
 and were directed to gather, some at Sala 
 manca, and others at Valladolid, whence all 
 were to unite in Seville to sail from the 
 neighboring port of San Lucar de Barra- 
 meda. Twelve Franciscans were also en 
 gaged for the new diocese. 
 
 L,as Casas' presentation, by Charles V., 
 to the bishopric of Chiapa must have been 
 made and accepted in 1543, but the papal 
 bulls authorizing his consecration were not 
 signed by Pope Paul III. until the i9th of 
 
424 Life ofBartolomd de Las Casas. 
 
 December of the same year. Much of trie 
 intervening time was employed in recruit 
 ing and getting together the friars in Se 
 ville, in obtaining from different sources 
 large supplies of church vestments, bells, 
 and books for so large a number of mis- 
 sioners and many other things necessary to 
 a bishop's establishment in a new diocese 
 in a new country. 
 
 Between his election to the mitre of 
 Chiapa and his departure for America, L,as 
 Casas wrote a memorial addressed to 
 Charles V., lately published by Antonio 
 Fabie, which denotes a comprehensive in 
 formation about men and events then tran 
 spiring in revolutionary Peru and South 
 America. The document consists of twenty 
 closely printed octavo pages, in which, 
 after having denounced in his usual forcible 
 style, the barbarities of the Spaniards in 
 the Indies, he boldly advises the emperor 
 to sequester all the estates and all the 
 wealth of the Conquistadors in Peru. 
 "Your Majesty," says he, "will act justly 
 and do a thing pleasing to God in depriv 
 ing such wicked transgressors against the 
 laws of God and your own of all their 
 wealth, which is not theirs, but stolen from 
 your Majesty's vassals, etc." 
 
 The emperor is advised to restore said 
 
Life o/ Bartolom6 de Las Casas. 425 
 
 wealth to tlieir rightful owners, when pos 
 sible, and when not possible to divide it 
 into two shares, one of which should go to 
 the Conquistadores in case they should 
 elect to live in America, and the other to 
 become public property and the interest 
 thereof to be spent for the public weal. 
 
 With as much directness and as plainly 
 as a prime minister would have done in 
 presenting a schedule of appointments to 
 vacant offices, L,as Casas passes next to tell 
 the emperor what measures should be taken 
 and what kind of men should be sent to 
 Peru to reestablish law and order in that 
 distracted country. u Your Majesty must 
 arrange to sent viceroy Don Antonio de 
 Mendoza to the provinces of Peru, with 
 supreme power from yourself over the 
 Audiencia and everybody else. On arriv 
 ing there he will reestablish order and 
 settle all contentions, by getting out of the 
 country all individuals dangerous to public 
 peace, especially the son of Almagro and 
 his principal followers and all the leaders 
 of the two factions of Pizarro and Almagro, 
 because it is expedient that not a man, who 
 has distinguished himself on either side, 
 remain in all that country." 
 
 Whoever studied subsequent events in 
 the history of Peru can surmise that the ad- 
 
426 Life ofBartolomd de Las Casas. 
 
 vice of Las Casas was acted upon by 
 Charles V., as far as the appointments in 
 the government of that country were con 
 cerned. Instead of despoiling the Con- 
 quistadores of their wealth, it is well known 
 that the spirit of revolt brewing every 
 where in Spanish America soon compelled 
 the Spanish rulers to suspend and partially 
 abrogate the new laws, thus opening to the 
 Spaniards in America a door to more thefts 
 and to more oppression of the Indians for a 
 time, at least. 
 
 Two months of the year 1544 had come 
 and gone, and the papal bulls necessary to 
 make the first American priest a bishop 
 had not yet arrived in Spain. Impatient 
 of further delay, and on account of the 
 large daily expense necessary to the main- 
 tainance of his numerous suite, L,as Casas 
 decided to use the privilege, which had 
 been granted to Spanish bishops-elect of 
 taking possession of their Sees, with the 
 consent of the king, before their consecra 
 tion. On the 5th of March, 1544, he bade 
 farewell to his friends at court, and de 
 parted for Seville. In a letter dated in that 
 city the 2ist of March and addressed to 
 Prince Philip he says: u We left court on 
 Tuesday the 4th inst. , and it took us six 
 teen days to come here on account of the 
 
Life o/ Bartolom& de Las Casas. 427 
 
 long rains and bad roads. ..... We have 
 
 received a letter from the court informing 
 us, that our bulls arrived two days after 
 our departure. It seems that Our L,ord 
 does not wish to pay us in this world for 
 the little trials that we are undergoing for 
 love of him. We would otherwise have 
 been very proud to have your Highness 
 stand our godfather at our consecration. 
 The bulls have not yet reached here. We 
 could not come here by the way of Toledo 
 because the man we had engaged to carry 
 our luggage, would not agree to it. We 
 would have liked to do so in order to speak 
 to the provincial of the Franciscans about 
 the twelve friars, of whom only four have 
 yet arrived here. I beg you to have a 
 letter written to him, telling him to send 
 the others as soon as possible, if they wish 
 to sail with us" etc. 
 
 Las Casas was consecrated bishop on the 
 3ist of March, 1544, as appears from the 
 following written in Seville and again ad 
 dressed to Prince Philip. "Today, Pas 
 sion Sunday, Our L,ord was pleased to give 
 me the glory of my consecration, while on 
 the same day, according to the liturgy of 
 the Church, he suffered ignominy. I don't 
 know what His Divine Majesty may have 
 had in view in arranging things in that 
 
428 Life ofBartolomd de Las Casas. 
 
 way. But it could not have been done 
 sooner, and there was no time to wait 
 longer, because the ships are in a hurry to 
 sail. The cardinal (of Seville) was very 
 kind to me. His nephew or relative, 
 bishop lyoaysa, was the consecrator, and 
 the bishop of Honduras and bishop Torres 
 were the assistants. The bishop of Hon 
 duras was to sail seven or eight days ago, 
 but in spite of the expense he was put to, 
 in doing so, poor as he is, he waited to 
 participate in the consecration. I would 
 like to compensate him, if I had the where- 
 withs. I humbly request you, and would 
 be much obliged to your Highness, if you 
 should do something for him to repay him 
 
 for what he did for me 
 
 I beg your Highness that, for the love of 
 God, you see to it that the Indians of Cuba, 
 according to the will and kindness of his 
 Majesty, be set free before their masters 
 have a chance to destroy and kill them all, 
 because they are among those who have 
 been most oppressed, afflicted and deci 
 mated. As archdeacon Albaro de Castro is 
 now dead, who had been charged by your 
 Highness with the care of the Indians of 
 Hispaniola, let your Highness appoint 
 some good and conscientious person, or an 
 ecclesiastic to see to it that they, few as 
 
Life of Bartolomd de Las Casas. 429 
 
 they are, be not deprived of the remedy and 
 mercy which His Majesty has dispensed to 
 them. It seems' to me that it would be 
 well to give this charge to Alvaro de L,eon 
 who is a canon of the cathedral of L,a 
 Vega, or to Gregorio de Viguera, the dean 
 of the same Cathedral. " 
 
 It seems that the first American priest 
 never took pen in hand to write without 
 saying something in favor of the Indians. 
 At the risk of being accused of prolixity I 
 cannot refrain translating almost in toto the 
 following long letter addressed from Seville 
 to the same august correspondent on the 
 20th of April, 1544. 
 
 "Your Highness commands me to send 
 you the names of all the friars who are 
 about to sail with me. I'll do so when, 
 please God, we shall have them all together 
 in San L,ucar. Now we have, I believe, 
 forty-three of them, and I know that some 
 more, seven or eight, will come from this 
 province, and they are men of great virtue 
 and zeal. We would have more, but sev 
 eral, more than six or seven, of those who 
 were to come from Castile, have not put in 
 an appearance, some because they lost 
 heart, -others because they were prevented 
 by legitimate reasons, who, said reasons 
 disappearing, we hope, will follow us later. 
 
430 Life ofBartolom& de Las Casas. 
 
 I wisli you would speak to the prior-elect 
 of this province, who was formerly prior of 
 St. Paul's convent at Valladolid. He is a 
 true servant of God, and zealous for the 
 salvation of those people of the Indies. 
 Urge him to use his influence in sending 
 his friars to those countries. And inas 
 much as this convent of St. Paul of Seville 
 is very necessary to the friars, that your 
 Highness will continue to send to the In 
 dies, and inasmuch as every thing in this 
 city (it is frightful) costs one-third more 
 than in Valladolid, and consequently ex 
 penses are that much higher, I would 
 humbly beg you to always remember it in 
 the distributions of alms left by deceased 
 persons, because I believe that they would 
 do as much good to the departed donors, as 
 if they were given for the maintainance of 
 the friars, who go to preach the Gospel in 
 the countries, where those funds were per 
 haps unlawfully accumulated. In fact, I 
 believe that the shelter and good treatment, 
 which the friars receive here, encourage 
 them somewhat not to make too much of 
 the trials, which, they generally believe, 
 await them in the Indies. It has already 
 happened on the contrary, that some of 
 them got discouraged before starting be 
 cause they were not treated kindly. Friars 
 
Life ofBartolom& de Las Casas. 431 
 
 are generally timid and they are like glass, 
 when they go out of their convents. 
 
 In this city and all over Andalusia there 
 are a great number of Indians unjustly held 
 in slavery. When L,icenciado Gregorio 
 L,opez was out here to investigate, by or 
 der of His Majesty, he published an order 
 commanding that everybody having In 
 dians in their keeping should produce 
 them. But many were hidden away, others 
 were sent to the country or elsewhere. I 
 was even informed by a person, who did so 
 to clear his conscience, that there has been 
 even much rascality and bribing on the 
 part of some wicked sinners, who, for the 
 sake of three, four, or ten ducats, did not 
 hesitate to commit as grievous a sin against 
 God as it is to deprive a man of his liberty, 
 and casting many Indians in perpetual 
 slavery by hiding the truth, or by making 
 threats against them, if they came to 
 Lopez, or otherwise by not informing the 
 officers of the things, which they knew and 
 were bound to report. The remedy that 
 should be applied to this crying injustice, 
 according to the opinion of the officers of 
 this Casa de contratacion , who are, as far as 
 I can see, very virtuous and conscientious 
 persons, is this. Let your Highness publish 
 an order all over this province of Andalu- 
 
432 Life of Bartolom& de Las Casas. 
 
 sia, that, everybody having Indian slaves, 
 is bound to produce them within a stated 
 time in this Casa de contratacion under 
 penalty of having all said Indians declared 
 free. And here, without procrastination or 
 process of law, but according to the direc 
 tions given by His Majesty, if the would- 
 be-owner can produce a deed of sale, let the 
 Indian be held as a slave until it can be 
 ascertained how he, who sold the Indian, 
 got him. For they have all been stolen 
 and sold, on being landed here. And the 
 Indian so held should be placed where he 
 could earn something, wherewith to clothe 
 himself, and put something by, to pay his 
 way back to his native country. Other 
 wise he will be subjected to a thousand 
 vexations and to much ill-treatment. I 
 have seen a good deal of this kind of things 
 here. Since they found out that I am here, 
 St. Paul's convent is filled every day with 
 Indians, who come to me under the impres 
 sion that I can relieve them from their 
 captivity and oppression. As soon as their 
 masters find it out by their momentary ab 
 sence from home, they whip them and cast 
 them into irons. 
 
 I would take the responsibility on my 
 conscience and answer for it to God on my 
 deathbed, if your Highness should cause it 
 
Life ofBartolom& de Las Casas. 433 
 
 to be published that every Indian in these 
 kingdoms is a free man, as by right he is. 
 .... These Indians are in extreme neces 
 sity of a man employed to look after their 
 interests, because they don't know how to 
 ask for justice, and they have been so 
 cowed down, that they dare not complain.'' 
 
 The Protector of the Indians proffers 
 next to contribute himself twenty ducats 
 yearly to pay a salary to a certain Diego 
 Collantes, a good man, and the porter of 
 the Casa de contratacion, if crown-prince 
 Philip will only make him the legal attor- 
 ney-in-fact of every Indian in Andalusia. 
 
 One more extract that sounds like a 
 catechism lesson taught to the future king 
 of Spain, Philip II. 
 
 "It is certainly a great responsibility of 
 conscience to leave these Indians in this 
 country. As they come in contact only 
 with street loafers, immoral and vicious 
 people, and inasmuch as they daily see the 
 town taverns full of dissolute individuals, 
 and are witnessing the scandals of houses 
 of illfame, they being men, are bound soon 
 to fall in the ways of those, with whom 
 they consort. In their own country they 
 live indeed better than they do here, and 
 better than many Christians live here. I 
 beg your Highness to fix things sojthat not 
 28 
 
434 Life ofBartolomd de Las Casas. 
 
 a man of tliem will remain in this king 
 dom.' 1 
 
 On the 4th of May Las Casas wrote again 
 to prince Philip. The letter begins thus : 
 "In the five letters which I wrote yon in 
 the past few days, on account of the hurry 
 of the postmen, and on account of many 
 pressing occupations, I forgot to tell your 
 Highness something that you ought to 
 know. It is this. A letter has come from 
 the Indies saying that the Franciscans in 
 New Spain were writing, that no more 
 friars were needed there. Your Highness 
 must know that this is an artful trick of 
 the devil, who wishes to stop the inroads 
 that are being made in his dominions" etc. 
 
 I have quoted largely from Las Casas' 
 correspondence at this period of his life, to 
 show how great an ascendancy he had 
 gained on Charles V., and especially on his 
 son Philip. These quotations tell of quite 
 a large number of requests made to the 
 crown prince. The letters, every one of 
 which was answered, speak of many more, 
 which it would take too long to enumerate. 
 It will be gratifying to learn that all of 
 them were granted. 
 
 This correspondence gives us also an in 
 sight of the how and by whom the Western 
 Continent was christianized. Immediately 
 
Life ofBartolom& de Las Casas. 435 
 
 after the conquest of Mexico, there began 
 to pour into America real phalanxes of 
 apostolic men, who left Spain every year 
 by the hundred, and spread themselves in 
 every nook and corner of Spanish America 
 from New Mexico and Florida to Patagonia. 
 They, year after year, pushed farther and 
 farther the confines of civilization, until, 
 at the end of the sixteenth century, scarcely 
 a pueblo could be found over which did not 
 tower a church steeple. The city of Seville 
 was the Jerusalem, whence issued forth 
 the apostles, who converted America. St. 
 Paul's Dominican convent, where the first 
 American priest lodged more than once, 
 was the cenacle where thousand of apos 
 tolic men prayed and fasted and bade fare 
 well to home and country, as the Apostles 
 had done at Jerusalem between Ascension 
 Thursday and Pentecost Sunday. The 
 bishops consecrated within the venerable 
 cathedral of Seville for the American Mis 
 sions could be counted by the hundred. 
 Ancient Seville was chosen by Divine Pro 
 vidence to be the link connecting the new 
 world to the old in the kingdom of God on 
 earth. 
 
 Although as early as the aoth of April, 
 1544, the " ships were in hurry to sail," 
 L<as Casas did not leave Seville before the 
 
436 Life ofBartolomd de Las Casas. 
 
 ist of July. Wliy? Because there was 
 work for him to do there. He could not 
 leave Spain behind, without weeding out of 
 it the pest of Indian slavery, which threat 
 ened to cast roots in the ancient dominions 
 of his most Catholic Majesty. 
 
 Armed with the new laws, helped by the 
 different religious communities of Andalu 
 sia, and backed by the officers of the Casa 
 de Coutratacion, he instituted wholesale 
 prosecutions of slave holders, and did not 
 rest until the shackles of the unfortunates 
 were shattered. Many of these returned to 
 the different parts of America to sing the 
 praises of the liberator of the Indians. 
 
 It is no exaggeration to say that the first 
 American priest had, by this time, become 
 the best known and the most talked about 
 man in all the Indies ; by the Indians, who 
 through the clergy had heard of him and 
 learned to love him as their friend and pro 
 tector ; by the Spaniards, who hated him 
 and looked upon him as their greatest 
 enemy. 
 
 It would have bankrupted the bishop of 
 Chiapa to entertain, during three months, 
 his forty-five Dominicans and the Francis 
 cans beside the several secular priests, who 
 also followed him to America. As soon as 
 it became apparent that their departure 
 
Life ofBartolomd de Las Casas. 437 
 
 was to be delayed almost indefinitely, the 
 immensely wealthy duke of Medina-Sido- 
 nia, whose brother was a Dominican, en 
 tertained them all in San Linear, where 
 they had gathered to be ready to sail on 
 short notice. They did not, however, 
 spend their time in idleness. Helped by 
 the Dominicans of Andalusia, they scattered 
 themselves in every neighboring town and 
 village and begged enough in cash and in 
 kind to last them during the entire voyage. 
 The feast of Corpus Christi was that year 
 celebrated with unusual solemnity in San 
 lyiicar. The sixty or seventy American 
 missioners filled the sanctuary of its parish 
 church and swelled the chorus that sang 
 Pange Lingua. 
 
 ;*^.= r v aii*" > v""vp' f 
 
 
 
CHAPTER XXIII. 
 
 Las Casas crosses again the Atlantic to 
 take possession of his See. 
 
 A fleet, i. e. twenty-six merchant ships, 
 sailed from San Lucar de Barameda on the 
 loth of July, 1544, for the Indies. One of 
 them was named San Salvador, on which 
 bishop L,as Casas and his numerous clergy 
 had taken passage. 
 
 What beautiful reveries are aroused in 
 the mind of the Christian student of history 
 as he beholds the little craft San Salvador, 
 (the Holy Saviour) whose figurehead is 
 Our L^ord himself calming the waves, and 
 from whose masthead floats the emblem of 
 Redemption ! Out of those same waters,*) 
 whence the great Genoese mariner had 
 sailed, fifty-two years before on his Santa 
 Maria ( Holy MaryJ , now comes forth San 
 Salvador freighted with the clergy of a 
 
 *) Palos on the little river Pinto and San Lucar 
 on the Guadalquivir are but a few miles apart. Both 
 rivers empty into the same bay. 
 
 (438) 
 
Life ofBartolomd de Las Casas. 439 
 
 whole diocese. But one successor of the 
 apostles is there, but quite the number of 
 Our Blessed Lord's disciples. A powerful 
 man-of-war heads the fleet, on which is 
 quartered the vice-queen of the Indies, 
 Dona Maria de Toledo, the widowed 
 daughter-in-law of Christopher Columbus, 
 and the friend of Las Casas. That man- 
 of-war carries an even more precious 
 treasure, the remains of the Discoverer of 
 America.*) These had been lately ex 
 tracted from their temporary resting place 
 in the monastery of Las Cuevas near 
 Seville, to be re buried, according to his 
 last wishes, on the soil of Hispaniola. 
 
 The scene is inspiring, but on the picture 
 there is a blot. On the San Salvador sail 
 with Las Casas four black African slaves, 
 and they are the property of the Protector 
 of the Indians. The bishop of Chiapa, 
 then seventy years of age, had not yet 
 learned that, if it was wrong to trade in 
 
 *) It is about certain that the remains of Colum 
 bus crossed the Atlantic on this occasion. It is cer 
 tain that in 1542 they were not yet in the cathedral 
 of San Domingo. As it is also certain that it was 
 his devoted daughter-in-law who brought over the 
 remains of the discoverer of America, and that she 
 never after returned to Spain, the inference drawn 
 in the text seems to be legitimate. The remains of 
 Columbus were buried in the present cathedral of 
 San Domingo, which was finished in 1544. 
 
440 Life of Bartolomd de Las Casas. 
 
 Indian slaves, it was wrong also to buy or 
 sell the children of the black continent. 
 One of his many requests to Prince Philip 
 made between his election to the episcopal 
 dignity and his departure for America was, 
 that (I loathe to write it) he be allowed to 
 import, free of duty, to the Indies, four 
 Negro slaves. 
 
 The San Salvador struck bottom in clear 
 ing the bar, just outside of the port. It 
 buldged, and became unseaworthy. But 
 with the rising of the tide it proceeded, al 
 though in a dangerous condition, as far as 
 Gomara, one of the Canary islands. Ten 
 days were spent there in repairs ; but most 
 of the friars could not be persuaded to sail 
 again on the untrustworthy San Salvador 
 and took passage on some other vessels. 
 
 The port of San Domingo in Hispani- 
 ola was reached on the Qth of September, 
 1544, and the Dominicans of the place 
 came processionally to meet the bishop and 
 his clergy, who, amidst rejoicings and the 
 singing of the Te Deum went to lodge in 
 the oldest Dominican convent in America. 
 
 But, of all the people in San Domingo, 
 the Dominicans were alone in welcoming 
 their old fellow townsman to the city. The 
 Henriquillo affair was forgotten, and in 
 L,as Casas the San Dominguians saw only 
 
Life ofBartolom& de Las Casas. 441 
 
 the author of the new laws. Even the 
 judges of the Audiencia, except chief 
 justice Cerrato, joined the populace in in 
 sulting demonstrations against the bishop 
 of Chiapa. Indignation meetings were 
 held and it was agreed to withhold the 
 usual alms which the Dominicans collected 
 from door to door according to the rules of 
 the mendicant orders. Threats of all kinds 
 were made, and insults offered to the Pro 
 tector of the Indians. He suffered all in 
 silence for the love of God, and at one time 
 thought of removing to the Franciscan con 
 vent to relieve the Dominicans from the 
 embarrassing position in which his presence 
 had placed them. But, cm bonof It would 
 only transfer the persecution from one to 
 another religious community, and the idea 
 was abandoned. But not an hour did he 
 waver in his resolve to leave nothing un 
 done to stamp out Indian slavery. Only 
 six days had passed when he wrote to 
 Prince Philip to acquaint him with the 
 details of his reception. In words of fire 
 the kidnappers of Indians are denounced, 
 "who steal them on the continent, to sell 
 them in Hispaniola and Cuba." "By 
 fraud," he said, "they succeeded often to 
 brand them with the royal brand itself. " 
 Bitter complaints that the proper persons 
 
442 Life ofBavtolom& de Las Casas. 
 
 were not chosen to iill the offices, and to 
 execute the laws, fill another page of the 
 long letter. 4 'A deputation of Spaniards, 
 amongst them some friars," Las Casas 
 wrote, "are on the road to Spain, to appeal 
 to his Majesty against the new laws. 
 Should it be decided to consider their 
 appeal, let them be detained until I shall 
 have a chance to answer them. I am 
 ready to meet them wherever and when 
 ever you should command me." 
 
 The bishop of Chiapa could not afford to 
 draw on the cargo of provisions brought 
 over from Spain, because it was yet a long 
 journey by water and by land from San 
 Domingo to Chiapa, during which nearly 
 one hundred persons were to be fed. The 
 ostracism, or, if the word may be used, the 
 boycotting of the Dominicans by the San 
 Dominguians had brought the community 
 to the last extremity. In their dire neces 
 sities, they had recourse to God. In relays 
 of eight and ten the days and nights were 
 spent in church, to implore the Divine as 
 sistance. It came. The Franciscans be 
 gan quietly to furnish meals to the Sons of 
 St. Dominic, and an old negro- woman un 
 dertook to make daily rounds of the houses 
 where lived the few God fearing people, 
 and ^her collections ( improved from day to 
 
Life ofBartolom& de Las Casas. 443 
 
 day. From which it appears, that a por 
 tion of the population were after all the 
 friends of religion and of justice. Among 
 these must be numbered chief justice Cer- 
 rato, who at all times sided with the friars 
 in endeavoring to enforce the new laws. 
 Vice-queen Maria de Toledo could also 
 have given material assistance to the 
 bishop and the friars. But her having ar 
 rived in the company of L,as Casas, and of 
 her own brother, who was a Dominican, 
 drew upon her the anger of the populace, 
 and, in spite of her kinship to his Catholic 
 Majesty, she too was for a time boycotted 
 in her own capital. 
 
 Nothing daunted, the Protector of the 
 Indians presented himself before the Audi- 
 encia, and, in the name of the king, sum 
 moned the judges to set free all the Indi 
 ans on the Island. But an immemorial 
 custom and the practice of jurisprudence 
 had confirmed to the subjects of the Span 
 ish crown the ancient right of protesting to 
 the king against newly enacted laws, 
 whenever they thought them prejudicial to 
 their liberties or their interests. When 
 this was done, the new legislation remained 
 in abeyance, until the protest was accepted 
 or rejected. <; Let the laws," said the 
 judges of the Audiencia, whose principal 
 
444 Life ofBartolomd de Las Casas. 
 
 wealth consisted in slaves, u be obeyed, but 
 not enforced." And a deputation was ap 
 pointed to go to the king and to have them 
 repealed or amended. This legal subter 
 fuge postponed in most places the eman 
 cipation of the Indians almost indefinitely. 
 
 Pedro de Cordova had died, Montesino 
 was elsewhere and new friars tenanted the 
 Dominican convent. Their sermons had 
 no longer the ring of those preached thirty 
 years before in the presence of Diego Co 
 lumbus. For several years past they had 
 preserved a discreet silence on the subject 
 of Indian slavery. Some few of the Do 
 minicans in the Indies had even doubted if 
 the opinion so universally prevalent amoiig 
 interested Spanish settlers, that the Indians 
 were natural slaves (servi a natura) might 
 not be the true one. 
 
 History will scarcely prove more useful 
 than romance unless we draw some lessons 
 from it. Had the clergy of these southern 
 states of the American union, presented, 
 during the past one hundred years, a more 
 solid front; had they been bolder and less 
 discreet, much oppression and tyranny 
 would have been prevented. A few of us 
 would have fallen by the assassin's bullets, 
 a few necks would perhaps have been 
 twisted, but for every martyr's life a 
 
Life ofBartolom& de Las Casas. 445 
 
 thousand would have been saved of the in 
 ferior race, whose lot was cast by Providence 
 in our midst. 
 
