ENTERPRISE
Some time before the events just recounted, Franciscan friars from Picardy
had been sent to the Pearl Coast by the Prior Pedro de Cordoba, under the
leadership of Fray Juan Garceto, and this little community heard the news
of Las Casas’s coming with profound joy. Upon his arrival, they came to
meet him singing Te Deum Laudamus and Benedictus qui venit in nomine
Domini. The convent was modest enough, being rudely constructed of wood
and thatch, and the life of the friars in the midst of the vast wilderness
about them was one of the most apostolic simplicity. The house stood
about a musket-shot back from the Cumaná River in a beautiful garden
which, in such a climate, was not a difficult achievement. Las Casas
built a large storehouse on one side of the garden for his trading
merchandise and, through the friars and an Indian woman called Maria, who
had learned Spanish, he published among the Indians that he had been sent
by the new King of the Christians in Spain, and that henceforth there
would be no more fighting, but all were to live together in peace and
friendship. In order to attract them, he made them presents from his
stores; but it was not unnatural that the diffidence of the Indians should
yield but slowly to these blandishments after the deceptions of which they
had been the victims, and besides, Las Casas could not trust his own
dependents, but had to keep a sharp eye continually on them, to prevent
them scandalising and offending the natives. Under such discouraging
circumstances, progress was inevitably slow.
Not only were the Spaniards under his own control in little harmony with
the spirit of his intentions and as refractory as they dared be to his
orders, but the pearl fishers on the island of Cubagua, who were a typical
lot of godless ruffians, frequently came to the mainland, with the valid
excuse that the absence of sweet water on their island obliged them to
fetch their supply from the Cumaná River. These expeditions for water
were usually accompanied by some disturbances with the Indians, some of
whom were frequently captured and carried off to work in the pearl
fisheries.
To put a stop to these incursions into his territory, Las Casas contracted
with a mason, for eight dollars in gold per month, to build him a fort at
the mouth of the river; but the people at Cubagua, hearing of this project
which would interrupt and control their movements, contrived to so
influence the mason that he threw up his contract and abandoned the work,
thus leaving the country defenceless. The Cubaguans seduced and ruined
the Indians, chiefly by offering them liquors and spirits, which have
always proved the white man’s most attractive and destructive products to
the savage and have ever gone in the vanguard of civilisation. The
Indians gave everything they possessed for alcohol even selling their
fellows as slaves, in exchange for wines; these they drank to inordinate
excess, and in the fury of their debauch quarrels broke out amongst them
which ended in murders and a state of the most riotous disorder, against
which Las Casas and the monks struggled in vain. The strongest
representations and protests were made to the alcalde of Cubagua, whither
Las Casas went in person, but, far from producing the desired result, his
efforts to protect his own territory only served to excite increased
resentment on the part of his lawless neighbours, and neither his own life
nor that of the Franciscans was any longer safe from the threatened
reprisals of their hostile countrymen. The situation was one of the
greatest gravity and even peril; instead of showing promise of
improvement, it grew daily worse; for, though the men at Cubagua were
somewhat restrained from venturing upon open acts of hostility directed
against him since they had seen what powers the royal cedulas gave him,
their ingenuity in devising vexations, inventing contrarieties, and
creating obstacles which effectually nullified all his efforts, was
extraordinarily fertile. Fray Juan Garceto was of the opinion that Las
Casas should return to Hispaniola to complain to the Audiencia and demand
that some effective restraint be exercised upon the Spaniards at Cubagua
or, failing of success there, that he should even go to the King himself
to obtain redress and the punishment of the offenders. This advice did
not accord with Las Casas’s own view, for he had reason to know how
difficult it was to obtain anything from the Audiencia and how easy it was
to evade even the most explicit provisions of royal cedulas, when it
suited the interest of those concerned to do so. His absence at such a
critical moment would also remove the one effective restraint on the
lawlessness of the Cubaguans and doubtless result in the total destruction
of his stores, which were valued at fifty thousand castellanos. Two
vessels were lying off the coast, loading salt for Hispaniola, and during
the days previous to their sailing both Las Casas and Fray Juan gave
themselves up to earnest prayer and each offered his daily mass to obtain
some divine guidance as to the right course to pursue, since they were in
absolute disagreement. Las Casas prepared a full statement of the
situation, and a petition asking the Audiencia to furnish the necessary
remedy without delay, which he intended to despatch by one of the ship’s
captains in case he did not go himself when the sailing day came. The
last day finally arrived, and Fray Juan, after saying his mass, sought Las
Casas and said, “It is your duty, sir, to go and on no account to stop
here.” “God knows,” replied Las Casas, “how much this goes against my
judgment and my wishes but, since it seems right to your Reverence, I am
willing to do it; if it is an error, I would rather err by the judgment of
another than be right by my own, for I hope in God.” The wisdom of
submitting his judgment as an act of religious humility in a matter
concerning his own spiritual welfare would have been laudable, but Las
Casas was far more qualified to judge on a question of policy affecting
the welfare of his enterprise than was Fray Juan Garceto, and the
