Page:History of the Reign of Ferdinand and Isabella the Catholic Vol. III.djvu/503

475 REVIEW OF THEIR ADMINISTRATION. 475 ference to the rights of the original occupants of the chapter soil, is a sin which lies at the door of most of the — '— primitive European settlers, whether papist or puri- tan, of the New World. But it is light, in compar- ison with the fearful amount of crimes to be charged on the early Spanish colonists ; crimes that have, perhaps, in this world, brought down the retribution of Heaven, which has seen fit to turn this fountain of inexhaustible wealth and prosperity to the nation into the waters of bitterness. It mav seem strange, that no relief was afforded slavery ii. •> o ' the colonies. by the government to these oppressed subjects. But Ferdinand, if we may credit Las Casas, was never permitted to know the extent of the injuries done to them."'^ He was surrounded by men in the management of the Indian department, whose interest it was to keep him in ignorance. ^'^ The remonstrances of some zealous missionaries led him,"^ in 1501, to refer the subject of the reparti- years, from 1,000,000 to 14,000 learn their names from Herrera. souls. (Indias Oceidentales, dec. The first was Bishop Fonseca, 1, lib. 10, cap. 12.) The numerical the latter the cnmendador Con- estimates of a large savage popula- chillos, both prominent men in the tion, must, of course, be, in a great Indian department. (Indias Occi- degree, hypothetical. That it was dentales, dec. 1, lib. 9, cap. 14.) large, however, in these fair re- The last-named person was the gions, may readily be inferred from same individual sent by Ferdinand the facilities of subsistence, and the to his daughter in Flanders, and temperate habits of the natives, imprisoned there by the archduke The minimum sum in the calcula- Philip. After that prince's death, tion, when the number had dwin- he experienced signal favors from died to a few thousand, might be the Catholic king, and amassed more easily ascertained. great wealth as secretary of the 117 CEuvres, ed. de Liorente, Indian board. Oviedo has devoted tom. i. p. 228. one of his dialogues lo him. Quin- 118 One resident at the court, cuagenas, MS., bat. 1, quinc. 3, says the bishop of Chiapa, was dial. 9. proprietor of 800 and another of n^ The Dominican and other 1100 Indians. (CEuvres, ed. de missionaries, to their credit be it Liorente, tom. i. p. 238.) We told, labored with unwearied ^p^i