Part 11 (1/2)

The Easter season of 1545 was approaching, and the fulfilment of the precept of confession, which marks the farthermost frontier of Catholic observance, within which even the most lax must remain under penalty of excommunication ipso facto, afforded the Bishop his opportunity. He withdrew from all his clergy, except the dean and canon of his cathedral church, their faculties for granting absolution, reserving to himself all questions involving the relations of the Spaniards to the Indians. He furnished the two appointed confessors with a detailed list of cases in which not merely the questions of holding slaves and cruel treatment were involved, but likewise those which had to do with the right to hold property acquired unjustly from the natives and by violation of the law.

This treatise was doubtless the same that was published in 1552 ent.i.tled _Confesionario_, etc., or in any case it contained the root doctrines of which that tract may have been an elaboration. Both upon the ability and the fidelity of the two confessors he had selected, the Bishop felt he could rely, but in the case of the Dean he was again mistaken in his choice, for in certain of the reserved cases the latter declared that he found no grounds, either in canon law or in any authorities, for his Bishop's decision. The Mercedarian friars, who also had a community in the diocese, were likewise opposed to the severity of the Bishop, and as none of the colonists were disposed to ruin themselves by liberating the Indians, the situation was a grave one for a Catholic community, for no matter how little in conformity with the Church's teaching were the daily lives of many, excommunication was intolerable to all of them.

Remonstrances and pet.i.tions against his trenchant decision poured in upon the Bishop, and the Dean, supported by the Mercedarians, undertook to intercede for the Spaniards and, if possible, to obtain some relaxation of the obnoxious ruling. Their efforts were vain, for the simple reason that Las Casas held that it was not within his competence to recede from his decision without practically denying his life's mission. As the tension became daily more severe, the colonists addressed to the Bishop, a formal ”requirement” drawn up by a notary public, containing arguments to support their claims, based on the terms of the Bull of Alexander VI. and threatening, if he persisted in refusing them the sacraments, to appeal to his metropolitan, the Archbishop of Mexico, and ultimately to the Pope: meanwhile they would denounce him to the King and his Council as a disturber of the public peace and a formenter of dissensions and troubles in the country. To this threat the Bishop answered: ”O blind men! How completely does the devil deceive you! Wherefore do you threaten me with your complaints to the Archbishop, to the Pope, and to the King? Know then that though I am obliged by the law of G.o.d to do as I do, and you to obey what I tell you, you are likewise constrained thereunto by the most just laws of your sovereign, since you think yourselves such faithful va.s.sals to him.” After reading some of the articles of the New Laws forbidding slavery to them, he continued: ”According to this, it is I who might much better complain of you, for not obeying your King.” The situation was a deadlock, for the Bishop was immovable, neither would the Spaniards give way. From murmuring against his decision and questioning his authority to impose such unreasonable and ruinous commands, they pa.s.sed to calumny and ridicule, and as these weapon are forged by evil imaginations and their exercise is unhampered by the restrictions of truth, many fantastic accusations were invented against Las Casas, and diligently circulated. The most frugal and abstemious of men was accused of gluttony and intemperance; his learning, which was certainly varied if not vast and was by no means mediocre, was declared to be superficial and insufficient to enable him to properly weigh nice questions of theology and law, and finally it was insinuated that some of his opinions were heretical and that his refusal to allow the sacraments of penance and the eucharist in his diocese proceeded from his dissembled Lutheranism. As a hint of what might overtake him if he persisted in his course, a musket was fired into the window of his room one night. Even the children were taught scurrilous couplets which they sang at him, when he appeared in the streets: only his Dominicans remained faithful to him in this difficult season and their fidelity, though doubtless a source of great consolation to him, had for its chief visible effect, to involve the friars in the popular execration visited on the Bishop. It was a repet.i.tion of the incidents in Hispaniola, for likewise in Chiapa the people turned against the friars, refraining from their ministrations and refusing them alms and support. (57)

The first act of open rebellion came from the Dean, who administered the communion during Holy Week to various persons who not only continued to hold their Indians in spite of the Bishop's remonstrances and admonitions, but were notoriously engaged at that very time in buying and selling slaves. The disobedience of his subordinate could not be left unnoticed and the bishop resolved to reprimand him, but paternally, in presence of the other clergy, as an example. This intention was more easily formed than executed, for the Dean refused to appear, although the first summons came in the form of an invitation to dinner: three times was the summons repeated but each time, on one pretext or another, it was evaded, until there only remained to summon him officially and to censure his violation of his Bishop's instructions and his refusal to appear before him. As even this severe measure left him unmoved, Las Casas ordered his arrest and sent his alguacil and some of the clergy to bring the recalcitrant Dean before him. The news of what was pa.s.sing had spread through the town and when the diocesan authorities went to make the arrest, quite a crowd of people had collected to see the outcome of the ecclesiastical duel.