 The arrival of the Protector of the In 
 dians in Hispaniola aroused the drooping 
 spirits of the Dominicans and their zeal. 
 On the first feast day following, a sermon 
 was preached in the cathedral, during 
 which, though timidly and in veiled 
 phrases, the orator condemned Indian 
 slavery. Promptly a committee, appointed 
 by the town council and by the cathedral 
 chapter, presented themselves to the 
 preacher and to Father Tomas Casilla, his 
 superior, to protest against it. They en 
 larged on the disturbances that would fol 
 low if the subject of Indian slavery was not 
 ignored in the pulpit ; the friars allowed 
 themselves to be bulldozed, and promised 
 to keep silence on the subject. But, to use 
 the words of a modern biographer, no 
 sooner had the committee left the convent, 
 than the Fathers felt ashamed of their 
 cowardice and scarcely dared to look each 
 other in the face. The following Sunday 
 Tomas Casilla himself ascended the pulpit, 
 and in terms that could not be misunder 
 stood, denounced the owners of Indian 
 slaves. He felt like never to end that 
 sermon ; for during its delivery ill sup- 
 
446 Life ofBartolomt de Las Casas. 
 
 pressed murmurs of disapproval were heard 
 in the church itself, while groups of angry 
 men formed outside of it to discuss it. The 
 proposition was even advanced of shooting 
 the preacher through a window of the 
 church. For all that Casilla ascended the 
 pulpit once more on All Saints day, this 
 time, not in the cathedral, for it had been 
 shut against him, but in his own convent 
 church, and delivered a second sermon on 
 the same subject. His apostolic fearless 
 ness was rewarded ; a change of sentiments 
 began to leaven rapidly among the people 
 at large, and in three months time, which 
 were spent by L,as Casas in San Domingo, 
 the rabid and wealthy slave owners lost 
 their hold on the masses and found them 
 selves in the minority. 
 
 Meanwhile widow Solano, who was 
 thought to be the richest person in Hi- 
 spaniola, called at the convent to tell the 
 fathers that their sermons had opened her 
 eyes, and that she was convinced that 
 slavery was a mortal sin. Her two hundred 
 slaves were emancipated at once, and her 
 wealth was placed at the disposal of Las 
 Casas for the maintainance of the mis- 
 sioners during their stay in San Domingo, 
 and to help supporting them in Chiapa. 
 Mrs. Solano's example and the exemplary 
 
Life ofBartolomd de Las Casas. 447 
 
 lives of the friars under trying circum 
 stances, worked so great a revolution of 
 sentiments in the city that their departure 
 for Chiapa was generally regretted. 
 
 A solemn High Mass was celebrated that 
 morning by a friar of the convent, with as 
 deacon and subdeacon, two fathers from 
 the monastery of the Franciscans, after 
 which, the celebrant made to the bishop 
 and to his clergy a touching farewell ad 
 dress. Then headed by cross and acolytes 
 and accompanied by the Franciscan and 
 Dominican communities, the bishop of 
 Chiapa and his clergy, secular and regular, 
 proceeded processionally, through the 
 streets of San Domingo, to the ship that 
 was to land them in Yucatan. The voyage 
 would have probably ended disastrously, 
 owing to the ignorance and carelessness of 
 the captain, who travelled with his newly 
 wedded wife, had it not been for Las Casas, 
 who was no mean mariner, and practically 
 took charge of the vessel. 
 
 A landing was made on the day of the 
 Epiphany, 1545, at the port of San Lazaro 
 (Campeche). The diocese of Chiapa, 
 roughly speaking, was bounded on the east 
 by the Atlantic ocean, on the north by the 
 diocese of Oaxaca, on the west by the 
 Pacific ocean, and on the south by Guate- 
 
448 Life ofBartolom& de Las Casas. 
 
 mala. The province of Tuzulutlan had 
 been added to it at the request of Las 
 Casas himself, who remarked on a certain 
 occasion, that his jurisdiction comprised 
 the half of New Spain. Campeche was 
 within its limits, and on landing at the 
 port of San Lazaro the bishop of Chiapa 
 had at last set foot on soil that was in 
 his own diocese. Accordingly the parish 
 priest of the place, accompanied by many 
 Spaniards and a multitude of Indians in 
 canoes, came to meet their bishop on 
 board his ship. Those among the natives 
 who were yet pagans presented themselves 
 naked, while the Christians wore a coarse 
 cotton blanket. It was late in the day be 
 fore the church was reached, and only one 
 Mass was celebrated, at which bishop, 
 priests and people assisted. Then the 
 Spaniards first, and then the Indians were 
 admitted to kiss the episcopal ring. 
 
 The Dominicans went to lodge in dif 
 ferent houses and were treated everywhere 
 courteously and with generous hospitality. 
 Every Sunday one of them preached in the 
 church ; but, by order of the bishop, who 
 wished to take possession of his diocese 
 peacefully, refrained from touching on the 
 subject of slavery. Every day at the sound 
 of the bell the whole community gathered 
 
Life ofBartolomd de Las Casas. 449 
 
 in the church to recite the office in com 
 mon, as if they were living in a well regu 
 lated monastery. The governor of Yuca 
 tan happened to be absent, but his lieuten 
 ant, on being notified by courier of the ar 
 rival of the bishop, sent word from Merida, 
 that he and the clergy be treated as well as 
 princes of the royal blood 1 should be. In 
 fact the friars were not only provided with 
 all the necessaries and comforts which the 
 country afforded, but were loaded with 
 presents- Their superior fearing that so 
 much generosity on the part of the slave 
 owners should tie their tongues, when the 
 time to speak should arrive, ended by 
 gathering them all together and reducing 
 them to the regularity of community life. 
 The Spaniards, in order to comply with 
 the orders of the governor, treated the 
 bishop with an outward show of politeness 
 and deference. But L,as Casas, while ab 
 staining from speaking in public on the 
 subject of slavery, let no occasion pass to 
 admonish his flock in private about the 
 wrong done to the Indians, and the neces 
 sity of enforcing the new laws. The slave 
 owners, who long before his arrival, knew 
 how large a hand the bishop had in 
 framing them, listened, but not a slave 
 did they free. Purposely misinterpreting 
 29 
 
45 Life ofBartolomd de Las Casas. 
 
 the decrees, by which he was authorized 
 to take possession of his see, they refused 
 to acknowledge him as their bishop, and to 
 pay him the tithes that had accrued since 
 the time he had set sail from San Lucar. 
 Another decree, delivered by him to the 
 officers of the crown, directed them to pay 
 certain sums that were due him. On the 
 same pretext it was also ignored, and the 
 bishop found himself in the impossibility 
 of settling with the captain of the ship 
 for the passage of himself and iiis suite 
 from San Domingo. The friars came 
 to his rescue by disposing of a part of the 
 goods brought over from Spain, while the 
 parish priest loaned the bishop one hundred 
 castellanos. With these, and his note for 
 the balance, the bishop of Chiapa succeeded 
 in proceeding to his see. 
 
 The distance was yet great, and it was 
 found almost impossible to transport by 
 land what was left of the provisions, the 
 equipages and the large packages of eccles 
 iastical goods destined for the churches to 
 be erected in the new diocese. These were 
 loaded on an old natbottomed craft with the 
 intention of coasting along the shore as far 
 as the Tabasco river, on which they could 
 be transported to within a short distance of 
 the city of Chiapa. Twelve of the friars 
 
Life ofBartolomd de Las Casas. 451 
 
 sailed on the rickety flat, and two days later 
 when the bishop and the other passengers 
 were ready to board a faster vessel to fol 
 low them, a courier brought the news that 
 their companions had been shipwrecked, 
 that nine of them had been drowned, and 
 that the others were sheltered in Champo- 
 ton, an Indian village near the shore. 
 Provisions, vestments, church vessels, all 
 were lost. The news of the catastrophe so 
 terrified the friars, grouped around the 
 bishop, that at first they refused to go with 
 him further by water. But the venerable 
 prelate, pointing to the clear skies, to the 
 favorable winds, to the new boat, succeeded 
 at last in gathering them on board. They 
 sat down downcast and mute, without as 
 much as looking at each otjier. Not a 
 wink had they slept, not a morsel had 
 they eaten, not a word spoken in twenty- 
 four hours, when the captain pointed out 
 to them the wreck. Then they rose on 
 deck, and, amidst tears and sobs, chanted 
 the de profundis and went through the 
 office for the dead. 
 
 The 35th, 36th, and 37th verses of the 
 XXVII. chapter of the Acts of the Apostles 
 describes a beautiful scene in the life of St. 
 Paul. It was repeated on board the ship, 
 on which Las Casas travelled. The bishop 
 
452 Life ofBartolom& de Las Casas. 
 
 of Cliiapa could bear no longer tlie pusill 
 animity of his travelling companions. He 
 himself drew out of the pantry bread, wine, 
 and what victuals he could find, set them 
 on the table, sat down, and by word and 
 example shamed the friars into partaking 
 of some food. Courage and cheerfulness 
 were thus reestablished. But at the first 
 sign of an approaching gale he directed the 
 captain to look for shelter, which was found 
 behind Carmen Island, where they landed. 
 Three days passed before the weather sub 
 sided, and then Las Casas, in the company 
 of his faithful companion, Father L,adrada, 
 and two other friars, proceeded by water on 
 his journey, reaching Ciudad Real de 
 Chiapa safely. The other Dominicans 
 ended their^rying voyage by land during 
 the month of February, 1545. 
 
 Ciudad Real de Chiapa was the white 
 man's town, and Chiapa itself was an old 
 Indian pueblo a few miles away. The re 
 ception given to the bishop was about on 
 the same plan (which seems to have been 
 preconcerted) as that received in Campeche. 
 There was an outward show of polite con 
 sideration and generosity, while an under 
 current of opposition to the prelate's ideas 
 and administration was felt during the first 
 days after his arrival. As no episcopal 
 
Life of Bartolomd de Las Casas. 453 
 
 palace had yet been provided, the bishop 
 was assigned the well appointed, but vacant 
 residence of an absent Spaniard, nearby 
 the convent which had been built for the 
 friars. 
 
 The real sentiments' of the Whites about 
 their new bishop must be gathered from 
 the letter dated in Guatemala the loth of 
 September, 1543, which I gave in a former 
 chapter. All the slave-owners in the In 
 dies were interested in making his ad 
 ministration a failure, in order to destroy 
 his influence at court ; and letters poured 
 into Ciudad Real encouraging and spurring 
 its residents to resist the pretensions of the 
 Protector of the Indians. One of these, 
 quoted by Remesal, affords a sample of the 
 others. "People say here that the sins of 
 your country must be very grievous indeed, 
 when God thought it necessary to punish 
 them by sending you that antichrist (L,as 
 Casas) for a bishop. n 
 
 An attempt was made to practically 
 modify his views on Indian slavery, by 
 making him a participant of the fruits 
 thereof. There was at first lavishness in 
 their hospitality ; and the bishop was 
 plainly given to understand, by deeds, if 
 not by words, that his episcopal see would 
 prove a sufficiently soft one, if he would 
 
454 Life ofBartolom& de Las Casas. 
 
 but consent to leave matters in statu quo. 
 The bait unfortunately had proved too 
 tempting to many of the American prelates. 
 Even his lordship of Guatemala, the 
 energetic and zealous Marroquin, the here 
 tofore friend of I^as Casas, who had shared 
 his opinions, had succumbed to its allure 
 ments, and was now enjoying the revenues 
 of a Repartirniento. Las Casas too was 
 but a child of Eve, thought the Spaniards 
 of Ciudad Real, and perhaps he would yet 
 see that his humanitarian theories, which 
 in Spain he had succeeded in imposing on 
 the ruling powers, were Utopians and im 
 practicable in America. They were not 
 left long undeceived. 
 
 The ecclesiastical affairs of Chiapa were 
 found to be in a deplorable condition, as 
 might have been expected. Erected into a 
 diocese several years before, Chiapa had 
 never yet seen a bishop. A poorly built, 
 small, and unattractive church was called 
 the cathedral, which was served by only 
 two clergymen, the Dean of the chapter, 
 Gil Quintana, and the Canon Juan Perera. 
 Besides the parish priest of Campeche, who 
 was, as far as known, a worthy ecclesiastic, 
 there were only three other secular priests, 
 who were young and had no particular 
 charge. One of them travelled about, 
 
Life ofBartolom6 de Las Casas. 455 
 
 from pueblo to pueblo, baptizing Indians, 
 for the revenues that the business afforded. 
 The second was a partner in a sugar 
 plantation, attending to the cultivation of 
 the cane, while the third filled the office 
 of a Calpixque, the name given by the 
 Indians to the collector of the tributes, 
 which were paid by them to the owners 
 of the Bncomiendas. The bishop sum 
 moned all three of trrem to live with him, 
 in order to enforce on them ecclesiastical 
 discipline, and to employ them in the 
 work of the ministry. They were paid, 
 out of the bishop's revenues, a small 
 salary, and sat at the same table with 
 him. L,as Casas, in becoming a bishop, 
 had not given up the strict primitive rule 
 of his Order, and never ate flesh meat, 
 which however he supplied scantily to his 
 guests. His monastic habits, his strict 
 application to duty, and perhaps the 
 exacting exercise of authority did not suit 
 two of the young men. One of them, on 
 account of a slight misunderstanding with 
 the vicar general, (a Spaniard who had 
 come from Spain with the bishop) left 
 the diocese, disregarding Las Casas' wishes, 
 and died shortly after. The second un 
 frocked himself and died on the gallows 
 as a criminal, in Nicaragua. The Fathers 
 
456 Life of Bartolomd de Las Casas. 
 
 of Mercy were already established in 
 Chiapa, when the first American priest 
 became its bishop; but. the views of most 
 of them on the subject of slavery did not 
 agree with those of the prelate, and con 
 sequently not much use could be made of 
 them in the proper administration of the 
 diocese. 
 
 The bishop of Chiapa, though coleric, 
 impetuous, and ver^ plainspoken, when 
 ever it was a question of correcting abuses, 
 or the outrages perpetrated against the In 
 dians, was as meek as a lamb, and as 
 humble as a child in the ordinary dealings 
 with his flock. The natives especially had, 
 at all times, free access to his lordship, 
 who shared with them their sorrows and 
 their sufferings. Wooden were the spoons 
 and forks on his table, and the dishes 
 plain earthenware. After mass and his 
 morning devotions, the hours of the day 
 were given to his clergy and to his people, 
 while at night several more were spent 
 in study and in writing. Great was his 
 abiding trust in God, as all his works 
 show, and his habit of prayer was constant. 
 His never ending supplication was that 
 the Father of mercies might enlighten the 
 minds and touch the hearts of the hardened 
 sinners of his diocese, who could not hope 
 
Life ofBartolom6 de Las Casa$< 457 
 
 to obtain salvation, while their oppression 
 of the Indians lasted, and their thirst for 
 illgotten wealth endured. His life in 
 Chiapa was sad indeed. A handful of his 
 countrymen held in slavery thousands of 
 the natives, whose shackles he was power 
 less to break. Daily swarms of these un 
 fortunates filled his house, knelt around 
 him, and kissing the hem of his white 
 habit, their eyes swollen with weeping, 
 detailed in touching and endearing words 
 the cruelties of their masters, protesting 
 at the same time that they had been en 
 slaved unjustly, and in spite of the laws 
 that the white men themselves had made. 
 The Protector of the Indians would then 
 visit this, that, and that other Spaniard 
 to beg, to entreat, or to threaten. But 
 all in vain. The reader needs not be told 
 of the style of his sermons on Sundays 
 and feast days. They reminded the listener, 
 sometime of the persuasive, winning ways 
 of a St. Francis de Sales, but more fre 
 quently, especially in his perorations, of 
 the eloquence of St. Ambrose when threat 
 ening Theodosius with eternal damnation, 
 unless penance was done for the slaughter 
 of the people of Thessalonica. His words 
 fell on the roadside or on rocks. 
 
 Kaster was approaching, and all the 
 
458 Life of Bartolom& de Las Casas. 
 
 Spaniards meant to receive the Sacraments 
 of Penance and Holy Eucharist; for, in 
 those days of faith, not to comply with this 
 precept of the Church was to become a social 
 outcast, little better than a Mahommedan. 
 Nevertheless they continued in open re 
 bellion against their bishop, and defied his 
 authority. They had learned to know that 
 if was useless to entice him with gold or a 
 life of ease, while their conduct had at last 
 convinced L,as Casas, that none but drastic 
 measures would avail to soften the hardness 
 of their hearts. 
 
 Accordingly just before Passion Sunday 
 the bishop withdrew the faculties for hear 
 ing confessions from every priest in the 
 city, secular and regular, except two. These 
 were the Dean and the one Canon of his 
 cathedral chapter. The Fathers of Mercy 
 were excluded, because it was known, that 
 most of them were of the opinion that the 
 Indians were servi a natura. The faculties 
 of the friars and of the secular priests, who 
 had lately arrived from Spain, were also 
 suspended because, being unacquainted 
 with the country and the relations existing 
 between the white and the red men, they 
 were not thought to be competent con 
 fessors. 
 
 At the same time the bishop placed in 
 
Life ofBartolom& de Las Casas. 459 
 
 the hands of the Dean and of the Canon a 
 long list of sins, the absolution from which 
 he reserved to himself. Briefly it meant 
 that the two authorized confessors could 
 not absolve ist any white man who was in 
 possession of real or legal slaves ; 2nd of 
 any owner of a Repartimiento, unless he 
 was willing to set all his Indians free, and 
 to make restitution of all wealth or property 
 accumulated through their enforced labor. 
 
 During the first days of passion week the 
 Canon and the Dean were busy hearing 
 confessions. The former simply and faith 
 fully complied with the injunction of his 
 bishop, but the latter, notwithstanding his 
 solemn promise to do likewise, every time 
 he stumbled on one of the reserved cases, 
 sent the penitent to the bishop with a note, 
 saying: "The bearer has some cases re 
 served by your lordship, although I do not 
 find them reserved in the jus canonieum or 
 in any of the moral theologians." 
 
 The Spaniards were therefore left to 
 choose between excommunication (failure 
 to perform one's Kaster duties, to use a 
 modern expression, was punished with 
 nothing less) and giving up the bulk of 
 their accumulated wealth. L,ike the slave 
 owners of the southern states of the 
 American Union before and during the 
 
460 Life ofBartolomt de Las Casas. 
 
 war of secession, they were convinced that 
 their sugar plantations and their mines 
 would become worthless without the eii- 
 .forced labor of the Indians. Experience 
 taught that it was a mistaken notion, 
 but a conviction it was, and the Guate 
 malans acted upon it. In either case, ex 
 communication or expropriation meant 
 their ruin, and it was decided to leave 
 not a stone unturned to avoid both. 
 
 First the Dean, and then the Fathers 
 of Mercy, waited on the bishop to see if 
 by arguments and persuasion they might 
 not shake his resolution to carry matters 
 to extremes. But to no purpose. The 
 bishop answered that it was not in his 
 power to declare, that one portion of his 
 flock was bound to work and perish to 
 enrich the other, which was but a small 
 minority. Had not the Protector of the 
 Indians studied for thirty years, had he 
 not suffered, spent a fortune and risked 
 his life, time and again, to solve the 
 momentous problem of Indian slavery? 
 And now that the best theologians, the 
 ablest jurists in Christendom, the univer 
 sities and, at last, the supreme power of 
 the Spanish nation had declared that he 
 was right, and slavery wrong, shall he 
 disgrace his old age, and abandon the 
 
Life of Bartolom& de Las Casas. 461 
 
 American race to oppression and ultimate 
 extermination? 
 
 The civil authorities had no jurisdiction 
 over the bishop, but according to a custom 
 that prevailed for centuries among the 
 Spaniards, the Guatemalans availed them 
 selves of what they called the right to re- 
 querir, that is, to summon the bishop in 
 the name of ecclesiastical law, to show 
 cause why he should not grant permission 
 to confessors to absolve them. The re- 
 qiierimientb , or summons were served in 
 the following manner. An instrument was 
 drawn up in proper legal form, and proper 
 ly acknowledged before, and countersigned 
 by a notary public. The sum total of the 
 argument made in it was that Pope Alexan 
 der VI. having granted the Indies to the 
 Spanish crown, they, the Conquistadores, 
 acting in the name of the king, had waged 
 war against the Indians, and that therefore 
 the prisoners made during said wars, were 
 their lawful property and legal slaves. 
 
 Of course the plea was founded on a false 
 premise. But the requerimiento, which 
 was presented and read to the bishop by a 
 deputation of the people, ended with a 
 threat, that, unless their request was com 
 plied with, complaints would be lodged 
 against him before the Metropolitan, the 
 
462 Life ofBartolomd de Las Casas. 
 
 arclibisliop of Mexico, the king and the 
 pope. 
 
 Remesal has preserved us the answer 
 made by L,as Casas. 
 
 "Oh ye blind men, how woefully has 
 satan deceived you. Why do you threaten 
 me with your appeals to the archbishop, 
 the king and the pope? Know ye, that, 
 were I not compelled by the law of God to 
 do as I am doing, and you to obey me, you 
 would yet be bound by the just laws of your 
 king, whose faithful vassals you pretend 
 to be." 
 
 Drawing then forth the new laws, he 
 read to them the statutes relating to In 
 dian slavery and continued. "Not you 
 of me, but I have a right to complain 
 to the king of you, who do not obey 
 his laws." The spokesman of the com 
 mittee answered that a protest against 
 those laws had been sent to the king, 
 and that therefore they should be allowed 
 to remain in abeyance until he should 
 have accepted or rejected their remon 
 strances. The bishop retorted: "Your 
 argument would hold good, were not these 
 laws founded on the laws of God, and were 
 it not an act of natural justice to set free 
 these Indians, who have been tyrannically 
 enslaved. ' > 
 
Life ofBartolom6 de Las Casas. 463 
 
 Nothing came of the requerimiento, and 
 popular clamor succeeded to legal pro 
 ceedings. The blackest calumnies were 
 resorted to, in order to vilify the prelate. 
 The bishop was called a glutton and a dis 
 ciple of Boccaccio. He was better fitted, 
 it was said, to manage a tile or a brick 
 yard than to govern a diocese, which meant 
 that he was an unlettered and an ignorant 
 man. It was even whispered around that 
 he was suspected of heresy. The new laws, 
 as interpreted by him, were but a pretext 
 in his hands to prevent the ministration of 
 the sacraments, as the reformists were then 
 doing in Germany and elsewhere. 
 
 Cartoons had not yet been invented, but 
 ditties caricaturing the venerable prelate 
 were composed and taught to street urchins, 
 who sang them under the windows of the 
 episcopal residence. A villain went so far 
 as to discharge a blank cartridge from the 
 streets into the apartments of the bishop, 
 hoping thus to intimidate him. 
 
 The Dominican Fathers were the only 
 consolation of Las Casas. On Holy Thurs 
 day one of them preached, and his theme 
 was in keeping and according to his ideas. 
 The only effect of the sermon however, was 
 to draw on the fri?rs the hatred which the 
 people nursed against the bishop. Shortly 
 
464 Life ofBartolomd de Las Casas. 
 
 after Baster the governor of Ciudad Real 
 wrote to Charles V. and gave him a one 
 sided and calumnious account of the state 
 of things in the town. The letter has been 
 preserved, of which I'll give the following : 
 "From the letter I wrote you from Coatza- 
 coalcos your Majesty knows already how 
 Fray Bartolome de L,as Casas, the bishop of 
 this city, and, as he says, of half of this 
 New Spain, has landed in Yucatan .... 
 Of ten friars dispatched by him to precede 
 him, only one was saved, and I dare say, 
 and could almost swear to your Majesty, 
 that the citizens of this town would have 
 preferred that the bishop had drowned, in 
 stead of the friars, even if these had been 
 French ....*) The flames of discord 
 went so high in this city during the Holy 
 week that it was observed as if the people 
 were not Christians. The people are so 
 excited that I don't know how to describe 
 it to your Majesty, and the bishop is so rude 
 and so stubborn in his fixed ideas, that he 
 says that even if His Majesty or His 
 Holiness the Pope should so direct and 
 command, he would not desist from his 
 
 *) On account of the several wars between France 
 and Spain, and because of the French privateers, or 
 corsairs, who made travelling in American waters 
 very dangerous, Spaniards had grown accustomed to 
 look upon Frenchmen as little better than Turks. 
 
Life oj Bartolomd de Las Casas. 465 
 
 undertaking, because it concerns the spirit 
 ual welfare of New Spain and of the king 
 himself, on whom he represents himself as 
 having such an ascendency that, as he tells 
 it around, as if for a pastime, he himself 
 had caused the change of policy in the 
 council of the Indies, and the enactment of 
 the recent laws effecting New Spain and 
 Peru . . . ." 
 
 The governor told the truth as far as the 
 disturbances of Holy week were concerned. 
 Dean Gil Quintana had caused them by ad 
 mitting to Holy Communion several slave 
 owners, who had sold and bought Indians 
 publicly during those very days. His un- 
 canonical conduct gave great scandal, and 
 threatened to dethrone episcopal authority. 
 L,as Casas decided that a stop must be put 
 to it, and began by endeavoring to ad 
 minister a paternal admonition. The Dean 
 was invited to dine with his lordship the 
 day after Easter, and the bishop was noti 
 fied that the invitation was accepted. His 
 non-appearance, at the time appointed, 
 nettled the prelate, who sent him word that 
 his presence was needed. The Dean pleaded 
 an indisposition and did not answer the 
 call. A second and a third messenger was 
 sent with no better effect. Then L,as Casas 
 peremptorily summoned the recalcitrant 
 30 
 
466 Life ofBartolomd de Las Casas. 
 
 Dean to appear before him under penalty, 
 of what ecclesiastical censure is not known. 
 Gil Quintana received the summons, dressed 
 and walking about, but folded the paper, 
 put it in his pocket and disregarded its 
 contents. 
 
 The Protector of the Indians (who con 
 fesses in more than one passage of his works 
 his being of a choleric temperament ) with 
 out more ado, ordered his Alguacil*) to 
 proceed to the Dean's house, and arrest 
 him. The going in and out of messengers 
 from the bishop's to the priest's house had 
 attracted the attention of the busybodies of 
 the town, who gathered to see what would 
 happen. The Dean, forced by the Alguacil 
 to come out of his house, made frantic 
 efforts to escape, and cried aloud: "help 
 me, gentlemen, help me, and I will hear 
 the confessions of you all and give you 
 absolution." 
 
 *) A kind of episcopal marshal employed by 
 bishops to enforce ecclesiastical jurisdiction. The 
 ecclesiastical tribunals, recognized as they were by 
 the civil powers, had their own executives as our 
 civil courts have their sheriffs, to enforce their 
 sentences. When however the officers of an eccle 
 siastical court proved insufficient to execute the 
 sentences of the judges, recourse was had to the 
 secular arm. A little over a century ago every epis 
 copal curia in a Catholic country had its own jail, 
 in which refractory ecclesiastics were confined. 
 
