Bartholomew de Las Casas; his life, apostolate, and writings Part 9

No sooner had they crossed the Quiche frontier than everywhere the people came out to see the wonderful guest, making his arrival a veritable festival; arches were erected for him to pa.s.s under the very roads were swept before his footsteps and his entrance into the cacique's own town was a triumph. A church was at once built for him, and at the celebration of the first ma.s.s, the cacique a.s.sisted in absorbed wonder, while the dignity and Solemnity of the ceremonies and the beauty of the sacerdotal vestments impressed him by their favourable contrast to the repugnant rites and filthy robes of the priests of his own religion. Fray Luis spoke the Quiche language with fluency, and during several days he gave instructions and explanations, which resulted in the cacique's conversion; that of the others followed as a matter of course. The friar had brought with him the contract signed by the Governor, and he explained its conditions and importance very fully; this doc.u.ment was a more valuable instrument of conversion than would have been an authentic ma.n.u.script epistle of St. Paul. The cacique's conversion was complete, and with his own hands he overthrew the national idols, and began, with all the zeal of a convert, to preach Christian doctrine to his people. The propaganda so actively undertaken by this unexpected a.s.sistant left Fray Luis free to visit some neighbouring regions, in all of which he was hospitably received and concerning whose inhabitants he made a most encouraging report on his return to Santiago, where, as may be imagined, his companions received him with the greatest joy.

As the rainy season was over at the end of October, the moment for visiting Tuzulatlan was favourable, and Las Casas determined to go himself and visit the newly converted cacique. It was December when he and Fray Pedro de Angulo arrived in the Quiche country, where the cacique, who since his baptism was known as Don Juan, showed them the same hospitality as he had to Fray Luis. While some of the Indians received them as messengers bringing glad tidings, there were others who cast epicurean glances upon them and decided that they would taste well served with a sauce of chili. (49)

The introduction of the new religion had not been effected without opposition and the Indians of Coban had even burned the first church.

Another was soon built, however, in which the two friars said ma.s.s daily, preaching afterwards in the open air to immense a.s.semblies of people.

Don Juan was at first unwilling that the friars should penetrate farther into the country, fearing that some of the people, who adhered to the old customs and were hostile to the Spaniards might attack them, but he finally withdrew his objections and formed a guard of his bravest warriors, to whom he confided the safety of his guests. Thus escorted, they traversed all the provinces of Tuzulatlan and Coban where, contrary to the cacique's apprehensions, they encountered only the most friendly treatment.

At this juncture a Bull of Paul III. (Farnese) which was designed to put an end to further disputes concerning the status of the Indians, by defining their rights once for all, arrived in America. (50)

This Bull was issued in reply to letters sent to the Pope by the Bishop of Tlascala, begging his Holiness to decide the vexed question of the status of the Indians, and was based on the Scriptural text _Euntes docete omnes gentes_. The Pope declared the Indians to be rational beings, possessed of liberty and free-will and therefore susceptible to receive the gospel, which must be preached to them in obedience to the divine commands. He condemned in severe terms those who enslaved the Indians and pretended to deny their capacity to become Christians. A pontifical brief was at the same time addressed to the Cardinal-Archbishop of Toledo, confirming the sense of the Bull and commending the Emperor's condemnation of slavery in his American possessions.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Paul III..]

Paul III.

From an engraving by Vincenzo Crispino after the portrait by t.i.tian.

The satisfaction of Las Casas with this authoritative p.r.o.nouncement from the supreme head of Christendom may be easily imagined, for it reads not unlike some of his own compositions. He translated the Latin text into Spanish and supplied copies to all the governors and chief persons in those colonies, so that the decision and commands of the Pontiff might be perfectly understood by every one.

To one of his projects for civilising and converting the Indians more rapidly, the cacique was very reluctant to agree; this was that they should quit their semi-nomadic life and their custom of living in small scattered groups throughout the country, and come together in towns and villages. They were so much attached to the independence and freedom of their mountains, that it was easier for the natives to renounce their religion, to which indeed they seemed to have little attachment, than to abandon the ancient customs of their race. Their resistance to this innovation risked losing all that had been accomplished, for they were prepared rather to fight than to yield on this point. By his quiet persistence, however, Las Casas succeeded in starting a village of one hundred houses at a place called Rabinal, whose familiar name he wisely refrained from changing, and little by little, even the natives of Coban, who were the least amenable, were attracted by the novelty, and came to inspect the new system, with which those who had adopted it were delighted, as they could thus hear ma.s.s every day and enjoy the discourses and conversation of the friars, of which they seem never to have tired.

