Part 10 (2/2)
I beseech Your Highness not to permit these appeals and delays in cases which are favourable to the liberty of the Indians and of everybody in the world, because there will be no end to them nor will a single Indian ever obtain his liberty. I beg that Your Highness will order this Indian woman and the others to be liberated and allowed to return to their country.
It is indeed a great weight on my conscience to leave the Indians in this country, because, as they only mix with servants and other unmanageable and vicious persons and see the taverns full of loose people, without order or restraint, and other public places full of bad examples, it must happen that they, being human, will follow the example of their companions. In their own country, on the contrary, they live much better than here, even if there are not so many Christians. I beseech Your Highness to issue such orders that not one man of them may remain here.
It would also be well if Your Highness ordered an explanation of the proclamation that you commanded to be published throughout all the Indies, prohibiting the officials of India House from receiving Indians into this kingdom: also instructions as to what they must do to forbid this traffic, under penalty of death, to s.h.i.+p captains and sailors, so that no one would dare to bring an Indian, nor allow one to be brought here. Let them know that they are forewarned in such cases.
Thinking there was nothing doubtful in the cedulas Your Highness sent for the departure of these religious I did not care to exhibit the cedula until the very end, in case we took besides the forty, an excess of stores, etc. Now that I have shown it to the officials, they maintain that, as it does not expressly state that those above the number of forty should be provided for out of the funds of the dead, but from the money in the charge of the treasurers, they do not intend to provide for more than the forty, lest they should have to pay out of their own pockets. I beseech Your Highness graciously to order this settled at once, so that we shall not be forced to leave behind the religious we hope to embark, in addition to the forty. And let this be done soon, for we are only waiting for good weather. The heavy rains which have fallen daily have prevented the launching of two or three of the vessels. To-day the river from its source has abated. Our Lord prosper and grant a long and happy life to Your Highness. Amen. Seville 20th April 1544. Your humble servant who kisses Your Royal hands.
To-night the following occurred-an Indian came to me complaining that notwithstanding his certificate of freedom, given him by Gregorio Lopez, his owner kept him in slavery and treated him worse than a slave, sending him out with a donkey to carry and sell water. He showed me his certificate of freedom, in the presence of ten or twelve monks. I told him to go to-day to the Casa de Contractacion so that its officials might correct the abuse, and I sent a servant with him to show him the building-because if his master found out, he would keep him until he called in the officials. Finally his owner discovered him and took the letter and tore it up. He said ”bring chains and put them on this dog.”
The Indian escaped through a window and they cried after him, ”Thief, thief,” so that somebody down below came and beat him, and stabbed him in the jaw. He managed to reach a place where some of my servants were, and they are trying to cure him: but he is dying. One of my servants went to the a.s.sistant to tell him what had happened, but the latter answered that he was not astonished that people killed the Indians, because they stole and did much harm. I beg Your Highness to note how dest.i.tute they are of any pity. With judges so cruelly unjust and tyrannical, Your Highness may imagine what sort of things happen over there [in the colonies] with the Spaniards against the Indians, when they dare do these things in Seville where, the other day a judge ordered an Indian to be stabbed to death.
FRAY BARTHOLOMEW DE LAS CASAS, BISHOP OF CHIAPA.
The voyage began badly, for the _San Salvador_ was poorly ballasted and only arrived at Gomera, one of the Canary Islands, after considerable difficulty and danger, on the 19th of July, and was detained there for ten days until the s.h.i.+p was made seaworthy. Some of the friars who were unfamiliar with sea-voyages conceived such mistrust of the _San Salvador_ that they refused to again go aboard her, so it was necessary to distribute these nineteen timid souls amongst the other s.h.i.+ps. The 30th of July saw the fleet again at sea, and the voyage to Hispaniola continued without any untoward incident, until the 9th of September, when they arrived in the harbour of Santo Domingo, where the same vessel on which Las Casas and the twenty-seven friars were, ran on a rock and came near being wrecked in sight of land: hardly was this disaster surmounted when she collided with another of the s.h.i.+ps to the imminent peril of both, though, fortunately, with no great injury to either.
The Dominicans in Santo Domingo conducted the Bishop and his friars in solemn procession to the convent, where Te Deum Laudamus was sung.
In striking contrast to this affectionate reception was that which awaited him from the colonists. The New Laws were regarded as the ruin of the colonies and Las Casas was universally considered the inspirer, if not actually the framer of these laws, hence the indignation and hatred of the Spaniards against him and all Dominicans was at fever heat: meetings were held, in which it was resolved to boycott the friars and refuse them all alms or a.s.sistance. Seeing the odium he had unwittingly wrought upon his hosts, the Bishop was inclined to leave their convent and go to the Franciscans, but this was rightly considered as likely to spread the antagonism which had so far manifested itself against the Dominicans only.
Even before things had reached this point, Las Casas had already written Prince Philip on the 15th of September, denouncing the cruelties which still went on unchecked and mentioning by name a number of officials who were unworthy to occupy the positions they held, because of the grave abuses they committed and tolerated.
