[16] Herrera, Indias Occidentales, lib. 4, cap. 12.—A good account of the introduction of negro slavery into the New World, comprehending the material facts, and some little known, may be found in the fifth chapter of Bancroft's "History of the United States;" a work in which the author has shown singular address in creating a unity of interest out of a subject which, in its early stages, would seem to want every other unity. It is the deficiency of this, probably, which has prevented Mr. Grahame's valuable History from attaining the popularity, to which its solid merits justly entitle it. Should the remaining volumes of Mr. Bancroft's work be conducted with the same spirit, scholarship, and impartiality as the volume before us, it cannot fail to take a permanent rank in American literature.
[17] Herrera, Indias Occidentales, lib. 4, cap. 11.
[18] Dec. 20th, 1503.—Ibid., lib. 5, cap. 11.—See the instructions to Ovando in Navarrete, (Coleccion de Viages, tom. ii., Doc. Dipl., no. 153.) "Pay them regular wages," says the ordinance, "for their labor," "como personas libres como lo son, y no como siervos." Las Casas, who analyzes these instructions, which Llorente, by the by, has misdated, exposes the atrocious manner in which they were violated, in every particular, by Ovando and his successors. Oeuvres, ed. de Llorente, tom. i. p. 309, et seq.
[19] Ibid., ubi supra.—Las Casas, Hist. Ind., lib. 2, cap. 36, MS., apud Irving, vol. iii. p. 412.—The venerable bishop confirms this frightful picture of desolation, in its full extent, in his various memorials prepared for the Council of the Indies. Oeuvres, ed. de Llorente, tom. i. passim.
[20] Las Casas made his first voyage to the Indies, it is true, in 1498, or at latest 1502; but there is no trace of his taking an active part in denouncing the oppressions of the Spaniards earlier than 1510, when he combined his efforts with those of the Dominican missionaries lately arrived in St. Domingo, in the same good work. It was not until some years later, 1515, that he returned to Spain and pleaded the cause of the injured natives before the throne. Llorente, Oeuvres de Las Casas, tom. i. pp. 1-23.—Nic. Antonio, Bibliotheca Nova, tom. i. pp. 191, 192.
[21] See the will, apud Dormer, Discursos Varios, p. 381.
[22] Herrera, Indias Occidentales, lib. 5, cap. 1.—Fernando Colon, Hist. del Almirante, cap. 84.—Oviedo, Relacion Sumaria de la Historia Natural de las Indias, cap. 84, apud Barcia, Historiadores Primitivos, tom. i.
[23] Tercer Viage de Colon, apud Navarrete, Coleccion de Viages, tom. i. p. 274.
[24] Zuñiga, Annales de Sevilla, p. 415. The alteration was in the gold currency; which continued to rise in value till 1497, when it gradually sunk, in consequence of the importation from the mines of Hispaniola. Clemencin has given its relative value as compared with silver, for several different years; and the year he assigns for the commencement of its depreciation, is precisely the same with that indicated by Zuñiga. (Mem. de la Acad. de Hist., tom. vi. Ilust. 20.) The value of silver was not materially affected till the discovery of the great mines of Potosí and Zacatecas.
[25] Bernaldez, Reyes Católicos, MS., cap. 131.