Fray Luis now joined Las Casas at Rabinal, from whence he repeated his former visits to various places through-out the neighbouring country. The friars were obliged to learn the language or dialect of Coban in order to enter into relations with its people, the most savage of all the tribes in those parts.

The Bishop Marroquin had meanwhile returned from Mexico and Pedro de Alvarado, the captain, who distinguished himself during the conquest of Mexico by his rashness and cruelties, was now the lieutenant of the Emperor in Guatemala, and to these authorities Las Casas wished to render an account of what had been accomplished. To give a more striking proof of the condition of things in Tuzulatlan, he wished very much to have Don Juan accompany him, remembering no doubt, the impression the appearance of the cacique Enrique had produced in Santo Domingo. The project suited the cacique perfectly, and he began to make arrangements for his journey, planning to go in considerable pomp with a numerous following of warriors.

To this Las Casas objected, foreseeing the difficulty he would have in keeping such a large number from too familiar contact with Spaniards, from which quarrels and troubles would inevitably ensue. He succeeded in convincing Don Juan that such a display was unnecessary, and sent notice of the approaching visit to Guatemala, where Father Ladrada built more rooms onto the convent for the reception of the guests and laid in an extra supply of provisions to regale them.

The Bishop, without waiting for a visit from the cacique upon his arrival, went at once to the convent to see him and, as he spoke the Guatemalan tongue, they talked together, not only on general subjects but also on matters of faith, the Bishop marvelling greatly at the degree of Don Juan's instruction and the maturity and gravity of his judgment. Indeed, so impressed was he by the exceptional dignity of the cacique that he begged the Adelantado to go and see him. Pedro de Alvarado had had much experience of Indians and was one of the cruellest of Spanish commanders in America, holding the life of an Indian in no more consideration than that of a dog, yet even he was so favourably attracted by Don Juan's appearance and manners that, wishing in some way to honour him and having nothing at hand to give him, he took off his own red velvet hat and placed it on the cacique's head. His followers murmured somewhat at this demonstration, which they considered excessive, but Don Juan was radiant in his magnificent headgear.

To celebrate Don Juan's visit, an inspection of the town was planned, so that he might see how the Spaniards lived; the Bishop and the Aldelantado sent word beforehand to all the merchants to dress their shops with the best things they had, stuffs, jewelry, plate, etc., and if the cacique should show a fancy for anything, it should immediately be given to him and the account sent to the Bishop. This was doing things in a really royal fashion, and one regrets to have to relate that the cacique walked with great gravity and dignity-as much as though he had been born in Burgos, says Remesal-amidst the brave display, without manifesting any surprise or wish to possess anything he saw, refusing also to accept the different articles which were offered to him. The only object about which he seems to have asked a question was a statue of the Blessed Virgin, and when he heard the Bishop repeat the story of the Mother of Christ, just as the friars had first sung it in his mountain home, he knelt down to receive the image from his hands, with great veneration, and afterwards delivered it to one of his attendants, cautioning him to carry it with the greatest care and reverence.

The visit fortunately pa.s.sed off without any friction between the Spaniards and the followers of Don Juan, and at its close, Las Casas and Fray Rodrigo de Ladrada accompanied the cacique back to his country, intending to penetrate still farther into the interior of Coban where the natives were but little known to white men. Two caciques, whose names as Christians were Don Miguel and Don Pedro and whose tribes were near to Rabinal, rendered much help in carrying out this plan, and so well did everything promise, that the two friars would have remained in the countries of Tuzulatlan and Coban to prosecute their missionary labours, but for a summons from their companions in Guatemala recalling them thither in May of 1538.

