ADMINISTRATION OF THE INDIES.
1492-1526.
COLUMBUS THE RIGHTFUL RULER—JUAN AGUADO—FRANCISCO DE
BOBADILLA—NICOLÁS DE OVANDO—SANTO DOMINGO THE CAPITAL OF THE
INDIES—EXTENSION OF ORGANIZED GOVERNMENT TO ADJACENT ISLANDS
AND MAIN-LAND—RESIDENCIAS—GOLD MINING AT ESPAÑOLA—RACE AND
CASTE IN GOVERNMENT—INDIAN AND NEGRO SLAVERY—CRUELTY TO THE
NATIVES—SPANISH SENTIMENTALISM—PACIFICATION, NOT CONQUEST—THE
SPANISH MONARCHS ALWAYS THE INDIAN'S FRIENDS—BAD TREATMENT
DUE TO DISTANCE AND EVIL-MINDED AGENTS—INFAMOUS DOINGS OF
OVANDO—REPARTIMIENTOS AND ENCOMIENDAS—THE SOVEREIGNS INTEND
THEM AS PROTECTION TO THE NATIVES—SETTLERS MAKE THEM THE
MEANS OF INDIAN ENSLAVEMENT—LAS CASAS APPEARS AND PROTESTS
AGAINST INHUMANITIES—THE DEFAULTING TREASURES—DIEGO COLON
SUPERSEDES OVANDO AS GOVERNOR—AND MAKES MATTERS WORSE—THE
JERONIMITE FATHERS SENT OUT—AUDIENCIAS—A SOVEREIGN TRIBUNAL
IS ESTABLISHED AT SANTO DOMINGO WHICH GRADUALLY ASSUMES ALL
THE FUNCTIONS OF AN AUDIENCIA, AND AS SUCH FINALLY GOVERNS THE
INDIES—LAS CASAS IN SPAIN—THE CONSEJO DE INDIAS, AND CASA DE
CONTRATACION—LEGISLATION FOR THE INDIES.
We have seen how it had been first of all agreed that Columbus should be
sole ruler, under the crown, of such lands and seas as he might discover
for Spain. We have seen how, under that rule, disruption and rebellion
followed at the heels of mismanagement, until the restless colonists
made Española an _angustiarum insula_ to the worthy admiral, and until
their majesties thought they saw in it decent excuse for taking the
reins from the Genoese, and supplanting him by agents of their own
choosing. The first of these agents was Juan Aguado, who was merely
a commissioner of inquiry. With him, it will be remembered, Columbus
returned to Spain after his second voyage, leaving his brother Bartolomé
in command. The admiral was permitted to try again; but on reaching the
seat of his government he was unable to quiet the disturbances which had
increased during his absence. Rebellion had almost reached the dignity
of revolution, and stronger than the government were factions whose
leaders openly defied the governor-general, viceroy, and admiral of the
ocean sea. That their Majesties were greatly grieved at this, I do not
say; or that they were displeased that the rebels, or revolutionists,
of Española should refer their troubles to them. But this is certain,
that after another fair trial Columbus was obliged to give it up, and
to see himself displaced by a person far worse than himself. Perhaps it
is true that a knave was better for the office than an honest man.
Not that Francisco de Bobadilla may be lawfully accused of dishonesty;
the sovereigns seemed competent to take care of themselves where their
revenue was concerned. And yet he was certainly influenced in his
conduct by no sense of right or of humanity. He was a man of narrow
mind, of ignoble instincts and mean prejudices. He was popular for a
time with the colonists because he was like them, and because he reduced
the royal share of the product of the mines from a third to an eleventh,
and permitted the dissolute to idle their time and illtreat the natives;
and because he released those whom the admiral had imprisoned, and
enabled Columbus to pay his debts—for which last mentioned measure I
have no fault to find with him.
It was the 21st of March, 1499, that Bobadilla was authorized to proceed
against offenders at Española, but he did not leave Spain until July,
1500, reaching Santo Domingo the 23d of August. The enchaining of the
illustrious discoverer by an infamous agent, and for no crime, excited
universal disgust throughout Christendom; and yet their Majesties seemed
in no haste to depose him; for it was not until the 3d of September,
1501, in answer to the persistent remonstrances of Columbus, that a
change was made, and the government given to Nicolas de Ovando, who
sailed from Spain the 13th of February following, and arrived at Santo
Domingo the 15th of April, 1502; so that Bobadilla was in office on
the island over a year and a half, long enough to sow the seeds of much
iniquity.
[Sidenote: NICOLAS DE OVANDO.]
Ovando was a knight of the order of Alcántara, of neither massive mind
nor commanding mien. But his firm and fluent speech lent strength to
his slight figure and fair complexion, and a courteous manner made
amends for a vanity which in him assumed the form of deep humility. He
was well known to their Majesties, having been one of the companions
of Prince Juan, and it was thought would make a model governor. Ample
instructions, both written and verbal, were given him before sailing.
The natives should be converted, but their bodies should not be enslaved
or inhumanly treated. They must pay tribute, and gather gold, but for
the latter they should be paid wages. There was to be a complete change
of soldiers and officials at Española, that the new government might
begin untainted by the late disorders. Neither Jews nor Moors might go
to the Indies, but negro slaves, born into the possession of Christians,
were to be permitted passage. For any loss resulting from Bobadilla's
acts, full restitution must be made the admiral, and henceforth his
rights of property must be respected. Columbus might always keep
there an agent to collect his dues, and he was to be treated with
consideration. The idle and profligate were to be returned to Spain.