Life ofBartolomt de Las Casas. 467 
 
 The alcalde, or the mayor of the town, 
 happened to be in the crowd, and yelled: 
 "aqni del rey /*" which had the same effect 
 as if, in time of siege, somebody should 
 cry : "Treason, citizens, treason!" 
 
 In a few minutes every Spaniard was on 
 the spot armed to his teeth. The Dean 
 was set free, while sentinels guarded the 
 entrances to the Dominican convent to 
 prevent the friars from going to the as 
 sistance of the bishop. Meanwhile a mot 
 ley crowd, headed by the promoters of 
 the demonstration, had penetrated into 
 the episcopal residence, yelling all the 
 while: "Aqui del rey, aqui del rey!" 
 Father Medenilla, one of the Dominicans, 
 and nothing less than a knight of Sala 
 manca, who happened to be in the front 
 apartments of the house, endeavored to 
 pacify the angry crowd, when the bishop, 
 attracted by the noise, was seen coming 
 to face the rioters. He was forced back 
 into his own apartments by the Domini 
 cans, but meanwhile the leading spirits 
 of the mob had also gained access to the 
 room, all speaking and vociferating at the 
 same time. It was pandemonium. The 
 scoundrel, who, some days before, had shot 
 a blank cartridge into the house to frighten 
 him, went so far as to swear there and then 
 
468 Life ofBartolomd de Las Casas. 
 
 that he would yet kill him. Las Casas 
 spoke not a word, but when the storm had 
 spent itself, and there was silence in the 
 room, looked them fixedly in the face, and 
 then, with words not of contempt but of 
 pity and forgiveness, dismissed them from 
 his presence after administering to them 
 a fatherly admonition. 
 
 That night there was more than one 
 Spanish Hidalgo moping in his room, 
 and thoroughly ashamed of himself for 
 having taken part in the day's riotous pro 
 ceedings against the bishop. 
 
 At a late hour the people had come to 
 their senses, and officers proffered to go in 
 pursuit of the outlawed Dean, and to re- 
 arrest him. 
 
 But Las Casas preferred to let him go in 
 peace, not however without suspending and 
 excommunicating him. 
 
 Next day several of the Dominican 
 fathers visited the bishop, and begged him 
 to leave Ciudad Real, for a while at least, 
 because they feared that the threats, made 
 against his life the day before, might be 
 carried out. "But Fathers, where do you 
 wish me to go?" answered the Protector 
 of the Indians. "Where shall my life be 
 out of danger as long as I continue to 
 advocate the liberty of these helpless 
 
Life of Bartolom6 de Las Casas. 469 
 
 ones? If my own interests were at stake, 
 I would gladly abandon them, that peace 
 and quiet might be re-established ; but I 
 am defending the cause of these miserable 
 Indians, crushed and oppressed by un 
 just slavery and unbearable tributes, which' 
 other members of my flock are exacting 
 of them. Here I wish to remain, where 
 is my church, which I accepted as a 
 groom his bride ; I must not abandon it. 
 This episcopal- residence is the fortress 
 entrusted to my keeping, and should they 
 kill me, I wish to consecrate it with my 
 blood, that it may stimulate zeal in others 
 for the house of God, and be made fertile 
 and bear fruits of justice and peace, in 
 stead of the injustice, that now stains and 
 disfigures my diocese. This, Fathers, is 
 my wish and my irrevocable deter 
 mination. But I shall not be so fortunate, 
 as to see the citizens of this town carry 
 out their threats. Other times I found 
 myself surrounded by greater perils, but, 
 on account of my shortcomings, God 
 snatched from my hands the crown of 
 martyrdom. The riotous conduct of the 
 Conquistadores and the venomous hatred 
 they bear me, are of long standing. 
 Their insults wound me no longer, neither 
 do I fear their threats. The insults of 
 
47 Life oj Bartolom de Las Casas. 
 
 yesterday were rnild and moderate, com 
 pared to the affronts I had to bear at 
 their hands in former days both in Spain 
 and in these Indies." 
 
 The bishop was yet conversing with 
 kis visitors, when four other Fathers 
 rushed in the room to tell him, that the 
 man, who had threatened his life the day 
 before, had been stabbed. L,as Casas 
 arose and invited the friars to go with 
 him to the assistance of the wounded 
 criminal. A surgeon was sent for at once, 
 and while his companions busied them 
 selves in stemming the blood that flowed 
 from the open wounds, Las Casas prepared 
 with his own hands the fillets used in 
 bandaging them. Four hours he remained 
 by the side of the sick man, showering his 
 attentions upon him, as if he had been his 
 own brother. It was the vengeance of a 
 worthy bishop. The criminal asked a 
 thousand pardons, became a good Christian, 
 and the lifelong friend of the Protector of 
 the Indians. 
 
 The Spaniards of Ciadad Real made the 
 life of the Dominicans unbearable and im 
 possible. The tactics adopted against them 
 in San Domingo were repeated in Chiapa, 
 and the usual alms collected daily from 
 door to door were no longer forthcoming. 
 
Life ofBartolomd de Las Casas. 471 
 
 It was decided to seek another field for their 
 work, not however without preaching a 
 farewell sermon to the Spaniards. Their 
 departure, the preacher told them, was 
 caused by the hardness of their hearts, and 
 by their sins. It did no good to the slave 
 owners, who, though they considered the 
 friars their enemies, were angered at being 
 told the truth. The neighboring pueblo 
 of Chiapa was visited, and, as both the 
 owner of the Encomienda and the Indians 
 themselves, showed great desire to see the 
 Fathers established in their midst, it was 
 decided to build a convent there. The 
 bishop was invited to bless the corner stone 
 of the church, and, of course the entire 
 community accompanied him to the ancient 
 Indian village. But before taking the road 
 one of the Fathers preached once more in 
 Ciudad Real. The Spaniards were told 
 that, after all, the bishop's opinion, that it 
 was unjust to enslave the Indians, was not 
 so unusual. Bishop Marroquin, when a 
 simple parish priest, had held it. So did 
 the renowned Father Betanzos, so did the 
 Franciscans very generally etc. Although 
 it was safer to keep on the beaten road 
 when travelling through the mountains, it 
 was safer to keep on the narrow path that 
 led to heaven. But it was like preaching 
 to the winds. 
 
472 Life ofBartolom& de Las Casas 
 
 Thousands of Indians flocked, from many 
 miles around, to the reception given by 
 them to L,as Casas in their pueblo of Chi- 
 apa. They met him a good hour's walk 
 from the town, decked for the occasion 
 with rare and costly plumage and with 
 golden chains and bracelets of curious 
 workmanship. They carried in their hands 
 crosses made of feathers and flowers. No 
 sooner had the bishop settled down in the 
 house assigned to him, that delegation 
 after delegation came from different vil 
 lages to beg that the Fathers be sent to 
 them to teach them the Christian religion. 
 The heart of the Protector of the Indians 
 overflowed with joy, and turning to the 
 Dominicans, he addressed them in the fol 
 lowing vein: "Will you now believe me? 
 Is not this what I told you in Salamanca? 
 Write to your brothers, and tell them of 
 the great need, that these poor souls have 
 of their ministration; encourage them to 
 come here and explain to them that, while 
 the hardships are great, the harvest to be 
 gathered is greater. It is now easier for 
 them to come, as they will find you here 
 
 ready to receive them. As what I 
 
 told you in Castile has proved true, ex 
 perience has taught me to hope in Our 
 that what I have prophesied to you 
 
Life of Bartolomd de Las Casas. 473 
 
 in Campeche, the eve of the Kpiphany, 
 namely that the work we have undertaken 
 for God's sake among the Spaniards, will 
 yet be crowned with success, will also 
 prove true. After all the faith inherited 
 from their ancestors, the noble Spanish 
 character, and over every thing else, the 
 grace of God is not dead in them. It was 
 God's providence that guided you here for 
 their salvation, and God's designs shall not 
 be frustrated. You preach the word of 
 God, and Isaias says that God's words are 
 never spoken in. vain. n But even these 
 passing joys of the Protector of the Indians 
 were not free from sorrow. Not a few In 
 dians had come to tell their father the cru 
 elty of their masters at Ciudad Real, but 
 the officers of the law had barred their 
 way. Nay many of them had been pun 
 ished for attempting to approach him. 
 These revelations were made to him in 
 Chiapa. 
 
 Some of the Dominicans established 
 themselves permanently in Chiapa, others 
 formed a community at another pueblo 
 called Cinacatlan, and others in Capana- 
 bastla. In a few weeks nearly all of them 
 had been distributed by their superior, 
 Father Thomas Casilla, throughout the 
 diocese to attend to the evangelization of 
 the natives. 
 
474 Ltf e J Bartolomd de Las Casas. 
 
 Las Casas liimself returned to Ciudad 
 Real to make the necessary preparations 
 for another long journey. His destination 
 was Gracias a Dios, on the Atlantic coast 
 of Honduras, where an Audiencia, or court 
 of appeal, had lately been established for 
 the convenience of the numerous settle 
 ments that had sprung up in Nicaragua, 
 Honduras, Guatemala and Yucatan. Las 
 Casas had been, to a great extent, instru 
 mental in having it established, and some, 
 if not all of its judges had been appointed 
 by his recommendation. . The long and 
 perilous journey was undertaken for two 
 reasons. The first was to ask the assistance 
 of the secular arm to enable him to enforce 
 ecclesiastical discipline, and put an end to 
 the riotous proceedings in his episcopal 
 city ; and the second to assist at the con 
 secration of a new bishop for the diocese of 
 Nicaragua, to which the bishop of Guate 
 mala had also been invited. 
 
 The bishop had not been many days in 
 Ciudad Real, when a bitter disappointment 
 almost destroyed the fair prospects of an 
 abundant harvest of souls, that seemed to 
 be ripe in Chiapa, and in the other mis 
 sions established by the Dominicans. 
 News reached him that the owner of the 
 Repartimiento of Chiapa, either at the in- 
 
Life ofBartolomti de Las Casas. 475 
 
 stigation of the Spaniards of Ciudad Real, 
 or because he had realized that the friars 
 would not prove pliable tools in his hands 
 to his own aggrandizement, had turned 
 their enemy. In fact he had already gone 
 so far as to represent to them, that other 
 provinces, especially Mexico City and its 
 surrounding towns, would afford a better 
 field for their talents and abilities. His 
 Indians, he urged, were naturally stupid 
 and could never be converted into real 
 Christians. Every obstacle was thrown in 
 the way of the friars to obstruct .their work 
 of evangelization, and evidently nothing 
 would have been more welcomed by the 
 Spanish Hidalgo than the departure of the 
 Fathers from the pueblo. As other tactics 
 did not avail to rid himself of them, he did 
 not hesitate to invent before both the white 
 and the red man, the blackest calumnies 
 against them. 
 
 The sudden appearance of the white 
 man on his flying monster (the horses) 
 with the lightning in his hand (fire arms) 
 had enshrouded the Spaniards, in the 
 minds of the natives, in a supernatural at 
 mosphere almost everywhere in Mexico 
 and Central America. The Kncomenderos 
 (owners of Bncomiendas) did not fail to 
 encourage the superstitious dread that the 
 
476 Life ofBartolom6 de Las Casas. 
 
 Indians had conceived for the new-comers, 
 in order to bring them into abject and more 
 than servile subjection to their every whim. 
 On the contrary, one of the first cares of 
 the Missioners was to teach the Indians the 
 truth, and gradually lead their converts to 
 assert their manhood. Hence complica 
 tions and misunderstandings, that would 
 appear ludicrous and amusing, were not 
 the motives, and causes that led to them 
 cruel and despicable. The following from 
 Remesal gives us a hint of the relations 
 that often existed in those early days 
 between the clergy, whose mission was to 
 civilize and christianize the aborigines, 
 and the Encomenderos of many a Reparti- 
 miento, especially in remote and out of the 
 way places, whose only object in life was 
 to enrich themselves with the labor of the 
 Indians. We shall learn why the Knco- 
 mendero of Chiapa and the Dominicans fell 
 out so soon. 
 
 One day an unusually bright Indian ad 
 dressed the Fathers as follows : "Fathers, 
 we are loosing our wits under your instruc 
 tion. When you first came here, our lord 
 told us that he had written a letter to the 
 emperor, his brother, asking that he send 
 you here to say Mass for us, and that you 
 came here to obey his orders. He has told 
 
Life of Bartolomd de Las Casas. 477 
 
 us since that you were very poor people, 
 and because you had nothing in your own 
 country, you had come here to be supported 
 by us. He has commanded us not to give 
 you the wherewiths to build a convent and 
 a church. On the contrary you taught us 
 not to call him our lord, because there is 
 only one L,ord, the God of Heaven, whom 
 you preach to us. You told us also that he 
 is a mortal man like ourselves, that he is 
 subject to the emperor, the king of Castile, 
 and that the alcaldes of Ciudad Real can 
 punish him ; while he tells us that he is 
 next to God, and that no one else is his 
 superior. I do not understand you ; you 
 speak ill of our lord, and he speaks ill of 
 you, while at the same time we see you 
 consorting together, as if you were friends, 
 although not one of you dares tell us in his 
 presence what you teach us in his absence. 
 If you pride yourself in being called truth 
 ful men, speak clearly, because your way 
 of doing has wrapped us, as it were, in a . 
 cloud of smoke. " 
 
 Happily the Dominicans persevered in 
 their work, and in the course of time suc 
 ceeded, both in Chiapa, which is now the 
 southernmost state of the Republic of 
 Mexico, and in Guatemala, to christianize 
 the masses of the aboriginal race. As early 
 
478 Life of Bartolom6 de Las Casas. 
 
 as tlie year 1562, when many of the com 
 panions of Las Casas were yet living, a 
 system of feudalism had been established 
 with here and there a Cacique, a Spaniard 
 or a Spanish American as lord, to whom 
 moderate tributes were paid, while over 
 vast areas, as in the land of war, the In 
 dians acknowledged as their lord the Span 
 ish king alone. The missioners had, by 
 this time, relaxed to some extent from 
 their stiff and uncompromising attitude to 
 wards their countrymen, and these, from 
 the exemplary life of the Fathers and from 
 their constant preaching had learned to 
 treat the natives as men. All of which can 
 be gathered from a letter of Las Casas 
 written about 1562 to those same missioners 
 in answer to a joint one of theirs, which 
 they had addressed to him in Spain. 
 
 It was about the first of June 1 545 when Las 
 Casas set out on his journey to Gracias a 
 Dios. Quite a number of persons accom 
 panied him ; three Dominicans, one of the 
 canons of the cathedral, who had come 
 with 1 him from Spain, Gregorio de Pas- 
 quera, Rodrigo Lopez and some other lay 
 men. He could have chosen a shorter and 
 an easier route to the Atlantic coast, but 
 preferred to travel through the mountain 
 ous regions of Tuzulutlan, the land of war, 
 
Life of Bartolo m& de Las Casas. 479 
 
 in order to revisit the scenes of his former 
 labors and the numerous children he had 
 there begot in Christ. The Dominican 
 Fathers had, by this time, located in 
 several pueblos, in each of which could be 
 seen, towering over every other, the house 
 of God. They came a long way to meet 
 their former brother, their bishop, and the 
 founder of their flourishing missions, to 
 embrace him, and to shed tears of joy with 
 him. How touchingly must have each of 
 them detailed to the venerated Protector of 
 the Indians the religious progress of his 
 own particular locality. Next came the 
 Caciques of the entire province. To each 
 of them L,as Casas delivered an authen 
 ticated copy of the decree, signed by 
 Charles V. himself, insuring to him for 
 ever, his freedom, his lands, and the non 
 interference, by white men, in his home 
 affairs. The chiefs thanked him for having 
 made them Christians without the shedding 
 of blood or the loss of their liberty. Not a 
 Christian native failed to visit the Protec 
 tor of the Indians on this occasion, and 
 each brought to him some little present of 
 the best that the country afforded. 
 
 The mission assigned by divine pro 
 vidence to Las Casas was a strange one. 
 Nearly all of his long life's hours of hap- 
 
480 Life ofBartolom& de Las Casas. 
 
 piness were spent with the untutored chil 
 dren of America, while it fell to his lot to 
 wage a war against his own countrymen, 
 that lasted for more than fifty years. In 
 Tuzulutlan, one of his travelling com 
 panions, the canon of his cathedral, tired 
 of that life of hardships, abandoned him 
 and went to Guatemala, where he was re 
 ceived and sheltered by bishop Marroquin. 
 From the letter, which I am about to 
 quote, it appears that the two prelates of 
 Guatemala and of Chiapa must have met 
 somewhere in Tuzulutlan, and very proba 
 bly the canon, after some altercation with 
 L,as Casas, offered his services to his lord 
 ship of Guatemala, which were accepted. 
 Certain it is that the friendship between 
 Ivas Casas and Marroquin ended with their 
 visit to Tuzulutlan in 1545. 
 
 The canon, on reaching Guatemala must 
 not have been in a very apostolic frame of 
 mind, and his falling out with his former 
 bishop must have been well known to the 
 citizens of Santiago de los Caballeros. 
 These had learned from the canon, and 
 probably also from bishop Marroquin, that 
 I^as Casas had gone to Gracias a Dios for 
 the express purpose of bringing pressure to 
 bear on the Audiencia to enforce at once 
 the new laws. Accordingly they decided 
 
Life of Bartolomt de Las Casas? 481 
 
 to compel, by intimidation, the Protector 
 of the Indians to desist from his under 
 taking. An insulting letter was written, 
 in w r hich the Bishop of Chiapa was called a 
 traitor to his country and to the Christians. 
 He was also told that a body of men were 
 ready in Guatemala to ambush him on his 
 way back from Gracias a Dios, to arrest 
 him and to deliver him to Gonzalo PizaTro 
 or to his aid-de-camp Francisco de Carba- 
 jal,*) who would do short work with him. 
 The erstwhile canon of the cathedral of 
 Ciudad Real had the weakness to sign that 
 letter. Bishop Marroquin was to be present 
 at the consecration of the bishop of Nica 
 ragua, but after visiting Tuzulutlan re 
 turned to Guatemala without going to 
 Gracias a Dios. The .following extract 
 
 *) The youngest of the four Pizarros was then at 
 the head of an army in Peru in open rebellion 
 against the Spanish crown. His aid-de-camp Fran 
 cisco de Carbajal is one of the most remarkable 
 figures in early American history. Trained under 
 the renowned general Gonzalo de Cordova he had 
 soldiered in Italy, France and Spain for forty years. 
 In America he became a sort of free-lance and 
 fought in Peru with the leaders of several factions. 
 Brave, fearless, and cruel, he was withal the 
 greatest wit and his lance the most dreaded in all 
 the Indies. He was taken prisoner with Pizarro at 
 the battle of Xaquixaguana the 9th of April, 1548, 
 and died next day on the scaffold at the age of 83 
 after a confession that lasted the whole of an after 
 noon. 
 
 31 
 
482 Life ofBartolomt de Las Casas. 
 
 from a letter of his, dated the lyth of 
 August, 1545, throws considerable light on 
 the events of that year, and on the rela 
 tions existing between the bishops of Cen 
 tral America at that period. 
 
 "Since I wrote you my last long letter, I 
 had occasion to visit the province of Tuzu- 
 lutlan ....... reaching its borders on the 
 
 vigil of St. Peter (28th of June), I met 
 there many messengers from the Caciques 
 and many prominent men of that country, 
 who told me that they were very glad of 
 my coming. At half a league from the 
 pueblo, the whole population, men, women 
 and children turned out to meet me, dan 
 cing as a sign of joy at my coming. On 
 my arrival they presented me with an ad 
 dress, in which many thanks were given 
 me for the trouble I had taken in coming 
 to them ..... The Spaniards here are the 
 
 enemies of the friars and often used to say 
 to them : Why don't you go to Tuzulutlan? 
 This moved Bartolome de L,as Casas and 
 the other Fathers to try and gain admission 
 to the country. Through the intervention 
 of third parties, they succeeded in being 
 admitted to the presence of the Caciques 
 of these provinces and especially to that of 
 Jecudstlan, which is a pueblo adjoining 
 Tuzulutlan. By presents and by promises 
 
Life ofBartolom& de Las Casas. 483 
 
 that no other Spaniard would be admitted, 
 the people little by little lost their fears 
 and admitted the friars. They listen 
 cheerfully to the word of God, and seem to 
 be satisfied as long as nothing is asked of 
 them; what the future will develop, God 
 only knows. To tell the truth, I am con 
 vinced that all those people will be brought 
 to the knowledge of God. The friars de 
 serve much credit for their good intentions 
 and their zeal. The province is the crag 
 giest and most mountainous in these parts, 
 and so poor that there is no likelihood of 
 the Spaniards ever settling there. The be 
 ginning of it is about eighty miles from 
 here, and from thence to the sea about one 
 hundred and thirty. Only seven or eight 
 pueblos, worth mentioning, are to be found 
 in all that province. I give you these par 
 ticulars because I know that the bishop of 
 Chiapa and the friars will write you 
 miracles about it ; but what I tell you is the 
 truth. As I was about to leave, Fray Bar- 
 tolome arrived there. L,et your Majesty be 
 kind to the friars and encourage them. 
 That country is well adapted to them, 
 there being no Spaniards or any one else 
 to worry them ; and there they will be at 
 liberty to go and come and to rule as they 
 please. I will visit them occasionally and 
 
484 Life ofBartolom& de Las Casas. 
 
 give them wliat encouragernent I can. 
 When Fray Bartolome told me that the 
 country belonged to his diocese, I answered 
 that he was welcome to it. I know that 
 he will draw on his imagination and invent 
 tales about things which neither he, or 
 your Majesty, understand. His general 
 make up is hypocrisy, and in fact, as soon 
 as he was given a mitre, his vanity propped 
 up, as if he had never been a friar, and as 
 if the sincerity of the zeal, he had showed 
 while attending to certain important busi 
 ness, should not now need be proved by 
 greater humility and greater holiness. As 
 my object in writing was only to inform 
 you about Tuzulutlan, I here end my 
 letter. " 
 
 Why did Marroquin speak so disparag 
 ingly of his old friend L,as Casas, to whom 
 he had, only five or six years before, en 
 trusted the task of going to Spain to recruit 
 Dominican and Franciscan friars for his 
 diocese of Guatemala. The following 
 seems to be the explanation. When Mar 
 roquin met Las Casas in Tuzulutlan, no 
 doubt both prelates were on their way to 
 Gracias a Dios. In Tuzulutlan the Guate 
 malan bishop discovered that the main ob 
 ject of L,as Casas' journey was not the con 
 secration of a new bishop, but to have the 
 
Life ofBartolomd de Las Casas. 485 
 
 new laws enforced at once by the Audien- 
 cia. He was besides invited to join his 
 friend and the new bishop of Nicaragua in 
 a requerimiento to the Andiencia. These 
 things were not to the liking of his lord 
 ship of Guatemala, who retraced his steps 
 to his episcopal city. 
 
 If we look for a reason for this conduct, 
 we shall find it in a letter written jointly 
 by Las Casas and the bishop of Nicaragua 
 and addressed to Prince Philip, informing 
 him that ' 'the bishop of Guatemala had a 
 Repartimiento, and many slaves, and that 
 the doctrine preached by him on the sub 
 ject, was not sound. " Oh Marroquin, oh 
 Marroquin, quantum mutatus ab illo! The 
 conquistadores had baited the apostle of 
 Guatemala, and even he had taken to the 
 bait. 
 
 It must have been the end of August or 
 the beginning of September when Las 
 Casas arrived in Gracias a Dios. Fray An 
 tonio de Valdivieso, the bishop-elect of 
 Nicaragua, was already there, but the 
 bishop of Honduras had not yet arrived. 
 While waiting on him in order to proceed 
 to the ceremony of consecration, the bishop 
 of Chiapa was not idle. 
 
 He had learned, by long experience, that 
 no important and permanent reforms were 
 
486 Life ofBartolom& de Las Casas. 
 
 to be obtained through the American crown 
 officers, unless they were constantly goaded 
 to action by trie central government at 
 Madrid. Therefore, on the 3oth of Sep 
 tember he addressed a long letter to Prince 
 Philip, regent of Spain during his father's 
 absence, petitioning ist, that the Audien- 
 cia of Gracias a Dios be instructed to assist 
 him and his clergy to perform the pastoral 
 office and to instruct the natives, sd, that 
 a salary be assigned to the secular clergy 
 engaged in the work of the ministry in his 
 diocese. 3d, that sufficient funds be ap 
 propriated to make the necessary repairs on 
 his cathedral church. 4th, that he be 
 authorized to name successors to his ex 
 communicated dean, and to the canon, who 
 had left for Guatemala, from among the 
 clergy, who were already in the diocese. 
 5th, that the name of the province known 
 as the land of war be changed to Vera 
 Paz (true peace.) 6th, that sufficient altar 
 wine be furnished to the Fathers working 
 in the province of Vera Paz. All of these 
 requests were granted in good time. Others 
 had to be referred to his majesty the em 
 peror. 
 
 It is interesting to know that the name 
 Vera Paz designating, in all geographical 
 maps, the northern province of the present 
 
Life ofBartolom& de Las Casas. 487 
 
 Republic of Guatemala, was given to it by 
 the first American priest. It has now en 
 dured for more than three centuries and a 
 half, and is a better monument than all the 
 statues erected, in almost every city of 
 Spanish America, to perpetuate the 
 memory of the Protector of the Indians. 
 The original royal decree calling that 
 province Vera Paz can yet be consulted by 
 the historian. It is dated Madrid the i5th 
 of January 1547. 
 
 It might have been expected that Las 
 Casas could have , gotten what he wanted 
 from the Audiencia, the establishment of 
 which he had solicited, and obtained, 
 practically selecting himself its judges. 
 But, as one of his best biographers re 
 marks, he was no reader of characters, and, 
 in almost every instance, was disappointed 
 by the persons selected to cooperate with 
 him in his humanitarian works. In this 
 instance, his old friend of Guatemala, Mal- 
 donado, had been appointed chief justice at 
 Las Casas' request. Evidently the Audi 
 encia had adopted a policy of procrastina 
 tion in considering the demands of the 
 bishop of Chiapa, and the prelate had 
 made himself obnoxious in pressing them. 
 