The Bishop Marroquin, who had prompted the summons, a.s.sembled the community and explained that the urgent need of more clergy in his diocese had decided him to send some of them to Spain to induce other friars of their own and the Franciscan Order to come to his a.s.sistance. The choice of the envoy for this mission not unnaturally fell upon Las Casas, for he had often made the journey, was well acquainted in Spain, where he had many and powerful friends, and was well versed in the ways of the court.

Fray Rodrigo went as his companion, and before quitting Guatemala, he went to take leave of the cacique Don Juan, who was much dejected at the departure of his friends.

The two travellers repaired first to Mexico, where a chapter of the Dominican Order was held on August 24, 1539, in which Pedro de Angulo was named prior of the convent in Guatemala, and Fray Luis Cancer was designated to accompany Las Casas and Ladrada to Spain. During his stay in Mexico, Las Casas saw the Viceroy, Don Antonio de Mendoza, who was inclined to share the view that humane treatment of the natives promised better results than violence, and willingly combined with him for several peaceful missions to distant provinces in the north-west of Mexico.

Charles V. was absent from Madrid when Las Casas and his companions arrived but the former was welcomed by many old friends and set about his business with the activity and perspicacity which marked his treatment of affairs. Since the death of the Bishop of Burgos, another and a better spirit breathed in the Council, and there was a more sincere and consistent effort to give full effect to the royal decrees in favour of the Indians. To this, the Bull of Paul III. had doubtless in no small measure contributed, for it was obviously impossible after such an authoritative p.r.o.nouncement to continue along the old lines, treating the natives like chattels and affecting to deny them souls. The Council accorded a number of beneficial provisions in response to Las Casas's representations. The pact entered into with the Governor, which guaranteed the independence of the cacique of Tuzulatlan and his people, was ratified by the Council, and letters were written in the King's name to several of the converted caciques; one of these new provisions ordered that the Indians should be taught music and that musical instruments should be furnished them from Spain. Fray Bartholomew was equally successful in finding a number of friars for the diocese of Guatemala, and on January 21, 1541, Fray Luis Cancer sailed with a number of Franciscans on the return journey. Las Casas and the Dominicans remained behind by command of Cardinal Loaysa, who intimated that the former's presence would be necessary later, for important matters, of which he would learn in due time. Before the departure of the Franciscans, the royal orders concerning the welfare of the Indians were proclaimed from the steps of the Cathedral of Seville in the presence of a large concourse of people.

Cardinal Loaysa, who occupied the metropolitan see of Seville, contemplated making important changes in the code of laws that governed the Indies, and his desire to consult Las Casas before framing his new system rendered it necessary that the latter should remain in Spain. In the following year, 1542, the Nuevas Leyes, or New Laws, as they were termed, were drawn up, and although there is no direct evidence to prove that they were drafted by Las Casas, there is little doubt that many of their most salutary articles were due to his influence and suggestions.

The usual method of a.s.sembling councils composed of theologians, canonists, lawyers, and men who had had much experience in the colonies, was likewise followed at this time, and in their meetings the several questions concerning the system of government best adapted to the Indians, the most promising means for converting and civilizing them, and the measures required to correct and eliminate the abuses under which they suffered, were exhaustively discussed. The verbal debates were supplemented by the presentation of facts and arguments in support of different theories, drawn up in writing. In a council held by the Emperor's command at Valladolid in 1542, Las Casas presented one such lengthy memorial, in which he enumerated the different remedies which he maintained were indispensable if his Majesty would provide for the relief of his Indian va.s.sals. The number of the remedies proposed in this doc.u.ment is given by Las Casas himself as sixteen, but of these only the eighth is known to be in existence. Probably it contained the substance of his thesis, which, like most papers of the time, must have been very wordy and discursive. The eighth remedy was afterwards published at Seville in 1552 with twenty reasons in support of it.

Las Casas's habitual activity was in no way diminished, and he exercised as great energy in winning adherents to his cause as he did foresight in combating opposition to it. Copies of his memorial were distributed to all the important men whose opinions might influence the tenor of the new laws and the spirit of their application, including the members of the council in Valladolid, especially Cardinal Loaysa, who was President of the India Council, Don Ramirez de Fuenleal, who had been transferred from the presidency of the audiencia of Mexico to the bishopric of Cuenca, Don Juan de Zuniga, Grand Commander of Castile, the Secretary, Francisco de los Cobos, and all the others who had been appointed to act as judges in this affair. These men held meetings in the house of Pedro Gonzalez de Leon and the outcome of their deliberations was the formation of the famous code of Nuevas Leyes.