Except the provinces given to Ojeda and Pinzon, Ovando's jurisdiction
was made to extend over all the Indies, that is to say, over all the
New World dominions of Spain, islands and firm land, with the capital
at Santo Domingo, and subordinate or municipal governments in the more
important localities. All mining licenses issued by Bobadilla were to
be revoked; of the gold thus far collected one third should be taken for
the crown, and of all thereafter gathered one half. Supplementing these
instructions with much paternal advice consisting of minor moralities
and Machiavelisms, their Majesties bade their viceroy God speed and sent
him forth in a truly royal fashion.
There were no less than thirty ships and twenty-five hundred persons
comprising the expedition. Of the company were Alonso Maldonado,
newly appointed _alcalde mayor_,[V-1] and twelve Franciscans, with
a prelate, Antonio de Espinal. Las Casas was present; and Hernan
Cortés would have been there but for an illness which prevented him.
There were seventy-three respectable married women, who had come with
their husbands and children, and who were to salt society at their
several points of distribution. It was evident as the new governor
entered his capital, elegantly attired, with a body-guard of sixty-two
foot-soldiers and ten horsemen, and a large and brilliant retinue,
that the colonization of the New World had now been assumed in earnest
by the sovereigns of Spain. Nor was Ovando disposed to be dilatory in
his duty. He at once announced the _residencia_[V-2] of Bobadilla, and
put Roldan, _ci-devant_ rebel, and later chief judge, under arrest. He
built in Española several towns to which arms and other privileges were
given, founded a hospital, removed Santo Domingo to a more healthful
site on the other side of the river, and established a colony at Puerto
de Plata, on the north side of Española, near Isabela.
Distant eight leagues from Santo Domingo were the mines where the
twenty-five hundred thought immediately to enrich themselves. For
several days after landing the road was alive with eager gold hunters
drawn from all classes of the community; cavalier, _hidalgo_,[V-3] and
laborer, priest and artisan, honest men and villains, whose cupidity
had been fired by the display of precious metal lately gathered, and
who were now hurrying forward with hard breath and anxious eyes under
their bundle of necessities. But there was no happy fortune in store
for these new-comers. The story then new has been oft repeated since:
expecting to fill their sacks quickly and with ease, and finding that
a very little gold was to be obtained only by very great labor, they
were soon on their way back to the city, where many of them fell into
poverty, half of them dying of fever.
Poor fools! they did not know; their countrymen, those that were
left from former attempts, did not tell them, though Roldan's men,
Bobadilla's men knew well enough, and in truth the remnant of Ovando's
men were not slow to learn, that the wise man, the wise and villainous
man from Spain, did not work or die for gold, or for anything else, when
there were savages that might be pricked to it by the sword.
[Sidenote: GOVERNMENT OF THE NATIVES.]
During this earliest period of Spanish domination in America, under
successive viceroys and subordinate rulers, by far the most important
matter which arose for consideration or action was the treatment of the
aborigines. Most momentous to them it was, certainly, and of no small
consequence to Spain. Unfortunately, much damage was done before the
subject was fairly understood; and afterward, evils continued because
bad men were always at hand ready to risk future punishment for present
benefits. Spain was so far away, and justice moved so slowly, if it
moved at all, that this risk was seldom of the greatest.
The sovereigns of Spain now found themselves called upon to rule two
races in the New World, the white and the red. And it was not always
easy to determine what should be done, what should be the relative
attitude of one toward the other. As to the superiority of the white
race there was no question. And among white men, Spaniards were the
natural masters; and among Spaniards, Castilians possessed the first
rights in the new lands the Genoese had found for them.
All was plain enough so far. It was natural and right that Spaniards
should be masters in America. Their claim was twofold; as discoverers,
and as propagandists. But in just what category to place the red man
was a question almost as puzzling as to tell who he was, and whence he
came. Several times the question arose as to whether he had a soul, or
a semi-soul, and whether the liquid so freely let by the conquerors
was brute blood, or of as high proof as that which ran in Castilian
veins. The savages were to be governed, of course; but how, as subjects
or as slaves? Columbus was strongly in favor of Indian slavery. He had
participated in the Portuguese slave-trade, and had found it profitable.
Spaniards enslaved infidels, and why not heathens? Mahometans enslaved
Christians, and Christians Mahometans. Likewise Christians enslaved
Christians, white as well as black, though it began to be questioned in
Spain whether it was quite proper to enslave white Christians.
[Sidenote: SLAVERY.]
The negro slave-trade was at this time comparatively a new thing. It was
one of the proximate results of fifteenth-century maritime discovery.
The Portuguese were foremost in it, organizing for the purpose a company
at Lagos, and a factory at Arguin, about the middle of the century,
Prince Henry receiving his fifth. Europe, however, offered no profitable
field for African slave labor, and but for the discovery of America the
traffic probably never would have assumed large proportions. Public
sentiment was not in those days averse to slavery, particularly to
the enslavement of the children of Ham. And yet neither Isabella nor
Ferdinand was at all disposed, in regard to their New World possessions,
to follow the example of Portugal on the coast of Africa. Though they
had scarcely made personal the application that the practice was one of
the chief causes of Rome's ruin, yet they seemed instinctively opposed
to it in this instance. They did not want these creatures in Spain,
they had no use for them. In regard to the ancient custom of enslaving
prisoners of war, particularly the detested and chronically hostile
Moors, it was different. This New World had been given them for a higher
purpose. Its natives were not the enemies of Spain; they were innocent
of any offence against Spain. It was better, it was more glorious, there
was higher and surer reward in it, to Christianize than to enslave.
This the clergy constantly urged; so that in Spain the passion for
propagandism was greater than the passion for enslaving.
