Up to now I think we have forty-three. I am in hopes of more going from this province, from which we have seven or eight. But all those who are going, do not want to separate from those who come from Castile [pg 224] or to go to any other part of the Indies except where the latter do: the men from here are very virtuous and religious people. The number I have said we have here would have been greater, had not some six or eight of those whom we brought from Castile stayed behind. I think that some were afraid and others were detained by reasonable obstacles: the latter, we hope will follow us when the causes are removed. I beg Your Highness to order the Provincial, who is now appointed to this province and who was formerly Prior of San Pablo in Valladolid, a true servant of God, and very zealous for God's honour and for the salvation of the Indians, to be induced to continually send monks to those parts, as I firmly believe he will amply comply.

This house of San Pablo in Seville being very necessary for the religious Your Highness will be sending to the Indies, and having great expenses on account of the poverty and want of this city, where everything costs a third more than in Valladolid—which is frightful—I humbly beseech Your Highness always to remember it by gifts and by such alms as it may be possible to bestow on it: especially out of the funds of the dead. For I hold it to be as necessary to give alms to the house, and just as beneficial to the souls of the dead—to whom the fund belongs—as it is to give for the maintenance of the friars who go to preach the gospel in those parts where the deceased unrighteously amassed the riches they left behind them. Your Highness may believe that the pro­tection and good treatment shown here to the friars, tend to dispel their fears of the labours which friars in the Indies usually sustain. Without such encouragement everything would be just the contrary, and some would be frightened and discouraged, as has here­tofore happened. Certainly, up to the present, great have been the care and comfort that our companions, [pg 225] servants of God, have received here from the provin­cial and the prior. Twenty or twenty-two have been given shelter here. I therefore beg Your High­ness to bear this in mind, should there be an occa­sion in the future to grant them any favour or alms. In this city and throughout Andalusia there is a large number of Indians held unjustly as slaves; and when the licentiate Gregorio Lopez was here by order of His Majesty, they kept many Indians imprisoned after the order was given for their release, some being hidden and others taken into the country and elsewhere. I have even been told by a man who knows—to clear his conscience—that there was a great deal of bribery and corruption among wicked people, who used three or four or ten ducats to outrage God, stealing the liberty of the Indians and thus leaving many in perpetual slavery: they also hid the truth by threat­ening the Indians who showed themselves and by other means, such as withholding facts from the licentiate Gregorio Lopez which he could not divine, but which should have been told him. The only remedy for such injustices, according to the officials of this house who are very good people as far as I can see and who have consciences, is that Your Highness should order to be proclaimed throughout Andalusia that all those who have Indians must bring or send them to this house within a certain time, otherwise they shall all be con­sidered as free; adding other penalties for noncompliance. According to the provision made by His Majesty, there should be an immediate settlement of the pretensions of those who allege a title by purchase, which allows them to hold an Indian as a slave until it is ascertained from whom he was first ac­quired; for they stole them all and sold them when they arrived here. Any such Indian should not remain [pg 226] in their possession but should be placed where he could earn enough to clothe himself and save sufficient to return to his country—because they subject him to a thousand oppressions and cruelties. I have seen things of that sort daily since my arrival. San Pablo is crowded with Indians who think that I can take them or can relieve their captivity and the torments they suffer. And their masters, discovering this by their absence promptly beat them and put them in irons, even those whom the licentiate Gregorio Lopez left neither in slavery nor free. Not to prolong this letter, I do not relate many other things to Your Highness.

I likewise beg Your Highness to order some relief that is final and not indefinite, for the men who were thus left neither slaves nor free: because I do not know what relief it can be considered, to leave them neither free nor slaves until they die; for meanwhile, they are daily treated worse and worse by those who call them slaves and dogs, because they consider that the licentiate Gregorio Lopez approved of their captivity, etc., tying their hands the more tightly. I have seen what I state ever since I came here. Your Highness would both laugh at and abominate the spice dealers of this city, who barter spices for Indians and for gold (as it is they who mostly own them), and their fierceness in making war on the Indians, that makes them to seem like dummy lions, painted. What I wish Your Highness would do to protect all such Indians as are left neither slaves or freemen and all who are bound in any way, would be to oblige their owners to exhibit a receipt of the sale: because it is clear to every one, save to those whose perceptions God has allowed to be weakened by their malice, audacity, and ambition, that there has never been a war in all the Indies for which there was any real authority given by His Majesty or by his royal predecessors. The royal [pg 227] instructions on this point have never been heeded, as I have seen and on my conscience affirm, and as all those violaters admit. Consequently, as there was never just cause, it follows that all the wars were unjust and that no Indians could have been justly enslaved: all the more so since the Spaniards attacked them in time of peace and captured millions of them. This being the real truth, Your Highness should order that all such owners be obliged to prove the title of him who sold any such Indian, and so on back till the first one who stole or treacherously captured him is unearthed. In the mean­time the Indians should be taken from them and placed as above indicated, all of which should be done within a limited time, so that the legal proceedings would not last eternally; and when they are finished the said Indian should be declared free.