On September 10th a letter which shows the state of public feeling towards the New Laws and the new Bishop was addressed to the Emperor by the princ.i.p.al colonists of Nicaragua.
The signers avow their surprise that their twenty-five or thirty years of services to the Crown should be rewarded by seeing their children disinherited, and declare that if the New Laws are put in force, despite their cries to high heaven for justice, it will only remain for many of them to die. Las Casas is denounced as an envious, vainglorious, and turbulent monk, who has been expelled from every colony in the Indies and whom even no monastery can tolerate. He is charged with bringing ruin on large numbers of people, solely because revengeful motives prompt him to injure certain individuals. It is also pointed out that he knows nothing about affairs in New Spain and the mainland, having spent all his life in Cuba and the islands.
However much Las Casas may have deplored the feeling his presence provoked and especially the rancour he had stirred up against his brethren, whose only offence lay in giving him hospitality, he did not allow his regrets on this score to arrest or modify the steps he intended to take to enforce obedience to the New Laws. Shortly after his arrival, he presented copies of the laws and of the other royal ordinances which he carried, to the Audiencia, asking that, in accordance with their provisions, all Indians then held in slavery should be liberated. Although the President, Cerrato, supported him, the other members of the Audiencia were one and all opposed. According to the current phrase, they agreed to _obey_ the law, but declared they could not _comply_ with it. They all held slaves themselves and the only result of the action of Las Casas was, that they sent their representatives to Spain to procure some reform in the more obnoxious articles of the code.
The presence of Las Casas in Hispaniola infused new courage into the Dominicans, who had been discouraged in recent years by the difficulty and hopelessness of contending against public opinion on the subject of the Indians and had consequently ceased to preach and agitate in their favour: some members of the community had even been affected by the prevalent opinion that the Indians were really a race of a different order, servile by nature, and destined by Providence to a life of subjection to their superiors. Learned arguments were found to sustain this opinion. The well-known chapters of Aristotle's _Politics_ were quoted, the Scriptures were drawn upon, and, as not infrequently happens, many good men adopted the easier line of not contending with the views of the rich and powerful.
There now ensued a sort of revival of the old enthusiasm in the defence of the natives; sermons were preached which stirred up great wrath and provoked protest from the authorities. It was easy to adopt reprisals on the friars, and the colonists did not hesitate to do so, refusing alms and supplies to the convents. Threats of violence, even of shooting Fray Tomas Casillas, whose sermons had been particularly offensive, were not wanting, though fortunately they were not executed. The friars were reduced to the last extremity and, but for the charity of some few sympathisers and the generous aid of the Franciscan monks who fed them, they would have found themselves in want of the absolute necessaries of life in the midst of a hostile populace. At this juncture a notable conversion was effected by their preaching; a widow named Solano, who was reputed the richest person in the colony, came one day to the convent and declared that she was convinced of the truth of all the preachers had expounded concerning the iniquity of slavery and that she had in consequence resolved, not only to liberate her two hundred and more slaves, but to make rest.i.tution of her tainted wealth in as far as she could, by transferring her plantations to the Order, as her awakened conscience forbade her enjoyment of it. This event stirred the entire colony profoundly, and as the action of the friars was so clearly contrary to their own temporal interests as to place the sincerity of their convictions and the purity of their motive beyond question, a certain revulsion in public sentiment began to manifest itself. It is not recorded that anybody else followed the widow's example, but such a change was operated in the disposition of the better cla.s.s of people that when the time for Las Casas and his friars to leave arrived, regret for their departure was expressed on all sides. On December 14th they embarked on what proved to be a long and tempestuous voyage, attended by many and great dangers; owing to the ignorance of the pilot, the Bishop himself had to take the wheel. Christmas was celebrated at sea, and it was not until the fifth of January that they finally landed at the port of Lazaro on the coast of Campeche. The first episcopal function performed by the Bishop in his new diocese was the pontifical celebration of the vigil and ma.s.s of the Epiphany, during which he delivered an earnest discourse on the one theme that furnished material for all his sermons and writings-the injustice and sin of slavery and the obligation resting on all Christian Spaniards to liberate their slaves in conformity with the laws of the Emperor, and to provide for their humane treatment and conversion, according to the law of G.o.d.
CHAPTER XVII. - RECEPTION OF LAS CASAS IN HIS DIOCESE. EVENTS IN CIUDAD REAL. THE INDIANS OF CHIAPA
Although the Bishop of Chiapa, upon landing in his diocese, determined to follow the dictates of prudence rather than the promptings of zeal in bringing his spiritual subjects into submission to the New Laws, the question of Indian slavery was one so closely bound up with their temporal interests that no moderation or persuasion on his part could have availed to bring about their renunciation of the established system. In the first sermons preached by his friars, the subject of slavery was not mentioned, and Las Casas sought, more by private conversation and argument with individuals, to convince them of the grave infraction of morals as well as the open violation of the law, they committed in holding the Indians in slavery. His arguments fell upon deaf ears, nor did a single Spaniard accept his admonitions or entertain for a moment the idea of liberating his slaves. Nor did their resistance confine itself to a pa.s.sive form, for within a short time, the colonists openly refused him obedience and withheld his lawful t.i.thes, declaring that they would not receive him as their Bishop, and occasioning him every annoyance and discomfort they could invent. The refusal of his t.i.thes caused the Bishop serious embarra.s.sment, as it left him without funds to pay for the s.h.i.+p he had chartered in Hispaniola for his journey to Campeche. The priest of the town managed to raise about one hundred castellanos for this purpose and Las Casas signed a note for the remainder.