Columbus must have been aware of this when in 1495 he sent by Torres,
with the four ship-loads of Indian slaves, the apology to their
Majesties that these were man-eating Caribs, monsters, the legitimate
prey of slave-makers wherever found. Peradventure some of them might be
made Christians, who when they had learned Castilian could be sent back
to serve as missionaries and interpreters to aid in delivering their
countrymen from the powers of darkness. This was plausible, and their
Majesties seemed content; but when Columbus pressed the matter further,
and requested that arrangements should be made for entering extensively
into the traffic, they hesitated. Meanwhile the Genoese launched
boldly forth in the old way, not only making slaves of cannibals but
of prisoners of war; and whenever slaves were needed, a pretence for
war was not long wanting. Thereupon, with another shipment, the admiral
grows jubilant, and swears by the holy Trinity that he can send to Spain
as many slaves as can be sold, four thousand if necessary, and enters
upon the details of capture, carriage, sale, and return cargoes of
goods, with all the enthusiasm of a sometime profitable experience in
the business. Further than this he permits enforced labor where there
had been failure to pay tribute, and finally gives to every one who
comes an Indian for a slave.
Then the monarchs were angry. "What authority from me has the admiral
to give to any one my vassals!" exclaimed the queen. All who had thus
been stolen from home and country, among whom were pregnant women
and babes newly born, were ordered returned. And from that moment the
sovereigns of Spain were the friends of the Indians. Not Isabella alone
but Ferdinand, Charles, and Philip, and their successors for two hundred
years with scarcely an exceptional instance, stood manfully for the
rights of the savages—always subordinate however to their own fancied
rights—constantly and determinately interposing their royal authority
between the persistent wrong-doing of their Spanish subjects, and their
defenceless subjects of the New World. Likewise the Catholic Church is
entitled to the highest praise for her influence in the direction of
humanity, and for the unwearied efforts of her ministers in guarding
from cruelty and injustice these poor creatures. Here and there in the
course of this narrative we find a priest carried away by the spirit of
proselytism commit acts of folly and unrighteousness; and men announcing
as church measures proceedings which when known in the mother country
received the prompt condemnation of the church. These men and measures
I shall not be backward to condemn. But it is with no small degree of
pleasure that I record thus early in this history the noble attributes
of the self-sacrificing Christian heroes who while preaching their faith
to the savage endeavored to bridle as best they could the cupidity and
cruelty of the Spanish adventurers who accompanied them.
[Sidenote: LAWS RESPECTING THE ABORIGINES.]
After the first invasions, in various quarters, aggressive warfare
on the natives, even on obdurate heathen nations, was prohibited. In
the extension of dominion that followed, the very word 'conquest' was
forbidden to be employed, even though it were a conquest gained by
fighting, and the milder term 'pacification' was substituted.[V-4]
Likewise, after the first great land robberies had been committed, side
by side with the minor seizures was in practice the regulation that
enough of the ancient territory should be left each native community
to support it comfortably in a fixed residence. The most that was
required of the Indians was to abolish their ancient inhuman practices,
put on the outward apparel of civilization, and as fast as possible
adapt themselves to Christian customs, paying a light tax, in kind,
nominally for protection and instruction. This doing, they were to be
left free and happy. Such were the wishes of crown and clergy; for which
both strove steadily though unsuccessfully until the object of their
solicitude crumbled into earth.[V-5]
For the soldier, the sailor, the cavalier, the vagabond, the governor,
and all their subordinates and associates, all the New World rabble from
viceroy to menial willed it otherwise, the New World clergy too often
winking assent. However omnipotent in Spain, there were some things in
America that the sovereigns and their confessors could not do. They
could not control the bad passions of their subjects when beyond the
reach of rope and dungeon. That these evil proclivities were of home
engendering, having for their sanction innumerable examples from church
and state, statesmen and prelates would hardly admit, but it is in truth
a plausible excuse for the excesses committed. The fact is that for
every outrage by a subject in the far away Indies, there were ten, each
of magnitude tenfold for evil, committed by the sovereigns in Spain; so
that it is by no means wonderful that the Spaniards determined here to
practise a little sinfulness for their own gratification, even though
their preceptors did oppose wickedness which by reason of their absence
they themselves could not enjoy.
Though the monarchs protested earnestly, honestly, and at the length of
centuries, their subjects went their way and executed their will with
the natives. Were I to tell a tenth of the atrocities perpetrated by
Christian civilization on the natives of America, I could tell nothing
else. The catalogue of European crime, Spanish, English, French, is as
long as it is revolting. Therefore, whenever I am forced to touch upon
this most distasteful subject, I shall be as brief as possible.
[Sidenote: DASTARDLY DOINGS OF OVANDO.]
Passing the crimes of Columbus and Bobadilla, the sins of the two being,
for biographical effect, usually placed upon the latter, let us look
at the conduct of Ovando, who, as Spanish provincial rulers went in
those days, was an average man. He ruled with vigor; and as if to offset
his strict dealings with offending Spaniards, unoffending Indians were
treated with treachery and merciless brutality.
Rumor reaching him that Anacaona, queen of Jaraguá, meditated revolt,
he marched thither at the head of two hundred foot-soldiers and seventy
horsemen. The queen came out to meet him, and escorted him with music
and dancing to the great banqueting-hall, and entertained him there for
several days. Still assured by evil tongues that his hostess intended
treachery, he determined to forestall her. On a Sunday afternoon, while
a tilting-match was in progress, Ovando gave the signal. He raised his
hand and touched his Alcántara cross—a badge of honor it was called,
which, had it been real, should have shrivelled the hand that for such
a purpose touched it. On the instant Anacaona and her caciques were
seized and a mock trial given them; after which the queen was hanged,
the caciques tortured and burned, and the people of the province, men,
women, and children, ruthlessly and indiscriminately butchered. Those
who escaped the massacre were afterward enslaved. For intelligence,
grace, and beauty Anacaona was the Isabella of the Indies, and there was
no valid proof that she meditated the slightest injury to the Spaniards.
