Page:History of the Reign of Ferdinand and Isabella the Catholic Vol. II.djvu/496

470 470 PROGRESS OF DISCOVERY. PART 11. More liberal sentiments of Isabella. had, very soon after the occupation of Hispaniola, recommended a regular exchange of slaves for the commodities required for the support of the colony ; representing, moreover, that in this way their con- version vi^ould be more surely effected, — an object, it must be admitted, which he seems to have ever had most earnestly at heart. Isabella, however, entertained views on this mat- ter far more liberal than those of her age. She had been deeply interested by the accounts she had re- ceived from the admiral himself of the gentle, unof- fending character of the islanders ; and she revolted at the idea of consigning them to the horrors of slavery, without even an effort for their conversion. She hesitated, therefore, to sanction his proposal ; and when a number of Indian captives were adver- tised to be sold in the markets of Andalusia, she commanded the sale to be suspended, till the opin- ion of a counsel of theologians and doctors, learned in such matters, could be obtained, as to its consci- entious lawfulness. She yielded still further to the benevolent impulses of her nature, causing holy men to be instructed as far as possible in the Indian languages, and sent out as missionaries for the con- version of the natives. ^^ Some of them, as Father Boil and his brethren, seem, indeed, to have been right of his nation to enslave the Indians, among other things, on their smoking tobacco, and not trim- ming their beards d PEspag-nolc. At least, this is Montesquieu's interpretation of it. (Esprit des Loix, lib. 15, chap. 3.) The doc- tors of the Inquisition could hardly have found a better reason. 23 Muiloz, Hist, del Nuevo-Mun- do, lib. 5, sec 34. — Navarrete, Coleccion de Viages, torn. ii. Doc. DipI.,no. 92. — HerrerajIndiasOc- cidentales, lib. 3, cap. 4.