 One day Las Casas on entering the wait 
 ing room of the court, heard an officer re- 
 
488 Life ofBartolomd de Las Casas. 
 
 mark: "Put out that fool." On another 
 occasion he was in the court room in the 
 company of Father Valdivieso, and on his 
 giving an answer which did not suit the 
 chief justice, the latter ordered the mar- 
 shall to expel him by force, with the re 
 mark: "Estos cocinerillos en sacandolos 
 del convento no hay quien se puede averi- 
 guar con ellos ." (As soon as these little 
 pigs get out of their convents, nobody can 
 get along with them.) 
 
 Next day Las Casas presented himself 
 again in court, and in the presence of the 
 officers, and several other persons, who 
 happened to be present, solemnly sum 
 moned the judges, in the name of God, of 
 St. Peter and Stl Paul, and of the Roman 
 Pontiff, to relieve his Church and his flock 
 from the tyranny, to which they were then 
 subject; to give orders to the Spaniards not 
 to obstruct the preaching of the Gospel ; 
 and to enable him to exercise freely his 
 jurisdiction. It caused the chief justice to 
 lose his temper altogether. 
 
 u You are an unblushing coward," he 
 said, u a bad man, a bad friar, and a bad 
 bishop. You ought to be punished." The 
 venerable prelate, in spite of his years, 
 never was at a loss for a repartee, and an 
 swered with dignity: "I fully deserve all 
 
Life ofBartolomd de Las Casas. 489 
 
 that your lordship has said of me, Senor 
 Licenciado Alonso Maldonado.' ' He meant 
 to say, and the judge understood him : U I 
 deserve to be punished for having recom 
 mended the like of you to the supreme 
 iudgeship." 
 
 This episode in the life of Las Casas 
 illustrates the arrogance with which the 
 civil magistrates often dealt with even the 
 ecclesiastical hierarchy, although certain 
 modern historians would have us believe 
 that in those days the Church had usurped 
 civil jurisdiction. 
 
 ' It is true, however, that Maldonado, 
 after swallowing his anger, thought him 
 self excommunicated, and excommunica 
 tion then meant disability to hold office. 
 An ambiguous apology was therefore offered 
 the bishop, a few days after, and, on the 
 strength of that, a priest was found to ab 
 solve him. 
 
 His early training, years of study, his 
 experience at the court of Spain had made 
 of L,as Casas one of the foremost lawyers 
 and legislators of his time. As no other 
 method seemed to avail, he at last in 
 stituted legal proceedings before the Audi- 
 encia. On the 22d of October he presented 
 to the court a written document which be 
 gins as follows : "May it please your lord- 
 
49 Life ofBartolom& de Las Casas. 
 
 ships. I, the bishop of Ciudad Real de 
 Chiapa, Don Bartolome de Las Casas, in 
 order to comply with my pastoral duty, the 
 dictates of my conscience, and the sacred 
 canons, which I swore to obey, on the day 
 of my consecration, hereby ask and demand 
 of your lordships, the president and judges 
 of this royal Audiencia, sitting in this city 
 of Gracias a Dios, the following : 
 
 ist. That, whereas my church is op 
 pressed and my jurisdiction impeded, so 
 that I cannot exercise it freely, on account 
 of the disobedience and rebellion of the or 
 dinary judiciary o'f my episcopal city, your 
 lordships give me freedom, and the means 
 to exercise said ecclesiastical jurisdiction, 
 .... as you are by law bound to do." 
 
 It would take too much space to give tne 
 whole document in full, and the substance 
 only follows. 
 
 The 2d asks the assistance of the secular 
 arm to punish ecclesiastical and secular 
 lawbreakers. 
 
 3d. Relief for the Indians of his diocese 
 from enforced labor, excessive tributes, etc. 
 
 4th. Ecclesiastical tribunals must be 
 declared competent to decide litigations in 
 matters pertaining to the Indians. 
 
 5th. The Spaniards must be forbidden 
 and prevented from establishing Encomien- 
 das in Yucatan, as per the new laws. 
 
Life ofBartolom& de Las Casas. 491 
 
 6th. The Indians, now free vassals of 
 the crown, must be protected. 
 
 7th. Substantially that the new laws 
 must be declared in force at once. 
 
 Four days after, that is, on the 26th of 
 October, 1545, the Audiencia took action, 
 and formally answered the bishop's sum 
 mons or Requerimiento. Six of his re 
 quests were apparently granted, that is, 
 promises were made to comply with them. 
 But the last was referred to his Majesty the 
 king. 
 
 The answer, or sentence ended as fol 
 lows: "In this Audiencia answer was al 
 ways made to the bishop of Chiapa and to 
 the other bishops, and their requests have 
 always been complied with, if not incon 
 sistent with good government, with a view 
 especially to insure good treatment, preser 
 vation and instruction of the natives. The 
 liberty of the Church has in no manner 
 been interfered with, or its jurisdiction ob 
 structed, whereas the bishop of Chiapa has 
 attempted to usurp that of his Majesty, the 
 emperor, as appears from his pretensions 
 before this Audiencia, of which, and of his 
 want of respect to this court, his Majesty 
 shall be informed, in order that he may be 
 punished, etc." 
 
 One of the practical effects of the court's 
 
492 Life of Bartolom& de Las Casas. 
 
 decision was the appointment of one of its 
 own judges, Juan Rogel, to go to Ciudad 
 Real and see that the tribunal's mandates 
 were carried out. 
 
 But Las Casas expected no substantial 
 reform from the Audiencia, and even before 
 the promulgation of the latter's decree, that 
 is, on the 25th of October, he had written 
 another long letter to Prince Philip, to 
 which bishop-elect, Valdivieso, also affixed 
 his signature. The two prelates informed 
 the regent that the Church in their dioceses 
 was oppressed, and that the condition of 
 the Indians was becoming worse, because 
 the new laws were not enforced. Mal- 
 donado, they said, together with his rela 
 tives, had sixty thousand Indians in his 
 possession. He connived, and even en 
 couraged the thefts of the royal officers, 
 while the unscrupulous Audiencia did little 
 or nothing to prevent their crimes. 
 Scarcely anybody, except the bishops and 
 the friars, who were therefore persecuted, 
 were faithful servants of the king. Unless 
 a remedy be found, the bishops protested, 
 they would be compelled to abandon their 
 dioceses. The Indians must be given their 
 liberty, by obliging the Spaniards to ob 
 serve the new laws. All bishops must be 
 exhorted to exercise their zeal in procuring 
 
Life ofBartolomd de Las Casas. 493 
 
 the enforcement of the same, and in pro 
 tecting the Indians. At the same time no 
 obstacle should be thrown in their way, in 
 the exercise of their jurisdiction, while the 
 privileges of their respective churches must 
 be preserved intact. The division of the 
 present diocese of Chiapa was recom 
 mended. This should not extend further 
 than the province of Vera Paz, while a new 
 one should be erected in Yucatan, and an 
 other in Soconusco. Judge Herrera is re 
 presented as worthy of the office, of which 
 he was the incumbent, while one L,icen- 
 ciado Diego de Pineda, heretofore pro 
 secuting attorney in the Audiencia of 
 Panama, is described as a just and virtuous 
 man, and recommended for promotion. In 
 Mexico, Guatemala, Nicaragua and Yuca 
 tan, there were rich and influential men of 
 a turbulent character, who should be ex 
 pelled from those provinces. 
 
 We know already that the new laws had 
 caused bloodshed and rebellion in Peru, 
 but we learn, from Las Casas' and Valdivi- 
 eso's letter, that the Spaniards of Mexico 
 and Central America were, in secret, ready 
 to rise and follow the standard of Gonzalo 
 Pizarro, if a serious attempt was made to 
 enforce the new laws in all their rigor. 
 
 Charles V. and Philip II. have been 
 
494 Life ofBartolom& de Las Casas. 
 
 blamed for partially repealing trie new 
 laws, and for yielding to the American 
 rebels. Had they not done so, American 
 independence would probably have been 
 achieved three and a half centuries sooner, 
 but the natives would have certainly suc 
 cumbed to the avarice and bloodthirstiness 
 of the Conquist adores. L,as Casas, through 
 out his long life, followed but one prin 
 ciple. Euat coelum, thought he, and his 
 school, but let justice Me et nunc be done 
 to the Indians. 
 
 The court of Spain on the contrary was 
 guided by practical statesmanship ;. it 
 yielded, when it could not rule, it governed, 
 whenever government did not imply the 
 destruction of both the white and the red 
 man. This explains how the Protector of 
 the Indians enjoyed, for full fifty years, the 
 favor of Ferdinand and of Isabella, of 
 the great Ximenes, of Pope Adrian, of 
 Charles V., and of Philip II., while his 
 efforts in behalf of the aboriginal Americans 
 apparently never were backed by sufficient 
 energy to insure a full measure of success. 
 The Spanish government availed itself of 
 Las Casas' purity of life, of his influence, 
 of his learning, and of his prodigious energy 
 in consolidating its western empire, and in 
 checking the greed and the cruelty of the 
 
Life of Bartolom& de Las Casas. 495 
 
 Conquistadores,and thus prevent, at least, 
 the extinction of the inferior race. But it 
 could not always follow in practice the im 
 petuous Clerigo, the choleric friar, and the 
 thundering bishop. 
 
 The Audiencia also wrote to the regent, 
 giving in their own way their side of the 
 question, and representing Las Casas in 
 so unfairly a light, that Judge Herrera 
 declined to sign the letter. He wrote 
 individually to the emperor giving his 
 reasons for so doing, as follows. "I did 
 not sign the letter which this Audiencia 
 wrote you, because it appeared to me too 
 violent against the bishops of Chiapa and 
 Nicaragua, and against one of the Fathers, 
 Fray Vicente. The bishop of Chiapa 
 appears to me very bold. Their offense 
 consisted of certain writings, which have 
 been sent to you by the Audiencia. I 
 think that their intentions were good, 
 although their zeal was intemperate. I 
 know that the natives are very much ill- 
 treated. Your Majesty call them free ; 
 would to God, that they were treated as 
 slaves are ; for then they would not be used 
 as carriers, they would be nursed in sick 
 ness, and fed when hungry.'' Herrera's 
 letter is dated the 24th of December, 1545. 
 
 Chief justice Maldonado also thought 
 
496 Life ofBartolomd de Las Casas. 
 
 proper to write a private letter, in which 
 he says: "Your Majesty will see from the 
 letter of the Audiencia, how the bishop of 
 Chiapa has been acting. Ever since he 
 came back from Spain a bishop, he has 
 been so arrogant (tiene tanta soberbia) 
 that nobody can get along with him. We 
 think here, that a convent in Castile would 
 suit him better than a mitre here. It would 
 be well to make him explain to the council 
 of the Indies, how the Indians are subject 
 to ecclesiastical jurisdiction. Because we 
 declined to place them under that juris 
 diction, as he had requested us to do, he 
 excommunicated the Audiencia. It is ad 
 visable that your Majesty erect Yucatan into 
 a diocese. If Father Toribio Motolinia of 
 the Order of St. Francis, one of the first, 
 who came to Mexico, would accept that 
 mitre, he would be well worthy of it, as he 
 is in every way a very virtuous and eloquent 
 man. I think that he would fill the office 
 well."*) 
 
 *) Toribio Motolinia acquired a very unenviable 
 reputation ever since the beginning of the present 
 century, when students began to be interested in 
 early American history. His real name was 
 Toribio de Benavente. But the Mexicans used the 
 word "Motolinia" (poor) to distinguish the Fran 
 ciscans from the other Spaniards, who, they thought, 
 were rich. Motolinia had come to Mexico shortly 
 after the conquest by Cortez, and because Motolinia 
 
Life ofBartolom6 de Las Casas. 497 
 
 The bishop of Honduras had at last 
 arrived in Gracias- a Dios, and the conse 
 cration of bishop-elect Valdivieso took 
 
 was the first word he had learned of the Aztec 
 language, he called himself Father Toribio Moto 
 linia^ i. e. Toribio the poor. Though zealous almost 
 to fanaticism in the conversion of the Indians, he 
 always took good care to remain on the side of the 
 Conquistadores,and, when in 1553, printed copies of 
 I/as Casas' pamphlet "Brevisima Relation de La 
 Destruction De Las Indias" began to find their way 
 among the Spaniards of New Spain, he wrote a 
 memorial to Charles V., in which he painted the 
 bishop of Chiapa in scarcely brighter colors than 
 those, with which he was want to describe the devil 
 to his Indian converts. The memorial can be seen 
 in an appendix to Quintana's biography of Las 
 Casas. This author sizes Toribio Motolinia as fol 
 lows: "This friar went to Mexico with the other 
 missionaries of his Order at the request of Cortez, 
 and reached New Spain shortly after the fall of the 
 Aztec capital. He was easily distinguishable among 
 his brothers by his threadbare habit, his almost con 
 tinuous preaching, by his austerities, as well as by 
 his talents. He acquired quite a store of infor 
 mation concerning the prehistoric times of Mexico, 
 and wrote several pamphlets on the subject, which 
 are quoted by Herrera and other historians. The 
 most pronounced trait of his character however, was 
 his charity to the Indians. All that he possessed 
 was theirs, and if any of them appealed to him in 
 hunger, he divided with him the alms which were 
 intended for himself. This is the picture which 
 Bernal Diaz makes of him, and it is strange that 
 between the two opinions which divided the theo 
 logians and jurists of his times, he should have 
 embraced the one least favorable to the Indians. 
 
 The reader understands now, why judge Mal- 
 donado thought friar Toribio Motolinia so well fitted 
 to wear an American mitre. 
 32 
 
498 Life of Bartolomd de Las Casas. 
 
 place. By that time letters had arrived 
 from Ciudad Real, in which Las Casas 
 was informed by his vicar general, Canon 
 Perera, that a committee, empowered by 
 the citizens to act in their name, had pre 
 sented themselves at the episcopal residence 
 to requerir or summon the bishop, or, in 
 his absence, his vicar general to withdraw 
 the reservation of the casus conscientiae 
 touching on Indian slavery and restitution. 
 Their pretensions were again founded on 
 the bull of Pope Alexander VI. They 
 asked for an answer in writing. The 
 prudent vicar general promised to give it 
 within thirty days, and declared to them 
 that he was ready to absolve them all, 
 if they consented to set their slaves free 
 and to make restitution of their illgotten 
 wealth. The citizens allowed the thirty 
 days to lapse without calling for the 
 promised answer, because they thought 
 they had struck on a better plan to ob 
 tain their object. This consisted of an 
 offer to Perera v to put him in possession 
 of the church, as its parish priest, with 
 a fat salary and other inducements, if he 
 would accept it, and relinquish at the same 
 time the office of vicar general. Happily 
 Perera proved loyal to his bishop and 
 spurned the bribe. 
 
Life ofBartolom6 de Las Casas. 499 
 
 The gravity of the situation in the epis 
 copal city decided the sending of commis 
 sioner Rogel to Ciudad Real, and at once 
 Las Casas left Gracias a Dios in time to reach 
 home for the celebration of the Christmas 
 festivities. But a letter had preceded him 
 to Ciudad Real from some interested 
 party, saying: "The bishop has left for 
 Chiapa to encompass the ruin of your poor 
 city. With him goes one of the judges to 
 re-assess the tributes to be paid by the In 
 dians. It is a mystery to us here, how 
 you do not put an end to so many evils. n 
 The letter was addressed to the town 
 council. The city fathers thereupon rang 
 the tocsin, and called the citizens to a 
 mass-meeting, and in the presence of the 
 assembled multitude the secretary was 
 directed to read a declaration to the effect 
 that the bishop had taken possession of 
 his see without notifying in person, as he 
 was by law bound to do, the Cabildo, 
 and without exhibiting the papal bulls 
 and the royal decrees ; and that he had 
 notwithstanding reserved to himself the 
 absolution of cases, on the subject of 
 which an appeal was pending before the 
 emperor. It was therefore resolved, that, 
 whereas the threatened reduction of 
 tributes would impoverish the citizens, 
 
500 Life ofBartolom& de Las Casas. 
 
 and cause an uprising among the Indians, 
 the bishop be notified to attempt no in 
 novation, and to proceed like the other 
 bishop of New Spain, i. e. wait until 
 the procurators appointed to lay the matter 
 before the emperor, whose decision they 
 were ready to obey, should return from 
 Spain. It was also resolved that, should 
 any disorder arise from the bishop's non- 
 compliance with the foregoing demands, 
 he alone, not they, be held responsible. 
 A third resolution was also carried to the 
 effect, that, unless the bishop acceded to 
 their demands, he would be deprived of 
 his temporalities. And there and then the 
 Cabildo passed an ordinance forbidding 
 citizens from paying tithes under penalty 
 of a fine of one hundred castellanos. 
 
 One of the Dominicans residing in Cina- 
 catlan heard of the doings of the mass 
 meeting, and fearing that the raving popu 
 lace might take possession of the bishpp's 
 library and manuscripts, or destroy them, 
 sent a lay brother and a layman to place 
 them beyond their reach. The two gentle 
 men went by night, and, although dis 
 covered, succeeded, after a scrimmage with 
 a couple of watchmen, to fulfil their Mis 
 sion. By this time Las Casas had reached 
 Copanabastla, a few leagues farther from 
 
Life of Bartolomd de Las Casas. 501 
 
 Citidad Real than Cinacatlan. While rest 
 ing for a day, he thought it advisable to 
 send ahead a reliable gentleman of his suite 
 to quietly investigate the state of the 
 popular mind. The messenger, or detective, 
 had not been an hour in town, in the house 
 of a confidential friend, when his presence 
 was discovered, and he owed it to the swift 
 ness of his lower limbs, that he succeeded 
 in getting away by a circuitous route, that 
 landed him in the convent of Cinacatlan. 
 Here the friars wrote L,as Casas a letter, en 
 closing a copy of the resolutions passed by 
 the angry people of his episcopal city. 
 
 These, having been informed by the sud 
 den appearance and subsequent flight of the 
 bishop's messenger, that his lordship was 
 approaching, resolved anew not to allow 
 him to again take possession of his cathe 
 dral, without a pledge, that the reservation 
 of the casus conscientiae would be with 
 drawn. Indian sentinels were placed on 
 all the roads leading into town to watch 
 him and to give the alarm as soon as he 
 should appear. 
 
 Las Casas on his side, while resting at 
 Copanabastla, had instructed his Indian 
 carriers to precede him with his baggage to 
 the city. But on receipt of the letter from 
 the friars of Cinacatlan, the carriers were 
 
502 Life ofBartolomt de Las Casas. 
 
 recalled, not however before they had 
 reached the sentinels guarding the ap 
 proaches to the town. When it was 
 learned in Ciudad Real that the bishop had 
 recalled his Indian carriers, the citizens 
 concluded that he must have abandoned 
 the idea of forcing matters, and that he 
 would either keep out of town, or give the 
 desired pledges, and on the strength of that 
 conviction the mob gave vent to their feel 
 ings by wild rejoicings, as if an attack from 
 an enemy had been repelled. 
 
 Meanwhile Las Casas was in consultation 
 with the Dominicans of Copanabastla, as to 
 what should best be done in the premises. 
 Opinions varied ; but he reasoned thus : 
 "If I go not to Ciudad Real, I'll become an 
 exile from my Church, and, inasmuch as it 
 would be myself who would remain away 
 from it of my own free will, it could be 
 said with sufficient reason: 'the bad man 
 fleeth while nobody pursueth him.' And 
 after all, how do we know that they want' 
 to kill me, and that the sentinels are there 
 for that purpose? That the good Fathers 
 of Cinacatlan wrote me the truth, I have 
 no doubt, but there are also the words of 
 our Lord himself, which he spoke to his 
 disciples, when they advised him not to 
 return to Judea, where the people had at- 
 
Life of Bartolomt de Las Casas. 503 
 
 tempted to kill him the day before ; 'there 
 are twelve hours in a day, and in every 
 hour, in every moment, and in every instant 
 men may change their minds.' Surely 
 the people of Ciudad Real are not demons 
 to be so confirmed in sin. Is it possible 
 that the mercy of God will permit them to 
 commit so horrible a crime as to murder 
 me? If I go not to my church, what 
 reasons shall I have for complaining to the 
 pope and to the emperor? Am I sure that 
 I shall not be able to ward off their anger, 
 and that my first word shall be stifled by a 
 dagger's thrust through my heart? Yes, 
 my good Fathers, trusting in the mercy of 
 God and your fervent prayers, I have re 
 solved to proceed on my journey, as no 
 other alternative is left me without com 
 promising my duty." 
 
 Amidst the tears of the friars the fearless 
 prelate set out at sunset, and late at night 
 surprised the sentinels, who had fallen 
 asleep. "Are you ready," he said to them 
 in their native tongue, "to betray your 
 Father?" And the Indians fell on their 
 knees to beg his pardon. 
 
 Las Casas feared to compromise those 
 innocent tools of the tyranny of the Span 
 iards, who would have wreaked on them 
 their vengeance, had the sentinels allowed 
 
504 Life of Bartolomd de Las Casas. 
 
 him to enter the city unheralded. To save 
 them from punishment, Father Vicente 
 Ferrer, one of his travelling companions, 
 and a stalwart negro * ) servant, were ordered 
 to hold fast the two diminutive Guate 
 malans, while he himself tied their hands 
 on their backs. With his willing prisoners 
 walking in front of him, Las Casas made 
 straight for the cathedral, and on reaching it 
 early in the morning, aroused the sacristan 
 and notified the Cabildo of his presence, 
 asking them to come to the church, where 
 he was waiting for them. 
 
 Had a beleaguered city fallen suddenly 
 into the hands of the enemy, it could have 
 created no greater commotion, than the un 
 expected appearance of Las Casas did that 
 early morning in Ciudad Real. The alder 
 men met to deliberate on what should be 
 done next, and concluded to answer the 
 bishop's call. Entering the church, they 
 took seats, as if expecting to hear a sermon, 
 and, when the venerable prelate issued 
 forth from the sacristy, not one of them 
 rose from his seat, or exhibited the least 
 
 *) The negro was of gigantic stature, and in jest, 
 I/as Casas had. dubbed him Juanito (little John). 
 He traversed the continent with the bishop three 
 times. Whenever they came to a swollen stream, 
 Juanito's duty was to cross the prelate on his 
 shoulders. 
 
Life ofBartolom6 de Las Casas. 505 
 
 sign of respect by word or action. On the 
 contrary the secretary, regardless of the 
 sacredness of the place, proceeded at once 
 to read aloud the resolutions adopted at the 
 mass meeting, suppressing however all 
 threats of an appeal to the archbishop, the 
 pope, or the king, and all allusions to the 
 non-payment of temporalities. 
 
 L,as Casas answered them as a father 
 would his children. Meekly he protested 
 his readiness to make any sacrifice, even to 
 the shedding of his blood, in their behalf, 
 assuring them that absolutely nothing would 
 be done injurious to their temporal welfare, 
 unless it was found necessary to prevent 
 sins against God, or their neighbors. They 
 should not be guided by sudden impulses, 
 originating in anger, but view things calm 
 ly in the light of reason and faith. The 
 Protector of the Indians possessed the 
 eloquence of persuasion, and could reach 
 the hearts of an audience as well as he was 
 wont to convince the intellects. The ad 
 dress seemed to produce the desired effect, 
 when an impertinent fellow, without rising 
 from his seat, or uncovering his head, said : 
 "You ought to be proud of having among 
 your flock as distinguished gentlemen as 
 these, who are now listening to you. Your 
 not treating us with the consideration due 
 
506 Life ofBartolomt de Las Casas. 
 
 to our rank has been keenly felt. Why did 
 you not call on us, if you had any business 
 with us?" 
 
 The bishop, assuming an attitude of 
 gravity in keeping with the dignity of his 
 office, answered calmly: "Sir, and all of 
 you here present, know ye, that, if I shall 
 have to transact any temporal affairs with 
 you, I will call at your houses ; but, if I 
 shall have to speak to you about matters 
 concerning the service of God, or your 
 souls, I will send for you, and you shall 
 have to come to me, if you are Christians." 
 
 The white haired prelate had risen and 
 was walking into the sacristy, when the 
 secretary respectfully approached him and 
 handed him a petition of the people, 
 which, he said, needed not to be read, as 
 the substance of it all was only that the 
 citizens be treated as Christians, and that 
 confessors be appointed to absolve them. 
 "Very well," answered the bishop; "I 
 hereby appoint Canon Perera and all the 
 Dominican fathers in this diocese that shall 
 be recommended by their prior. y ' 
 
 "We do not want them," answered more 
 than one man, "because they share your 
 opinions ; give us some who will not strip 
 us of everything we have." 
 
 "Very well, I appoint the Guatemala 
 
Life of Bartolomd de Las Casas. 507 
 
 priest, who resides in this diocese, and one 
 of the Fathers of Mercy. n 
 
 On hearing which, Father Vicente Ferrer, 
 who stood by his side, pulled the bishop's 
 cassock, and said loud enough to be heard : 
 u Do no such thing, bishop, even if they 
 should kill you." But Las Casas knew 
 that the two ecclesiastics he had in mind 
 were both learned and zealous, and that 
 they thought as he did on the subject of 
 Indian slavery. Father Ferrer would have 
 received rounds of abuses, if nothing worse, 
 for his trouble, had not the Fathers of 
 Mercy entered the church, who, on hearing 
 of the bishop's arrival, had come to invite 
 him to their convent. 
 
 Las Casas, who was then seventy-one 
 years old, had walked not less than twenty 
 miles the night before, and the excitement 
 of the morning had so worked on his nerves 
 that on arriving at the convent, he feared 
 a collapse. Retiring at once to one of the 
 cells, he called for a glass of wine and some 
 bread, with the intention of going to sleep. 
 The lay brother had not yet come with the 
 refreshments, when a deafening noise was 
 heard in the convent yard below. Another 
 riot seemed to be imminent. In fact in a 
 few minutes the house was filled with 
 armed men, and the bishop's heart failed 
 
508 Life of Bartolomd de Las Casas. 
 
 him for a moment, at the sight of swords, 
 stilettos, and daggers, in the hands of the 
 ruffians, who surrounded him. In the 
 turmoil the cause of the tumult could not 
 readily be ascertained by the friars. But, 
 by the time that L,as Casas had learned that 
 the people's anger had been aroused by the 
 tying up of their sentinels, he had regained 
 full self possession, and composedly ad 
 dressed the crowd : "Gentlemen, blame no 
 one else but myself, for I it was, who sur 
 prised them and tied them up with my own 
 hands, knowing, as I did, that otherwise 
 they would be punished for not giving 
 warning of my coming on account of the 
 love they bear me, whom they consider 
 their benefactor." 
 