The natives of Saona and Higuey, in revenge for the death of a chief
torn in pieces by a Spanish bloodhound, rose to arms, and slew a boat's
crew of eight Spaniards. Juan de Esquivel with four hundred men was
sent against them, and the usual indiscriminate hanging and burning
followed. It is stated that over six hundred were slaughtered at one
time in one house. A peace was conquered, a fort built; fresh outrages
provoked a fresh outbreak; and the horrors of the extermination that
followed Las Casas confessed himself unable to describe. A passion arose
for mutilation, and for prolonging agony by new inventions for refining
cruelty. And the irony of Christianity was reached when thirteen men
were hanged side by side in honor of Christ and his apostles. Cotubano,
the last of the five native kings of Española, was taken to Santo
Domingo, and hanged by order of Ovando. In Higuey were then formed two
settlements, Salvaleon and Santa Cruz. To take the places in the Spanish
service of the Indians thus slain in Española, forty thousand natives
of the Lucayas Islands were enticed thither upon the pretext of the
captors that they were the Indians' dead ancestors come from heaven to
take their loved ones back with them. Española was indeed their shortest
way to heaven, though not the way they had been led to suppose. When
tidings of Ovando's doings reached Spain, notably of his treatment of
Anacaona, Queen Isabella was on her death-bed; but raising herself as
best she was able, she exclaimed to the president of the council, "I
will have you take of him such a residencia as was never taken."
* * * * *
[Sidenote: THE LABOR QUESTION.]
Both the Spaniards and the Indians, as we have seen, were averse to
labor. To both it was degrading; to the latter, killing. And yet it
was necessary that mines should be worked, lands cultivated, and cattle
raised. Else of what avail was the New World?
The colonists clamored, and the crown was at a loss what to do. In her
dilemma there is no wonder the queen appeared to equivocate; but when
in December, 1503, she permitted Ovando to use force in bringing the
natives to a sense of their duty, though they must be paid fair wages
and made to work "as free persons, for so they are," she committed a
fatal error. The least latitude was sure to be abused. Under royal
permission of 1501 a few negro slaves from time to time were taken
to the Indies. Las Casas urged the extension of this traffic in
order to save the Indians. Ovando complained that the negroes fled
and hid themselves among the natives, over whom they exercised an
unwholesome influence; nevertheless in September, 1505, we find the
king sending over more African slaves to work in the mines, this time
about one hundred. From 1517, when importations from the Portuguese
establishments on the Guinea coast were authorized by Charles V., the
traffic increased, and under the English, particularly, assumed enormous
proportions. This unhappy confusion of races led to a negro insurrection
at Española in 1522.
We come now to some of the results of the temporizing policy of
Spain—always a bad one when the subject is beyond the reach of the
ruling arm—in regard to the Indians. For out of a desire to avoid the
odium of Indian slavery, and yet secure the benefits thereof, grew
a system of servitude embodying all the worst features of absolute
bondage, with none of its mitigations.
[Sidenote: REPARTIMIENTOS AND ENCOMIENDAS.]
It will be remembered that during his second voyage Columbus made war
on the natives of Española, and after sending some as slaves to Spain,
imposed a tribute on the rest; on some a bell-measure of gold, and
on others an _arroba_[V-6] of cotton, every three months. So severe
was this tax that many could not meet it, and in 1496 service was
accepted in place of tribute. This was the beginning in the New World
of the _repartimiento_,[V-7] or as it shortly afterward became the
_encomienda_, system, under which the natives of a conquered country
were divided among the conquerors, recommended to their care, and made
tributary to them.
[Sidenote: ADMINISTRATION OF THE INDIES.]
The theory was that the Indians were the vassals of Spain, no more to
be imposed upon than other Spanish subjects. The sovereigns wishing
to stimulate discovery, pacification, and settlement, were willing to
waive their right to the tribute due the crown in favor of enterprising
and meritorious persons, who had taken upon themselves the hardships
incident to life in a new country. At first in certain instances, but
later to an extent which became general, they settled this tribute
upon worthy individuals among the conquerors and colonists and their
descendants, on condition that those who thus directly received a
portion of the royal revenue should act the part of royalty to the
people placed temporarily in their care. They were to be as a sovereign
lord and father, and not as a merciless or unjust taskmaster. They
were to teach their wards the arts of civilization, instruct them in
the Christian doctrine, watch over and guide and guard them, and never
to restrict them in the use of their liberties, nor impose burdens on
them, nor in any way to injure or permit injury to befall them. And
for this protection they were neither to demand nor receive more than
the legal tribute fixed by the royal officers, and always such as the
natives could without distress or discomfort pay. What the system was
in practice we shall have ample opportunity of judging as we proceed
in this history. Suffice it to say here that to the fatherly-protection
part of their compact the colonists paid little heed, but evaded the law
in many ways, and ground the poor savages under their iron heel, while
the crown by ordering, and threatening, earnestly but vainly sought to
carry out in good faith and humanity what they deemed a sacred trust.
[Sidenote: THE PARTITION SYSTEM.]
First, repartimientos of lands were authorized by the sovereigns. This
was in 1497, and nothing was then said about the natives. But after
dividing the land it was but a step to the dividing of the inhabitants.
