History of Central America, Volume 2, 1530-1800 / The Works of Hubert Howe Bancroft, Volume 7

by Hubert Howe Bancroft

[XIX‑13] 'Donde más excesos y desórden ha habido en hacer injusta é inicua y malvadamente los indios esclavos, ha sido en Guatemala y Chiapa.' Las Casas, Representacion, in Pacheco and Cárdenas, Col. Doc., vii. 168-9.

[XIX‑14] Diego Ramirez, juez visitador to Chiapas in 1548, writes Las Casas under date of April 20, 1549, that so excessive had been the tribute imposed by the settlers, that many of the natives had nothing left, not even a mantle, and their condition was that of slavery or even worse. Pacheco and Cárdenas, Col. Doc., vii. 204. Cerrato, writing to the emperor, Sept. 28, 1548, says that in Guatemala and Chiapas the encomenderos observed neither the law nor the prescribed tribute, but destroyed the natives without pity. Squier's MSS., xxii. 82.

[XIX‑15] Las Casas' opponents contended that this included all slaves however acquired. Las Casas, Rel., in Pacheco and Cárdenas, Col. Doc., vii. 158; Carta, Audiencia, July 20, 1545, in Squier's MSS., xxii. 111-12. Las Casas, that it only concerned those unlawfully enslaved. Carta, Oct. 25, 1545, in Id., 122-3. But practically it embraced all slaves, for their legal enslavement was difficult of proof. Carta, Audiencia, Dec. 30, 1545, in Id., 130-1.

[XIX‑16] Las Casas, Rel., loc. cit.

[XIX‑17] Las Casas y Valdivieso, Carta, Oct. 25, 1545, in Squier's MSS., xxii. 122-3.

[XIX‑18] Las Casas, Rel., loc. cit.

[XIX‑19] In a letter dated July 20, 1545, the audiencia informed the emperor of Las Casas' doings at Ciudad Real, and charged him with usurping the jurisdiction of the crown. Carta, in Squier's MSS., xxii. 111-12.

[XIX‑20] Las Casas, Carta, Oct. 25, 1545, in Squier's MSS., xxii. 121; Id., Nov. 9, 1545, in Cartas de Indias, 36.

[XIX‑21] Las Casas' hostile reception and his subsequent reconciliation with the settlers described by Remesal, Hist. Chyapa, 379-87, I am inclined to discredit, owing to the well known tendencies of this writer, and the fact that the letter of Father Casillas, Pacheco and Cárdenas, Col. Doc., vii. 181-2, written when Las Casas was on his return from Gracias á Dios, does not indicate such hostility.

[XIX‑22] For a copy of the letter see Pacheco and Cárdenas, Col. Doc., vii. 290, 338; also Las Casas, Oeuvres, ii. 120-180; this latter version is defective.