Berrio sold himself to the Bishop of Burgos before the recruiting expedition even began, and his signed instructions, which he had engaged to obey, were fraudulently altered by the latter so as to free him from all control. Thus provided, he soon detached himself from his rightful superior and went to Andalusia, where he assembled on his own account two hundred men, vagabonds, loafers, and tapsters, [pg 117] of whom few were labourers and none fit for colonists. These unpromising recruits were gathered in Seville, where the officials of India House were at a loss to know what to do with them; they finally sailed, but, as the colonial authorities had received no notice concerning them, they landed, destitute and worthless, in Hispaniola, where their arrival was unwelcome. Many of them died and the others scattered in various parts. It fell to Las Casas to interest himself in their behalf and to relieve their miseries, but the meal and wine he obtained for them arrived in Hispaniola too late, as the intended beneficiaries were either dead or widely dispersed.
It appears, according to Las Casas's own account, that emigrants were attracted to his scheme, not so much by the liberal conditions, or because their circumstances were not prosperous, but by their desire to escape onerous feudal conditions still prevailing in Spain. It was chiefly, therefore, from amongst the dwellers on great estates that his emigrants were recruited, for many such said they desired to leave their children free in a free country under the King's protection. The great nobles were ill-pleased at this desertion of their feudatories, and Las Casas soon found himself at loggerheads with the Constable of Castile, whose villagers at Berlanga were inscribing themselves in great numbers; the Constable ordered him to quit his estates. On an estate called Rello, belonging to the Count of Coruna, out of thirty householders twenty-nine put down their names as emigrants. As may be supposed [pg 118] the number of the clerigo's enemies in high quarters was increased by this state of things, though his success in recruiting emigrants enabled him to triumph over the Bishop, who had foretold that he would never get together the necessary people. He was able to say on his return to Zaragoza that not only three thousand but ten thousand people would willingly go if the Bishop would provide the means.
Cardinal Adrian listened sympathetically to the report of what had been done and addressed to Las Casas the observation in Latin, Vere vos tribuitis aliud regnum regi.
The King and his Court left the kingdom of Aragon at this time to visit the principality of Cataluña, making his formal entry into Barcelona on the fifteenth of February, 1519. The Jeronymite fathers had arranged for the sale of the royal haciendas in Hispaniola, and Las Casas, ever on the alert to secure advantages for his colonists, presented a petition asking that they should be maintained for one year at the royal expense. The vexation of the Bishop of Burgos augmented visibly at this fresh claim for assistance, and he roundly declared such a concession would cost the Crown more than an armada of twenty thousand men, which provoked the pertinent retort from Las Casas: “Does it appear to your lordship that after you have killed off the Indians, I should now lead Christians to death? Well, I shall not.” As the Bishop, according to Las Casas, was no fool, he hoped that he understood this plain answer.
Without the assistance which he was convinced was indispensable to the success of his undertaking, Las Casas refused to move, though every effort was made to start him off; an attempt was even made to secure another leader for the undertaking, but the news of this design was not slow in reaching him, and he promptly published far and wide, in the district where his recruits were waiting his orders to start, that they should on no account accept the leadership of another, who would only conduct them to failure and starvation in the colonies.
Events of great importance were occurring at this time which absorbed the attention of the King and his counsellors to the exclusion of American affairs. By the death of his grandfather, the Emperor Maximilian, the succession was open, though both Francis I. of France and Henry VIII. of England aspired to the imperial dignity. The royal interest therefore centred in Germany and the coming election, and Las Casas and his Indian schemes were put to one side.
CHAPTER IX. - KNIGHTS OF THE GOLDEN SPUR. THE COURT PREACHERS. FURTHER CONTROVERSIES
As has been heretofore explained, Las Casas perceived that his efforts to obtain support for his project would come to naught, unless it could be made plain to the Council that some material benefit would accrue to the royal revenues; he therefore turned his attention to forming a plan which should comprehend the conversion of the Indians by gentle and peaceful means and likewise yield a profit to the Crown. He conceived the idea of forming a species of order of knighthood, whose members were to be known as Knights of the Golden Spur. They were to number fifty selected men, each of whom should furnish two hundred ducats, which he deemed would amount to a sufficient sum for the expenses of founding the colony. The knights were to wear a dress of white cloth, marked on the breast with a red cross, similar to the cross of Calatrava, but with some additional ornamentation. The purpose of this costume was to distinguish them in the eyes of the Indians from all other Spaniards.