 "So goes the world, " yelled one of the 
 crowd, "the savior of the Indians ties up 
 the Indians, and then writes memorials to 
 Spain against us, as if it was we, who ill- 
 treat them, while he manacles them and 
 forces them to walk in front of him three 
 leagues at night. " 
 
 Another scoundrel addressed to the bishop 
 so villainous an insult, that historians, says 
 Quintana, refused to put it on record. Las 
 Casas ? answer to it was : "I prefer not to 
 answer you, sir, and leave the punishment 
 to God, whom you have outraged rather 
 than myself. ' ' 
 
Life ofBartolomd de Las Casas. 509 
 
 While these scenes \vere being enacted 
 in the bishop's room, an individual chanced 
 to see his colored servant in the convent 
 yard, and picked up a quarrel with him, 
 endeavoring to elicit an acknowledgement 
 that he it was, who had tied the Indian 
 sentinels the night before. The colored 
 man, while protesting that his lordship 
 himself had done the work, was stretched 
 on the ground by one fell blow of a stick in 
 the hands of his assailer. A number of 
 young friars, who were firm believers in 
 muscular monasticism, rushed to the as 
 sistance of the Negro, and cleared the yard 
 of armed men. The rioters in the interior, 
 of the building unexpectedly meeting with 
 resistance, and realizing that they should 
 have either to shed blood within the sacred 
 precincts, and thereby incur excommuni 
 cation, or withdraw, retired, and left the 
 bishop in peace. 
 
 The disgraceful doings just described all 
 took place before nine o'clock in the morn 
 ing ; but by noon of the same day, a com 
 plete revulsion of popular sentiments had 
 already apparently taken place. The 
 leaders had come to ask forgivenes on 
 their knees to L,as Casas, and the Cabildo 
 and city officers had presented themselves 
 without their side-arms and insignia of 
 
5io Life of Bartolomd de Las Casas. 
 
 office, in sign of submission and repentance. 
 A procession was formed and the bishop 
 was escorted, in a manner befitting his 
 episcopal dignity, to one of the best houses 
 in town, which had been hurriedly fitted up 
 for his reception. 
 
 Some writers have gone to considerable 
 trouble to explain this sudden change of 
 front by the Spaniards of Ciudad Real. 
 The explanation is not far to seek. There 
 were in town quite a number of late emi 
 grants from Spain, conservative men, who 
 owned no slaves, and who had taken no 
 part in the riotous proceedings. They 
 naturally sided with the bishop. After the 
 frensied excitement of the morning, as 
 generally happens in like cases, reason re 
 asserted itself, and the haughty and heart 
 less Conquistadores realized that they might 
 yet have to pay for their outrages with the 
 confiscation of their estates and possibly 
 with exile or life imprisonment in a Spanish 
 dungeon. Steps were therefore taken to 
 disarm the bishop's anger, and public 
 games and popular demonstrations in his 
 honor were decreed to take place on the 
 day after Christmas. The holy days were 
 spent in the best of harmony, and judging 
 from outward manifestations of respect and 
 veneration, one might have thought L,as 
 
Life of Bartolomd de Las Casas. 511 
 
 Casas the best beloved pastor of his flock 
 in all Christendom. But the slave-owners 
 had not surrendered to their enemy ; only 
 their tactics had been changed. 
 
 If they could but nullify the work of the 
 Dominicans, the friars would perhaps re 
 alize, in the course of time, that their zeal 
 was exercised in vain, and leave the 
 country. The bishop, thus deprived of 
 their assistance and of their influence, 
 would probably follow in their footsteps. 
 Accordingly before many days had passed 
 of the year 1546, it was decided to under 
 take a raid on the mission of Cinacatlan. 
 The maurauders marched into the pueblo 
 in serried ranks, where the leaders rushed 
 into the convent, and, while they quarrelled 
 with the Fathers and clamored to be ab 
 solved, the rank and file sacked the village. 
 Then they marched back into Ciudad Real, 
 as if in triumph. 
 
 Why had not a special officer been sent 
 to Central America to promulgate the new 
 laws and to try to have them accepted as 
 had been done in Mexico, Hispaniola and 
 Peru? It had been done, and Pedro de 
 Quinones was the incumbent. But he was 
 in Nicaragua, endeavoring to expel captain 
 M'elchor Verdugo, who had been com 
 missioned by the viceroy of Peru to go to 
 
Life ofBartolomd de Las Casas. 
 
 that country and recruit loyal volunteers, 
 who were to be shipped south to oppose the 
 open rebellion of Gonzalo Pizarro. Ver- 
 dugo 'had gathered considerable reenforce- 
 ments of men and provisions, but instead of 
 taking them to Peru, had started a little 
 revolution of his own in Nicaragua, and 
 had become the terror of that country. 
 It must not be forgotten that the whole of 
 Spanish America was in a state of semi 
 anarchy and that the supremacy of Spanish 
 power hung by a thread. The new laws 
 were the cause of it all, and the officers of 
 the crown had adopted everywhere (except 
 in Peru) an attitude of yielding indulgence, 
 and of forbearance, fearing that the sudden 
 and strict enforcement of the new legis 
 lation, instead of mending, would^ make 
 matters worse. These considerations had 
 guided the Audiencia of Gracias a Dios in 
 sending commissioner Rogel to Ciudad Real 
 to replace Quinones and to throw oil on the 
 troubled waters, while partially complying 
 with the peremptory requests of the Protector 
 of the Indians. 
 
 Charles V., on the 2oth of November, 
 1545, had mitigated and partially repealed 
 the new laws, ,biit when Rogel reached 
 Ciudad Real at the beginning of 1546 the 
 news had not yet arrived in that city. 
 
Life of Bartolom& de Las Casas. 513 
 
 Las Casas was getting ready for another 
 long journey to Mexico city, the object of 
 which was to attend a convention of all the 
 bishops and of the most prominent ec 
 clesiastics of New Spain, called together 
 by a special royal commissioner ad Jioc^ 
 named Francisco Tello de Sandoval. The 
 matters to be discussed by the prelates were 
 the relations existing, or that should exist 
 between the Spaniards and the Indians. j 
 
 As might have been expected of him, 
 Las Casas began pleading in behalf of his 
 afflicted flock with commissioner Rogel, as 
 soon as the judge arrived in town, and 
 quoted frequently the new laws. One day 
 Rogel, who seems to have been of a well 
 balanced turn of mind, answered Las Casas 
 as follows: "Your lordship knows very 
 well that those new laws were enacted in 
 Valladolid by the combined wisdom of 
 learned and experienced men ; but one of 
 the reasons why they are so detested in the 
 Indies is because your lordship had a hand 
 in soliciting and in framing the same. 
 TheConquistadoresare so prejudiced against 
 you, that whatever you do, appears to them 
 as done, not so much for the love you bear 
 the Indians, as through the hatred you bear 
 the Spaniards. Your lordship has been 
 called by Don Francisco Tello to the con- 
 33 
 
514 Life of Bartolom& de Las Casas. 
 
 vention of prelates, which he is convoking 
 in Mexico city. I would be much pleased, 
 if your lordship should hasten your de 
 parture, because as long as you will be 
 here, I'll be able to do nothing. I would 
 not like them to think, that it is to please 
 you, that I do what I am otherwise in duty 
 bound to do, because it would then all be 
 labor lost. " 
 
 L,as Casas felt the force of the unpalatable 
 arguments and hastened his preparations to 
 leave Ciudad Real for Mexico city. The 
 journey was begun during the first week of 
 lent, but the travelling was done by easy 
 stages, as it was yet several months before 
 the time appointed for the meeting of the 
 council. The Spaniards, who had been at 
 peace with their bishop for three months, 
 made some demonstration of sorrow at his 
 departure, and a goodly number of men ac 
 companied him on foot as far as Cinacatlan. 
 Here the bishop spent several weeks with 
 the Dominicans, conferring with them and 
 discussing the matters or schemata to be 
 treated by the council ; for he expected that 
 the doctrines heretofore preached and up 
 held so tenaciously by himself and his 
 fellow-friars would be much controverted 
 in the City of Mexico. He meant to be 
 well prepared to defend them single handed, 
 
Life ofBartolom6 de Las Casas. 515 
 
 if necessary, inasmuch as, since his return 
 from Gracias a Dios, he had received letters 
 from the royal commissioner Francisco 
 Tello de Sandoval, almost reprimanding 
 him for having denied the Sacraments to 
 the Conquistadores, thereby condemning the 
 conduct of the other American bishops, who 
 had adopted more conciliatory methods. 
 
 L,as Casas ' travelling companions on this 
 occasion were Father L,adrada, Vicente 
 Ferrer, Luis Cancer, Dominicans, and 
 canon Perera. The latter, at some time or 
 other, had held opinions on the subject of 
 Indian slavery contrary to those of the 
 bishop. But, after assisting at the Cina- 
 catlan conferences, became so convinced 
 that the friars were in the right, that he 
 returned to Ciudad Real for the sole purpose 
 of correcting his past error in the presence 
 of the cathedral congregation. He read 
 from the pulpit a statement on the subject 
 after which a sermon followed so con 
 vincing and persuasive, that several slave 
 owners in the audience repented of their 
 past sins. 
 
 Bravo ! canon Perera ; your name, linked 
 to that of the immortal Protector of the 
 Indians, will go down to posterity as that 
 of an honest man and of a good priest. 
 You first obeyed your bishop, contrary to 
 
5i 6 Life of Bartolomd de Las Casas. 
 
 your own convictions, and, when these 
 vanished before valid argument, you con 
 fessed your error. 
 
 The bishop and his companions made 
 another stop in the town of Antequera, in 
 the Diocese of Oaxaca, where they lodged 
 in the Dominican convent of the place. 
 Here L,as Casas heard that his quondam 
 dean Quintana was in the neighborhood, 
 and took some steps to have him arrested, 
 but did not succeed. The dean (I say it 
 here to be done with him) proceeded to 
 Mexico, where, through the intercession of 
 influential friends, he succeeded to have 
 himself readmitted to the exercise of his 
 ministry. But, unrepentant, and fixed in 
 his ideas, he made his way back to Ciudad 
 Real, and, having obtained from the Con- 
 quist adores power of attorney to act for them 
 in Spain, went to court as their agent 
 against L,as Casas. He never relented in 
 his efforts to down his former bishop until 
 he saw him resign the mitre. The un 
 fortunate dean was drowned during his re 
 turn voyage to America. 
 
 Las Casas' journey was nearing its end, 
 and the news of his impending entrance 
 into the City of Mexico affected the citizens, 
 as if an army was threatening the American 
 metropolis. His name was on everybody's 
 
Life of Bartolom& de Las Casas. 517 
 
 tongue and it was feared that some disorder 
 might be caused by his sudden appearance. 
 Sandoval therefore sent him word not to 
 enter the city, until further advised. When 
 however the bishop of Chiapa arrived at 
 ten o'clock the following morning, the 
 crowds, who had gathered to see the re 
 nowned Protector of the Indians, uttered 
 not a disrespectful word. On the contrary 
 some passersby (who must have owned no 
 slaves) were heard to remark: u there 
 goes the holy bishop, the true Father of the 
 Indians." Thousands of others must in 
 their hearts have admired and applauded 
 the friend of the friendless, as he wended 
 his way to the Dominican convent. 
 
 That same afternoon the viceroy and the 
 judges of the Audiencia called to pay their 
 respects to the bishop of Chiapa. Promptly 
 L/as Casas gave another sign of his exces 
 sively unbending character. It should 
 have been expected that, for the sake of 
 his Indians, if for nothing else, the Pro 
 tector of the Indians would have treated the 
 gentlemen, who had in their hands the 
 government of New Spain, with the defer 
 ence and consideration due to their ex 
 alted positions and to their rank. But, 
 no sooner had they left his apartments, 
 when L,as Casas sent them word, not to ex- 
 
518 Life ofBartolomd de Las Casas. 
 
 pect Mm to return their visit, as they had 
 incurred excommunication by ordering, 
 some time before, the amputation of a 
 clergyman's hand (for what crime it is not 
 said) in the city of Antequera. Of course 
 the news of the bishop's sally spread 
 through the city, and, as the judges could 
 produce plausible reasons for their official 
 action, not they, but the bishop was made 
 the butt of much witty criticism. 
 
 It is astonishing, that, notwithstanding 
 his bluntness and his apparent inclination 
 to court opposition by flinging, in season 
 and out of season, unpalatable truths in the 
 face of officialdom, Las Casas, not only 
 commanded the respect of all that were 
 sincere and honorable, but, by the force of 
 his eloquence, the purity of his life, and by 
 his disinterestedness, generally succeeded 
 in the end to bring them over to his way 
 of thinking. In the council, over which 
 the archbishop of Mexico presided, Las 
 Casas soon became the leading spirit. The 
 other members, having a voice in its de 
 liberations, were the bishops of Guatemala, 
 Oaxaca, Michoacan and Tlascala ; the 
 superiors or provincials of the religious 
 orders, and the most prominent theologians 
 and jurists to be found in New Spain. 
 
 No other convention of men (that which 
 
Life ofBartolomd de Las Casas. 519 
 
 declared the independence of these United 
 States not excepted), assembled on this 
 western continent in the interests of liberty, 
 ever had as weighty problems to solve. 
 The bishop of Chiapa took care from the 
 beginning that the council should not re 
 solve itself into a debating society, for the 
 display of the oratorical talents of its mem 
 bers, and insisted, that certain indisputable 
 principles should first be agreed upon, as a 
 basis of all discussions ; and he carried his 
 point. I will translate five of these prin 
 ciples which embody the others. 
 
 ist. All persons, no matter what sect 
 or religion they may profess, and no matter 
 what sins they may have been guilty of, 
 rightfully own and possess what they ac 
 quired without prejudice to others. The 
 principle applies to their kingdoms, prin 
 cipalities, seignories, dignities and juris 
 dictions. 
 
 2nd. Only one method was appointed 
 by divine providence to teach the true re- 
 legion to pagans, i. e. that which through 
 the reasoning faculties convinces the in 
 tellect, and attracts the will by the gentle 
 ways of charity. This applies to all man 
 kind irrespective of errors and corruption 
 of morals. 
 
 3rd. The Holy See, in granting the 
 
52O Life ofBartolomt de Las Casas. 
 
 supreme dominion over the Indies had 
 only one object in view, and that was the 
 preaching of the gospel, the spread of the 
 Christian religion, and the conversion of 
 the aborigines. It did not intend to make 
 the Castilian monarchs greater or richer 
 princes than they were before. 
 
 4th. In making said grant the Holy 
 See did not intend to deprive the native 
 rulers of their estates, jurisdictions or dig 
 nities. Much less did it mean to confer 
 upon the kings of Spain the power to do 
 aught that might retard or obstruct in any 
 manner the conversion of the natives. 
 
 5th. The kings of Spain, inasmuch as 
 they offered and bound themselves to pro 
 vide the means for preaching the gospel in 
 the Indies, are obliged by the law of God 
 to pay the necessary expenses of the evan 
 gelical laborers. " 
 
 It is not difficult to read the unmistak 
 able handwriting of the Protector of the 
 Indians in the foregoing propositions. Are 
 not these his very doctrines advocated for 
 thirty years in the presence of kings and 
 emperors, and against all comers? Had he 
 not preached them from the pulpit and 
 from the rostrum, and especially and ex 
 professo in his treaty De TJnico Vocationis 
 Modo? 
 
Life ofBartolomd de Las Casas. 521 
 
 The principles are to us almost self- 
 evident r but it is nevertheless remarkable 
 that they were subscribed by every member 
 of that civil ecclesiastical council, if we 
 consider that the conclusions drawn from 
 them could not but vindicate the past con 
 duct of L,as Casas, and read a stinging 
 rebuke to the Conquistadores and to the ec 
 clesiastics who had opposed him. 
 
 - Las Casas had let no opportunity pass, 
 during the sittings of the convention, which 
 lasted several weeks, to press a resolution 
 containing an explicit declaration that the 
 slavery of the Indians was tyrannical 
 and unjust ; but the presiding officer had 
 always succeeded in sidetracking it under 
 various pretexts. As the champion of 
 liberty was persistent in clamoring that it 
 be taken up and passed, he was at last told 
 privately by the viceroy, that, if the ques 
 tion had been ignored, it was because he 
 himself had instructed the learned body not 
 to touch upon it at present, for reasons of 
 state.. 
 
 L,as Casas made no reply. But the fol-^ 
 lowing Sunday, it being his turn to preach 
 in the presence of the council, and of the 
 viceroy al court, he took occasion to speak 
 of the state reasons, and selected for his 
 text the 8th, 9th and the loth verses of Isaias: 
 
522 Life ofBartolom& de Las Casas 
 
 "Now then, go in and write for them upon 
 box, and note it diligently in a book, and 
 it shall be in the latter days for a testimony 
 for ever. For it is a people that provoketh 
 to wrath, and lying children, children that 
 will not hear the law of God. Wlio say to 
 the seers: "See not; and to them that be- 
 Jiold: Behold not those things for us, that 
 are right; speak to us pleasant things." 
 The sermon made a deep impression on 
 viceroy Mendoza (undoubtedly a well 
 meaning man and a great benefactor of 
 Mexico) who expressed himself as sorry 
 for not having allowed the subject of Indian 
 slavery to be taken up during the sittings 
 of the council. Las Casas suggested that 
 the mischief could be partially undone by 
 an unofficial junta of all the members of the 
 convention (except the bishops) called to 
 gether to discuss and decide the question. 
 Mendoza accepted the suggestion and 
 promised to officially submit the findings of 
 the junta to the consideration of the em 
 peror. The sittings of this unofficial body 
 were many, at which the Protector of the 
 Indians was ably represented , as his mouth 
 piece, by Father Luis Cancer. At one of 
 the sittings the question arose, if it was 
 lawful to hold as slaves the Indian prisoners 
 of war. It was presented, not in the ab- 
 
Life of Bartolomt de Las Casas. 523 
 
 stract, but as a concrete proposition : "could 
 the so-called prisoners of war captured by 
 theConquistadoresbe considered as slaves?" 
 It was held by some of the members that 
 they could, whenever the Indians, having 
 previously been notified that the pope had 
 granted the supreme dominion to Spain 
 over the Indies, refused to submit, and 
 thereby brought about the conflict. *) 
 
 *) A word of explanation is here necessary for 
 those of my readers who may not be familiar with 
 the history of the Spanish conquest of America. 
 It was necessary to give color and an appearance 
 of justice to said conquest ; and from the times of 
 Ferdinand and Isabella the Conquistadores,had 
 been officially instructed to always give the In 
 dians sufficient instruction about the Christian 
 religion before asking them to submit to Spanish 
 supremacy. If they refused, after the Requeri- 
 miento or summons to acknowledge their allegiance 
 to the king of Spain, war could then be made 
 against them to subdue them. A formula of Re- 
 querimiento had been drawn up and placed in the 
 hands of every adventurer or Conquistador, who 
 proposed to make any addition to the American 
 Spanish possessions. This official Requerimiento 
 had been turned into a ridiculous farce by the 
 Conquistadore's who desired nothing better than to 
 make prisoners of war to sell them into slavery. 
 I/as Casas gives the formula, commenting bitterly 
 upon it, in the LVII. Chp. of the third book of 
 his Historia de Las Indias. But even that farcical 
 performance was frequently omitted or curtailed. 
 
 A few Spanish soldiers would suddenly appear 
 in a pueblo, and having called the natives by a 
 few blasts of the bugle, something like the follow 
 ing would be read to them in Spanish, not a word 
 
524 Life of Bartolom& de Las Casas. 
 
 Thereupon Luis Cancer drew out of his 
 pocket a copy of the Requerimiento, read 
 it, denounced it as a cruel parody on 
 justice, and proved that such as it was, 
 it seldom was served according to the 
 intention and direction of the king. 
 
 of which was understood by the Indians]: "Listen 
 you Indians of this pueblo. There is only one 
 true God, and one true religion. The vicar of God 
 on earth is called the pope, who is the sovereign 
 lord of all the universe. He gave this country to 
 the kings of Spain, who sent us here to invite 
 you to become Christians. If you do so, and 
 acknowledge the supremacy of Spain, we will 
 treat you kindly and leave you free in the enjoy 
 ment of all your possessions. If not, we will 
 wage war against you with fire and sword, and 
 make you slaves." Sometime it happened that not 
 an Indian was in sight when the Requerimiento 
 was made. * 
 
 The witty official chronicler of Charles V. (Oviedo), 
 having once been called upon to read the Requeri 
 miento to some warlike South Americans, who had 
 just given a sound thrashing to Pedrarias and his 
 ferocious soldiers, remarked: "It seems to me that 
 these Indians do not care to listen to the theology 
 of this Requerimiento. Please keep it until we 
 shall have some of them in a cage, where they 
 will have leisure to memorize it, while the bishop 
 (Quevedo) will take pleasure in explaining it to 
 them." 
 
 On another occasion the Requerimiento had been 
 made seriously to a South American cacique, and 
 an intelligent explanation of it had been given 
 him. The chief, after a brief reflection, made 
 answer as follows: "Your pope and the king of 
 Castile must be two fools, one for giving away 
 what did not belong to him, and the other for 
 accepting it." 
 
Life ofBartolomd de Las Casas. 525 
 
 One of the conclusions reached by the 
 junta was, that all Indian slaves, with 
 the exception of a few renegade rebels, 
 had been enslaved unjustly. Another de 
 clared that all personal service imposed 
 on the Indians, who were not slaves, was 
 unlawful and unjust. 
 
 The labors of both the council and the 
 junta bore, in the course of years, abun 
 dant fruit. One man, no matter how 
 powerful, could not at one blow tear down 
 the hideous edifice of slavery, but, at each 
 blow of L,as Casas, one of the foundation 
 stones was removed, and the condition of 
 the Indians improved. The council wrote 
 a memorial to the emperor embodying 
 the conclusions agreed upon, thus inform 
 ing him that the bishops, theologians and 
 jurists of America, agreed, in principle 
 at least, with those of Spain, in declaring 
 that the Indians should be free. 
 
 Another practical point was gained of 
 great importance to the natives. It con 
 sisted in a set of instructions sent out by 
 the bishops, to all the secular and regular 
 priests throughout New Spain, instructing 
 them how to deal with penitent slave 
 owners and with those who had acquired 
 wealth by the enforced labor of the In 
 dians. These were thus placed under the 
 
526 Life ofBartolomd de Las Casas. 
 
 protection of the confessional, a more 
 powerful shield, than the well meaning 
 kings of Spain had been able to afford 
 them with the smoothly rounded periods 
 of the innumerable decrees, which had 
 been enacted in their behalf. So clear 
 and unequivocal were the instructions, 
 that it was well nigh impossible to evade 
 them. The Spaniards of New Spain found 
 them so radical and subversive of their 
 preconceived ideas concerning their worldly 
 interests, that the first copies intended 
 for circulation were seized, and sent to 
 Charles V. with a protest against their be 
 ing put in practice. *) 
 
 *) The first printing press on this continent was 
 imported from Spain by viceroy Mendoza to Mexico 
 city, and among the first matters printed were the 
 instructions to confessors adopted by the council in 
 behalf of American liberty. 
 
CHAPTER XXI. 
 
 Las Casas goes to Spain and crosses the 
 Atlantic for the Last Time. * 
 
 JT seems that L,as Casas was already re 
 volving in his mind, the resignation of 
 his See at the time, when he had bidden fare 
 well, amidst the tears of the community, 
 to his fellow Dominicans of Cinacatlan, on 
 his leaving for Mexico to attend the council. 
 In fact he had turned over to them his 
 few belongings as a loan, which, it was 
 understood, would become a gift, should he 
 sail for Spain. 
 
 The news of the partial abrogation and 
 suspension of the new laws had reached 
 him in Mexico city, and it was a blow the 
 like of which he had not received since the 
 catastrophe of Cumana. Hereafter the 
 Spaniards of Ciudad Real would consider 
 him a conquered foe, and a harmless fanatic, 
 and his usefulness there was at an end. He 
 must also have considered that his eight or 
 ten years residence in Spain had accom 
 plished more good for his Indians, than the 
 twenty or twenty-five spent in America. 
 
 (527) 
 
528 Life ofBartolom& de Las Casas. 
 
 During each visit to the mother country a 
 victory had been scored, while in America, 
 with the exception of turning the land of 
 war into Vera Paz, he had only met with 
 apparent reverses. His place and his 
 sphere of action was evidently near the 
 seat of government, whence he could watch 
 over the interests of all the Indies, instead 
 of the little turbulent town of southern 
 Mexico. 
 
 These considerations convinced the Pro 
 tector of the Indians of the advisability of 
 his relinquishing the government of the 
 diocese of Chiapa into the hands of some 
 one else, who would not be hampered by 
 antecedents in doing what good was pos 
 sible to its one million of Indians. On the 
 9th of November, 1546, Las Casas appointed 
 canon Perera administrator and vicar general 
 of his diocese, and on the following day con 
 ferred faculties to hear confession on four 
 additional priests of the Dominican Order, 
 and sent to Chiapa the instructions to con 
 fessors adopted by the council, by which 
 they were to be guided in the administration 
 of the sacrament. 
 
