Application of the Licence Produce. 215 Ch. 7. sand negroes,* and in the same year, in Decem- B. XIV. ber, we find that the annual importation of negroes into Hispaniola was two thousand, and that for every hundred that entered openly two hundred were introduced secretly.t palaces of Toledo were The money arising from the licences and cus- How the toms duties on the importation of the negroes Madrid and was employed in building the fortress-palaces of built. Madrid and Toledo. Many of the noted buildings on the earth are of most questionable origin; but these two palaces must be allowed to enjoy a remarkable preeminence as monuments of folly and oppression. Other buildings have been erected solely at the cost of the suffering subjects of great despots, or by prisoners captured in war. But the blood-cemented walls of the Alcazar of Madrid might boast of being raised upon a complication of human suffering hitherto unparalleled + Aquí entran anualmente 2000 negros í tráenlos sin registro mas de lo que dicen los Maestres, i si dicen 100, entran doscientos ocultamente."Española, al EMPERADOR, LiCENCIADO ESTEBEZ; Santo Domingo, 10 de Diciembre, de 1552. Coleccion de Muñoz, MS., tom. 36. "Los dineros destas licencias y derechos que al Rey se dan por ellos, el Emperador asignó para edificar el Alcázar que hizo de Madrid, é el de Toledo, y con aquellos dineros ámbas se han hecho."-LAS CASAS, Hist. de las Indias, MS., lib. 3, cap. 128. B. XIV. in the annals of mankind. The Indians had first Ch. 7. to be removed by every kind of cruelty and mis The repentance of Las Casas. government from the face of their native country, and the Africans had to endure bloody wars in their own country* before a sufficient number of them could be captured to meet the increasing demand for negro slaves. Each ducat spent upon these palaces was, at a moderate computation, freighted with ten human lives. His The apologists for Las Casas, who have sought to contend that he was in no wise concerned in the introduction of this traffic, have made a statement which that noble personage would have repudiated in the most unqualified manner. conduct on this subject has been discussed at the proper place, and ample excuse has been shown for it. But he himself has repeated the expressions of his regret and repentance. "Of this advice," he says (speaking of the introduction of negroes), "which the Clerigo gave, he very soon afterwards found himself repentant, judging himself to have erred through inadvertence. For, after that he saw and had ascertained, as will appear, that the capture of negroes is as unjust as that of Indians, he perceived that the remedy which he had advised-for negroes to be brought hither, in order that Indians might be set free,-was not *"Ytem, como los mismos véen que con tanta ansia los buscan y quieren, unos á otros se hacen injustas guerras, y por otras vias ilícitas se hurtan y venden á los Portugueses. Por manera que nosotros somos causa de todos los pecados que los unos y los otros cometen, sin los nuestros que en comprallos cometemos."-LAS CASAS, Hist. de las Indias, MS., lib. 3, cap. 128. Depopulation of the West Indies. 217 Ch. 7. a discreet remedy, although he supposed at the B. XIV. time that the negroes were justly made captives. He has not, however, felt certain that his ignorance in this matter and his good intentions would excuse him before the Divine judgment."* The foregoing account of the depopulation of the West India Islands, and of the corresponding introduction of negro slavery there, will show that the main question of encomiendas was settled, as far as regards the regions first discovered by Columbus. On resuming the subject, therefore, we need not keep in mind the islands of Cuba, Hispaniola, Porto Rico, or Jamaica, nor, probably, the Pearl Coast, where, though there might be Indians to hunt after as slaves, there were none to be found in the state of good order and government which was requisite for the establishment of any such system as that of encomiendas. The extensive governments of Mexico, Guatemala, and Peru, henceforward become the main field for the legislation of the mother country. "Deste aviso que dió el Clérigo, no poco despues se halló á repiso juzgándose culpado por inadvertente. Porque como despues vido y averiguó segun parecerá ser tan injusto el captiverio de los negros como el de los Yndios, no fué discreto remedio el que aconsejó, que se truxesen negros para que se LAS CASAS, Hist. de las In- CHAPTER VIII. B. XIV. GENERAL ADMINISTRATION OF THE BISHOP-PRESI- BRATED LAW OF SUCCESSION PASSED IN 1536. IN Mexico we left the new Auditors, busy in providing a remedy for the abuses caused and fostered by the mal-administration of the first Audiencia. The Bishop-President (Don Sebastian Ramirez de Fuenleal) had arrived in 1531; and his vigour, intelligence, and knowledge of colonial affairs were rapidly brought to bear upon the difficulties that existed in Mexico. Far from looking President upon Cortes as an enemy, the wise Bishop acted entirely in concert with the Captain-General. It was Don Sebastian's practice to take counsel with many persons, as to what ought to be done, but with the Marquis alone, or, at least, with very few persons, as to the mode of executing what had been resolved upon. * The acts in concert with Cortes. "Procedia en todo, con pa- | buena intencion, y vida exemplar, recer, y acuerdo de el Marqués de el Valle, con quien se tenia gran conformidad, porque un Ministro, y Consejero de Letras, siempre es gran parte, para reducir los Abusos á Policia; y era costumbre de este prudentísimo Presidente, comunicar con mu◄ The Bishop-President's Administration. 219 Ch. 8. tration. 1531 to 1534. There was a certain breadth about the Bishop's B. XIV. administration which is clearly indicative of a wise governor. No single subject of government occupied his attention to the exclusion of others. He founded churches; he divided Mexico into The Bishop's parishes; he established a college, and was the first adminis man to propose that a learned education should be given to the Indians. His efforts in this matter were successful; and it is curious that one of the best chroniclers of the Bishop's proceedings was instructed in the Mexican language by a most accomplished Indian, who had been educated He founds at this college, and was Governor of Mexico (which seems to mean, of the Indians of Mexico, for they had a separate jurisdiction) for forty years. a college. tifies and To beautify and improve the city was also He beauan object with the Bishop-President. He caused improves stone bridges to be built, and provided a better Mexico. supply of water for the town than it had had He also caused a small lake to be dried up before. chos, lo que se debia de hacer; | lulco, donde escrivo esto, y donde IO. * "Fué el primero que introduxo que se mostrase Gramática Latina, á algunos Indios, en esta Nueva-España, para ver sus Ingenios. Para este fin se fundó el Colegio de Santa Cruz, en esta parte de Santiago Tlate huvo muchos Colegiales (como |