Part 4 (2/2)
[Illustration: Cardinal Ximenez de Cisneros]
Cardinal Ximenez de Cisneros
From a relief preserved in the Universidad Central Photo by J Laurent & Co, Madrid
When the death of King Ferdinand occurred, the Cardinal was nearly eighty years of age, yet he accepted and assu's testament Adrian of Utrecht, Dean of the University of Louvain, who had resided for so Ferdinand in the quality of ambassador fron, which conferred upon hiency after Ferdinand's death Cardinal Xiency was instituted in which Adrian's part was overnment was carried on exclusively by the Cardinal
It could hardly have been otherwise, for Adrian, as a foreigner, was unpopular in Spain, where he exercised no influence; he did not even speak Spanish and being, moreover, of a scholarly disposition, little used to the intricacies of affairs of state, he was doubtless glad enough to shelter hiue
The Cardinal was adored by the people; the sanctity of his life, the integrity of his character, the superlative order of his genius, and his princely n Soency of an aged ns of their invasive aent, who had organised an efficient body of troops in his own pay and speedily made it apparent that Spain had a ruler hom it was perilous to trifle One incident in the contest he sustained in defence of the crown's prerogatives against the encroachments of the feudal nobles, illustrates his character The Duke of Infantado, the Grand Admiral of Castile, and the Count of Benevente came as representatives of the nobles, to inquire into the nature of the powers by which the regent exercised such absolute authority After hearing the's testa Charles As they raised soave hi a view of a large enca, ”There are the powers I have received froovern and shall continue to govern Castile, until the King, dom” This answer both astonished and silenced them and they withdrew convinced of the futility of conspiracies against a man so well prepared and so deterency was to consolidate the union of the various kingdoms and principalities of the peninsula into one state-in other words to create a nation This he did, and thus laid the foundations of Spain's greatest power and glory, for he delivered the kingdo monarch in a more prosperous condition than it had ever before enjoyed, and with the royal authority rounded than any other Spanish sovereign had ever possessed it
The regency of Cardinal Ximenez did not last two years, yet such was the permanent character of his beneficent influence upon the national development, that the st the statesmen of his times, he was facile princeps and he enjoys the unique distinction of being the only priarded as a saint by his own contemporaries (28)
To this ascetic and autocratic but not unkindly statesman Las Casas decided to address hients with the abuses prevailing in the Indies and to announce his intention of going to Flanders unless the necessary measures for the relief of the oppressed Indians could be devised in Spain before the King arrived He drew up a statement of the case in Latin, which he submitted to the Ambassador Adrian, and another, identical, in Spanish, for Cardinal Xi was horrified by what he read of the atrocities perpetrated in the King's na to the aparted in the same palace, asked him if such enormities were possible As the Cardinal already had plenty of information on the subject from his brother Franciscans, he replied that all that Las Casas stated was true and that there was even nified to Las Casas that his proposed journey to Flanders was unnecessary as he would hi the abuses in the colonies There began at once a series of conferences to which Cardinal Xiency, the licentiate Zapata, Dr Carbajal, and the distinguished jurist Dr Palacios Rubios; in the course of these debates Las Casas fully exposed the evils of the colonial adent always had by him as a consultor the Bishop of Avila, as also of his Order, but he rigorously excluded the obnoxious Bishop of Burgos from all participation in Indian affairs, to the no snificant incident that happened during one of these conferences, illustrating the means employed by his opponents to confute his stateos, which, since 1512, were supposed to be in full force in the Indies for the protection of the natives, to be read aloud; upon reaching one of the articles, the reader falsified the text; Las Casas, who knew every line of those acts by heart, objected and the Cardinal ordered the reader to repeat; he did so in the sa, ”The law does not say that” The Cardinal, rendered impatient by the repeated interruption, turned to Las Casas and remarked with severity, ”Either be silent or look well to what you say” ”Your E be truly found in that law,” replied Las Casas pro the articles from the hands of the reader he showed his Eminence that the sense had not been correctly read The confusion of the clerk, who him in his history, was complete The outcome of these discussions was that Las Casas, Dr Palacios Rubios, and Fray Antonio de Montesinos (who had ent to draft a project of lahich would sufficiently protect the Indians and secure fair government in the colonies By co these laas left exclusively to Las Casas His propositions were:
11 Unconditional liberty for the Indians; 22 Suppression of both reparti the Spaniards to work their properties profitably without recurring to the oppressive and abusive systems they had hitherto employed
Both Fray Antonio and Dr Palacios Rubios approved these articles and the latter so they of the tiain submitted, discussed, and in some unimportant details, amended, in the above-mentioned council presided over by the Cardinal, The next important step was to place the execution of these new provisions in the hands of trusted delegates ould apply thened by the council, for there had been no lack of excellent decrees, having the same end in view, but which had, in the past, been rendered null and of no effect, through the connivance of the colonial authorities, to whom their execution had been entrusted Las Casas, for the best ofsuch officers and in consideration of certain rivalries existing between the Franciscan and Dominican Orders, especially in Indian affairs, the Cardinal finally decided to confide the necessary powers to the monks of St Jerome, an Order which had thus far taken no part in colonial affairs Upon receiving the Cardinal's notification of this intention, the General of that Order, who resided at San Bartolome de Lupiano, summoned a chapter of all the priors of Castile, in which twelve ht make his selection Four priors came to Madrid to notify this result to his Eents, accompanied by the entire court, rode out to the monastery of St Jeroed, to receive the formal answer of the chapter Las Casas was, of course, present, and the regents were received by the monks in the sacristy of the church, which had been appropriately prepared for the great occasion Cardinal Xiness of the Jeronymites to undertake such a meritorious task, and then ordered that Las Casas be summoned to hear the result