With the shipment of six hundred slaves in 1498, and an offer to
their Majesties of as many more as they could find sale for, Columbus
wrote asking permission to enforce the services of the natives until
settlement should be fairly begun, say for a year or two; but without
waiting for a reply he at once began the practice, which introduced a
new feature into repartimientos. Then to all who chose to take them,
to Roldan and his followers, to the worst characters on the island,
among whom were the late occupants of Spanish prisons, the vilest of
humankind, was given absolute dominion over these helpless and innocent
creatures. Having paid nothing for them, having no pecuniary interest
in them, they had no object in caring whether they were fed or starved,
whether they lived or died, for if they died there were more at hand
upon the original terms.
Under Bobadilla the infamy assumed bolder proportions. Columbus had
apportioned to certain lands certain natives to labor for the benefit
of Spaniards, but they worked under their cacique. Natives were forced
by Spaniards to work mines, but only under special monthly license.
Bobadilla not only permitted the exaction from the natives of mining and
farming labor, but all restrictions were laid aside, and from working
their own soil they became mere labor-gangs to be driven anywhere.
Before sailing for the New World Ovando had been charged by the
sovereigns with the exercise of extreme moderation in levying tributes
and making repartimientos. Those who came with him not only failed in
mining, but neglected to plant, as did likewise the natives, thinking
thereby the quicker to rid themselves of the invaders. Hence famine,
engendering new diseases, was at hand for both white men and red. Then
the Indians were systematically parcelled among the Spaniards, to one
fifty, to another one hundred, and the repartimiento unfolded into the
encomienda. Columbus and Bobadilla had each endeavored to fasten Indian
slavery upon the New World, but this legalizing by Ovando what had been
illegally done by them, was the heaviest blow in that direction. "To you
is given an encomienda of Indians with their chief; and you are to teach
them the things of our holy Catholic faith," was the thin subterfuge by
which this foul act was accomplished.
[Sidenote: THE KING'S STRONG BOX.]
In 1508 was sent to Santo Domingo as treasurer-general Miguel de
Pasamonte to supersede Bernardino de Santa Clara, who had received the
office of treasurer from Ovando. Santa Clara loved display and lacked
honesty. Using freely the king's money he bought estates, and gave
feasts, in one of which the salt-cellars were filled with gold-dust.
This folly reaching the king's ears, Gil Gonzalez Dávila, of whom we
shall know more presently, was sent to investigate the matter, and
found Santa Clara a defaulter to the extent of eighty thousand pesos
de oro. His property was seized and offered at auction. Ovando, with
whom Santa Clara was a favorite, stood by at the sale, and holding up
a pineapple offered it to the most liberal bidder, which pleasantry
was so stimulating that the estate brought ninety-six thousand pesos
de oro, more than twice its value. Afterward the plan was adopted of
having three locks upon the government's strong-box, the keys to which
were carried by the three chief treasury officials.[V-8] Pasamonte
was an Aragonese, in the immediate service of Ferdinand, with whom
he corresponded in cipher during his residence in the Indies. A very
good repartimiento of Indians was ordered by the king to be given the
faithful Pasamonte. In 1511 Gil Gonzalez Dávila was made contador of
Española, and Juan de Ampues factor; to each were given two hundred
Indians, and they were ordered to examine the accounts of the treasurer,
Pasamonte. For the faithful must be kept faithful by the strictest
watching; such was Spanish discretion, whether in the management of men
or women.
* * * * *
The removal of Ovando was delayed by the death of Isabella in 1504, and
of Columbus in 1506. After persistent importunities Diego Colon, son
of the admiral, was permitted in 1508 to plead in the courts of Spain
his claim, as his father's successor, to the viceroyalty of the Indies.
His marriage, meanwhile, with María de Toledo, a lady of high birth and
connection, assisted in opening the eyes of the law to the justness of
his demands, fully as much as did any argument of counsel. Ovando was
recalled and Diego authorized to take his place.
The new governor, accompanied by his wife, his brother Fernando, his
uncles Bartolomé and Diego, and a retinue brilliant with rank and
beauty, landed at Santo Domingo in July, 1509. Although Ferdinand had
withheld the title of viceroy, Diego evidently regarded his appointment
nothing less than a viceroyalty, although the two mainland governors,
Alonso de Ojeda and Diego de Nicuesa, for the provinces east and west
of Urabá, remained independent of him.
[Sidenote: THE SOVEREIGN TRIBUNAL.]
Diego's administration was but little if any improvement on those of
his predecessors. He possessed neither the ability nor the prudence
of Ovando. He had intended equity and honesty in his rulings, and
exceptional kindness to the natives; notwithstanding which he began by
granting repartimientos to himself, his wife, and kindred, and giving
the best of the remainder to his favorites. So that the now standard
evils of favoritism and cruelty were in no wise mitigated. Not only were
the Indians no better used than formerly, but falling into the errors
of his father in the management of men Diego's weak government soon
found opposed to it a faction at whose head was the powerful Pasamonte.
