B. XIV. back appalled at the sufferings he was about to Ch. 6. inflict upon the world for inadequate and futile

days of

Cortes.

causes. When, however, the conqueror happened to be a fanatic, the future on this earth would not disturb him. He would be equally ready to slaughter his thousands, to devastate provinces, and to ruin, as mostly happens, his own fortunes, whatever the ten years' annals written prophetically on the wall might disclose to him.

Cortes, as a statesman and a man of the world, might have shuddered, if he could have foreseen the fate of himself, his companions, and the nations he came to conquer. But, sheathed as he was in the impenetrable armour of fanaticism, he would probably have counted these things as no loss, provided that the True Faith should thereby be proclaimed more widely in the New World. This must be his excuse, and this, no doubt, was his comfort, when he contemplated the sorry end of his labours as regarded himself and his own fortunes.

Later in life, we find him writing to the The latter Emperor in the same strain of complaint.* The latter days of Cortes bear a strange resemblance to those of Columbus, and, indeed, to those of Charles the Fifth himself. Men of this great stamp seldom know when to put a limit to their exertions, and

"Véome viejo, y pobre y empeñado en este reino en mas de veinte mil ducados, sin mas de ciento otros que he gastado de los que traje é me han enviado, que algunos dellos debo tambien, que los han tomado

prestados para enviarme, y todos corren cambios." Carta ó Memorial de HERNAN CORTES al EMPERADOR CARLOS V. Valladolid, 3 de Febrero, de 1544. Doc. Inéd., tom. 1, p. 45.

to occupy themselves solely in securing the con- B. XIV. quests they have made. And, as the nature of Ch. 6. things is always against an energetic man, some day or other, especially when he grows weaker and older, adverse circumstances, to his astonishment, triumph over him. Besides, even supposing him to be very prudent, and anxious to undertake nothing which he cannot master, the field for his exertions inevitably widens with success. Instead of a line to pursue, he has a large area to command. Envy meanwhile increases as he becomes more conspicuous. Many men lean upon him when he is known to be strong. His attention is distracted; and even without any deterioration of character, or failing of force, he is destroyed by the large development of new difficulties which grow up around him. As the early history of the Indies teems with commanders who ultimately prove unfortunate, it is but fair to look into the natural causes of failure which would beset them in any country, but which would be stronger in a newly-discovered country than elsewhere.

But, while we may admit that the Encomenderos were sometimes dealt with harshly in the remedial measures devised for the Indies by the home Government, we must not forget how greatly these Spanish colonists had abused their power. A striking result of this abuse is to be seen in the noble endeavours made by the new Auditors to provide homes and instruction for the numerous orphans who had lost their parents by

Care of orphans.

The
Auditor

B. XIV. reason of the cruel work imposed upon them at Ch. 6. the mines. One of the Auditors, by name Quiroga, writing to the Council of the Indies, says that the settlement of those Indian youths who have been bred up in the monasteries is a most important matter. "They are numerous," he declares, "as the stars of heaven and the sands of the sea; an immense number of orphans, whose fathers and mothers have perished in the mines through the rigour of our Spaniards." He proceeds to say, "This pious work will be in discharge of their conscience, and a great benefit to the land, the untilled parts of which will be broken up and cultivated, since our proposition is to make a settlement of them (the young Indians) proposal. in each district, at a distance from other pueblos, and in each settlement to place a monastery with three or four religiosos, who may incessantly cultivate these young plants to the service of God." He then celebrates their fitness for Christianity, their innate humility, their obedience, their carelessness for the things of this world, and, in fine, compares them to some smooth and soft surface, upon which any good impression may be made. "I offer myself," he says, "with the assistance of God, to undertake to plant a kind of Christians such as those were of the primitive Church; for God is as powerful now as then. I beseech that this thought may be favoured."*

Quiroga's

"Lo de las poblaciones importantísima. Ellos son tan de muchachos indios dotrinados sin cuento como las estrellas en monasterios, i casados por del cielo í las arenas de la mar, manos de los Frailes es cosa muchísimos huérfanos, cuyos

Need of Interference for the Indians. 209

I do not quote the above letter of the good B. XIV. Auditor, who, it must be remembered, was a Ch. 6. lawyer, and therefore less likely to be led away by a love for monastic institutions, to show the excellent intentions and efforts of this Audiencia, or to point out this as an early germ of the great system of missions which was afterwards adopted in Paraguay and elsewhere, but to manifest how large must have been the destruction of Indian life, and what need there was for continual interference in behalf of this gentle, patient, delicate people. When thinking of the different life they led before and after the Conquest, it seems as if the fate of the whole race might be compared to that of some beautiful and graceful maidens, who, on some fatal festal day, had playfully ranged themselves in exquisite order, to support on their heads, as living caryatides, a slight weight of fruit and flowers, which had all of a sudden hardened into marble, and crushed them under it.

padres í madres han muerto en las minas por el rigor de nuestros Españoles. Será descargo de su conciencia esta obra pia, en gran beneficio de la tierra, cuyos baldíos se romperán í cultivarán, pues se piensa poner una poblacion dellos en cada comarca, distante de otros pueblos, í en cada un Monasterio con 3, ó 4 religiosos que incesantemente cultiben estas plantas en servicio de Dios. Desta gente se hace lo que se quiere: Son docilísimos, í andando buena diligencia se les imprime mui bien la doctrina cristiana: tienen innata la hu

mildad obediencia í pobreza, í menosprecio del mundo í desnudez, andando descalzos con el cabello largo í sin cosa alguna en la cabeza, amicti Sindole super nudo como los Apóstoles; en fin como tabla rasa í muy blanda. Yo me ofrezco con la ayuda de Dios á plantar un género de cristianos como los de la primitiba iglesia; pues poderoso es Dios tanto agora como entonces. Suplico se faborezca este pensamiento."-Al Consejo LICENCIADO QUIROGA; México, 14 Agosto, 1531. Coleccion de MUNOZ, MS., tom. 79.

CHAPTER VII.

B. XIV.

Ch. 7.

Importation of

negroes.

THE IMPORTATION

OF NEGROES-MONOPOLIES OF

LICENCES-DEPOPULATION OF THE WEST INDIA

ISLANDS,

FAR

AR otherwise was it with the negroes, the history of whose importation into the Indies we must now resume. They flourished in the new land. It was at first thought that they were nearly immortal, as for some time no one had seen a negro die, except by hanging; and it was noticed that negroes and oranges seemed to have found their natural soil in the island of HispaMonopolies niola.* The system of granting monopolies of licences to import negroes was continued. The reader will recollect that the first monopoly by Charles the Fifth, for which Las Casas has been held so much to blame, was given in the year 1517 to the Governor de Bresa,† the Grand

of licences.

1517.

*"Probaron tan bien los Negros en la Isla Española, que se tuvo por opinion, que si no acontecia ahorcar al Negro,

nunca

se

que su Guinea." HERRERA, Hist. de las Indias, dec. 2, lib. 3, cap. 14.

Lorens de Gomenot, Governo moria, porque nor de Bresa, Baron de Montihavia visto ninguno, que de su nay, and Knight of the Golden enfermedad acabase, i así halla- Fleece. (See Doc. Ined., tom. ron los Negros en la Española, 13, p. 569.) The Governor de los Bresa was described as a Fleming su propria Tierra, como Naranjos, que les es mas natural, in a former part of this work.