Page:Vol 2 History of Mexico by H H Bancroft.djvu/544

524 The reason is readily understood. There were many advantages to the church connected with the encomienda system; besides, Bishop Zumárraga was the owner of the important town and encomienda of Ocuituco, and the Austin friars controlled Tezcuco, at the time the largest encomienda in New Spain.

So the religious orders at this time were solidly opposed to the liberation of the natives. The plea set up by them, and taken for truth by the older and more particularly by the religious chroniclers, was that by such means alone they were enabled successfully to prosecute conversion and give instruction in the Christian faith. And yet it would seem that had the natives all been gathered in corregimientos, in the, name of the crown, and free, subject only to the payment of the tribute, the task of the friars so far as instruction and the cure of souls were concerned could scarcely have been more arduous; for there the Indian was comparatively master of his time, and not subject to continuous labor and the caprice of a taskmaster. In that case, however, the income of the church as well as that of many of its ministers, would have been materially diminished.

Further than this, according to the new code, the church and convents were among the first to be deprived of their native vassals. Under the circumstances it was to be expected that the friars as a rule would unite with the encomenderos to defeat the new laws. The Dominicans did not hesitate to declare that the Indians in charge of the Spaniards were treated with great kindness, more like children than servants; while on the other hand those under the