Charges of a serious nature against the son of the Genoese so frequently
reached Spain that in 1511 the king found it necessary to establish at
Santo Domingo a sovereign tribunal to which appeals might be made from
the decisions of the governor. This tribunal which at first was only a
royal court of law, superior to any other colonial power, was the germ
of the Real Audiencia of Santo Domingo by which the greater part of the
Indies, islands and firm land, were governed for a period subsequent
to 1521. It was at first composed of three _jueces de apelacion_, or
judges of appeal, Marcelo de Villalobos, Juan Ortiz de Matienzo, and
Lúcas Vazquez de Aillon. These _licenciados_, having brought with them
instructions from Spain, and also orders on Diego Colon for partitions
of land and two hundred Indians each, in 1511 were ready to rule. They
were empowered to hear and determine appeals from the governor, his
_tenientes_ and _alcaldes mayores_, and from any other judges that
had been or should be appointed either by the colonial governor or by
the crown, appeal from their decision being only to the Council of the
Indies in Spain. Although from its creation clothed with many of the
powers of an audiencia, it did not all at once possess that title, but
gradually assumed it.[V-9] By decree of September 14, 1526, we find
the emperor ordering that in the city of Santo Domingo there should
reside the _Audiencia y Chancillería Real_, "como está fundada," as at
present constituted. It was to consist of a president; four _oidores_,
who were also _alcaldes del crímen_, or criminal judges; a _fiscal_, a
prosecuting officer in this case; an _alguacil mayor_, or high sheriff;
a _teniente de gran canciller_, or deputy grand chancellor, and other
necessary officers. Indeed, beside some of the other officers, a
president had already been provided in 1521, in the person of Luis de
Figueroa, bishop of Concepcion. Francisco de Prado was appointed fiscal
in 1523, at which time the salaries of the oidores were raised, as they
had been deprived of the right of holding Indians. All appeals from
the _jueces de residencia_, where the amount involved was less than six
hundred pesos de oro, were thereafter referred to this tribunal. Alonso
de Zuazo took his seat among the oidores in 1526. To the audiencia of
Santo Domingo was given for its district the West India Islands; and
on the mainland the governments of Venezuela, Nueva Andalucía, Rio
de Hacha, and Guayana, or el Dorado, this district being bounded by
those of the audiencias of the Nuevo Reino de Granada, Tierra Firme,
Guatemala, Nueva España, and the provinces of Florida. The president
was empowered to make such ordinances as he should deem essential
to the good government and defence of the island, just as was done,
within their jurisdiction, by other governors of Indian provinces.
He might fill vacancies in the various subordinate offices until the
pleasure of the king should be known, and he might do generally all
things pertaining to the executive power. In these matters the oidores
were forbidden to interfere; nor could the president exercise judicial
functions, but must nevertheless sign with the judges all sentences. In
other respects this tribunal was on an equal footing with others of its
class.[V-10]
[Sidenote: AUDIENCIAS.]
Meanwhile the most disturbing question in the colony was that of labor.
To govern the few Spaniards at Española, under the arbitrary system of
Spain, was a small matter; but to divide among them lands, agricultural
and mineral, and laborers in such a way as to satisfy at once the
colonists and the many tender and enlightened consciences in Spain, in
such a way as to prevent the utter ruin either of colonial enterprise
or of the natives themselves, was indeed a difficult task.
[Sidenote: END OF DIEGO COLON.]
In 1509 possession had been taken of Jamaica by Juan de Esquivel, and
toward the end of 1511[V-11] the governor of Española had sent Diego
Velazquez to occupy Cuba, which was done without the loss of a Spaniard.
Ojeda and Nicuesa having failed in colonizing Darien, the mainland
in that vicinity was offered by the king in 1514 to the adelantado,
Bartolomé Colon, but he was then too ill to accept the charge, and died
not long after. In April, 1515, Diego Colon embarked for Spain; and we
find him attempting his vindication at court, when Ferdinand died, the
23d of January, 1516. Cardinal Jimenez, who held the reins of Spanish
government for a time, refused to decide between the governor and
treasurer; but in 1520 the emperor directed Pasamonte to molest Diego no
more. Then affairs at Española became more intolerable than ever, and in
1523 Diego was divested of authority by the Council of the Indies, the
sovereign tribunal at Santo Domingo furnishing ample information of a
condemnatory character. Diego succeeded, however, in having a commission
appointed to examine the matter more carefully, but this tended only
to further complications; and the last days of the son, which ended in
1526, were not more happy than those of the father had been.[V-12]
* * * * *
[Sidenote: BARTOLOMÉ DE LAS CASAS.]
A steadily growing character, impressing itself more and more upon the
affairs of the Indies as time went by, was that of Bartolomé de las
Casas. Born at Seville in 1474, he conned his humanities at Salamanca,
making little stir among the Gamaliels there, but taking the bachelor's
degree in his eighteenth year. After a residence of about eight years in
the Indies, having come with Ovando in 1502, he was admitted to priestly
orders, from which time he takes his place in history. He was a man
of very pronounced temperament and faculties, as much man of business
as ecclesiastic, but more philanthropist than either; possessed of a
burning enthusiasm, when once the fire of his conviction was fairly
kindled, he gave rest neither to himself nor to his enemies. For every
evil-minded man who came hither was his enemy, between whom and himself
was a death-struggle. The Apostle of the Indies he was sometimes called,
and the mission he took upon himself was to stand between the naked
natives and their steel-clad tormentors. In this work he was ardent,
ofttimes imprudent, always eloquent and truthful, and as impudently
bold and brazen as any cavalier among them all. Nor was he by any means
a discontented man. He sought nothing for himself; he had nothing that
man could take from him except life, upon which he set no value, or
except some of its comforts, which were too poor at best to trouble
himself about. His cause, which was the right, gave breadth and volume
to his boldness, beside which the courage of the hare-brained babbler
was sounding brass.