The appearance of the Dean, being conducted by force to answer to the Bishop for disobedience that had been prompted by his compliance to the Spaniards' desires, provoked a demonstration in his favour. He, seeing his opportunity, began to call for help, crying: ”Help me to get free, gentlemen, and I'll confess everybody! Get me free and I'll absolve all of you!” A great hubbub ensued; men armed themselves to attack the Bishop's alguacil; some barricaded the Dominicans in their convent to prevent their coming to the a.s.sistance of the arresting party, others freed the Dean from his captors, and thus, with great uproar and shouts for the King and his justice against the Bishop, the mob arrived at the latter's house, into which a crowd forced its way with clamorous disorder.

A gentleman named Rodriguez de Villafuerte, who was in the ante-chamber in company with Fray Domingo de Medinilla, managed to somewhat calm the turbulence of the people. The leaders of the mob burst into the room beyond, where Fray Domingo had insisted that the Bishop should remain, instead of coming out to face the rioters as he wished, insulting him in the coa.r.s.est language and even threatening to kill him. The storm of popular fury broke itself against the imperturbable serenity and inflexible determination with which Las Casas met and dominated it.

Though the crowd dispersed, cowed and sullen, to their houses, the murmuring continued, and the friars dared not leave their convents, for fear of provoking a fresh outbreak.

The Bishop cancelled the ecclesiastical faculties of his Dean and excommunicated him.

The man who had threatened to kill Las Casas was the same one who had once before fired a musket shot through the Bishop's window, by way of warning him, and as he was known for a hot-headed reckless person, the friars were seriously apprehensive lest he might execute his threat; they begged Las Casas to leave and go to a place of safety. ”Where,” he asked in reply, ”would you, Fathers, have me go? Where shall I be safe as long as I act in behalf of these poor creatures? Were the cause mine, I would drop it with pleasure, but it is that of my flock, of these miserable Indians, wearied and oppressed by unjust slavery and insupportable tributes, which others of my flock have imposed upon them. Here I wish to remain; this church is my spouse, it is not mine to abandon. This is the purpose of my residence [here]. I wish to irrigate it with my blood, if they take my life, so that zeal for G.o.d's service may be absorbed by the very ground I hold, to make it fertile, to bring forth the fruit of desire-the end of the injustice that stains and infects it. This is my wish, this is my determined resolve, and I shall not be so fortunate that G.o.d will permit the inhabitants of this city to fulfil it; other times have I found myself in greater dangers and, because of my unworthiness, G.o.d has withheld from me the crown of martyrdom. These disturbances, and the hatred of the conquerors for me, are of ancient date; I no longer feel their insults nor fear their threats, and in comparison with what has happened to me in Spain and the Indies, those of the other day were very moderate.”

Against such steadfast resolution, the colonists could not hope to prevail, and one of the first results of the violent attack upon the Bishop, was a certain reaction in public sentiment when calmer Judgment rea.s.serted itself. There was even some counter demonstration, and the news was brought to Las Casas that the man who had threatened to kill him had himself been badly mauled and beaten. The Bishop was the first and most a.s.siduous of the injured man's visitors, even preparing with his own hands, bandages and ointments to dress his hurts. Such charity and abnegation could not but touch even the rude object of these attentions, and after repeatedly begging the Bishop's forgiveness for his recent violence, the man attached himself to him from thenceforth, and became one of his warmest defenders.

Nevertheless, the attacks on the Bishop and on the friars did not lessen for long, nor was the resentment against them diminished amongst the greater number of the colonists, who pushed their reprisals to such an extent that, not only were the priests reduced to the barest necessities of life, but even wine for the celebration of ma.s.s was wanting and un.o.btainable. To remedy this necessity, Indians were sent out into the province to beg for the friars, but the Spaniards learned of this measure and, after forbidding the natives to give them anything, they seized whatever these messengers obtained in spite of the prohibition, and gave them a sound beating as a preventive of any future excursions.

Existence in such surroundings was no longer possible, and the friars resolved to leave Ciudad Real. They sent out four of their number in advance, after which Fray Tomas de la Torre announced from the pulpit their intention to abandon the convent and the reasons which forced them to go.

