death, the ungodly bishop broke in with these words: “Look you, what a droll fool; what is this to me, and what to the king?" To which Las Casas replied: "Is it nothing to your lordship, or to the king, that all these souls should perish? Oh! great and eternal God! And to whom, then, is it of any concern?" And with these words he took his leave. Very shortly after this the king died on his journey to Seville, 23d January 1516.

Nothing daunted, Las Casas now prepared to go to Flanders to see the new king, but previously he went to Madrid to lay his statement of the Indians' wrongs before the joint regents of the kingdom, the great Cardinal Ximenes and the Ambassador Adrian, who had been tutor to Charles V. He drew up his statement in Latin, and first laid it before Adrian. That good man was horrified by it, and without delay went into the cardinal's apartment to ask him if such things should be. The result was, that Las Casas was informed by Ximenes that he need not proceed to Flanders, but that a remedy for the evils he spoke of, should be found there at Madrid.

There seemed now every prospect of the Clerigo's benevolent hopes being realised; he was frequently summoned before the cardinal and other important personages associated with him, who listened to all he had to say. The result was, that the cardinal appointed Las Casas and Dr Palacios Rubios, who had all along shown great interest in favour of the Indians, to draw up a plan for securing their liberty and arrang

ing their government. When this was done, the persons who were to have the important charge of administering the law had to be sought out. Twelve brethren of the Jeronomite order were nominated for this responsible office, but the cardinal, considering that three were sufficient, told Las Casas to confer with the general of the Jeronomites as to the choice of the three, and to inform him of the requisite qualities for the office in question.

With tears of joy, Las Casas poured out his thanks and blessings on the cardinal; he declined the money he offered him for his journey, for he had still enough to sustain him in this business, but the cardinal smiled, and said, "Go to, father; I am richer than you are."

The three brethren were chosen; they joined Las Casas at Madrid, and first lived with him at his inn, but afterwards removed to an hospital of their own order. Here they were waylaid by agents of the Spanish colonists, who prejudiced their minds to such an extent, both against Las Casas and against the Indians, that even before they set out Las Casas and Dr Rubios began to think that no good would come of the mission, which at first had promised so well. But the preparations for their departure went on, and their orders and instructions were made ready. The first order was to the effect that, on arrival in St Domingo, they should take away all the Indians belonging to members of the council, or any other absentees; the second, that they should also deprive the judges and

officers in the Indies of their Indians; the third, that they should hold a court of impeachment upon all the judges and other officers in the colony who had lived, as the saying is, "as Moors without a king." With many other of the instructions Las Casas was dissatisfied. He was himself formally appointed to advise the Jeronomite fathers, and to correspond with the Government. He was also named "Protector of the Indians," with a salary of a hundred pesos of gold. A lawyer of repute named Zuazo was appointed legal adviser to the expedition. All was now ready, and Las Casas went to take leave of Ximenes; he could not refrain from communicating to him his fears that the Jeronomites would do no good, and told him how their minds had been prejudiced by the agents from the colonies. The cardinal seemed struck with alarm, and said, "Whom, then, can we trust? You are going there, be watchful for all."

The Jeronomite fathers and the Clerigo sailed in different vessels; the former were entirely won over by the shrewd officials among whom they fell; they made every excuse for the inhumanity of the colonists, and did not carry into execution their injunctions to take away the Indians from the judges and those in office.

In three months Zuazo arrived. Las Casas now resolved on a bold step, and impeached the judges himself. This grieved the Jeronomites, who wanted to manage things more quietly, and who really were making some efforts to do good, but not in accord

with the temperament of Las Casas, or employing remedies such as the fearful nature of the disease demanded. More and more did Las Casas distrust them; at last he resolved to return to Castille, and appeal against the fathers. They were much disconcerted when they heard of this, but they had no power to stop the Clerigo; and all they could do was to send one of their own body to court, to make representations on their behalf.

In July 1517 Las Casas reached Aranda on the Douro, where he found Cardinal Ximenes at the point of death. His letters had been intercepted, and the cardinal was ill-informed of what had occurred in Hispaniola. On his death, which ensued shortly afterwards, the affairs of Spain fell into much confusion. The king was only sixteen; the men who held supreme authority were Chièvres, the king's former governor, and the Grand Chancellor Selvagius; they were both Flemings, and did not even know the language of the country they governed. The king himself was busy learning it. In this state of things public business languished.

The affairs of the Indies, however, gained more attention than could have been expected at this juncture. Some Franciscan monks who had returned from St Domingo, and were known to the grand chancellor, favourably introduced "the Protector of the Indians" to him. He soon became on most intimate terms with the chancellor, who spoke of him to the king, and received his commands that they two

should consult together, and provide a remedy for the bad government of the Indies.

Las Casas drew up plans of reform; among them was an emigration scheme, for furnishing Hispaniola with labourers, from the mother country. In connection with this, Las Casas, unfortunately for his reputation, added another provision, viz., that each Spanish resident in the island should have licence to import a dozen negro slaves. Strange indeed is it that one of the most benevolent of men should have given his sanction to that most barbarous of all traffics-the negro slave trade. He afterwards, however, owned and saw his error. We must not suppose that his suggestion was the origin of negro slavery, for, from the earliest time of the discovery of America, negroes had been sent there, and the Jeronomite fathers had come to the same conclusion on the subject, as Las Casas himself.

The plan having been approved of by the chancellor, and by Adrian, the late cardinal's colleague, licence was given to De Bresa, a Fleming, and member of the council, to introduce 4000 negroes into the colonies. He afterwards sold this licence for 25,000 ducats to certain Genoese merchants, having obtained from the king a pledge, that for eight years he would give no other licence of the kind. Negroes, consequently, were now sold at a very high price; and their importation, which, had the licence been general, would have been very abundant, was greatly checked. Unfortunately, just at this time the Bishop