Page:The Philippine Islands, 1493-1803 (Volume 05).djvu/236

 Your Majesty's Indians undergo greater oppression than do the others. Those encomenderos visit their Indians, and once in a while they cannot help taking pity on them; but for those of your Majesty, there is no one to grieve and no one to care. I even hear it said that many soldiers, when without food, take it from the Indians, under the pretense that they serve your Majesty and are given nothing—saying that, as it belongs to your Majesty, they may do so.

146th. What is contained in clause 146 is the thing which would most attract the Indians to receive our faith if it were observed. But there is nothing which more impedes the conversion of these barbarians than that, from the very outset, the Spaniards go among them and compel them to become subjects of another and a foreign king whom they do not know; and without more ado demand tribute from them, which is the thing that they most unwillingly acquiesce in. Certainly it is a very great pity and a cause for much grief that such covetousness is found among us, that—through not knowing how to deal with these barbarians, through not having patience with them that they may understand the good which comes with us to them, and through greed for what they now pay us—we may be the cause of thousands of them remaining unconverted, and of those who are converted becoming so more through force than choice. I am certain that if this clause had been observed, all of these islands would be converted, and that not as a pretense, but in all sincerity. From this your Majesty may see the harm done by those who do not observe what your Majesty commands with respect to the pacification of the Indians. And—in order that you may know how these Indians feel