Learning from those who had gone ahead that they had been well received in Chiapa, and that everything seemed propitious for the foundation of a convent there, the community prepared to follow. Before definitely abandoning Ciudad Real, it was thought well to deliver a final address to the people, explaining clearly and fully the righteousness of their doctrine concerning slavery. This discourse was p.r.o.nounced by Fray Alonso de Villabra, who cited many authorities to show that the iniquity of slavery was beyond dispute and that it was condemned by the laws of G.o.d and man alike. The sermon failed to convince the hostile and unwilling listeners, whose interests were bound up in slavery, and the only result of this last well-meant effort was to intensify, if possible, the irritation against the Bishop and the friars.

The reception of this interesting band of apostolic men by the people of Chiapa, was in striking contrast to the menacing demonstrations which provoked and accompanied their departure from Ciudad Real. More than a league outside the town, the exiles found a large number of Indians, decked out in their best gold ornaments and plumes, carrying crosses made of feathers and flowers, awaiting their arrival, to escort them to the quarters prepared for them.

As soon as the Bishop was housed, an immense number of natives came from all parts of the neighbourhood, begging to be taught the Christian religion. The joy of the tormented Bishop at this demonstration may be imagined, and he urged the friars, after such proofs of the disposition of the Indians to receive the faith, to send to persuade other religious to come and join them in the work of converting the willing people.

The Spaniard who held the encomienda of Chiapa was an astute person, in reality quite as vicious as any of the others but more adroit in concealing his evil doings; he found small difficulty in deceiving the simple friars and, by showing them hospitality and professing great respect for the New Laws, he succeeded in persuading them that he was their friend and protector. The harmony of their relations could not however remain long undisturbed; from professing friends.h.i.+p he pa.s.sed to more or less open acts of hostility, and from flattery he resorted to calumny. An incident which occurred may serve admirably to ill.u.s.trate the deceptions practised by the colonists on the ignorant Indians. One of the more intelligent of the natives came one day to the Dominicans and spoke as follows:

”Fathers, behold we are becoming bewildered. Our master told us when you came, that he had written a letter to the Emperor _his brother_ [sic]

asking that you be sent to say Ma.s.s for us and that it was by his order that you came to live amongst us. Since then, he tells us that you are poverty-stricken people, who come here to be supported by our labour, because you have not enough to eat in your own country. He has forbidden us to give you the ground for your convent and to allow the church to be altered. You, on the other hand, tell us we should not call him our master, for no man other than G.o.d whom you preach, is that; you tell us, also, that this man is a mortal like ourselves, subject to the Emperor, King of Castile, and that the Alcaldes at Ciudad Real may punish him. He tells us that he is next to G.o.d and has no master in the world. I don't understand you; you speak ill of our master; he speaks ill of you, and with all this we see you going about together good friends, neither of you daring to speak in the other's presence of what each tells us in the other's absence. If you are honest, speak clearly, for we are in a cloud of smoke from your manner of proceeding.” (58)

CHAPTER XVIII. - LAS CASAS REVISITS THE LAND OF WAR. AUDIENCIA OF THE CONFINES. EVENTS AT CIUDAD REAL. LAS CASAS RETURNS

Everywhere throughout the province of Chiapa, the heart of Las Casas was wrung by a repet.i.tion of the same tales of violence and rapacity; women stolen, property wrested from the defenceless Indians, and the people bought and sold like cattle, to be mercilessly overworked until more merciful death released them from bondage. The Bishop was helpless, having no power or authority to enforce obedience either to the moral law he perpetually preached, or to the New Laws he everywhere expounded to the obdurate colonists. This condition of things, to which no end was apparent, determined him in June, 1545, to lay the matter before the Audiencia of the Confines and to demand that the provisions of the New Laws be enforced. To reach the town of Gracias a Dios from Ciudad Real, whither he had returned, he took the road through Guatemala, yielding to the entreaties of his former companion Fray Pedro de Angulo, who desired him to see the admirable results achieved in the Tierra de Guerra. Truly after such disappointments, sufferings, and persecutions, the Bishop deserved the consolation he derived from beholding the transformation of those formerly savage idolaters, into peaceful and civilised Christians, living in their towns in an orderly fas.h.i.+on far beyond what his highest hopes had allowed him to believe possible. The caciques of the different towns vied with one another in celebrating his arrival, and Las Casas spoke to them all in their own language and delivered to them the cedulas he had obtained for them from the Emperor in Barcelona on May 1, 1543, in which their exemption from every kind of servitude was promised in perpetuity.

