Ferdinand Columbus mentions that he and his brother, who were then pages to the queen, could not stir out into the courtyard of the Alhambra, without being followed by fifty of these vagabonds, who insulted them in the grossest manner, "as the sons of the adventurer, who had led so many brave Spanish hidalgos to seek their graves in the land of vanity and delusion which he had found out." Hist. del Almirante, cap. 85.
[19] Benzoni, Novi Orbis Hist., lib. 1, cap. 12.—National feeling operated, no doubt, as well as avarice to sharpen the tooth of slander against the admiral. "Aegre multi patiuntur," says Columbus's countryman, with honest warmth, "peregrinum hominem, et quidem e nostrâ Italia ortum, tantum honoris ac gloriae consequutum, ut non tantum Hispanicae gentis, sed et cujusvis alterius homines superaverit." Benzoni, lib. 1, cap. 5.
[20] Herrera, Indias Occidentales, lib. 4, cap. 7, 10, and more especially lib. 6, cap. 13.—Las Casas, Oeuvres, ed. de Llorente, tom. i. p. 306.
[21] "La qualité de Catholique Romain," says the philosophic Villers, "avait tout-à-fait remplacé celle d'homme, et même de Chrétien. Qui n'était pas Catholique Romain, n'était pas homme, était moins qu'homme; et eût-il été un souverain, c'était une bonne action que de lui ôter la vie." (Essai sur la Réformation, p. 56. ed. 1820.) Las Casas rests the title of the Spanish crown to its American possessions on the original papal grant, made on condition of converting the natives to Christianity. The pope, as vicar of Jesns Christ, possesses plenary authority over all men for the safety of their souls. He might, therefore, in furtherance of this, confer on the Spanish sovereigns imperial supremacy over all lands discovered by them,—not, however, to the prejudice of authorities already existing there, and over such nations only as voluntarily embraced Christianity. Such is the sum of his thirty propositions, submitted to the council of the Indies for the inspection of Charles V. (Oeuvres, ed. De Llorente, tom. i. pp. 286-311.) One may see in these arbitrary and whimsical limitations, the good bishop's desire to reconcile what reason told him were the natural rights of man, with what faith prescribed as the legitimate prerogative of the pope. Few Roman Catholics at the present day will be found sturdy enough to maintain this lofty prerogative, however carefully limited. Still fewer in the sixteenth century would have challenged it. Indeed, it is but just to Las Casas, to admit, that the general scope of his arguments, here and elsewhere, is very far in advance of his age.
[22] A Spanish casuist founds the right of his nation to enslave the Indians, among other things, on their smoking tobacco, and not trimming their beards à l'Espagnole. At least, this is Montesquieu's interpretation of it. (Esprit des Loix, lib. 15, chap. 3.) The doctors of the Inquisition could hardly have found a better reason.
[23] 23 Muñoz, Hist. del Nuevo-Mundo, lib. 5, sec. 34.—Navarrete, Coleccion de Viages, tom. ii., Doc. Dipl., no. 92.—Herrera, Indias Occidentales, lib. 3, cap. 4.
[24] "Among other things that the holy fathers carried out," says Robles, "was a little organ and several bells, which greatly delighted the simple people, so that from one to two thousand persons were baptized every day." (Vida de Ximenez, p. 120.)
Ferdinand Columbus remarks with some naïveté, that "the Indians were so obedient from their fear of the admiral, and at the same time so desirous to oblige him, that they voluntarily became Christians!" Hist. del Almirante, cap. 84.
[25] Herrera, Indias Occidentales, lib. 4, cap. 7.—Navarrete, Coleccion de Viages, tom. ii., Doc. Dipl., no. 134.
Las Casas observes, that "so great was the queen's indignation at the admiral's misconduct in this particular, that nothing but the consideration of his great public services saved him from immediate disgrace." Oeuvres, ed. de Llorente, tom. i. p. 306.