When the attention of the church was first seriously drawn toward the
amelioration of the condition of the Indians, which was in 1511, there
were at Española some thirteen Dominicans, living with their vicar,
Pedro de Córdoba, according to the strictest rules of the order, and
likewise several Franciscans, among whom was Antonio de Espinal. The
Dominicans began their protest by a sermon denouncing the course of the
colonists, and when ordered to retract, they repeated their charges
with still greater emphasis. The colonists sent agents to Spain to
have the contumacious monks displaced, and among them Espinal; for the
Franciscans, as much in a spirit of opposition to the Dominicans as to
find favor with the laity, showed a leaning toward the repartimiento
system, though they could not decently defend it. The Dominicans sent
Antonio Montesino, he who had preached the distasteful sermon, all
the Dominicans present having signed approval of it. To consider the
matter, a junta was summoned in Spain, which pronounced the Indians a
free people, a people to be Christianized, and not enslaved; they were
innocent heathen, not infidel enemies like the Moors, or natural-born
slaves like the negroes. Ferdinand and Fonseca were both earnest in
obtaining this verdict, for so had said the king's preachers. Meanwhile
Montesino encountering Espinal in Spain, won him over to the side of
humanity. But all the same the repartimientos were continued, for they
were fatherly protection only in theory, and the colonists went on
scourging the poor red men.
In the occupation of Cuba, Pánfilo de Narvaez was named by Velazquez
his lieutenant, and sent forth to subjugate other parts of the island.
With Narvaez went Las Casas, who put forth almost superhuman exertions
in vain to stay the merciless slaughter of the helpless and innocent.
A warm friend of Las Casas was Velazquez' alcalde, Pedro de Rentería,
who in the division of the spoils joined Las Casas in accepting a large
tract of land, and a proportionate repartimiento of Indians. This was
before Las Casas had seriously considered the matter, and he was at
first quite delighted with his acquisition. But the enormity of the
wrong coming upon him, his conversion was as decisive as that of St
Paul. Like the Dominicans of Española, Las Casas began by preaching
against repartimientos. In 1515 he sailed for Spain in company with
Montesino, leaving his charge with certain monks sent over from Española
by the prelate Córdoba. These Dominican brothers did what they could,
but to such straits were the savages driven after the departure of Las
Casas that to escape the bloodhounds and other evils set upon them by
the Spaniards thousands of them took refuge in suicide. When Diego Colon
arrived in 1509 there were left in Española forty thousand natives.
A _repartidor_ was appointed in the person of Rodrigo de Alburquerque
to repartition the Indians, but when he arrived in 1514 there were but
thirteen thousand left to divide. After proclaiming himself with great
pomp, Alburquerque plainly intimated that bribery was in order, that he
who paid the most money should have the best repartimiento. Afterward
the Licentiate Ibarra, sent to Española to take the residencia of the
alcalde Aguilar, was authorized to make a new partition. Large numbers
of natives were given to the king's favorites in Spain, and the evil
grew apace. Nor were affairs at Española mended by sending out so
frequently new officials with new and conflicting powers.
[Sidenote: THE JERONIMITE FATHERS.]
Whatever hopes the monks may have derived from Ferdinand's benign
reception, death cut short the proposed relief. Fonseca, now bishop of
Búrgos, with coarse ribaldry dismissed the subject; but when Las Casas
applied to the regent, Cardinal Jimenez, an earnest and active interest
was manifest. Las Casas, Montesino, and Palacios Rubios were directed
to present a plan for the government of the Indies, which resulted
in sending thither three Jeronimite Fathers, Luis de Figueroa, Alonso
de Santo Domingo, and Bernardino Manzanedo, monks of the order of St
Jerome, being selected because they were free from the complications
in which those of St Francis and St Dominic already found themselves
involved in the New World. The Jeronimites were ordered to visit the
several islands and inform themselves regarding the condition of the
Indians, and adopt measures for the formation of native settlements.
These settlements or communities were to be governed each by a cacique,
together with an ecclesiastic; and for every two or three settlements
a civil officer, called an administrator, having supreme power in the
settlements, was to be appointed. The cacique, after obtaining the
consent of the ecclesiastic, should inflict no higher punishment on
his subjects than stripes; none should be capitally punished except
under regular process of law. The matters of education, labor, tribute,
mining, and farming were then treated, in all which the welfare of the
natives was carefully considered, although the repartimiento system
remained. Las Casas was named Protector of the Indians with a salary
of one hundred pesos de oro. Zuazo, a lawyer of repute, was sent with
the most ample powers to take a residencia of all the judges in the New
World, and against his decisions there was to be no appeal.
The Jeronimites set out wrapped in mighty determinations. They would
not even sail in the same ship with Las Casas, wishing to be wholly
free. In this they were right; but unfortunately, on arriving among
the wrangling colonists, and having the actual issues thrust upon them,
they found themselves by no means infallible. Their measures were tame,
and they soon found the Protector arrayed against them. The result was
their open defence of the repartimiento system, as the only one by which
Spain could colonize the Indies. The burden should be laid as lightly
as possible on the shoulders of the natives, but they must be made
to work. Las Casas set out in 1517 to enter his complaints at court,
closely followed by an emissary of the Jeronimites to represent their
side of the question; but they arrived in Spain only to find the regent
dying. Had Charles V. remained in Flanders, and had the life of Cardinal
Jimenez been spared to Spain and the New World a few years longer, it
is certain that the cruelties to the Indians would many of them have
been prevented, and it is doubtful if negro slavery would ever have been
introduced into America.
* * * * *
[Sidenote: DIVERS RULES AND RULERS.]
Though the change of rulers which now occurred seriously clogged the
wheels of government in Spain, the affairs of the Indies seemed directly
to suffer little inconvenience therefrom. It was indeed a great change,
Isabella and Ferdinand gone, Columbus and Jimenez also; and the presence
of this young Charles, undemonstrative, thoughtful, cautious, even when
a boy, and enveloped in a Flemish atmosphere that shut out all that was
most beautiful in Spain, even Castile's liquid language, made it seem
strange there even to Spaniards, made it seem a long, long time since
the Moors were beaten and America discovered. The Indies, however, were
far away, and so little understood by the Flemings that they did not
trouble themselves much about them.