 What detained him in Mexico city is not 
 known, but certain it is that the Protector 
 of the Indians did not proceed to Vera Cruz 
 to sail for the last time across the Atlantic 
 
Life ofBartolomd de Las Casas. 529 
 
 before tlie year 1547. In May of that year 
 I find him in Valladolid where the ordinary 
 headquarters of the council of the Indies 
 were at that time. Las Casas gave the 
 councillors a detailed account of the de 
 plorable occurrences of the past two years 
 in his diocese of Chiapa, and pleaded with 
 as much zeal, eloquence and persistency as 
 ever in behalf of the Indians. But the 
 prince-regent Philip was then in Aragon, a 
 couple of hundred miles from Valladolid 
 and nothing of importance could be accom 
 plished there without his presence. The 
 bishop therefore took the road again, and 
 went to Munzon, where Philip had con 
 vened the Cortes, or States General of that 
 kingdom. The reception given to the ven 
 erable American prelate by the young 
 prince was cordial and even affectionate. 
 L,as Casas had brought along quite a bundle 
 of petitions all in favor of the Indians, and 
 all of them were granted as usual. Thus I 
 find a letter of Philip dated Munzon the 
 22d of July, 1547, and addressed to the 
 Cacique of Chiapa, Don Pedro Todi, where 
 the Dominicans had built their first con 
 vent in that diocese. It thanks with beauti 
 ful simplicity the Indian chief for his zeal, 
 and the help given the Fathers to bring 
 about the conversion of his tribe. Another 
 
530 Life of Bartolom& de Las Casas. 
 
 letter was addressed by Pliilip to tlie Dom 
 inican Fathers on June the 22d, approving 
 the way of proceeding in Chiapa, praising 
 their zeal, and encouraging them to still 
 further efforts in behalf of the natives, and 
 promising to send additional Fathers to 
 help them in the evangelization of the en 
 tire diocese. 
 
 L,as Casas did not forget his dear chil 
 dren of Tuzulutlan, now called Vera Paz ; 
 for a letter from Philip was addressed Oc 
 tober the nth to all the Caciques of that 
 province, praising them and their people 
 for having embraced the Christian religion 
 and destroyed their temples and their idols. 
 The services of the chiefs, the prince as 
 sured them, would not be forgotten. The 
 document ends by exhorting them to gather 
 their people into pueblos according to the 
 wishes of the good Fathers, who were in 
 structing them. 
 
 The year 1547 began, for the Protector 
 of the Indians, in Mexico. The first months 
 were spent on the sea and travelling from 
 Seville to Valladolid, and thence to Mun- 
 zon, and the last in the latter city. It is 
 seldom possible to locate his whereabouts 
 during the last eighteen years of his life. 
 His headquarters were, however, in the 
 Dominican convent at Valladolid, where he 
 
Life ofBartolom& de Las Casas. 531 
 
 wrote most of his voluminous works. How 
 much, of his time was spent there it is im 
 possible to say, as he seems to have been 
 constantly on the go to wherever the inter 
 ests of his Indians required his presence. 
 Frequently of his own initiative and many 
 times called in consultation by the govern 
 ment, he was, to the very last days of his 
 life, busy with American affairs. Numer 
 ous letters addressed to him from all parts 
 of the Indies speak of him as a member of 
 his Majesty's Indian council, and there is 
 extant an order of Philip II. directing the 
 officers of the court to always lodge com 
 fortably and entertain the bishop of Chiapa 
 free of charge, no matter were the court 
 might be.*) And Geronimo de Mendieta, 
 in his Historia Ecclesiastica Indiana, tells 
 us that L,as Casas u resigned his bishopric 
 
 *) "To Luis de Vanegas, our chief majordomo and 
 to the stewards that are now, or will be, whose duty 
 it is to prepare and furnish apartments for our court 
 in this city of Toledo or in any other city or place 
 in this our kingdom of Castile it is ordered : that in 
 consideration of the services which Fray Bartolome 
 de I/as Casas 'has rendered to our august deceased 
 father the emperor, and is yet rendering to us, he be 
 given lodgings free during all the time which he 
 may spend at court. We order that he be always 
 given good apartments, where he may remain un 
 disturbed, as a person of his rank has a right to be. 
 Given at Toledo the 14th of December, 1560. I, the 
 king.'* 
 
532 Life of Bartolom6 de Las Casas. 
 
 in order to become their (the Indians' ) pro 
 curator general in the court of their Majes 
 ties, in which office he continued for 
 twenty-two years." 
 
 L,as Casas did not actually resign his 
 See before the year 1550, when was as 
 signed to him, out of the royal treasury, a 
 pension, as his biographers would have it, 
 but which I prefer to call a salary. For, to 
 all intent and purpose, the first American 
 priest, who had been a lawyer, then a secu 
 lar priest, then a friar, then a bishop, had 
 last of all become a minister of state. 
 
 Father Luis Cancer accompanied him to 
 Spain evidently for the purpose of going to 
 Florida with other Dominicans to establish 
 missions. The armed expeditions to the 
 northern coast of the gulf of Mexico had 
 all ended in disaster, and there was no 
 desire on the part of the Spaniards in 
 America to engage in any new venture 
 having in view the conquest of the vast and 
 dreaded regions then vaguely designated 
 with the name of Florida, and now forming 
 the eastern half of the United States.*) 
 Hernando de Soto's disastrous expedition, 
 with as powerful an army as had yet fol- 
 
 *) Las Casas wrote, about this time, that by Flor 
 ida was meant all the country from the Bahama 
 channel to Labrador, "which," says he, "is not far 
 from the island called England." 
 
Life ofBartolom& de Las Casas. 533 
 
 lowed any Conquistador, was yet fresh in 
 trie memory of everybody in New Spain, 
 where the few survivors had arrived some 
 time before, after years of wandering 
 through the states of Florida, Alabama, 
 Georgia, Mississippi, Arkansas, Texas, 
 Louisiana and the present republic of 
 Mexico. Their tales of sufferings and 
 privations had engendered a wholesome 
 fear of the tribes of Seminoles, Alibamons, 
 Choctaws, Creeks, Chickasaws and Natchez 
 of those northern regions. Here was a 
 second land of war to be turned into an 
 other Vera Paz, and the apostles of Tuzu- 
 lutlan decided to conquer it by peaceful 
 ways to the kingdom of Christ. 
 
 One of the first cares of Las Casas on his 
 arrival in Spain was to enter into negotia 
 tions with prince Philip for the purpose of 
 organizing a missionary expedition to Flor 
 ida, headed by saintly, learned, and fear 
 less Father Luis Cancer. These particulars 
 forming an interesting page of the ecclesi 
 astical history of the United States are 
 gathered from two letters written by the 
 martyr priest himself in Seville and ad 
 dressed to Las Casas. One of them is dated 
 the 6th and the other the 24th of February, 
 and though the year is not given, it is clear 
 that they were written in 1548. At the 
 
534 Life ofBartolom& de Las Casas. 
 
 solicitation of L,as Casas carte l)lanclie had 
 been given to L,uis Cancer to charter a car 
 avel and to provide it with all necessary 
 equipments and provisions as early as 
 November 1547. The full name of this 
 first martyr of our country was Luis Cancer 
 de Barbastro, and his native city was Zara- 
 goza in Spain. It took him several months 
 before he could get his caravel ready to 
 leave San L,ucar de Barrameda for Vera 
 Cruz in Mexico. The reason of his trav 
 elling to Mexico before going to Florida 
 was to get a pilot acquainted with the 
 waters of the Mexican Gulf, and fetch one 
 of the Fathers from New Spain who was to 
 be his fellow missioner in Florida. 
 
 Ignatio de Urutia, a Cuban historian, 
 thus describes their deaths: "They arrived 
 with letters of recommendation from the 
 governor of New Spain to that of Havana 
 and were well received. Having been 
 given all that was needed for their trip, 
 they went to Florida. Father Diego de 
 Penalosa and the lay brother Fuentes dis 
 embarked in the bay of Espiritu Santo 
 (Tampa Bay) and proceeded to the interior, 
 where they received the crown of martyr 
 dom at the hands of the natives. When the 
 news reached the other Fathers, who had 
 remained on board the ship, Father L,uis 
 
Life ofBartolomd de Las Casas. 535 
 
 Cancer, fired with holy jealousy, landed in 
 spite of the remonstrances of his com 
 panions, and in full view of those on board, 
 received the same crown of martyrdom.*) 
 
 I have said before that the set of instruc 
 tions (in Spanish they were called a con- 
 fesionario) adopted by the convention or 
 council of Mexico, were placed in the 
 hands of the confessors in the diocese of 
 Chiapa, and that the regulation's concern 
 ing the absolution of slave owners were so 
 iron-clad that copies of them had been sent 
 to Charles V. together with a protest from 
 the Spaniards. As the confesionario was 
 unimpeachable on the ground of moral 
 theology, the citizens of Ciudad Real ad 
 vanced the plea, that it challenged the 
 validity of the title of the kings of Spain to 
 their American possessions. It was prob 
 ably at the beginning of 1548 that the em 
 peror asked L,as Casas for an explanation 
 of his ideas on the subject. As the confes 
 ionario had been proposed to the Mexican 
 council by himself, and the instructions 
 were the same as those formerly given to 
 dean Gil Quintana and canon Perera, the 
 
 *) Luis Cancer de Barbastro seems to me entitled 
 to the honor of the altars. Is he not a martyr in the 
 strictest sense, having died for the exclusive pur 
 pose of preaching the gospel ? Who will interest 
 himself in his canonization ? 
 
536 Life ofBartolom& de Las Casas. 
 
 bisliop of Chiapa felt in duty bound to give 
 his reasons for them, not only to the em 
 peror, but especially to silence the pre 
 judiced criticisms of the Spaniards in 
 America. 
 
 A treaty was therefore written in defense 
 of the confesionario, which L,as Casas 
 called tratado comprobatorio. The lengthy 
 title given to the work explains its object. 
 
 "Herein are contained thirty proposi 
 tions in jurisprudence, touching succinctly 
 on many subjects pertaining to the right, 
 that the Church and Christian monarchs 
 have, or may have, on pagan people of all 
 classes. In a special manner is herein 
 pointed out the fundamental origin of the 
 title, which the kings of Castile and L,eon 
 have to the supreme dominion of all the 
 Indies, whereby they are the rightful uni 
 versal lords and emperors of them all and 
 of their many native rulers. Many other 
 things well worth knowing are also pointed 
 out concerning the conquest of the Western 
 World. These thirty propositions have 
 been formulated by the quondam bishop of 
 Ciudad Real in the Indies, Fray Bartolome 
 de Ivas Casas. " 
 
 As Las Casas was in the habit of giving 
 in the title of each of his works a descrip 
 tion of its contents, so in what he calls the 
 
Life ofBartolom6 de Las Casas. 537 
 
 argument lie also gives the reasons or 
 causes for writing it. The argument of 
 his Tratado Comprobatorio reads as fol 
 lows : 
 
 u Fifty years of experience had taught 
 Fray Bartolom^ de Las Casas, bishop of 
 Chiapa, in New Spain, that the Spaniards 
 in the Indies were living in a deplorable 
 state of sin, that especially those of his 
 diocese were greatly in need of light, to 
 enable them to see the error of their ways 
 and to know their sins, and that therefore 
 it was incumbent upon him, as the shep 
 herd of the flock, to devise means to en 
 lighten them, and to draw them out of 
 danger. As all this could scarcely be done 
 except by sermons and through the confes 
 sional, he prepared a set of instructions in 
 the form of a confesionario which was to 
 serve as a guide to confessors in the ad 
 ministration of the sacrament of penance. 
 This confesionario, having been brought 
 over to this kingdom .of Castile, was re 
 vised, and revised again, by six different 
 and eminent doctors of theology, and was 
 approved and countersigned by them. But 
 some enemies of the truth, ignorant of 
 what had been done in the Indies, and of 
 the right by which it had been done, in 
 order to palliate and excuse certain nefari- 
 
538 Life ofBartolom& de Las Casas. 
 
 ous crimes, made of one of the rules con 
 tained in the confesionario a pretext for 
 calumniating him by pretending to see in 
 it a doctrine which denies the validity of 
 the title, which gave the kings of Castile 
 the supreme dominion over the New 
 World." 
 
 I will also give what he calls the pro 
 logue of the work, because these extracts 
 are autobiographical, and describe the life 
 of Las Casas at this period better than any 
 thing that I might write. 
 
 "Your Highness requested me to appear 
 before the council of the Indies on account 
 of a confesionario, which I wrote for the 
 guidance of confessors, who heard the con 
 fessions of the Spaniards in my diocese, 
 containing, you say, certain propositions 
 from which the deduction might be drawn, 
 according to the opinion of some readers, 
 that the title to the sovereignty over the 
 Indies now exercised by the kings of 
 Castile, is not valid. This is a very 
 weighty matter and it requires a large 
 treaty to deal with it properly, inasmuch 
 as it would pass through the hands of 
 eminent and learned persons. I have 
 studied the subject for the past several 
 years and I have begun just such a treaty. 
 But as your Highness is in a hurry to send 
 
Life of Bartolomt de Las Casas. 539 
 
 it to his Majesty, I thought it advisable to 
 compose this compendium of all that I 
 have learned from the law of God on this 
 subject, without stopping to give the proofs 
 of my opinions. The proofs, and all the 
 rest, will appear in another treaty, which, 
 please God, your Highness will see me pro 
 duce in the council of the Indies. As it 
 will be necessary to touch on matters per 
 taining to faith, I hereby submit all that I 
 have to say, to the correction of the Holy 
 Roman Church." 
 
 We have therefore two treatises on the 
 same subject written between the first of 
 January 1548 and the thirty-first of Decem 
 ber 1549. But these represent but a frac 
 tion of L,as Casas' work during those two 
 years. 
 
 "This treaty was written by Fray Bar- 
 tolome de Las Casas, bishop of Ciudad Real 
 de Chiapa, at the request of the council of 
 the Indies on the subject of Indian slavery. 
 It contains many arguments, and the 
 authorities of many jurisconsults, which 
 may prove useful to the reader in deciding 
 many doubtful cases of restitution and 
 other moral matters so much debated at the 
 present time." 
 
 The argument or preface of this work 
 tells us plainly, not only that he had not 
 
540 Life ofBartolomd de Las Casas. 
 
 given up tlie fight in behalf of the Indians, 
 becau.se Charles V. had been compelled by 
 untoward circumstances to yield to the 
 clamor and threats of the American slave 
 owners, but that, on the contrary, the 
 bishop of Chiapa, on his arrival in Spain 
 gave no rest to his Majesty's councillors, in 
 his efforts to benefit the American natives. 
 "Argumento (preface) to the following 
 treaty. The bishop of Ciudad Real de 
 Chiapa, Fray Bartolome de L,as Casas, was 
 pressing persistently the royal council of 
 the Indies to consider the liberty of the In 
 dians as the only general remedy for the 
 Indies ; and one of his petitions was, that 
 the Indians held by the Spaniards as legal 
 slaves, should all be given their freedom, 
 arguing that out of their countless number 
 not one had been enslaved justly, but that, 
 on the contrary, all had been enslaved un 
 justly and iniquitously. The council hav 
 ing decided to set aside their other num 
 berless occupations, and to take up this 
 subject, charged and commissioned the 
 said bishop to put in writing his opinions 
 on the matter. In virtue of said royal 
 commission and command the following 
 proposition with its three corollaries, which 
 like three branches of one tree, are the 
 necessary consequences of its truth, has 
 
Life oj Bartolomd de Las Casas. 541 
 
 been established and proved. Herein is 
 demonstrated with what justice the Indians 
 of that New World could have been and 
 were enslaved, and that their masters are 
 bound to restitution." 
 
 Neither this treaty, of which the fore 
 going title and preface clearly indicate the 
 nature of its contents and the reasons for 
 writing it, or the Tratado Comprobatorio 
 give us the total product of L,as Casas' 
 literary activity during the years 1548 and 
 
 Between his arrival in Spain and the 
 resignation of his bishopric, L,as Casas 
 wrote yet another treaty, the contents of 
 which it would be superfluous to examine. 
 All his works, the Historia de Las Indias 
 not excepted, have for their ultimate ob 
 ject the defense of the Indians. It will be 
 enough to give the title and the preface 
 which will tell us the why and the how it 
 happened to be written. 
 
 "The Right Reverend Don Fray Barto- 
 lome de L,as Casas, bishop of Chiapa, made 
 answer to the twelve questions propounded 
 in this treaty, concerning the spiritual wel 
 fare of the kings of Castile and L,eon, and 
 the Spaniards, who now reside or will re 
 side in the Indies, and concerning the good 
 government, preservation and eternal sal- 
 
542 Life ofBartolomt de Las Casas. 
 
 vation of the Indians ; in order that our 
 lyord and His Holy name be forever praised, 
 and His Holy Catholic faith be spread more 
 and more, extolled and practiced in saecula 
 saeculorum. Amen." 
 
 Preface. "A Friar of the order of Saint 
 Dominic, virtuous, learned and zealous of 
 the Christian religion went to the Indies to 
 engage in the evangelization of the natives. 
 There he preached the gospel for some 
 years very successfully, during which he 
 was an eye-witness to the oppression and 
 slavery, of which the aborigines were the 
 victims. Meanwhile he studied and learned 
 the methods, by which those people had 
 been subjugated by the Spaniards, not 
 omitting to examine the causes, if any 
 there had been, of the wars that had ended 
 in conquest. Astounded at last to see his 
 countrymen in all walks of life ignorant of, 
 and indifferent to the danger, in which 
 they lived of their salvation, especially the 
 prelates and members of religious orders, 
 who more than others are bound, the 
 former by their pastoral office, and the 
 latter by their religious profession, to 
 watch, to inquire, to learn and to proclaim 
 the truth ; he reduced to writing the fol 
 lowing doubts, which are not easy to solve. 
 Then, impelled by a worthy desire of being 
 
Life of Bartolomd de Las Casas. 543 
 
 useful both to the Indians, who suffer the 
 wrongs, and to the Spaniards, who inflict 
 them, he travelled hither to submit the 
 doubtful propositions to the learned men 
 composing the different faculties, in order 
 to elicit, if possible, a uniform decision in 
 support of the truth. He first proposed his 
 .doubts to the aforementioned bishop of 
 Chiapa, Don Fray Bartolome de L,as Casas 
 of the order of St. Dominic, who was 
 known to have studied these matters pro 
 foundly, and for many years. The said 
 bishop gave an answer to each of the 
 twelve doubts in the following treaty. M 
 
 That same restless and inexhaustible 
 energy, which, from the time he had seen 
 the light of truth concerning the American 
 aborigines while preparing in Cuba his 
 memorable sermon for Pentecost Sunday of 
 the year 1514, had sustained him in 
 crossing and recrossing oceans and con 
 tinents in behalf of his Indians for well 
 nigh thirty-five years, now, at the age of 
 seventy-five, enabled the first American 
 priest to sit at his desk for whole days and 
 nights writing innumerable letters, memor 
 ials, speeches and treaties in defense of his 
 faraway children of America. His con 
 stitution must have been cast in steel. For 
 neither his dozen trips across the Atlantic 
 
544 Life ofBartolome de Las Casas. 
 
 or the thousand upon thousands of miles 
 travelled on foot or on horseback, or the 
 enervating, fever-laden climate of the 
 tropics had clouded his mind or broken 
 down his body. We have seen him brave 
 the ruffianly anger of the conquistadoresin 
 Chiapa, then by his learning, his eloquence 
 and his virtues align the wavering prelates 
 of New Spain on the side of justice and 
 truth. But the inspired words that the 
 life of man upon earth is a warfare seem to 
 apply to the first American priest more 
 forcibly than to any other of his contem 
 poraries. Scarcely had he set foot on his 
 native country, when he was forced to 
 begin another .mighty battle. I refer to 
 his controversy with the celebrated scholar, 
 canonist, and theologian, Gines de Sepul- 
 veda. 
 
 In the mastership of Cicero's tongue 
 Sepulveda had no superiors, perhaps not 
 an equal in Spain, and in point of learning 
 and dialectical powers, he ranked with 
 such men as Melchor Cano, Victoria, Soto, 
 and others of that brilliant galaxy of Spanish 
 divines, who sat in the council of Trent. 
 As early as 1533 Sepulveda had published 
 in Rome a book entitled Democrates, or 
 De Convenientia Disciplinae Militaris cum 
 Christiana Religione; English: "On the 
 
Life of Bartolomd de Las Casas. 545 
 
 compatibility of the military profession 
 with the Christian religion." By the year 
 1547 he had become official chronicler to 
 his majesty, a sort of sinecure office com 
 manding a fat salary, and entitling the 
 holder to the privileges of a courtier. In 
 his leisure hours the popular and accom 
 plished ecclesiastic continued histheologico- 
 juridical studies, and, at the time of Las 
 Casas' arrival from America, he was 
 maneuvering to obtain permission to print 
 a second work of his entitled Democrates 
 Alter, sen De Jiistis Belli Causis Apud 
 Indos ; i. e. u Democrates II. or of the just 
 causes for waging wars against the In 
 dians." 
 
 The manuscript was evidently being 
 examined by the council, when it fell in 
 the hands of the Protector of the Indians, 
 who decided to answer it in a work which 
 he called Apologia. Its descriptive title 
 will tell us again the nature of its contents, 
 and the preface its origin. 
 
 u Herein is contained a dispute or contro 
 versy between Fray Bartolome de L,as 
 Casas, bishop of Chiapa in New Spain of 
 the Indies, and Doctor Gines de Sepulveda, 
 chronicler to his majesty, the emperor. 
 The doctor's thesis is that the conquests 
 made in the Indies against the Indians are 
 35 
 
54 6 Life of Bartolom& de Las Casas. 
 
 lawful, while tlie bishop, on the contrary, 
 holds it to be impossible that said conquests 
 be not tyrannical, unjust and iniquitous. 
 The question was debated in the presence 
 of many learned men, jurisconsults and 
 theologians, in a junta called together by 
 order of his majesty in the city of Valladolid 
 the year 1550." 
 
 The preface or argumento said : "Doctor 
 Sepulveda the chronicler of the emperor, 
 and an elegant Latinist, on the information 
 and at the instigation of some of those 
 Spaniards, who were most to blame for the 
 cruelties and massacres perpetrated in the 
 Indies, wrote a book in faultless Latin, ad 
 vocating two propositions. The -first of 
 them was, that .the wars heretofore waged 
 by the Spaniards against the Indians had 
 been waged for just causes, and that, the 
 same causes recurring again, more wars 
 should be fought against them. The second 
 says, that the Indians must submit to the 
 Spaniards, as the less wise must submit to 
 the wiser ; and that should the Indians re 
 fuse to do so, war could be made against 
 them. These are the two causes of the de 
 struction and death of numberless people, 
 and of the depopulation of more than one 
 thousand leagues of territory effected in 
 new and different ways by the Spaniards in 
 
Life 0} Bartolomd de Las Casas. 547 
 
 tlie Indies during what they are pleased to 
 call conquests, and by their Bncomiendas, 
 known by another name as Repartimientos. 
 Doctor Sepulveda assigned as a reason for 
 his treaty his desire and intention to defend 
 the title by which the kings of Castile claim 
 and exercise supreme and universal power 
 over the Indies. But this was but a pretext ; 
 his intention being to propagate in these 
 and in the kingdoms of the new world his 
 damnable doctrines. The doctor presented 
 his book to the council of the Indies, beg 
 ging with great persistency that leave 
 might be granted him to print it. It was 
 denied several times, on account of the 
 harm and scandal, which his work would 
 cause beyond any doubt. Seeing that he 
 could not prevail with the council of the 
 Indies, he managed, through his friends at 
 court, to obtain a decree from the emperor 
 empowering the council of Castile to deal 
 with the matter, who knew nothing of the 
 affairs of the Indies. That decree reached 
 Aranda de Duero, where the court was 
 sitting during the year 1547 just at the 
 time, when the bishop of Chiapa, Fray 
 Bartolome de L,as Casas arrived from the 
 Indies. Having heard of the book and 
 learned its contents, and knowing the great 
 harm that its publication would cause, the 
 
548 Life ofBartolom& de Las Casas. 
 
 said bishop opposed it with all his might, 
 exposing its poisonous doctrines, and the 
 real reasons why it had been written. As 
 the matters treated were mostly theologi 
 cal the members of the royal council of 
 Castile, like the wise and righteous gentle 
 men that they were, decided to send the 
 book to the universities of Salamanca and 
 Alcala to have it examined and approved, 
 if it was to be printed. After having 
 scrutinized and carefully debated the sub 
 ject-matters of the work, the universities 
 decided that it should not be published, 
 inasmuch as it contained unsound doctrines. 
 Not satisfied, but rather complaining 
 of the decision of the universities, the 
 doctor, notwithstanding his having been 
 several times repulsed by the two councils, 
 sent his treaty to Rome, to have -it printed, 
 not however in its original form, but in 
 the shape of an apologetical address to the 
 bishop of Segovia, who, friends as they 
 were, after having read the work, had 
 written him a letter containing a fraternal 
 correction. The emperor, having heard 
 of the publication, gave order that all 
 copies of it be confiscated, as was done 
 throughout Castile. And inasmuch as the 
 doctor had made a compendium of it in the 
 Spanish language, in order to make it more 
 
Life ofBartolomd de Las Casas. 549 
 
 accessible to the common people, and to all 
 those, who did not know Latin, the bishop 
 of Chiapa made tip his mind to write also 
 in the vernacular an Apologia in defense of 
 the Indians, and against the compendium 
 of the doctor, attacking and demolishing 
 his arguments, answering his objections, 
 and warning, at the same time, the people 
 of the dangers, scandals and other evils that 
 his doctrines would cause. Many things 
 had happened after all that has been said, 
 when the emperor last year, 1550, thought 
 proper to call together in the council of the 
 Indies quite a number of learned men, 
 theologians and jurists, to discuss and de 
 cide, if the wars known as conquests, could 
 lawfully and salva justitia, be waged 
 against the Indians, when they are guilty 
 of no other crime than that of being pagans. 
 Doctor Sepulveda, who was invited to 
 give his opinions on the subjects, attended 
 the first meeting of the junta, and spoke as 
 long as he wished. Then the bishop was 
 called ; and he read for five consecutive 
 days out of his Apologia, exhausting the 
 work. *) As this was very long, the mem- 
 
 *) I give in this note the first paragraph of 
 Apologia as a specimen of the latiuity of the first 
 American priest. 
 