The Governor of those regions at that time was Francisco de Montejo, who had played a conspicuous part in the affairs of Mexico, whither he had gone with Fernando Cortes. He was absent when Las Casas landed at Campeche and became the object of such general and determined hostility, and his son was governing in his stead. In response to the announcement of the Bishop's presence, the Governor despatched his brother-in-law, who was a person of some authority, to welcome the Bishop, instructing him to treat him in all respects with the highest consideration and in case he wished to come to Merida, to arrange everything necessary for his journey thither.
It was decided to make the journey by sea rather than by the more difficult overland route, and one boat-load of friars sailed, carrying a large part of the stores, which included vestments and altar plate and other church furnis.h.i.+ngs. Hardly were the preparations for the departure of the Bishop and the remainder of his people completed, when the distressing news of the total loss of this vessel and its cargo reached them from Champoton, an Indian village, where the few survivors of the wreck had found refuge. Nine friars and twenty-three other persons perished in this disaster, the news of which threw a heavy cloud of sadness over the little band of missionaries. Thousands of miles from their native land and in a new world, these men were sustained solely by their faith in their mission and their confidence in the leaders.h.i.+p of their venerable Bishop, for they were not only cut off from hope of succour but were exposed to the persecutions of their own countrymen, because of their zeal for justice, in defending the oppressed against cupidity and cruelty. Despite the many causes for discouragement Las Casas decided, on the advice of the pilot of the s.h.i.+p that was to carry them, to profit by the fair weather then prevailing, and set the example to the others of going first on board the vessel. The friars followed in silence, and so entirely were their thoughts given to the premature fate of their lost comrades, that the whole of that night and the following day were pa.s.sed in silence and prayer: when the s.h.i.+p reached the place where the wreck had occurred, the prayers for the dead were solemnly recited by the tearful company. This becoming tribute rendered to the memory of the departed, Las Casas seated himself at table and, setting the others a wholesome example, he began to eat, for until then no one had had the heart to touch food. The weather suddenly changed for the worse and a perilous Norther, which was the greatest enemy of navigation in those waters, sprang up, forcing the vessel to put in at the island of Terminos, where some fragments of the wreck were found, but the sea had given up no dead. Three days pa.s.sed in waiting for better weather, and though Las Casas desired to re-embark and continue the voyage, Fray Tomas Casillas was in favour of waiting for the s.h.i.+pwrecked people at Champoton to overtake them, and then to continue the journey overland. This difference of opinion led to a division of the company, the Bishop re-embarking with Father Ladrada and a few of the others, while the majority were left to follow the overland route.
The chief city of the diocese of Chiapa was Ciudad Real, and the Bishop, on his arrival, was accorded a warm welcome and was lodged in one of the best houses in the place, belonging to a Spaniard who was absent at that time, while the friars were accommodated in another, just opposite. The clergy of the immense diocese was scanty enough, being composed of two priests in that town and three others elsewhere; of these latter common report did not speak well, as their secular occupations and efforts to enrich themselves brought discredit upon their clerical character. The cathedral was a small church, of poor construction and meagrely furnished with the necessaries for celebrating the religious offices. One of the new Bishop's first disciplinary acts was to summon the three vagrant priests to Ciudad Real, where he might constrain them to a more sacerdotal life under his immediate authority. Las Casas lived according to the strict rule of his Order, eating only fish, eggs, and vegetables, and, though he permitted meat to the others who sat at his table, there was so little to tickle the palate of the epicure that two out of the three renounced allegiance to their Bishop and betook themselves beyond the confines of his diocese where they speedily fell into evil ways. His life at this period was one of truly apostolic simplicity; although seventy years old, his habits were as frugal and austere as those of any anchorite. Towards the Spanish colonists he at first manifested mild and affectionate sentiments, which blinded them so entirely to the indomitable energy and fearless spirit that animated him, that they, on their part, showed themselves obsequious and generous. The deception was mutual, and disillusion only awaited the moment when the material interests of the Spaniards should be touched, to declare itself. Slavery flourished throughout the diocese, to the great affliction of the Bishop: he first sought by private conversations with the princ.i.p.al persons of the colony, by arguments, explanation of the New Laws and of the Emperor's wishes, to effect the liberation of the Indians, but failing in this, he next preached publicly on the subject. No headway was made by one or the other means employed, while shocking cruelties were of daily occurrence and the Indians, who recognised the Bishop as their only protector and advocate, brought him tales of their sufferings which left him no choice but to have recourse to stronger measures.
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