Several of the articles of this code might have been drafted word for word by Las Casas himself so entirely do they bear the impress of his opinions:

"Item. We ordain and command that from now and henceforth no Indian may be enslaved because he has fought, nor for any other reason, whether because of rebellion, or for purposes of ransom, nor in any other way, and we desire that they shall be treated as our va.s.sals of the Crown of Castile, for such they are."

"No one may press the Indians into service by way of naboria or tapia(51) nor in any other manner against their will. And since we have ordered that from henceforth the Indians shall not be made slaves, we likewise ordain and command that in the case of such as have been heretofore enslaved contrary to right and justice, the Audiencias shall summon the parties, and without process of law, but promptly and briefly upon the truth being known, shall liberate them. Nor may the Indians be unjustly enslaved in default of persons to solicit the aforesaid [procedure]; we command that the Audiencia shall appoint persons who may pursue this cause for the Indians and that such persons shall be conscientious and diligent men and shall be paid out of the fines of the Exchequer."

Neither the spirit nor the provisions of these laws differ from those of the various ordinances and cedulas which the Spanish sovereigns from the reign of Isabella the Catholic had from time to time promulgated. So true is the saying of Dr. Johnson that wisdom may make laws but it requires virtue to execute them. The Spanish sovereigns were more humane than their subjects, but the latter were ready with expedients for evading laws whose execution would have hindered their avaricious undertakings in the distant colonies, while venal officials lent their connivance to these violations, instead of administering the laws in the spirit in which their authors had conceived them. The statute books of the worst despotisms are adorned with the wisest and most liberal ordinances. From the irades of the Ottoman Sultans and ukases of the Russian Tsars, those empires might be easily shown to possess ideal systems of government, under whose enlightened and beneficent sway happy and prosperous peoples have enjoyed the delights of religious and political liberty.

The most important article of the New Laws concerning the encomienda system provided as follows:

"Furthermore we ordain and command that from now and henceforth no Viceroy, Governor, Audiencia, discoverer, or any other persons whatsoever shall allot Indians in encomienda, neither by new provision or resignation, donation, sale, nor in any other form or manner; neither by vacancies, nor inheritance, but, that on the death of any person holding the said Indians, they shall revert to our royal Crown. Let the Audiencias take means to be immediately and particularly informed concerning the deceased person, his rank, merits, services, and his treatment of his Indians and whether there is a widow or children; they shall send us a report on the condition of the Indians and of the property that we may order what may be best for our service and may make such provision as may seem good to us for the widow and children of the deceased. Should the Audiencia meanwhile perceive a need to provide for such widow and children, they may do this out of the tribute paid by the said Indians, giving them a moderate amount for these Indians are under our Crown, as stated."

This article provided for the gradual and total extinction of slavery, with due regard to the interests of the colonists, and though it did not meet the wishes of Las Casas for the immediate and absolute correction of the prevailing abuses, its strict application promised to produce more slowly, the results which he sought.

On the 20th of November, 1542, Charles V. signed the Nuevas Leyes of Valladolid, in the city of Barcelona, and their publication immediately followed.

Las Casas was in Valencia at this time and it was there that he finished the best known of all his writings, which was first printed in 1552 under the t.i.tle _Brevissima Relacion de la Destruycion de la Indias_, and bore a dedication to Philip II. (52) This little book, as the reader may see from the translation of it given at the close of this volume, is a veritable catalogue of horrors. Man's invention has its limits, and the ways of torturing the human body are numbered, hence, as the descriptions of the various scenes of brutality repeat themselves over and over in the same language, they end by becoming wearisome. The book was speedily translated into various European languages and its dissemination aroused a tempest of indignation against the Spanish colonial system in America.

Its contents were made to serve in the religious and political controversies of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries and Las Casas was cited as a witness both against his Church and his country.