 "Anno a partu virginis millesimo quingentesimo 
 quadragesitno secundo, Carolus, Caesar Hispaniarum 
 
550' Life ofBartolomt de Las Casas. 
 
 bers of the junta, who were fourteen in all, 
 requested the eminent professor of theology, 
 Father Domingo de Soto, who was himself 
 a committee man, to epitomize it, and to 
 make a copy of the compendium for each 
 of the other thirteen gentlemen, in order 
 that they could study it at leisure, and then 
 vote, at a future sitting, each one according 
 to the lights that God would give him. 
 Doctor Sepulveda asked to be furnished 
 with a copy of De Soto's compendium, to 
 answer it. He reduced the compendium to 
 twelve heads, propositions or theses, to 
 which he gave twelve answers. To the 
 
 rex sempiterna hominum memoria dignus, edoctus 
 Hispauos, caedibus, violentia, tyrannide longe la- 
 teque grassari per Indias, servitute premere rnaxi- 
 misqueincommodis afficerelndosOceani maris acco- 
 las, qui Roman! Pontificis decretp ad imperium 
 supremum Castiliaeet Legionis pertinent, solemnem 
 quoddain concilium Piutiae sive Valisoleti indixit, 
 advocato ex omni senatu lectissimo ac doctissimo. 
 His injunxit ut cognoscerent an atrociailla, quae ad 
 se delata fuissent, vera essent, utque opportune re- 
 medium excogitarent, quo tantis malis obviam ire- 
 tur, ita ut Indi" pristinae libertati restituerentur, 
 simulque uovus ille orbis salutaribus legibus, ac pru- 
 dentibus iustitutis conipositus in posterum guber- 
 naretur. De hac re per plures dies maguis est dis- 
 putationibus agitatum, ac denique leges quaedam 
 sancitae sunt, quibus Hispanorum bellicae ex- 
 peditiones adversus Indos, quas conquistas vulgo 
 appellaverant, prohibitae sunt; simulque cautum 
 est, ut Indi omnes servituti pressi, ab eis, quibus 
 facta divisione, id est Repartimiento si 
 
Life ofBartolomd de Las Casas. 551 
 
 doctor's twelve answers, the bisnop made 
 twelve rejoinders. This is what gave oc 
 casion to, and caused the treaty herein con 
 tained to be written." 
 
 Las Casas was sustained by the com 
 mission, and Sepulveda never saw his 
 Democrates Alter in print. 
 
 Why did Charles V. call that junta to 
 gether? 
 
 Because the American Indian question 
 had divided intellectual and political Spain 
 into two hostile camps. It must not be 
 supposed that the controversy had been car 
 ried on by Las Casas and Sepulveda alone. 
 
 (inventione quidam sathanica numquam antehac 
 audita), adjudicati perperam fueraiit, atque in regum 
 Hispaniarum ditionem universalem reducerentur, 
 regibus et dominis naturalibus in sua potestate et 
 jurisdictione remanentibus. Haec res vehementer 
 pupugit Hispaniorum, quibus Indi proeda opima 
 erant et quorum facultates violentiis, rapinis et In- 
 dorum direptione crescebant, indignabundique et 
 irato animo deplorabant a Caesare se facultatibus 
 propriis spoliari, ac si, nonpredones sacrilega poena, 
 sed legitimos rerum dominos justa rerum posses- 
 sione deturbaret, ut nonnulli nullum non lapidem 
 moventes quo suis rebus cousulerint, impudeuter a 
 Caesare defecerint adversus Caesarem rebellarint. 
 Alii ad viros doctrinae opinione claros confugerunt, 
 ut solidis juris argumentis caesareas constitutioues 
 opugnarent, ut tandem Caeshr, legum iuiquitale per- 
 motus, vel aboleret vel saltern su^penderet earum 
 observationem, ut in aliquibus earum factum est, 
 non quod non essent equissimae justissimaeque, sed 
 quod cognita rebellione a proditoribns illis, majus 
 aliquod malum ac atrocior seditio timeretur." 
 
552 Life of Bartolom& de Las Casas. 
 
 They were only the two generals leading 
 the mighty hosts to the fray. Thus it is 
 known that, in August 1548, the Domini 
 cans having met in general chapter in Cor 
 dova, the most learned men of the Order 
 had for several days sharpened their scho 
 lastic wits in conferences and disputations, 
 the thesis being every day the same : 
 4 ' Utrum barbaris novi orbis, quos Indos 
 Rispana consuetudo vocat, liceat bellum 
 inferre. ' ' 
 
 As these things were going on in Cordova, 
 another group of distinguished theologians 
 and jurists were sitting at the very same 
 time at Valladolid discussing the self same 
 question. The two leading lights of this 
 group were Sepulveda himself and no less 
 a theologian than the then renowned Fran 
 ciscan Fray Bernardino de Arevalo. 
 
 The Spanish Conquistadores had for fifty 
 years been busy waging wars against the 
 Indians, and the western continent may 
 well be said to have been turned into a vast 
 field of carnage. If not the Spanish nation 
 or its government, Spaniards were on trial, 
 and the fourteen committeemen were the 
 jury. The evidence was all in and they 
 brought in the verdict : ' ( Guilty. 1 ? 
 
 What parliament or committee of parlia 
 ment of to-day would dare convict the 
 
Life of Bartolomd de Las Gas as. 553 
 
 nation of a national crime? Perhaps those 
 friars, theologians, jurists and antiquarians 
 were not, after all, the useless article that 
 many a modern writer would have us 
 believe. 
 
 Charles V. and the government of Spain 
 must have by this time realized that the 
 venerable Protector of the Indians was 
 more necessary at home than in America. 
 His resignation of the bishopric of Chiapa 
 was therefore considered, and accepted, 
 granting him at the same time the privi 
 lege of naming his own successor. In 
 fact the letter of the emperor, dated Sep 
 tember 2nd, 1550, which instructed his 
 ambassador at Rome to place in the hands 
 of the Holy Father the resignation of Las 
 Casas, presented at the same time and 
 recommended Father Thomas Casilla, the 
 superior of the Dominicans then working 
 on the missions of the province of Vera Paz 
 and the friend of Las Casas, to the vacant 
 mitre. 
 
 Amidst his literary labors and contro 
 versies in behalf of the Indians, Las Casas 
 did not forget that more friars were needed 
 in Chiapa to instruct the natives in the faith 
 and to form them to a Christian manner of 
 life. Prince Philip had kept his promise 
 of paying their travelling expenses to 
 
554 Life of Bartolom& de Las Casas. 
 
 America, and thirty, some Dominicans 
 and other Franciscans, were ready to sail 
 at the end of 1551. Las Casas accom 
 panied them to Seville arriving there at 
 the beginning of January 1552. A fleet 
 of fifty-three or fifty-four ships were to 
 sail together accompanied by several war 
 vessels to protect them against the French 
 corsairs or privateers, which, at that time, 
 infested the Atlantic. Las -Casas was com 
 pelled to wait for ten months with his 
 friars (half of whom lost patience and 
 returned to their convents) before he had 
 the satisfaction of seeing them sail for the 
 Indies. In a letter written to Prince Philip 
 October 25th, 1552, he denounces in un 
 measured and angry tones the jobbery 
 and abuses in the Casa de Contratacioii 
 which had caused the unreasonable delay. " 
 
 "It seems to me," he says, "that God 
 has given me the special task of always 
 having to weep for the sorrows of others, 
 which however do not weigh lighter on me 
 than if they were my own .... It is a 
 travesty on justice and truth the way things 
 go here, that it should have taken ten 
 months to load and get ready this fleet, and 
 that the black warships destined only to 
 fight, especially the flagship, should have 
 been overloaded to satisfy the greed of the 
 
Life of Bartolom6 de Las Casas. 555 
 
 devil and of his brother .... It is a pity 
 to behold the five or six thousand emigrants 
 dying of hunger hereabout, waiting for the 
 ships to sail .... To tell the truth I have 
 spent (in looking after the friars) more 
 than seven hundred ducats since I came 
 here in January last. I am bankrupt, and 
 don't know if I shall have money enough 
 to take me back to court .... These 
 large ships of Don Alvarado (lie must have 
 been the ship owner, the devil's brother) 
 are the ruin of the Indies, and they should 
 all be burned up so that not a splinter 
 should be left of them." 
 
 A passage of this letter informs us that 
 ecclesiastics had already begun to cross the 
 Atlantic for unworthy motives. v 
 
 "For the love of God, let your Highness 
 take steps to inform his Majesty's ambas 
 sador in Rome to be on the watch, for 
 truly this is a matter of great importance. 
 It is better to have no friars at all in the 
 Indies, than such friars ; and it is a blun 
 der to think otherwise. Devilish reports 
 are now coming from the Indies about the 
 Fathers of Mercy, which, in time, will 
 reach your Highness. 
 
 "Melius est enim paucos habere bonos, 
 quam multos ministros malos," says St. 
 Clement. 
 
556 Life ofBartolom& de Las Casas. 
 
 u Don't let your Highness forget how 
 much I have insisted before the council of 
 the Indies that men in broadcloth and gen 
 teel loafers be not allowed to go to the In 
 dies, especially to Peru. They go there to 
 live on the labors of those unfortunate In 
 dians. ... I don't know when this blessed 
 fleet will set sails. Glory be to God, and 
 may He long preserve your Highness in 
 His holy service. Amen. 
 
 Given at San lyucar de Barrameda, the 
 25th of October, 1552. 
 
 Fray Bartolome de L,as Casas, bishop." 
 
 No doubt having to look after a lot of 
 friars for ten months to see them safely on 
 board their ship was very aggravating to 
 the restless ex-bishop of Chiapa. But, 
 after all, he must not have been in any 
 great hurry to leave his native Seville, of 
 which San L,ucar was the port. For we 
 find him editing there no less than eight of 
 his works, the original editions of which 
 all bear dates between July 1552 and Janu 
 ary 1553. The press, however, of other 
 business must have been great ; for in 
 order to finish that work, in as short a 
 space of time as possible, he engaged two 
 printing presses at the same time, that of 
 the Spaniard Trujillo and the one belong 
 ing to the German Cronberger. 
 
Life of Bartolom& de Las Casas. 557 
 
 Seven out of the eight works have been 
 noticed heretofore, i. e.: 
 
 ist. Brevisima relacion. 
 
 2d. His controversy with Doctor Sepul- 
 veda. 
 
 3d. The confesionario. 
 
 4th. The thirty propositions, etc. 
 
 5th. Tratado comprobatorio. 
 
 6th. The treaty on Indian slavery. 
 
 7th. The memorial presented to the 
 Valladolid commission in 1542, who enacted 
 the new laws. 
 
 The 8th, of which nothing has yet been 
 said, was a pamphlet entitled : "Principia 
 quaedam ex quibus procedendum est in 
 disputations ad manifestandam et defen- 
 dendam justitiam Indorum." Per Kpis- 
 copum Bartolomeum a Casaus O. P. 
 
 Internal evidence shows it to have been 
 written about the time of his controversy 
 with Sepulveda. ' 
 
 These however do not represent, by any 
 means, the sum total of the literary pro 
 ductions of the first American priest up to 
 the year 1553. In fact, though it is not 
 known why, the treaty De Unico Vocationis 
 ModOy already reviewed, never was printed 
 during L,as Casas' life. 
 
 Perhaps his most interesting work to the 
 sociologist is his treaty entitled : "Questio 
 
558 Life oj Bartolom6 de Las Casas. 
 
 de imperatoria potestate. An videlicet 
 reges vel principes jure aliquo vel titulo, et 
 salva conscientia, cives ac subditos suos a 
 regia corona et alterius domini particularis 
 ditioni subjicere possint." 
 
 I will translate the review of this work 
 by Antonio Fabie. 
 
 u The pamphlet is divided into thirty- 
 seven paragraphs, and is written in the 
 scholastical style of that period, with 
 numberless quotations of authorities ad 
 duced in support of the doctrines upheld, 
 which are nothing more than deductions or 
 corollaries flowing from the principles of 
 St. Thomas Aquinas on so important a 
 subject-matter. The titles of the different 
 paragraphs will give a sufficient idea of the 
 teachings of I^as Casas. 
 
 ist Paragraph. The natural liberty of 
 man. 
 
 2nd. The original right of man to take 
 possessions of created things. 
 
 3rd. The rights which kings have to 
 the property of individuals. 
 
 Las Casas denies that kings have any 
 such right, and opposes the doctrine of 
 eminent domain (not however the right of 
 expropriation for the public weal, and with 
 compensation) advocated by Hostiense, of 
 whom he says: "If he means to uphold 
 
ILije of Bartolom6 de Las Casas. 559 
 
 the doctrine that a sovereign as such, has 
 the right to dispose of the private property 
 of his subjects, he has fallen into a serious 
 error, which is opposed to the common 
 opinion of the doctors. ' ' Modern individu 
 alistic schools go no farther in advocating 
 the absolute right of individuals to property. 
 In the same paragraph Las Casas combats 
 another error of the bishop of Ostia, De 
 Duce, on which those, who held that the 
 monarchs of Castile were absolute lords of 
 the Indies, having power to dispose of lands 
 and all apurtenances thereof, based their 
 opinion. Hostiense taught that the coming 
 of the Messiah had the juridical effect of 
 depriving of the individual's right to 
 property all those, who did not recognize 
 him as such, and refused to embrace his 
 doctrines. That error, says Las Casas, is 
 a most pernicious one, because it contra 
 dicts Holy Writ, the Holy Fathers, and the 
 traditions of the Church. It opens the 
 doors to a thousand thefts, to unjust wars, 
 to numberless homicides and to all manner 
 of crimes. It has been proved, says Las 
 Casas, that Hostiense 's proposition is here 
 tical. 
 
 4th. In this paragraph, which is called 
 constitutional compact about taxation, Las 
 Casas sustains that rulers have not the right 
 to tax their subjects without their consent. 
 
560 Life of Bartolom& de Las Casas. 
 
 5th. Under tlie heading of limitation 
 of royal jurisdiction, L,as Casas teaches, 
 that the power of rulers cannot be arbitrary, 
 and that it is limited to the execution of 
 the laws. 
 
 6th. The duties of one city to the others 
 within the same kingdom. 
 
 7th. Duties of one kingdom to other 
 kingdoms. 
 
 8th. L,aws injurious to the common 
 weal are null and void. 
 
 This is a radical doctrine ; and from it to 
 that other one, which advocates the right 
 of insurrection, there is but one easy step, 
 which many contemporary writers had al 
 ready taken. 
 
 Qth. This paragraph which is a con 
 sequence of the 8th is entitled : Kings are 
 amenable to the laws. 
 
 loth. Gives the proofs of paragraph 2d 
 and an abundance of references and author 
 ities to support them. 
 
 nth. Kings have no right to dispose of 
 properties belonging to the people. 
 
 1 2th and I3th. Kings have no right to 
 dispose of their sovereignty over the people. 
 
 1 4th, 1 5th and i6th prove that kings 
 have no right to sell public offices. 
 
 1 7th. Kings have no right to dispose 
 of the national domain. 
 
Life ofBartolom& de Las Casas. 561 
 
 1 8th. It is not lawful to grant ex 
 emption from taxation. 
 
 1 9th. - Defends the now universally ac 
 cepted doctrine that lucrative public offices 
 must be given gratis, according to the 
 abilities and merits of the applicants. 
 
 20th. Treats of the properties of the 
 crown. 
 
 2ist. Of the properties of individuals. 
 
 2 2nd and 23rd. Teach that kings cannot 
 dispose of their kingdoms, in whole, or in 
 part without the consent of the nation. 
 
 24th and 25th declare fiefs to be un 
 lawful. 
 
 The remaining paragraphs are answers 
 to objections raised against the foregoing 
 doctrines." 
 
 I may add that I^as Casas' principles 
 imply that there can be no government 
 without the consent of the governed. 
 
 If the French revolutionists thought of 
 having discovered some new political prin 
 ciple, they were evidently mistaken ; and if 
 one reads over carefully the Questio De 
 Imperatoria Potestate along with the con- 
 stitution of the United States, he might be 
 tempted to believe that the framers of the 
 latter had taken the former for their 
 model. The only substantial difference 
 between the two documents consists in 
 36 
 
562 Life ofBartolom& de Las Casas. 
 
 this, that L,as Casas' pamphlet calls the 
 supreme magistrate of a nation a king or 
 an emperor, who rules (with the consent of 
 the people) during his life time, whereas 
 the constitution speaks of a president to be 
 elected every four years. Indeed the first 
 American priest seems to be unwilling to 
 confer on kings as much power as the 
 supreme law of this republic grants to its 
 chief executive. 
 
 How delighted would he not be to see, 
 after the lapse of three and a half centuries, 
 his principles prevailing (in theory) from 
 one end to the other of this continent? 
 
 It would be interesting to know why Las 
 Casas did not publish this work with the 
 others printed in Seville in 1552. Perhaps 
 it was because his advanced ideas would 
 have gotten him in trouble an<J landed him 
 where he could do no more good to his In 
 dians. In fact, for preaching to some 
 soldiers not to obey their officers when 
 commanded to engage in a war against the 
 Indians, that was plainly unjust, he had 
 been criminally prosecuted in Nicaragua, 
 during the years 1535 and 1536. Again, 
 when his confesionario first appeared in 
 Mexico, and then in Spain, it gave umbrage 
 to Charles V. , who called upon him for an 
 explanation of his doctrines. It then re- 
 
Life of Bartolomt de Las Casas. 563 
 
 quired all the ingenuity of an expert dia 
 lectician as he was, to allay the emperor's 
 fears and to satisfy him that his title to the 
 Indies was not really attacked by the con- 
 fesionario. What would have happened 
 if the blunt and radical ideas of the Questio 
 De Imperatoria Potestate should have been 
 published at a time, when his antagonist 
 Sepulveda had already accused him of 
 printing another of his works surreptitious 
 ly? I am supported in this surmise by the 
 fact that the Dominicans, who inherited 
 his manuscripts and most of his ideas, five 
 years after the bishop's death, gave the 
 Questio De Imperatoria Potestate to the 
 German ambassador, who had it published 
 in Spire in 1571. 
 
 Las Casas' time, after his return from 
 Seville in 1553, to the very, hour of his 
 death was spent in defence of the Indians, 
 mostly by means of literary work. From 
 his will we shall see how he kept up an 
 active correspondence with all parts of the 
 American Spanish possessions, which gave 
 him a minute knowledge of what was go 
 ing on in the West Indian islands, in New 
 Spain, in Central and South America. 
 This correspondence shows that the ex- 
 bishop of Chiapa acted constantly as the 
 attorney and general procurator of all the 
 
564 Life o/ Bartolomd de Las Casas. 
 
 Indians at the court of Spain. Did he hear 
 of some new outrage of the Spaniards 
 against the Indians ? A memorial would 
 be prepared at once, and presented to the 
 emperor, to prince Philip or to the Indian 
 council, denouncing it in his clear cut, 
 plainspoken style, with which the reader 
 has now grown familiar. 
 
 Owing principally to the importunities 
 and constant forcible remonstrations of Las 
 Casas, the conditions of the Indians in 
 Mexico and elsewhere had been greatly 
 improved. Vast numbers of them had 
 been incorporated in the crown of Castile, 
 which meant that they were like other free 
 vassals, subject only to the king. As late 
 as 1560 it had not yet been found practi 
 cable to carry out all the provisions of the 
 new laws. But as nearly as it is now pos 
 sible to gather, the condition of the Indi 
 ans of an Kncomienda at that period, was 
 no worse than that of the serfs of feudal 
 Europe. In most places, as in Guatemala 
 and Mexico, the duties of the encomenda- 
 dos (the Indians of an Kncomienda) were 
 reduced to paying to the encomendero (the 
 owner of an Encomienda) certain tributes, 
 by a fiction of law, to the king, but in 
 reality to the master. 
 
 While the operations of the royal or- 
 
Life ofBartolomd de Las Casas. 565 
 
 dinances coming into force in a progressive 
 ratio with the establishment of law and 
 order on a solid basis, yearly increased the 
 number of free Indians, the landlords or 
 encomenderos availed themselves of every 
 conceivable pretext to increase the number 
 of their encomendados. On the other hand 
 a monastery with its friars, or a church 
 with its clerigo (secular priest) had by this 
 time been erected in almost every pueblo 
 in Spanish America, and the friars and 
 clergy in general had become the natural 
 defenders of the people's liberties. The 
 Indians, guided by the cross towering on 
 every church steeple, had learned where to 
 find protection from the exactions, greed 
 and tyranny of the encomenderos. Hence 
 interminable law suits, that soon choked 
 the wheels of justice in the courts. On the 
 whole the law officers, the clergy and pub 
 lic opinion must have inclined to the side 
 of liberty, whenever a doubt existed as 
 to the right of the encomendero to claim 
 the services or tributes of the Indians. For 
 the landlords found it to their interest to 
 ask the central government in Spain to 
 take a new census of all the natives, in or 
 der that it might be determined officially, 
 who was, and who was not, a free vassal of 
 the king. 
 
566 Life ofBartolom& de Las Casas. 
 
 By this means stronger shackles would 
 have been welded on numberless aboriginal 
 Americans, and L,as Casas opposed the 
 scheme with his usual energy and perti 
 nacity. A memorial was presented to 
 prince Philip, the opening paragraph of 
 which reads as follows: 
 
 "Most powerful L,ord. The exbishop of 
 Chiapa kisses your Highness' hand and 
 begs to inform you, that letters from New 
 Spain tell me how all the Indians are made 
 the victims of renewed oppression and 
 tyranny ; through the calumnies and machi 
 nations of the encomenderos, who do not 
 desist from sucking their blood." 
 
 The memorial speaks of one method 
 (which has not yet become antiquated in 
 our own days) employed by the rich, influ 
 ential and powerful encomenderos to op 
 press the Indians. Did these claim their 
 liberty or a reduction of their tributes? 
 Did they endeavor to resist some of the in 
 tolerable exactions of their greedy masters? 
 Their complaints would be made the sub 
 ject of interminable law suits, and of ap 
 peals intended to starve into submission the 
 penniless complainants. 
 
 The kings of Spain had at all times re 
 sisted the petitions and the large sums 
 offered by the Spaniards in America, to 
 
Life of Bartolomt de Las Casas. 567 
 
 liave tlie Kncomiendas established in per 
 petuity. These were to last only for two 
 generations, and on the death of the Indi 
 ans of an Encomienda and of their chil 
 dren, their descendants were to be given 
 absolute freedom. By the middle of the 
 XVI. century this mild form of slavery 
 was beginning to be extinguished, and the 
 slave-owners settled on a new plan to per 
 petuate it. Philip II. had gone to England 
 to celebrate his wedding with Mary, his 
 future queen. He was hard pressed for 
 money, and a deputation of Spanish Amer 
 icans had followed him with a bag of gold 
 to help him out of his straits, if he would 
 but consent to make over to them in per 
 petuity their Encomiendas. The offer was 
 tempting and it seems that there was a 
 time when Philip vaccillated between ac 
 cepting it and rejecting it. Las Casas 
 came to the rescue. He addressed a letter, 
 not to the king, but to his confessor, Father 
 Miranda,*) in which are summarized very 
 
 *) He was a Dominican, professor and doctor of 
 theology, who resided for some years in England. 
 Later he became archbishop of Toledo, and having 
 been suspected of heresy, his trial by the courts of 
 the inquisition proved the most famous in the XVI. 
 century. Las Casas wrote of him, during the trial, 
 that he was no heretic (el qual no es hereje}. He 
 was, however, convicted, and died while undergoing 
 his sentence of detention, if he was not confined in 
 a real jail. 
 
568 Life of Bartolomd de Las Casas. 
 
 forcibly and indeed eloquently the argu 
 ments adduced in his former works in favor 
 of the Indians, and the litany is told once 
 more of the wrongs done them by the 
 Spaniards in America. It must not have 
 been intended that Philip should see the 
 letter, for the kings of Spain are here 
 plainly made to assume their share of 
 responsibility for the numberless crimes 
 committed by the Spaniards beyond the 
 Atlantic. Indeed it is noticeable that, 
 while the first American priest in his ear 
 lier writings invariably charges the king's 
 advisers with the responsibility of mal 
 administration of American affairs, and ex 
 onerates the monarchs, in his old age, 
 that is, after having become himself their 
 councillor, and after having detailed to 
 them numberless times by word of mouth 
 and in writing the flagrant abuses, he 
 makes no attempt to excuse or palliate 
 their want of energy in shielding the help 
 lessness of the American natives against 
 the rapacity and cruelty of their oppres 
 sors. Nay, in more than one of his latest 
 writings he lets his conviction transpire 
 that Spain, as a nation, would yet be held 
 responsible to God for its tyrannical rule in 
 the New World. 
 
 I will make but two short excerpts from 
 
Life of Bartolom& de Las Casas. 569 
 
 the long letter, which appears to me as the 
 most finished production of all of Las 
 Casas' works, which have passed through 
 my hands. He argues that in Spain, and 
 not in England or Flanders, should the 
 question of the Encomiendas be decided. 
 
 "It is now sixty-one years since those 
 innocent people (the Indians) first became 
 the victims of tyranny, theft and oppres 
 sion, and' forty since his Majesty began to 
 reign in Castile. But his only reforms 
 were the patchwork, which was applied 
 no sooner than since I came to break the spell, 
 with which a set of greedy, self-interested 
 tyrants, surrounding him, kept him bound. 
 Why should the kings of Castile hide 
 themselves away in a corner of England or 
 Flanders to hurriedly transact a business of 
 so transcendental importance ? If it be 
 done it will be accounted by man a great 
 mistake, and by God a great crime. I am 
 as certain that no wise decision on this 
 matter will be reached in England or in 
 Flanders, as I am that God, the infinite 
 and infallible justice, will take away from 
 the kings of Castile the Indies if the 
 opinion of councillors, ignorant alike of the 
 interests of God and of the king, prevail. 
 For it is written : "Begnum a gente in gen- 
 tern transferetur propter injustitias et in- 
 jurias et contumelias et diversos doles." . 
 
570 Life of Bartolomd de Las Casas. 
 
 The letter forms a pamphlet of about 
 forty octavo pages, and was written in an 
 swer to one from Father Caranza, in which 
 the latter asked seven questions. I'll 
 translate the answer of Las Casas to the 
 seventh, as it will give some additional 
 data on his biography and a closer insight 
 of the relations then existing between the 
 civil rulers and the ecclesiastics of the 
 time. 
 
 Attached to the office of an every-day 
 confessor are weighty responsibilities, even 
 when a common laborer kneels before him 
 to unburden his conscience. But the re 
 sponsibility of the confessor of an absolute 
 ruler and legislator, as the mighty Charles 
 V. was, is, under one aspect, even greater 
 than that of the penitent himself. Who 
 would have thought that the renowned 
 theologian Pedro de Soto should have made 
 so frightful a blunder in directing his 
 august penitent, as to cause the enslave 
 ment for life of not less than one million 
 of human beings, because he neglected to 
 investigate sufficiently the subject of the 
 Kncomiendas. 
 