The boyish enthusiasm of Las Casas's character appears on this occasion, for, consumed with impatience, tortured by hopes and fears, he had waited outside in the upper cloister as long as he could stand it and had then finally descended a staircase which brought him unexpectedly to the sacristy door, just in ti searched for; some one asked him if he knew Las Casas, to which he et in at that door, he had to go round through the church, which obliged hireat people of the court in attendance on the regents aiting and who, so Las Casas observes, were all glad to see hios This hour of Las Casas's triuent, in the presence of the assembled Priors of Castile and the entire court, he heard, with ill-repressed tears, the announcement that all he had most earnestly striven and prayed for was now to be realised and that he hinated to confer with the General of the Jerony the choice of the men ere to execute the nes in the Indies The Cardinal, who unbent to few, treated Las Casas with genial familiarity and when the latter declared that he did not need the money his Eh of his own, he sly observed, ”Go to, father, I am richer than you”
Not aLas Casas received his instructions and twenty ducats for the expenses of his journey to Lupiano, whither he set out the following st whom the selection was to be made was in that monastery, and the General had him called and presented him to Las Casas, as as pleased with his robust appearance, which promised to support the physical hardshi+ps of colonial life, as he ith all that he heard of his virtues and learning, though his face was as ugly a one as ever a man had; this was Fray Bernardino de Mazanedo, the Prior of Mejorada, and he was selected as one of the coueroa and the Prior of St
Jeroreed upon between Las Casas and the General to complete the number
No sooner had the Jeronyents of the colonists, and all those ere interested inthe encomiendas and repartimientos, whose suppression e to them Las Casas was abused and even threatened in the public streets, and a well organised can of calumny and misrepresentation was set actively in ans, of bestial s, and fit only for slavery, in which state alone therethem to Christianity Las Casas was flouted as a fanatic, bent on destroying the Spanish colonies, and as an enemy of his country's interests So adroitly were these and other argu was the mass of testimony favourable to the colonists that constantly reached the Jeronyan to be ill-affected towards Las Casas and to disregard his suggestions Dr Palacios Rubios was so disturbed by their new inclination, that after conversations with theed vieere plainly manifested, he declared it would be disastrous to send such men; he forthwith determined to stop their departure, if possible, before it was too late
Cardinal Xiht access to him in vain As soon as his Eminence had sufficiently convalesced to attend to business, he ordered the final instructions to be given to the Jeronymites and their departure to be hastened One of the orders directed the in Hispaniola, to at once annul the encomiendas held by members of the Royal Council for the Indies This struck a hard blow at Conchillos and the Bishop of Burgos ast others, for the forht hundred, (29) nor from that time forth did any h Las Casas was sceptical as to whether they did not continue to have private interests Another sies and royal officials in the colonies to surrender their slaves The general sense of the instructions furnished to the Jeronyuidance was in conformity with the ideas of Las Casas and the articles were indeed drawn up by hih certain concessions which did not meet with his approval had been made to public opinion, and the important property-owners in the colonies were sufficiently powerful at court to obtain some modifications and to suppress some provisions in favour of the Indians, which seriously hainal proposals In spite of the declaration formally set down in the will of Isabella the Catholic that the Indians were and must be considered free inning of his negotiations in Spain Las Casas himself had not ventured to insist too much or too openly on this point, until one day, when in conversation with Cardinal Ximenez, he queried by what principle of justice the Indians were held in subjection
His Eminence answered with some vivacity: ”With no justice, for are they not free men? And who can doubt they are free?” Froly(30) The licentiate Zuazo of Seville was appointed to accompany the Jeronymites and to open an inquiry (tomar la residencia) into the administration of the colonial officials
The powers of the friars were the fullest possible and enabled the the welfare of the Indians and to correct abuses, but they were not ”governors” as has been supposed and stated by ed to ensure the proper execution of the lahich had been enacted to protect the natives
As soon as the instructions were delivered to the Jerony order fro Bartholomew de Las Casas, priest, native of the city of Seville, and resident of the island of Cuba which is in the Indies”
”For as much as we are informed that you have been and are resident in those parts for a long time, from which you know and are experienced in their affairs, especially in what touches the well-being and usefulness of the Indians, and you know and are acquainted with their life and conversation froood zeal in our Lord's service, froence and care e shall charge and command you and will see to what contributes to the welfare of the souls and bodies of the Spaniards and Indians who live there; by these presents we coions of the said Indies, such as the islands of Hispaniola, Cuba, San Juan, and Jamaica as well as to the ive your opinion to the pious Jeronymite fathers e despatch to effect the reformation of the Indies, and to other persons whowhich touches the liberty, good treatment and welfare of the souls and bodies of the said Indians in the said islands andinfor that may be done or should be done in the said islands; and that you shall do everything required for our Lord's service; for all of which we give you full poith all its casualties, dependencies, eencies, annexes, and connexes; and we coes and all other justices whatsoever of the said Islands and Tierrafirma that they protect you and cause this power to be protected and that they shall not oppose or go contrary to its form and tenor nor consent that such be done at any time or in any way under pain of our displeasure and of 10,000 maravedis for each person who may act to the contrary”
”Done at Madrid the 17th day of September in the year 1516 F Cardinalis, Adrianus A her son, our sovereigns, the governors in their nae de Baracaldo”
In addition to this full power, Las Casas was given the title of Protector-General (or Procurator-General) of all the Indians, to which office an annual salary of one hundred dollars was attached, an amount which, for the times, was a considerable one