There is no doubt that every incident that Las Casas relates as coming within his own knowledge and observation is true, though Prescott describes "the good Bishop's arithmetic as coming from the heart than from the head" and historians generally have been inclined to doubt his figures. His description of the mild and friendly character of the natives of the islands was doubtless exact, but when he extends it to include the fierce and warlike tribes of the mainland, his generalisations are seen to be misleading. None of the peoples of Anahuac could be truthfully described as "gentle lambs" or as "humble, submissive, and docile, knowing no evil and neither possessing nor understanding the use of weapons." Slavery was everywhere established, with its attendant abuses and evils, and it was slavery that Las Casas combated. It must be borne in mind that Las Casas was a man in whom humanitarianism overshadowed every other sentiment, that he was of an ardent, impressionable and imaginative temperament, with sensibilities of the most delicate sort; moreover, he was an apostle, the defender of an oppressed people, whom he had taken under his protection and whose cause it was the mission of his life to sustain and defend. The violation of divine and human justice had been erected into a system by the conquerors and discoverers and nothing, in his eyes, could palliate the evils which that system fostered, and by which the colonists prospered, while the native races were dwindling to extinction. Beyond these primary facts, he refused to see; of them, he had seen more than enough to inflame his indignation and start him upon the crusade for which his iron const.i.tution, his superior intellectual powers, and his resistless eloquence were alone adequate. He was frequently betrayed into invective, and his denunciations are as fierce as language could make them, while the energetic terms in which he depicts, in all their bald horror, the revolting inhumanity of his countrymen provoke a shudder. The Brevissima Relacion is not literature for sensitive readers.

CHAPTER XV. - THE BISHOPRICS OFFERED TO LAS CASAS. HIS CONSECRATION. HIS DEPARTURE

Copies of the New Laws, accompanied by a royal letters of instruction, were sent, not only to the viceroys, governors, and Audiencias in America, but also to the priors of the different convents, so that the knowledge of their provisions might be as widely diffused as possible and the vigilance of the friars excited to see that they were obeyed both in the letter and the spirit. Las Casas went from Valencia to Barcelona to thank the Emperor, and while there, the royal secretary, Francisco de los Cobos, waited on him one Sunday afternoon, bearing his appointment by the Emperor to the newly erected bishopric of Cuzco, which, for extent of territory, number of inhabitants, and vast resources, was the richest in the New World. Such a recognition from the sovereign could not be otherwise than welcome to Las Casas, who was perhaps the most abused man of his time both in America and Spain, but his determination not to accept the dignity was positive, though veiled at the outset under the plea that, being a Dominican and bound by the rule of obedience, he could not receive the royal nomination without the previous consent of his superiors.

Regard for consistency was, however, the princ.i.p.al motive of his refusal, for he had protested before the Emperor and all men, in 1519, that his labours in favour of the Indians were actuated solely by the desire to advance G.o.d's service by effecting their conversion: for all his hardships and sufferings, he neither expected nor desired any recompense, and he formally renounced in antic.i.p.ation all and any honours or rewards the Emperor might think of offering him. (53) His resolution to abide by that declaration being unalterable, he left Barcelona to escape possible pressure, and the desirable bishopric pa.s.sed to another Dominican, Fray Juan Solano.

The designation of Las Casas for the bishopric was made by Cardinal Loaysa and the other members of the India Council and, nothing daunted by his refusal, they insisted that some one of the newly founded bishoprics in America should be governed by the man who, of all others, possessed the highest qualifications, the most thorough knowledge of those countries, and the sincerest interest in apostolic work amongst the natives. The first bishop of the diocese of Chiapa having just died, he was designated for the vacancy, and this time he was constrained by the arguments of persons of influence, notably the director of the College of San Gregorio in Valladolid, to put aside his scruples and to accept a position in which he could most benefit his beloved Indians.

That the diocese of Chiapa was the poorest in the new World, and so barren of revenues that a subsidy was furnished by the Emperor to enable the Bishop to live at all, contributed perhaps as much as anything to reconcile Las Casas to his new dignity. (54) He repaired to Toledo and appeared before the chapter of his Order which was being held there, to ask that some monks should be furnished him for his new diocese.