 Las Casas' letter, after lying hidden 
 away in musty Spanish archives for more 
 than three hundred years, came forth to 
 inform us of the historical fact. It shows 
 
Life of Bartolom6 de Las Casas. 571 
 
 us also that several other letters passed 
 between L,as Casas and Caranza until a de 
 cision was reached in favor of the Indians. 
 "The answer to the seventh and last 
 .question of your reverence follows from 
 what has already been said. It is iniquitous 
 and diabolical, and contrary to all law and 
 reason to grant Repartimientos of any kind 
 either in perpetuity or for a limited period 
 of time, even for one hour ; because it de 
 prives them of their liberty, and the Ca 
 ciques of their dominions It is like 
 
 turning the Indians over to lunatics bran 
 dishing well sharpened knives. Hence the 
 king or the pope has no more power than 
 any private person to grant Repartimien 
 tos. Your Reverence must not deceive 
 yourself, or allow the king to be deceived 
 by the specious argument that, by not 
 allowing the encomenderos to exercise 
 either criminal or civil jurisdiction over the 
 Indians, these will be sufficiently protected. 
 This was the trap in which the emperor 
 and his confessor, Father Pedro de Soto, 
 fell, when they listened to the salaried pro 
 curators of the tyrants of Mexico, who, 
 after having been thrice repulsed, repre 
 sented to the confessor that really they 
 asked for nothing substantial as long as 
 they did not ask for either civil or criminal 
 
572 Life ofBartolomd de Las Casas. 
 
 jurisdiction over trie Indians ; as if they 
 had ever exercised it, or as if they needed 
 it to encompass their destruction. In this 
 way they succeeded to annul the laws for 
 bidding the Kncomiendas of the Indians to 
 
 their children For charity's sake, 
 
 don't let your Reverence be deceived into 
 paying any attention to the provisions, 
 laws and penalties, with which it is pre 
 tended to safeguard the protection of the 
 Indians. They are inventions of the devil 
 and of his ministers, to deceive and blind 
 fold the simple ones of this world, and 
 hide the deadly poison of the Repartimien- 
 tos and of the infernal Bncomiendas. 
 
 Should your reverence or the king wish 
 *me to prove the different propositions ad 
 vanced in this letter, I'll do it to your 
 satisfaction, by the divine, the natural, 
 the civil and the canon law. As far as 
 the facts are concerned, it will not be 
 difficult to adduce thousands of proofs, 
 out of the archives of the Indian council. 
 Promising to answer your other questions 
 in a separate letter, I put an end to this 
 during the present month of August, 1555. ' ' 
 
 Of all the works of L,as Casas (except 
 the new laws which are, at least in part, 
 the product of his brains and of his energy) 
 none, in my opinion, had as important 
 
Life ofBartolomd de Las Casas. 573 
 
 results as this letter addressed to Father 
 Caranza, the contents of which were in 
 tended for the conscience of Philip II., 
 if not for his eyes. Had not its argu 
 ments and its pleadings prevailed, the 
 western continent might have become again 
 a vast slave market. 
 
 The first attempt to bribe the Spanish 
 monarchs into selling the liberty of their 
 subjects, had been made by the Encomen- 
 deros of Mexico. A few years later those 
 of Peru, which then comprised the present 
 republics of Ecuador, Peru, Chili, Argen 
 tina, Paraguay, Uruguay, Bolivia and the 
 three Guianas, proffered large sums once 
 more to Philip II. as a price for the per 
 petuity of the Encomiendas. It is pleas 
 ing to learn that before the death of Las 
 Casas many Caciques and their Indians 
 of South America were already free from 
 the serfdom of the Encomienda, either 
 because they had always been the free 
 vassals of the king, or had become free 
 men by the operation of the new laws. 
 
 The provincial of the Dominicans in 
 Peru, on hearing that a deputation of 
 vSpaniards had gone to Spain with another 
 bag of gold to buy the perpetuity of their 
 Encomiendas, managed to have himself 
 and L,as Casas (whoni every chief con- 
 
574 Life ofBartolom& de Las Casas. 
 
 sidered his friend and father) appointed 
 by the Caciques as their legal attorneys 
 and procurators. The friar then travelled 
 to Spain and in the company of L,as Casas 
 presented a memorial, not in the style of 
 officious suppliants, but of business men, 
 who were empowered to bid a higher sum 
 for the liberty of their clients, than the 
 masters had offered for their enslavement. 
 It begins as follows : 
 
 u We, Don Fray Bartolome de L,as Casas, 
 bishop, and Doctor Domingo de Santo 
 Thomas, provincial of the Order of friars 
 preachers in the provinces of Peru etc." 
 
 The Caciques in substance, through their 
 procurators, promised to pay for their 
 liberty $100,000 more, than the Spaniards 
 had offered to keep them in bondage. 
 And should a bid be made, the document 
 says, by the Spaniards higher than the 
 Indians were able to pay, then the Ca 
 ciques guarantee the payment of #2,000,000 
 in four yearly installments of $500,000. To 
 the honor of the Spanish crown, be it said, 
 neither offer was accepted, and the hated 
 Kncomienclas were allowed to die, in the 
 course of time, a natural death. 
 
 The memorial bears no date, but it 
 must have been written not later than 
 1560. If therefore L,as Casas did not sue- 
 
Life of Bartolom& de Las Casas. 575 
 
 ceed in setting free, during his life time, 
 all of his beloved Indians, he lived long 
 enough to see most of them enjoying as 
 large a degree of prosperity and legal 
 rights as the sums mentioned indicate. 
 
 The Protector of the Indians reached 
 a decrepid old age in the full possession 
 of his mental faculties ; and his marvellous 
 activity seems to have grown with his 
 years. At the age of ninety, he was un 
 doubtedly the best informed man, either in 
 Europe or in America, about the conditions 
 political, and religious of the new world. 
 No ship sailed for Spain from American 
 ports without carrying mail for the ex- 
 bishop of Chiapa, and perhaps no document 
 reached the colonian Indian office without 
 passing through his hand, or at least with 
 out his knowing the substance of its con 
 tents. His love for his American children 
 grew into a holy passion, and it is doubtful 
 if during the last fifty years of his life he 
 spent a day without thinking studying and 
 working for their welfare. 
 
 It is therefore strange to be told by his 
 earliest biographer, that Father Ladrada, 
 L,as Casas constant companion and confessor 
 for upward of thirty years, should have 
 found it advisable to urge the Protector 
 of the Indians to still more earnest efforts 
 
576 Life ofBartolom& de Las Casas. 
 
 in their belialf. The exbishop of Chiapa 
 had grown partially deaf and Ladrada, 
 Remesal assures us, was overheard more than 
 once telling his penitent aloud: "Don't 
 you see, bishop, that you are on the road 
 to hell, because you do not defend with 
 sufficient zeal the cause of the poor In 
 dians, whom God has entrusted to your 
 care?" 
 
 The explanation of it all is to be found 
 in the conviction of Las Casas himself, that 
 he had been appointed, almost miraculous 
 ly, or at least by a special dispensation of 
 divine providence the Protector of the In 
 dians. His confessor shared with him this 
 conviction, and frequently warned his peni 
 tent that any action of his. not consecrated 
 to the fulfilment of his mission might ap 
 pear sinful in the sight of God. 
 
 Something more remains to be said of 
 the historical works of the first American 
 priest. He fully deserves the title, which 
 I gave him, of Father of American history. 
 His father was one of the principal factors 
 in the first settlement of white men on 
 American soil in 1493, an( ^ ^ a ^ resided al 
 most continuously in Hispaniola, when Las 
 Casas landed there in 1502. Through the 
 father, the son became acquainted with 
 Christopher Columbus and his two brothers, 
 
Life ofBartolom& de Las Casas. 577 
 
 Bartholomew and Diego, and later enjoyed 
 the intimacy of his two sons, Diego and 
 Fernando. The latter 's famous library 
 was deposited, after his death, in St. Paul's 
 Dominican convent of Seville, in which 
 Las Casas spent, at different times, at least 
 two years. There he had ample opportuni 
 ties to consult and copy the writings of Co 
 lumbus himself, and to become intimately 
 acquainted with all the events connected 
 with the discovery of the new world. That 
 these are facts can be gathered from the 
 writings of L,as Casas himself. 
 
 As his histories go no further than the 
 year 1521, he was therefore an eye witness 
 of many of the most important events, 
 about which he writes, and his other 
 sources of information were invariably the 
 originals of the writings or the words of 
 those, who had been actors in the historical 
 drama. Spanish America was fortunate in 
 having him as its first historian as no other 
 man ever was as well fitted for the task, as 
 Las Casas. His honesty of purpose, his 
 sincerity and trustworthiness as to facts, 
 have never been challenged, although his 
 zeal for the Indians perhaps betrayed him 
 at times into exaggerating the number and 
 the atrocities of Spanish outrages against 
 the aborigines. 
 37 
 
578 Life oj Bartolom& de Las Casas. 
 
 He wrote but one history which he called 
 Historia General de Las Indias , to which 
 reference has frequently been made as 
 Historia de Las Indias. But having ended 
 the L/XVII. chapter of his work, he says : 
 "Here was to have its place the history and 
 description of the properties, natural ad 
 vantages and geography of these islands, 
 especially of this one .(Hispaniola) and of 
 the other countries discovered by the ad 
 miral (Columbus) and of the conditions, 
 talents and natural habits of the natives. 
 But as this subject requires itself a large 
 treaty .... it is my intention to write it 
 in a separate volume, which will not be a 
 small one." That separate volume he 
 called Historia Apologetica de Las Indias. 
 The two together make about twenty-five 
 hundred octavo pages of ordinary print. 
 
 The style is at times that of a familiar 
 conversational narrative, rising to eloquence 
 and force when inveighing against the op 
 pressors of the Indians. It is not always 
 clear, but frequently that of a man who 
 endeavors to be redundant, while trying at 
 the same time to press into one period as 
 many ideas as possible. A desire to be cor 
 rect and exact, as to dates and facts, is 
 everywhere evident, and the salient idea 
 left on the mind after wading through much 
 
Life ofBartolom& de Las Casas. 579 
 
 matter, which appears irrelevant to the 
 modern reader, is that the writer cared for 
 nothing more than to record correctly for 
 posterity the events of his times and the 
 impressions created by them on his own 
 mind. Constantly recurring invectives 
 against the Spaniards in America, and 
 painting their almost every deed in the 
 darkest of colors in order to gain the 
 reader's sympathy and commiseration for 
 the Indians, together with a superabundance 
 of religious and moral reflections make the 
 work tiresome reading at times. Many a 
 chapter might be mistaken for an indict 
 ment against the wickedness of the Span 
 iards or a plea in defense of the Indians. 
 History needs be shifted from the au 
 thor's polemics, reflections, invectives and 
 prayers ; but when so shifted the reader 
 gets possession of a genuine article. It is 
 perhaps no exaggeration to say that more 
 correct information can be gathered about 
 the first thirty years of American history 
 from the works of lyas Casas, than from the 
 combined writing of all his contemporaries. 
 Historia General de L,as Indias remained 
 unedited until about twenty-five years ago, 
 when it was published in Spain and re- 
 published in Mexico in 1877. On the 
 title page of the orginal the following, in 
 
580 Life of Bartolomd de Las Casas. 
 
 the handwriting of I/as Casas himself, can 
 be read : 
 
 "I, Fray Bartolome de L,as Casas, ex- 
 bishop of Chiapa, bequeath this history in 
 trust to this college of Saint Gregory, ask 
 ing and begging those who now are or will 
 be rectors or regents of the same, not to 
 give it to any layman to read inside or out 
 side of said college for the space of forty 
 years beginning with January ist of the 
 incoming year 1560, and I hereby make it 
 a matter of conscience for them to comply 
 with this request. After the said forty 
 years, should it appear to them expedient 
 for the good of the Indians and of Spain to 
 do so, they may have it printed for the 
 glory of God and mainly in order that the 
 truth may be known. It does not even 
 appear advisable that all collegians be 
 allowed to read it, but only the most dis 
 creet, in order that it be not published be 
 fore the proper time. There is no good 
 reason for publishing it now, as no good 
 would come of it. 
 
 Given this November, 1559. 
 
 Deo gratias 
 Fray Bartolome de Las Casas. " 
 
 There is abundant internal evidence to 
 prove that Historia General de L,as Indias 
 was in the author's mind soon after his 
 
Life of Bartolom& de Las Casas. 581 
 
 novitiate in the Dominican convent of 
 San Domingo, and that the gathering 
 and co-ordinating of materials was begun in 
 the convent of La Plata in 1527 and con 
 tinued to the last years of his life. But 
 inasmuch as we find largely quoted the bio 
 graphy of Columbus, by his son Fernando, 
 which was published in 1537, and inas 
 much as in the second chapter of the 
 Historia General we find a quotation from 
 the Portugese historian Joan de Barros, 
 whose work appeared only in 1552, it be 
 comes evident that the compilation and 
 actual writing of the Historia General de 
 Las Indias, as we have it, did not begin be 
 fore the last mentioned date. It was most 
 ly in the convent of St. Gregory in Valla- 
 dolid that the work was done during what 
 leisure hours his more pressing occupations 
 in behalf of the Indians left him. The 
 first book, which comprises about half of 
 the work, was finished in 1559, when the 
 donation of it in trust was made to St. 
 Gregory's college. The third and last book 
 was finished in 1561 as appears from its 
 last sentences: "and wish to God that to 
 day, which is the year 1561 etc." 
 
 Las Casas relating the cruelties and 
 crimes of the Spaniards in America, sup 
 pressed the names of the guilty parties in 
 
582 Life ofBartolomd de Las Casas. 
 
 all his otlier works, in order not to defame 
 them in their own or during their children's 
 lives ; but in the Historia names are given, 
 and not unfrequently biographical sketches 
 of the men, who caused the deaths of 
 thousands, and according to our author, of 
 millions of American natives. Hence his 
 determination that this, his most important 
 work, should not be given to the public be 
 fore the dawn of the following century. 
 
 We are informed in the introduction that 
 the author's intention was to write the 
 history of America up to the year 1550. 
 u My work will be divided in six parts or 
 books, which will give the history of al 
 most sixty years, each book dealing with 
 the events of ten years, except the first, 
 which will count only eight, because the 
 Indies were discovered in 1492 etc." I 
 have already stated that not improbably 
 Las Casas wrote more of his Historia General 
 de Las Indias, than the three first books that 
 end with the year 1520. 
 
 In 1562 Las Casas received a joint letter 
 from the Dominicans working on the mis 
 sions in the dioceses of Guatemala and 
 Chiapa. The good Fathers expressed much 
 satisfaction in telling the founder of their 
 missions how, not only the spiritual, but the 
 material conditions as well of their Indians 
 
Life of Bartolomd de Las Casas. 583 
 
 had improved. According to their views 
 not much more was left to be desired, al 
 though the Kncomiendas had not yet all 
 been abolished. This was gratifying evi 
 dence that his former labors in those parts 
 had not been in vain, but that on the con 
 trary they had borne abundant fruits. *) 
 But the uncompromising Protector of the 
 Indians was satisfied, to the hour of his 
 death, with nothing less than the absolute 
 freedom of all the Indians, and the resti 
 tution by the Spaniards of their illgotten 
 wealth. 
 
 Las Casas answered the friars' letter 
 chiding them with the holiness of their Kn- 
 comenderos, and urging them, in a tone of 
 reproach, not to rest until complete justice 
 was done to their flocks. 
 
 I refer to this long letter because it gives 
 several data of vital importance to his bio 
 graphy. Thus the following will tell us 
 how great had been the literary activity of 
 the first American priest. U I have written 
 many sheets of paper, more than two 
 thousands of them, many of which have 
 
 *) The density of pure Indian population is to 
 this day greatest in the territories that formed the 
 dioceses of Chiapa and Guatemala when Las Casas 
 wrote. Nowhere on this continent can as many 
 pureblooded Indians be found within an equal 
 amount of territory. 
 
584 Life ofBartolom& de Las Casas. 
 
 been read, word for word, from the chairs 
 of the universities of Salamanca and Alcala, 
 and in onr own college. The professor of 
 theology, Father Domingo de Soto (may 
 his sonl rest in peace), approved all of my 
 writings, which he read or heard read, and 
 said that he could have written no better 
 himself about Indian matters, although he 
 would have adopted a different style. He 
 sat side by side with professor Miranda and 
 professor Cano in the junta called together 
 in 1551 by the emperor, before which I read 
 my Apologia against Sepulveda." Accord 
 ing to the foregoing and my own calcu 
 lations, Las Casas' writings, if collected to 
 gether would have formed between ten and 
 fifteen thousands octavo pages of ordinary 
 print. The reader knows already that he 
 ranked with the foremost theologians and 
 canonists of his time. 
 
 Las Casas' ordinary place of residence, 
 after his resignation of the See of Chiapa, 
 was the college of St. Gregory of Valladolid 
 But the last six years of his life seem to 
 have been spent in -court, where his services 
 were almost constantly required in the 
 government of the Indies. 
 
 The decree of Philip II. , ordering that 
 he be given lodgings wherever the court 
 might sit, is not the only proof of the fact 
 
Life of Bartolom6 de Las Casas. 585 
 
 (overlooked by his early biographers) that 
 L,as Casas seldom, if ever, found himself in 
 that city after the year 1560. When the 
 court settled in Madrid we find him there 
 too, although he preferred a cell in a Do 
 minican convent to the court's apartments. 
 It was the convent of Our L,ady of Atocha, 
 where the first American priest made his 
 will in February 1564. The following 
 portions of it deserve to be translated. 
 4 'Inasmuch as the goodness and the mercy 
 of God, whose unworthy minister I am, 
 called me to be the Protector of the inhabi 
 tants of the countries, which we call the 
 Indies, who were once the lords of those 
 lands and kingdoms ; inasmuch as he called 
 me to protect them against the unheard of 
 persecutions and oppressions, of which they 
 were made the victims by the Spaniards ; 
 inasmuch as he called me to protect them 
 from the violent deaths which desolated, 
 frequently under my eyes, and continue yet 
 to desolate thousands of leagues of terri 
 tory ; therefore I have labored in the court 
 of the kings of Castile, going and coming 
 from the Indies to Castile, and from Castile 
 to the Indies many times for about fifty 
 years, i. e. from the year 1514, for the love 
 of God alone and through compassion see 
 ing those great multitudes of rational men 
 
586 Life of Bartolomt de Las Casas. 
 
 perisli, wlio originally were approachable, 
 humble, meek and simple, and well fitted 
 to receive the Catholic faith and to practice 
 all manner of Christian virtues. As God is 
 my witness that I never had earthly inter 
 est in view, I declare it to be my conviction 
 and my faith (and I believe it to be in ac 
 cordance with the faith of the Holy Roman 
 Church, which is our rule and our guide), 
 that, by all the thefts, all the deaths, and 
 all the confiscations of estates and other 
 uncalculable riches, by the dethroning of 
 rulers with unspeakable cruelty ; the perfect 
 and the immaculate law of Jesus Christ, 
 and the natural law itself have been broken, 
 the name of Our Lord and of his holy 
 religion have been outraged, the spreading 
 of the faith has been retarded, and irre 
 parable harm done to those innocent people. 
 Hence I believe that, unless it atones with 
 much penance for those abominable and 
 unspeakably wicked deeds, Spain will be 
 visited by the wrath of God, because the 
 whole nation has shared, more or less, in 
 the bloody wealth that has been acquired 
 by the slaughter and extermination of those 
 people. But I fear that it will repent too 
 late, or never. For God punishes with 
 blindness the sins sometimes of the lowly, 
 but especially and more frequently of those 
 
Life oj Bartolome de Las Casas. 587 
 
 who think tliemselves wise, and who pre 
 sume to rule the world. We ourselves are 
 eye-witnesses of this darkening of the under 
 standing. It is now seventy years since 
 we began to scandalize, to rob, and to 
 murder those peoples, but, to this day, we 
 have not yet come to realize that so many 
 scandals, so much injustice, so many thefts, 
 so many massacres, so much slavery, and 
 the depopulation of so many provinces, 
 which have disgraced our holy religion, 
 are sins or injustices at all. j 
 
 I have also given to the college of St. 
 Gregory all my Latin and Spanish manu 
 scripts, in my own handwriting, concern 
 ing the Indians, that of the Historia Gene 
 ral de Las Indias included. It has been 
 my intention that the latter should never 
 come out of the college, except for the pur 
 pose of having it printed at such a time as 
 will please God, while the original must at 
 all time remain in the college. I beg 
 again the Fathers, who are or will be rec 
 tors or regents, to comply with this request 
 of mine and to make it a matter of con 
 science to preserve it and take care of it. 
 
 And whereas I have received a very 
 large number of letters from many friars of 
 three different religious orders, and from 
 many other persons from almost every part 
 
588 Life ofBartolomd de Las Casas. 
 
 of tlie Indies, giving information about all 
 the evils, grievances and injustices inflicted 
 by our countrymen on the natives of those 
 kingdoms, (although they had in no man 
 ner offended us) and begging me earnestly 
 to ask the king and his council to find a 
 remedy ; and whereas these letters are wit 
 nesses to the truth which I have, by the 
 grace of God, defended for many years, and 
 witnesses, at the same time, of the in 
 justices, oppressions, calamities and deaths, 
 which those people have suffered at our 
 hands, thus affording a history ready-made 
 and authenticated by, in every way, 
 credible testimony ; therefore I beg the 
 rector, for charity's sake, to select one of 
 the least busy of the Fathers of the college, 
 and to assign to him the task of collecting 
 all said letters into a volume, arranging 
 them in chronological order as to the time 
 of their reception, and compiling an index 
 showing the provinces whence they came. 
 The volume should be placed in the college 
 library at perpetuam rei memoriam, in or 
 der that, should God decide to destroy 
 Spain, it may be readily seen, that the 
 punishment is caused ~by our own destruc 
 tions in the Indies, and thus the reason of 
 his justice shall be made apparent. 
 
 I penned these lines at the end of Febru 
 ary 1564. 
 
Life ofBartolome de Las Casas. 589 
 
 Fray Bartolome de Las Casas, bishop." 
 
 Was the first American priest a prophet? 
 And if so, were the naval battles of Manila 
 and Santiago de Cuba the last scenes of his 
 unfolding prophesy ? 
 
 If any of my countrymen thinks so, let 
 him reflect that the all-wise and all-mighty 
 God frequently punishes the sins of one 
 nation by those of another ; and that while 
 at the end of this 'XIX. century scarcely 
 an Indian is to be found over the length 
 and breath of these United States, at the 
 beginning of the XVIII. the aborigines 
 were everywhere almost as thick as on any 
 other part of this continent. 
 
 It is possible that the lines quoted above 
 were the last written by L,as Casas. No 
 other, known at present, in his handwrit 
 ing, bears a later date. 
 
 The works of the first American priest 
 clearly demonstrate that he was first a man 
 of prayer ; second that he possessed in an 
 eminent degree an abiding faith in God, 
 and his Providence ; and third that he was 
 constant in the practice of the virtue of 
 mortification. To the very last days of his 
 life he kept rigorously the severe primitive 
 rule of St. Dominic. 
 
 Good Father L,adrada remained his com 
 panion to the last. ( ' Together they prayed, ' ' 
 
590 Life of Bartolomt de Las Casas. 
 
 says one of Las Casas' biographers, "to 
 gether they walked, together they ate, and 
 together they helped each other to defend 
 their doctrines and the Indians." 
 
 At last at the ripe old age of ninety-two, 
 Bartolome de L,as Casas was abont to sur 
 render into the hands of his Creator his 
 soul in a cell of the convent of Onr L,ady of 
 Atocha. His fellow Dominicans knelt 
 aronnd his humble couch and recited the 
 prayers for the dying. Then the first 
 American priest and Protector of the Indi 
 ans, holding in his hand a lighted candle, 
 addressed his brethren and begged them to 
 persevere in their defense of the Indians, 
 and asked them to join him in prayer to 
 God, that he might be forgiven for any re- 
 missness on his part in the fulfilment of his 
 mission. As he was about to state how he 
 had come to embrace that mission, his 
 beautiful soul left its earthly tabernacle to 
 seek a home in heaven. 
 
 Bartolome de L,as Casas died the last day 
 of July 1566. 
 
 Were we to begin with his sermon 
 preached on Pentecost Sunday in 1514, and 
 read all the ten thousand pages, which he 
 says, he wrote during the fifty years inter 
 vening between that date and 1564, when 
 he wrote his will, not one would be found 
 
Life of Bartolom& de Las Casas. 591 
 
 not written directly or indirectly in defense 
 and in behalf of the Indians. Every ser 
 mon, every speech, every familiar conver 
 sation, I imagine, spoke of the Indians, as 
 his last words were spoken for his Indians. 
 Truly if his mission was not an inspiration 
 from God, the Protector of the Indians was 
 a monomaniac for more than fifty years. 
 But may the all-merciful God grant this 
 New World many more monomaniacs like 
 the first American priest. 
 
 Have I proved that in the pages of Am 
 erican history 
 
 Non est inventus similis illi? 
 
 My task is done. I have told in Eng 
 lish, as well as I knew how, the story of 
 the first American priest, that the ten 
 thousand English speaking American 
 priests might have a mirror in which to 
 reflect their own lives, and a prototype to 
 copy. If they are to fulfil their mission of 
 christianizing the northern part of this 
 Western Continent, they must be energetic, 
 learned and persevering in the fixed pur 
 pose of drawing souls to God, i. e. walk in 
 the footsteps of Bartolome de L,as Casas. 
 
 The following beautiful tribute to his 
 memory is by a non-Catholic author. 
 
 "In. contemplating such a life as that of 
 L,as Casas, all words of eulogy seem weak 
 
592 Life o/ Bartolom& de Las Casas. 
 
 and frivolous. The historian can only bow 
 in reverent awe before a figure which is, in 
 some respects, the most beautiful and 
 sublime in the annals of Christianity, since 
 the apostolic age. When now and then 
 in the course of the centuries God's pro 
 vidence brings such a life into this world, 
 the memory of it must be cherished by 
 mankind as one of its most precious and 
 sacred possessions. For the thoughts, the 
 words, the deeds of such a man, there is no 
 death. The sphere of their influence goes 
 on widening for ever. They bud, they 
 blossom, they bear fruit, from age to 
 age. 
 
 *) 
 
 
 *) John Fiske in his "Discovery of America."