Page:The Red Man and the White Man in North America.djvu/77

Rh not the rights of mere tyrants because of physical strength and military power, but rights as Christians to do the natives good and to promote good government among them, especially after having drawn so much treasure from them. Las Casas, then seventy-six years of age, was judged to have gained the moral victory; but the decision of the Junta was against him, though with a halting earnestness, as the monarch only forbade the circulation of Sepulveda's book in Mexico or the Indies. Some of the writings of Las Casas remain to this day in manuscript, under a jealous ecclesiastical guardianship, accessible only to the privileged. Indeed, he himself appears to have directed such restrictions. Enough, however, is known of their revelations to explain their suppression.

Some of the nuggets and dust of gold which Columbus took back with him on his first homeward voyage were made into a sacramental vessel for the “Host.” The proportion of the coveted precious metal thus put to a consecrated use, compared to the freights of galleons and bullion-ships afterwards turned to the riot of rapacity and luxury, may fairly be taken as significant of the relations between the avowed missionary intent of the great enterprise of discovery and the direful spirit of remorseless inhumanity in dealing with the natives of the new-found continent and islands. Of the nine of those natives whom Columbus carried to Barcelona, two youths received in baptism the names of Ferdinand and Prince John, his son, who stood as their sponsors. The others were sent to Seville for a Christian education, that they might return as missionaries to their own people. Twelve priests were transported for the same purpose, the noble Las Casas after his ordinatien, following as the best of them. In the royal instructions, dictated by the gentle heart of Isabella, the welfare and blessing of the natives were declared to be the main object of all the further efforts of Columbus. He was strictly charged to treat them tenderly and lovingly, to deal with severity with any who might