Las Casas was preconised in Rome on the feast of Pentecost, 1542, after which a whole year elapsed before the necessary bulls reached Spain and the friars who were to accompany him were chosen. After arranging for the reunion of these friars, he set out for Seville, where, on the 30th of March, 1544, he was consecrated bishop in the chapel of the Dominican monastery of St. Paul by Bishop Loaysa, nephew of the cardinal of the same name, a.s.sisted by the Bishops of Cordoba and Trujillo in Honduras. On the 21st of March, the newly consecrated Bishop wrote the following letter to the India Council:

VERY HIGH AND POTENT LORDS: after we left the Court on Tuesday the 4th of this month, we arrived within sixteen days at this city, in spite of the heavy roads and great rains we encountered. Upon our arrival here we found the fleet ready to sail down the river, but on account of the calm weather and want of wind, no vessel has been able to sail until to-day, Friday. The ship on which the friars were to sail only got as far as San Domingo and there, the cedulas did not make it perfectly clear that the officials should pay their pa.s.sage to Puerto de Caballos; because the cedulas say that from there they are to be paid to Honduras, because they were supposed to go in the vessel that would disembark them at the said Puerto de Caballos. The cedulas that I obtained, were made out conditionally should the friars think it better to go to Quacaqualco; so that should they not think it better to go to Quacaqualco they would for that reason, be unable to leave Hispaniola. Therefore I beg Your Highness (55) to be gracious enough to order a cedula to be supplied them, ordering the officials in Hispaniola to pay the pa.s.sage from there to Puerto de Caballos, in case they do not have to disembark at Quacaqualco-as I believe they will not-and may it arrive soon, as this fleet is on the point of sailing. Referring to this, the officials of India House have no funds from which to give me the two hundred and fifty ducats Your Highness had the goodness to order to be given to start me off, because-leaving apart what was sent them to keep for the bishops, etc.,-no other monies from His Majesty have been sent them: so here I am-with the past expenses for works, and without a maravedi for my provisions, on which account I have neither done nor bought anything. I do not even know in which vessel I am sailing because there is nothing that is not muddled, but as I have no money, I am less worried than I should be about the vessel in which I am to sail. I beseech Your Highness, if it be your pleasure that I should go with this fleet and take those friars, to do me the favour to send me a cedula ordering that they give me the two hundred and fifty ducats out of the funds of the dead. And it must come soon, and with all haste if I am to go now, as however quickly it may arrive, it will not come in time for me to complete my preparations, seeing the hurry the fleet is in and the little I have with which to provide things: for I have to provide for the needs of the friars.

I received one letter from the Court, as our bulls came two days after our departure. It seems Our Lord will not pay me in this world for the worries I go through for His sake. Certainly it were a great glory for me that Your Highness should honour and favour me on my consecration, thus completing the favours Your Highness has shown me. I give thanks to G.o.d that He has so favoured me and undoubtedly I hope to accomplish more in those distant parts, than in the ecclesiastical courts of this country.

Up to now they [the bulls] have not arrived, nor do I know who will bring them nor when they will come. When they arrive I shall endeavour-should there be time-to obtain the favour from his excellency the Cardinal of ordering me to be consecrated by anybody who can perform the ceremony, although I have not yet kissed the hands of his excellency, he having been very busy these past two days since his arrival. I was likewise unable to pa.s.s through Toledo-being obliged to await my commissions which were necessary for my speaking to the Provincial of the Franciscans about the twelve monks, of whom only two are here, who will sail with this fleet. I beseech your Highness to order a letter to be written to him [the Provincial] that he may send the others immediately if they are to go in this ship, and they will afterwards be given provisions if they arrive in time; and should they not, I will leave the doc.u.ments concerning them in the charge of the Superior of the Franciscan Order. May Our Lord bless and give you all prosperity in your high station and in His service as Your Highness deserves and we, your most humble servants, desire. Amen.

From Seville 21st of March 1544 Your Highness's servant who kisses your Royal hands-

FRAY BARTHOLOMEW DE LAS CASAS, _Bishop elect._

Another letter dated ten days later and addressed in the same manner to Prince Philip through the India Council describes the episcopal consecration of Las Casas and invites the Prince's attention to certain matters in the following terms: