Result of the Junta's Deliberations. 191 should be given to the Spaniards. But the B. XIV. questions then remain-Who should give them? Ch. 5. to whom should they be given? and how should they be given?* Cortes To decide these difficult questions he suggests a reference to the past history of the conquest in the Indies; and, alluding to the ruin which had taken place in the West India Islands, he desires refers to that it should be investigated whether this mis- of the chief proceeded from the conquest or from the Islands. course of government afterwards. ‡ He suggests that no discovery or conquest should be attempted without the express licence of the Emperor, and that certain qualifications should be required in the person who is to receive any such licence. With regard to making slaves, his opinion is, that on no pretext should it be allowed in the course of conquest. But when countries have been conquered, if a rebellion should take place, he would then allow the captives to be made slaves. With regard to the slaves in Mexico, he thinks that many of them have been made slaves unjustly; but he would not approve of any investigation into this matter, on account of the difficulty. He would not, however, have their the history West India 192 Recommendations of the Junta. B. XIV. children brought up as slaves. Such were the Ch. 5. counsels of Cortes; but the Junta summoned by Dec. 10, 1529. Charles came to a much more favourable conclusion respecting the Indians. The result of this great Council's deliberations was communicated to the Emperor by the Archbishop of Santiago and Don Garcia Manrique, Conde de Osorno, in these words:-"It has appeared to all of us, that entire liberty should be given to the Indians, and that all the encomiendas which have been made of them should be taken away; and because it appears that to take them away at one stroke would produce inconvenience, and that the Spaniards might Recommen- desert the land, that a moderate tribute should the Junta. be fixed for the Indians to pay, and that the half of that tribute should be given for the first year to the Encomenderos, and afterwards Your Majesty will be able to give vassals to whosoever shall deserve it, reserving for yourself the head townships." The emphatic order on this subject is given in one word (Fiat), "Let it be done," which is placed after the paragraph, quoted above, of the Report.* dations of Great credit must be given to the Court of * “Ha parecido á todos que á los indios se debe dar entera libertad í quitarse todas las encomiendas que esten hechas dellos, í porque quitarse de golpe parece traeria inconvenientes í los Spañoles por esta causa podrian desamparar la tierra, que se señale un tributo moderado que paguen los indios, í la mitad deste, el primer año, se dé á las personas que agora los tienen encomendados, í despues podrá Vuestra Magestad dar Vasallos á quien lo mereciere, tomando para sí las cabezeras. (Fiat)."-Colec cion de Muñoz, MS., tom. 78. What Spain might have been. 193 Ch. 5. Spain and to the highest officers of that kingdom, B. XIV. for the determination which had thus been come to. It was a determination which would have saved innumerable lives and preserved in good order large taxable communities, occupying the most fruitful parts of the earth. Indeed, if this decree had been abided by, it might have established the power of Charles the Fifth pon such a foundation as would have given Europe more real ground for dread than if that monarch had been uniformly successful in his contests with England, Germany, and France. Spain would then have been all that, for one or two generations, it was supposed to be. Protestantism would have had a much harder battle to fight, and the world might again have had to fear a Universal Empire. An unfailing supply of hardy soldiers from Spain and Germany-an abundant and continuous influx of revenue from the Indies,-what might not have been expected from such a conjunction of resources? But as the danger was to proceed from good government of distant colonies, and wise internal administration (so seldom seen to be the true strength of states), the world might well have felt secure, even had it known of the salutary determination just adopted by the Great Junta of Spain in reference to the government of the Indies. VOL. III. CHAPTER VI. B. XIV. Dec. 10, 1529. THE SECOND AUDIENCIA ARRIVES IN MEXICOPROCEEDINGS OF THE AUDITORS-GREAT ERROR IN THEIR INSTRUCTIONS ABOUT ENCOMIENDAS -SEVERITY TOWARDS THE COLONISTS-THE NUMBER OF ORPHANS IN NEW SPAIN. THAT 'HAT ever-recurring difficulty-to find a head and hand which should carry into execution good laws, appears to have been fully present to the minds of the royal councillors; for, in the same letter in which they announced their unanimous opinion to His Majesty respecting the liberty of the Indians, they suggested that a bold and prudent "caballero," a man of good estate (hacendado), should be sent as President of the Audiencia. The Conde de Oropesa was named, but he would not accept the office. Afterwards, the Mariscal de Fromesta, and Don Antonio de Mendoza, son of the Marqués de Mondejar, were applied to; but their demands were so exorbitant (tan desaforadas), that the Council informed His Majesty that their thoughts were turned to others.* It is not surprising that men of great name and station in Spain, who fulfilled the requisite conditions of being bold, prudent, and of large *Coleccion de Muñoz, MS., tom. 78. The second "Audiencia" sent to Mexico. 195 Ch. 6. estate, should demand extraordinary powers and B. XIV. privileges, before undertaking a charge which no one hitherto had come well out of. Lists have been made of the conquerors and governors in the New World, as of men all of whose careers were signalized by miserable or disgraceful terminations; and in an age which had Machiavelli in its hands, and when politics had begun to be considered scientifically, it was not difficult to know that one of the most lamentable positions in the world is to hold an office of great state and great apparent power, and in reality to be bound by all manner of invisible fetters, being secretly at the mercy of some obscure official people around you or at home. Don chosen as The difficulty, for the present, of finding a man of weight to preside over the new Audiencia was obviated by choosing a person who had already filled a similar office, undertaken at a period of like confusion in another part of the Indies. This was Don Sebastian Ramirez de Fuenleal, Bebastian Bishop of St. Domingo in Hispaniola, who had Ramirez been sent to that island to be President of an President Audiencia which had been some time established of the Authere. Mankind were certainly not wise and good enough then, and have hardly since arrived at sufficient wisdom and goodness, to act harmoniously together in councils and commissions. The auditors of Hispaniola were at feud with the other royal officers, and probably with one another, when Don Sebastian arrived in the island; but he was a man of wisdom, energy, and official experience, having served in the cancillería of |