The journey from Tululatzan to Gracias a Dios was both a difficult and a perilous one, especially at that season when the rains had swollen the rivers and destroyed the mountain roads. It is significant that throughout the life of Las Casas in America, he is never once mentioned as being ill or obliged on account of any infirmity to defer or alter his plans. His const.i.tution was evidently one of steel. In spite of his seventy-one years, he reached his destination in due time, where he met the bishops of Guatemala and Nicaragua, the latter of whom was about to be consecrated. The Bishop-elect of Nicaragua was Fray Antonio de Valdivieso, also a Dominican, who fully shared the opinions and sympathies of Las Casas. All three of these prelates had grievances and pet.i.tions for redress of abuses and for the stricter administration of the laws in favour of the Indians, to lay before the Audiencia. Since that particular tribunal had been created for the purpose of executing these laws and was composed of men whom Las Casas had either chosen himself or recommended, the bishops were justified in antic.i.p.ating a favourable hearing and a speedy adjustment of their complaints. They obtained neither however, and especially towards Las Casas was the opposition of the auditors directed.

When he first entered the council room, some of them cried: ”Out with that lunatic!” and on another occasion, when Las Casas declined to withdraw, the President, Maldonado (well named indeed!), ordered him to be ejected by force. Again, when the Bishop, with great solemnity, demanded that the Audiencia should correct the abuses complained of and should relieve the Indians from unlawful oppression, Maldonado answered: ”You are a cheat, a bad man, a bad bishop, a shameful fellow, and you deserve to be punished.”(59)

Such language in open council, addressed by the presiding officer to a bishop, sounds incredible, and considering the great influence of religion on all Spaniards of that time, it is not wonderful that after such insolence, this petty official was regarded by the entire community as excommunicated; a half-hearted apology, ungraciously made, sufficed however to avoid an open scandal.

Las Casas had already a.s.sured his friars in Ciudad Real that he neither felt insults nor feared threats, so the vulgar abuse of Maldonado did not touch him; he drew up and presented a wordy memorial to the Audiencia, divided into seven articles. The first article affirmed that the Bishop was hindered in the exercise of his ecclesiastical jurisdiction, by the opposition of the officers of justice. The second asks for the aid of the secular arm to punish those guilty of disobedience and sacrilege. The third asks that the Indians may be relieved from tyrannous oppression, particularly from the excessive taxes and forced labour exacted from them.

The fourth article solicits the transfer of all causes affecting the Indians from the civil to the ecclesiastical courts. The fifth begs the Audiencia to forbid all wars, conquests, invasions of territory, and the establishment of Spanish haciendas in Yucatan. The sixth article pet.i.tions orders for the good treatment of the few Indians still held by the Crown in Yucatan, and the seventh asks that the officials of the Audiencia transfer to the Crown, all Indians and all villages affected by the royal ordinances already published. The answer of the Audiencia was brief and amounted to a denial of the Bishop's allegations. (60) Foreseeing, doubtless, the rupture which must inevitably follow the presentation of his memorial, Las Casas had already written to Prince Philip, regent during the Emperor's absence from Spain.

On the 25th of October, a letter signed by the Bishops of Chiapa and Nicaragua was despatched to Prince Philip complaining of the conduct of the Audiencia towards the churches, and declaring that since the New Laws were ignored and left in abeyance, the cruel treatment of the Indians had increased. It was alleged that the President, Maldonado, and his a.s.sociates possessed more than 60,000 Indians and that he encouraged his governors in every kind of tyranny and robbery of the natives for all of which the too compliant Audiencia neglected to provide any remedy. The dest.i.tute and helpless condition of the bishops and clergy was set forth, and they were described as the only faithful subjects whom the sovereign had in those regions, for all the other royal officials were solely occupied with their own interests and in opposing the clergy in the discharge of their pastoral duties. The two bishops urged upon the Prince to liberate all the Indians absolutely and immediately, as the only means to stop the growing evil. The more to impress the Prince with the independent spirit of the colonial officials in ignoring royal orders and violating the express provisions of the New Laws, the bishops affirmed that most of them-with but few exceptions-were even inclined to independence and were secretly as much rebels as those in Peru. An increase in the number of bishops was asked of the Prince, with new dioceses in Yucatan and Chiapa, which were too extensive for one bishop to govern. It plainly appears in this letter that the writers were aware that the Audiencia had written, asking that a metropolitan judge should be sent out with superior powers of jurisdiction to hold them in check, but far from opposing this project, they agreed to it, suggesting, however, that he should be a papal legate and that meanwhile, until such a one could arrive, some one of the bishops should be deputed to hear appeals and decide cases with arch-episcopal powers.