responsibility for repeating the blunder he had made in Puerto Rico of
abandoning his colony while he went off to protest to the Audiencia, must
rest where it belongs—on his own shoulders—and not where he sought to put
it—on those of the humble Franciscan. If somebody had to go—and it seems
that the necessity was urgent—then Fray Juan had better have taken the
letters and gone himself before the Audiencia, leaving Las Casas to
withstand his enemies and keep his colony together as best he could, until
the Audiencia despatched some authority to effectively restrain the
Cubaguans. His resolution taken, in accordance with the friar’s
inspiration, Las Casas appointed Francisco de Soto, a native of Olmedo, as
captain during his absence and gave him full instructions for his
guidance. It was especially impressed upon the captain that on no account
should he permit the two vessels which the colony possessed to leave the
harbour; he was to be on the alert and in case of open hostilities he was
to load the merchandise on board if possible, but if not, then to save all
his people and take refuge at Cubagua. Much preoccupied as to the fate of
those he left behind and uncertain as to the wisdom of his course, Las
Casas set out for Hispaniola, leaving all he possessed in the convent,
save one box of his clothing and another containing some books.
It is illustrative of the capricious and light-hearted spirit of
disobedience to all authority, save what force imposed, which
characterised Spanish officials in America, that the first thing De Soto
did, before the ship bearing Las Casas was barely out of sight, was to
send away his two vessels, one in one direction and the other in the
opposite, to fish for pearls and, if possible, to capture Indians. The
natives were in a state of unrest owing to the continual vexations of the
people of Cubagua and also of Las Casas’s men who, as soon as he was gone,
became almost as bad as the others. The beautiful speeches in which peace
and justice and friendship were promised for the future, under the
powerful protection of the new King of Spain, had resulted in nothing, and
the last illusion of the Indians vanished with the disappearance of the
ship that bore their protector towards Hispaniola. A general massacre of
the colony was concerted to take place about fifteen days after Las Casas
left. The Franciscans got wind of it three days before the date fixed and
though the Indian woman Maria, when asked, denied the plot in words, she
conveyed to the friars by gestures that she had lied because the presence
of other Indians intimidated her from telling the truth. A Spanish
trading ship arrived in these days, but in spite of the colonists’ prayers
to be taken on board the captain refused, so the hapless men were left to
their fate. At the last moment an effort was made to organise some defence
and twelve or fourteen pieces of artillery were mounted around the
storehouse, but when they came to examine the powder, it was found—oh,
Spanish improvidence!—to be so damp that it was useless. At sunrise they
thought to dry it, but they were too late, for with fierce war-whoops, the
Indians were upon them; three of their number were killed and the
store-house, in which the others had barricaded themselves, was set on
fire. Fortunately there was a small door that gave access to the garden,
through which they escaped from the burning building. De Soto, who had
been out to reconnoitre the town was wounded with a poisoned arrow, but
managed to reach the garden where the others were. The friars had
constructed a canal through their garden leading to the river and on this
they had a large Indian canoe capable of holding fifty persons. This
canoe was now their sole hope of safety and everybody managed to get into
it, save one unfortunate lay-brother who had taken refuge among some reeds
along the bank and was only discovered after the canoe had pushed off.
Seeing his companions borne swiftly away on the saving current, he rose
from his hiding-place with despairing gestures of appeal, but though every
effort was made to reach him it was in vain, and he, poor man, seeing that
his situation was hopeless, signalled to them with pathetic heroism to
leave him and save themselves while they could. He was killed a few
moments later when the Indians, not knowing of the egress into the garden
and believing that all the Spaniards were inside the burning building,
came round to the other side of the Storehouse. When they caught sight of
the fugitives in the canoe, they quickly launched a swift pirogue and set
out in pursuit of the canoe. The Spaniards had already doubled the point
called Hraga and were a league down the river, but they were exhausted
with hard rowing and the light pirogue of their pursuers gained so rapidly
upon them that their only hope was to take refuge in the thick underbrush
along the shore, where the Indians, being naked, could not penetrate on
account of the thorns. The canoe and the pirogue touched land almost at
the same time and not far from one another. Fray Juan afterwards
recounted to Las Casas how he was overtaken by an Indian and, seeing the
club raised to strike him, he threw himself on his knees, closed his eyes,
and prepared for death; the blow did not fall, and on opening his eyes he
found himself alone, with no Indian in sight. Finding it impossible to
reach the Spaniards in their refuge in the thorny thicket, the Indians
withdrew and the Christians, covered with blood from their many wounds,
managed, though in a truly pitiable plight, to reach some boats which were
loading salt not far off. It was then noticed for the first time that
their captain, Francisco de Soto, was missing and, as some one remembered
having seen him concealed under a great rock in the thicket, a boat was
sent to look for him. After three days’ search he was found, dying of
thirst, and on being brought on board and given water, he finished himself
by drinking to excess. Thus the author of all the mischief paid the
penalty of his imprudence and disobedience with his life.
