The latter Days of Cortez.

193

the same strain of complaint.* The latter days of Cortez 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 to occupy themselves solely in securing the conquests they have made. And, as the nature of things is always against an energetic man, some day or other, espécially 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 can not 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 newlydiscovered 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 govern

* "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 CORTÉS al EMPERADOR CARLOS V. Valladolid, 3 de Febrero, de 1544. Doc. Inéd., tom. i., p. 45.

VOL. III.-I

194

Orphans in New Spain.

66

ment, 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 endeavors made by the new auditors to provide homes and instruction for the numerous orphans who had lost their parents by reason of the cruel work imposed upon them at 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 rigor 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) 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 favored."*

* "Lo de las poblaciones de muchachos indios dotrinados en monasterios, i casados por manos de los Frailes es cosa importantísima. El

Need of Interference for the Indians. 195

I do not quote the above letter of the good auditor, who, it must be remembered, was a 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 afterward 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.

los son tan sin cuento como las estrellas del cielo í las arenas de la mar, muchísimos huérfanos, cuyos 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, i andando buena diligencia se les imprime mui bien la doctrina cristiana: tienen innata la humildad 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 Muñoz, MS., tom. lxxix.

CHAPTER VII.

THE IMPORTATION OF NEGROES.-MONOPOLIES OF LICENSES. -DEPOPULATION OF THE WEST INDIA ISLANDS.

FAR

resume.

AR otherwise was it with the negroes, the history of whose importation into the Indies we must now 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 was noticed that negroes and oranges

seemed to have found their natural soil in the island of Hispaniola.* The system of granting monopolies of licenses 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 master of the king's household, and that it was for the importation of four thousand

* "Probaron tan bien los Negros en la Isla Española, que se tuvo por opinion, que si no acontecia ahorcar al Negro, nunca moria, porque no se havia visto ninguno, que de su enfermedad acabase, i así hallaron los Negros en la Española, su propria Tierra, como los Naranjos, que les es mas natural, que su Guinea."-HERRERA, Hist. de las Indias, dec. ii., lib. iii., cap. 14.

† Lorens de Gomenot, Governor de Bresa, Baron de Montinay, and Knight of the Golden Fleece. (See Doc. Inéd., tom. xiii., p. 569.) The Governor de Bresa was described as a Fleming in a former part of this work. It appears, however, that he was a Savoyard. The Venetian embassador, Contarini, thus describes him: "Il governatore di Bressa, Savoiardo, è pur egli degli allievi, over creati di madama Margherita. Costui ha l'ufficio di maggiordomo maggiore di Cesare, che è onoratissimo luogo, ed è uomo da bene, religioso, prudente, ma un poco frigido. Costui sempre ha aderito al gran cancelliere in tutti li suoi progressi." —Relazioni, vol. 2o, p. 56.

My attention has been drawn to this fact about De Bresa by my

Importation of Negroes.

197

negroes in eight years. The next great monopoly was granted in 1523, before the expiration of the first, to the same personage, and it also gave license for the passing to the Indies of four thousand negroes in the course of eight years.* The representatives at court of the different islands remonstrated against this grant, alleging the scarcity of slaves which it had caused. The monopoly was recalled, and instead of it, permission was given for the importation of fifteen hundred negroes (half to be men and half women) to Hispaniola; three hundred to Cuba; five hundred to Porto Rico; three hundred to Jamaica; and five hundred to the province of Castilla del Oro, on the main land. De Bresa was compensated by having assigned to him the customs duties on the fifteen hundred negroes imported into Hispaniola. It was also ordered that, in any household, the negroes should not be more than a fourth of the household, and that the Christians should be well armed.†

In 1527 a thousand negroes were allowed to be imported into Cuba. In 1528 another great monopoly was granted to certain Germans for the importation of four thousand negroes.‡

Meanwhile, the Indians of the islands were rapidly friend Mr. James Doyle, whose skill and perseverance in historical research have been often taxed by me throughout this work.

* 66 Lorenço de Garrebod (without doubt, a Spanish version of the name Lorens de Gomenot), mayor-domo mayor del Emperador, tuvo licencia para passar 4000 esclavos negros, hombres, y mugeres, á las Indias, en espacio de ocho años."-HERRERA, Hist. de las Indias, dec. iii., lib. v., cap. 8. (Año, 1523.)

"Se mandó, que nadie pudiesse tener negros, sin que tuviesse la tercera parte de Christianos, que estuviessen bien provehidos de armas, de manera que siempre huviesse las tres partes de Christianos, y una de negros. "-HERRERA, Hist. de las Indias, dec. iii., lib. v., cap. 8. "En lo de los negros, el Rey mandó tomar assiento con Enrique Ciguer, y Gerónimo Sailler, Alemanes, para que se llevassen á las In