But what I would take on my conscience and would answer for to God on my deathbed is, that Your Highness should proclaim throughout this kingdom that all the Indians here must be free—because in truth they are just as free as I am. In this Casa de Contractacion, outside its judges and officials such as the treasurer, account­ant, and agents, who seem to me to be those I have mentioned above, and some few minor officials, I see there is little zeal or kindness for the Indians, and I observe such disinclination to accomplish anything in their favour, that however small may be the pendulum, they work it with as much effort as though it were a tower they had to move.

Truly I think Your Highness must order everything to be done gratis and willingly;—or if not, then pay somebody who will do it. There is very great need here for somebody to help these poor Indians, being as they are, in great want and more than miserable, because they do not know how to ask for justice. They have been [pg 228] so intimidated and thrust down into the very abyss that they dare not complain. I do not find a single man who will take pity on them: but on the contrary, every on persecutes, terrorizes, and despises them. And I am sure God will execute justice and exact vengeance for all this. It would be well if Your Highness would order a salary to be paid some man who would act as their lawyer in the House, commanding all necessary authority to be attached to his office, and that the officials should help him in it. If it is necessary to consult His Majesty for this, do not let these poor wretches suffer for want of protection as they have always done. There is a porter in this House, a good man who, according to what I have seen and the officials told me, has repeatedly taken pity on them, and I beseech Your Highness to grant me and all the Indians the favour of ordering him to be appointed as protector of all the Indians in this Kingdom and of their affairs in this House, authorising him to report all the happenings of any importance to Your Highness and to the Royal Council of the Indies. Let this power be given to Diego Collantes, porter of the said House; and to ensure his using it the more faithfully until Your Highness pleases to grant him a salary, I will pay him twenty ducats yearly, so that he may do his duty in the said office. The truth is, that although he is a good man, the position needs a man with much more authority but for the present he would suffice. Juan de la Quadra, who was secretary to the licentiate Gregorio Lopez while he was here, spoke to me about these matters. He seems to me an honest, upright person and one who feels deeply the crimes committed in this city against the Indians. He is writing to Your Highness on the subject and I beseech Your Highness to order some remedy provided for the actual necessities. He informs me that he is writing in the sense of what I said above.

The licentiate Bartolomé Ortiz did not bring his Indians to be registered within the period intimated to him and says that he protested against the sentence before this Royal Council, also with regard to other Indians whom he held as slaves, despite the fact that they were free. Amongst these was an Indian woman who was beyond question free, and had been declared free by Gregorio Lopez, who left orders for her to be sent at the licentiate's expense to the island of Cuba from whence he brought her. Ortiz also appealed from this decision. As I asked that she might now be given the letter and order of Your Highness permitting her to return with this fleet, Ortiz presented a statement showing that his case was at present in appeal before this Royal Council.

I beseech Your Highness not to permit these appeals and delays in cases which are favourable to the liberty of the Indians and of everybody in the world, because there will be no end to them nor will a single Indian ever obtain his liberty. I beg that Your Highness will order this Indian woman and the others to be liberated and allowed to return to their country.

It is indeed a great weight on my conscience to leave the Indians in this country, because, as they only mix with servants and other unmanageable and vicious persons and see the taverns full of loose people, without order or restraint, and other public places full of bad examples, it must happen that they, being human, will follow the example of their companions. In their own country, on the contrary, they live much better than here, even if there are not so many Christians. I beseech Your Highness to issue such orders that not one man of them may remain here.

It would also be well if Your Highness ordered an explanation of the proclamation that you commanded [pg 230] to be published throughout all the Indies, prohibiting the officials of India House from receiving Indians into this kingdom: also instructions as to what they must do to forbid this traffic, under penalty of death, to ship captains and sailors, so that no one would dare to bring an Indian, nor allow one to be brought here. Let them know that they are forewarned in such cases.

Thinking there was nothing doubtful in the cedulas Your Highness sent for the departure of these religious I did not care to exhibit the cedula until the very end, in case we took besides the forty, an excess of stores, etc. Now that I have shown it to the officials, they maintain that, as it does not expressly state that those above the number of forty should be provided for out of the funds of the dead, but from the money in the charge of the treasurers, they do not intend to provide for more than the forty, lest they should have to pay out of their own pockets. I beseech Your Highness graciously to order this settled at once, so that we shall not be forced to leave behind the religious we hope to embark, in addition to the forty. And let this be done soon, for we are only waiting for good weather. The heavy rains which have fallen daily have prevented the launching of two or three of the vessels. To-day the river from its source has abated. Our Lord prosper and grant a long and happy life to Your Highness. Amen. Seville 20th April 1544. Your humble servant who kisses Your Royal hands.