Las Casas was fortunate in winning the favor of the Flemish chancellor,
Selvagius, but as in the two previous cases, scarcely was the friendly
footing established when the great man died, and the bishop of Búrgos,
whose influence in the government of the Indies had fallen low of late,
was again elevated. All the measures that Las Casas had proposed to
Selvagius fell to the ground—all save one, the only bad one, and one
concerning which Las Casas afterward asserted that he would give all he
possessed on earth to recall it; it was the introduction of negro slaves
to relieve the Indians.
If the Jeronimite Fathers accomplished no great things in the Indies,
they at least did little harm. Small-pox attended the herding of
the natives in settlements, but it never prevailed to the extent
represented. The fact that Fonseca held an encomienda of eight hundred
Indians, the Comendador Conchillos one of eleven hundred, Vega one of
two hundred, and other influential men at court other numbers, may have
had something to do with the hostility manifested in that quarter toward
Las Casas, who was unflinching to the end in denouncing the system as
unjust, unchristian, and inhuman.
* * * * *
[Sidenote: CASA DE CONTRATACION.]
The office of Indian distributor was most important, and one in
which the vital interests of the colonists were involved. It should
have been filled by one of high integrity who would hold aloof from
contaminating influences. Such was not Ibarra, who became offensively
meddlesome in the affairs of the common council, and died under
suspicious circumstances not long after, Lebron being sent out to take
his place. When the Jeronimites countenanced negro slavery to relieve
the Indians, the colonists were benignant; when they undertook civil
service reform, some of them became furious, especially Pasamonte, who
had been enriching himself as fast as possible while his patron lived,
but who had now sunk into insignificance. The favorites of the Flemish
ministers, such as Rodrigo de Figueroa, to whom was given charge of
the Indian settlements, were now the recipients of the fat offices; and
the fact of their being Flemish favorites was sufficient to array the
colonists against them. It was not long before they succeeded in having
the residencia of Figueroa ordered, and Lebron installed as overseer
of Indians in his place. In 1518, Jimenez who sent the Jeronimites
being dead and Fonseca once more manager, the monks were recalled to
Spain, and the affairs of Española and of the Indies were left with the
audiencia of Santo Domingo, acting in conjunction with the _Consejo de
Indias_[V-13] in Spain, the _Casa de Contratacion_ having more especial
charge of commercial matters.
Many schemes for the benefit of the Indians filled the mind of Las
Casas, who continued to labor for them indefatigably. One, originating
with Pedro de Córdoba, was to set apart on the mainland one hundred
leagues as a place of refuge for the savages, into which no Spaniards
but priests might enter. This measure was opposed by Fonseca, who said:
"The king would do well, indeed, to give away a hundred leagues without
any profit to himself." After this Las Casas spent some time travelling
through Spain and inducing Spaniards to emigrate to the Indies, but
little that was beneficial came of it. Succeeding finally in enlisting
the sympathies of the king's preachers in behalf of the Indians,
a plan for founding a colony on the Pearl Coast was carried, and
notwithstanding Oviedo appeared in opposition to his brother chronicler
by offering a larger royalty, a grant of two hundred and sixty leagues
was signed in May, 1520. Failing as a colonist, Las Casas retired for a
time to the Dominican convent at Santo Domingo. After many years spent
as missionary and preacher in Nicaragua, Guatemala, Mexico, and Peru, he
was appointed bishop of Chiapas, where in the progress of this history
we shall again meet him.
[Sidenote: SUNDRY PROVISIONS.]
Certain attention which the Indies were now receiving may be mentioned
here. Some little attention was paid by the ever-watchful government
to the welfare of society in these distant parts. The wearing of rich
apparel in Española was forbidden by the king in 1523. The appellations
of certain of the islands were undergoing change, so that in due
time their aboriginal names were restored to Cuba and Jamaica, the
authorities thereby evincing a good taste which rulers and explorers
of other nations might well have profited by at a later period. In 1515
six loaves of sugar and twenty _cassia fistula_ were taken by Oviedo to
Spain. In 1517 the pope made bishops in the Indies inquisitors; and when
in 1521-2 the bulls of Leo X. and Adrian VI. ordered the Franciscans
to prepare for mission work in the New World, liberal concessions were
made to friars going thence. After the death of Pedro de Córdoba, who
had been appointed inquisitor of the Indies, authority became vested in
the audiencia of Santo Domingo. Desirous of stimulating emigration, the
emperor in 1522 granted further privileges to settlers in the Indies.
Colonists were ordered to take their families to the New World under
severe penalties for neglect. Licenses were revised, and regulations
concerning the going to the New World of the religious orders as well as
of all others were made to the utmost extent favorable, but friars found
in the New World without a license must be sent forthwith to Spain.
Then laws were made attempting to regulate the method of making war on
Indians; and in 1523 it was decreed that idols should be destroyed and
cannibalism prevented. Provision was made for the annual payment of
thirty thousand maravedís for the support of a preceptor of grammar.
And because of the heavy expenses of living, the emperor permitted the
salaries of New World officials to be increased. The tribunals were
likewise reorganized to fit the emergency and facilitate business.
Directions were issued how gold chains should be made and dye-woods cut.
It seemed to the emperor necessary in 1526 to issue orders facilitating
the arrest of dishonest mercantile agents in the Indies, and to send
Padre de Bobadilla, a provincial of the order of La Merced, to look
after the baptism of the Indians. And as to the question of negroes,
vexatious from the beginning, the emperor in 1523 revoked for a time the
permission given in 1511 to send negroes as slaves to the Indies; and
it was again ordered in 1526 that Indian slaves then in Spain should be
returned to their country and treated as vassals.[V-14]