While the colonists were undergoing these sufferings, Las Casas found
himself on board a vessel whose pilots, ignorant of the chart, carried him
eighty leagues beyond the harbour of Hispaniola and wasted two months in
beating against the currents to pass the little island La Beata. Seeing
the hopeless incompetency of these men, he had himself put ashore at the
harbour of Jaquimo some twenty leagues lower down, from whence he could go
on to Jaguana and so across the island to the city of Santo Domingo. The
news of the disaster at Cumaná had long since reached Hispaniola and Las
Casas heard of it in the following manner, while journeying on foot across
the island with several companions. One day, while he was taking his
afternoon siesta under a tree, a party of travellers joined his
companions, who enquired what news there was in Santo Domingo or from
Spain. The newcomers answered that the only recent news was that of the
murder of the clerigo Las Casas and all his colony at Cumana by the
Indians. “We are witnesses to prove that that is impossible” replied the
others, and the discussion which ensued awakened the clerigo who thus
received the disheartening tidings, which he was inclined to believe, of
the total destruction of his hopes. He afterwards attributed this
catastrophe to his own weakness in allowing himself to be drawn into a
partnership with godless men, whose sole object was to enrich themselves,
by which he had offended God and merited punishment. He would have done
better to keep to his original plan of forming a religious company of
Knights of the Golden Spur, who, aided by the friars, would have embarked
with him on the conversion of the natives without mingling any expectation
of profitable trade with their project. The struggle for immediate and
inordinate gain, in which the Spanish colonists were engaged, with its
slave raids, extermination of the Indians by selling them alcoholic
liquors and forcing them into the dangerous labours of mining and pearl
diving, was incompatible with such a colony as Las Casas designed to
found, and the agreement into which he entered with the Audiencia of
Hispaniola was bound to wreck his projects.
Had the ability of Las Casas to direct his undertaking and to govern men
been equal to his genius in the sphere of morals and intellect, and to the
eloquence of his advocacy, the realisation of his ideal of justice and
charity might have been assured. Certainly he contended against
overwhelming odds in Spain, the Bishop of Burgos, who controlled American
affairs, was implacably hostile; in America the colonial authorities and
the entire population barring the friars and a possible handful of his
friends, were vigilantly opposed to him; deceived and betrayed by his
Squire Berrio, he was disobeyed by De Soto and abandoned by his colonists,
while all hope of establishing friendly relations with the Indians in the
territory conceded to him was annihilated by the Spaniards at Cubagua,
whose aggressions kept the whole country in a state of alarm. These
untoward conditions, which no foresight on his part could have avoided,
were alone sufficient to explain the failure of his enterprise. His plans
seem, however, to have involved a contradiction of a fundamental law of
human progress which decrees the destruction of rudimentary forms of
civilisation when brought into contact with a higher one. Neither humane
civil legislation nor the higher principles of Christian charity have thus
far served to save the weaker races of mankind from absorption or
extermination. The fiercer and stronger tribes of American Indians
receded before the Anglo-Saxon invasion of their territories, leaving a
trail of blood behind them, while the weaker nations of the islands and
Southern Americas went down before the Spaniards, with hardly more than a
plaintive cry for mercy.
The price of civilisation is a high one, and as the peoples of Europe paid
it, so were the aboriginal populations of America not exempted from the
blood-tax. The obscure workings of the mysterious laws of race-survival
were forced on and hastened by the cruelties against which Las Casas
protested in vain, but the triumphal march of human progress has followed
on. Cannibalism, idolatry, slavery, and other barbarisms have disappeared
from the American continents; the Christian religion has replaced
degrading superstitions, agriculture and commerce flourish, while
literature and the arts adorn life in the several republics, whose meanest
citizen enjoys a security of life and property unknown to the proudest of
their ancestors under the rule of Montezuma or the Incas. Belief in the
principles of equity and charity forbids us to doubt that these and even
nobler results might have been achieved by the methods advocated by Las
Casas, but history records no racial expansion along other roads than that
opened by the sword.