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the Spanish court, he was successful in obtaining royal letters and orders, favouring his cause. Just as he was ready to return to Guatemala, he was detained, that he might assist at certain councils about to be held concerning the government of the Indies. The Franciscans, however, were sent on, and with them Father Luis Cancer, carrying all the letters and orders relating to the province of Tuzutlutlan. Before sailing, solemn proclamation was made on the steps of Seville Cathedral of the royal order, which forbade the entrance of any lay Spaniard into that province. The emperor, Charles V., was absent in Germany. Las Casas employed his time, while awaiting his return, in writing his most celebrated work, viz., "The Destruction of the Indies." He also drew up a memorial, consisting of twenty reasons, to prove that the Indians ought not to be given to the Spaniards in any

manner.

The new laws which had recently been issued on Indian affairs, were a signal triumph for Las Casas; without him they would never have been enacted. The mere bodily fatigue he endured was such as hardly any man of his time not a conqueror had encountered. He had crossed the ocean twelve times. Four times he had made his way into Germany to see the emperor; he had led a much more active life than even that energetic monarch; and his journeyings were often made with all the inconvenience of poverty.

In 1543, while at Barcelona, whither he had gone

to thank the emperor for the new laws, he was offered the bishopric of Cusco, which he refused, as he feared it would limit his philanthropic plans. He did not, however, escape the episcopal dignity. The Council of the Indies insisted on his accepting the bishopric of the new see of Chiapa, and as the heads of the Dominican order were of the same opinion, Las Casas at last had to submit to the will of his superiors. He was consecrated at Seville in July 1544, and then taking with him forty-four Dominican monks, set sail for Hispaniola, where he was very ill received; he was, indeed, the most unpopular man in the New World, being the one who had done most to restrain the cruelty, and curb the power, of the Spanish conquerors. He proceeded shortly after to Chiapa, and took up his abode at Ciudad Real, the capital of that province. The episcopal dignity made no change in the ways or manners of Las Casas. His dress was that of a simple monk, often torn and patched. He ate no meat, no gold or silver plate was to be seen in his house, his household was maintained in the simplest manner. The sufferings of the Indians oppressed his soul here in Chiapa as they had done in other parts of the New World; he was often heard sighing and groaning at night. Το defend these poor people, he forbade absolution to be given to those Spaniards who held slaves contrary to the provisions of the new laws. This measure raised a perfect storm in his diocese. There was nothing that the Spaniards in Ciudad Real did

not say and do to molest the bishop. Insulting verses were made against him, which the children sang in the streets. An arquebuse without ball was discharged at his window to alarm him. His dean would not obey him, and gave absolution to persons who held slaves. He went to appeal at the nearest audiencia in Honduras, threatening the auditors with excommunication, unless they provided a remedy for the evils of his diocese. But the president poured forth a torrent of abuse on Las Casas, saying, "You are a scoundrel, a bad man, a bad monk, a bad bishop, a shameless fellow, and deserve to be chastised." He succeeded, however, at last in persuading them to send an auditor to Ciudad Real, to see to the execution of the new laws. When the inhabitants heard of this, they determined to make the most strenuous resistance to the return of their bishop to the city. Against him, who would come unguarded and on foot, with only a stick in his hand, and a breviary in his girdle, they prepared coats of mail and corslets, arquebuses, swords, and lances. The Dominicans counselled him not to proceed, but he fearlessly continued his journey. The Indian sentinels, posted to oppose his progress, fell at his feet, and besought his pardon. When he reached. Ciudad Real he went straight to the church, where he summoned the magistrates and authorities to meet him; no one spoke a word to him, or showed him any courtesy. He was rudely interrupted in his speech, a tumult arose in the church, and the bishop

was persuaded by the monks to withdraw from the crowd, and go to the convent.

Las Casas, having journeyed on foot all night, was much exhausted; the monks were giving him some bread, when they heard a great noise and found that an armed mob surrounded the convent, some even forced their way to the cell where the bishop was. The foulest language was poured out against him. A struggle now ensued between the rioters and the monks, in which the latter gained the victory, and succeeded in clearing their convent of its invaders. By noon, however, a great change had been wrought in the minds of the populace, who were now ashamed of their conduct, and proceeding to the convent, besought the bishop's pardon on their knees.

The resistance to the new laws throughout the New World was so great, that Charles V. was obliged to revoke them. This caused Las Casas terrible anguish, but his zeal in the good cause never slackened. He left his diocese, which he was never to behold again, to attend a synod in Mexico, where, as the proceedings did not satisfy him, he resolved to go back to Spain, where he thought that near the king and council he would be able to do more good service to the Indies than by staying in his own diocese. He appointed a vicar-general to superintend it, and sailed from Mexico to Spain in 1547, where he resigned the bishopric.

In 1550 we find Las Casas at Valladolid, where

Charles V. had summoned a junta of theologians and learned men to hear the dispute between the Clerigo and one Dr Sepulveda, who had written a treatise favouring slavery. The controversy was conducted with much skill and learning on both sides. The junta ultimately pronounced a sentence concurring in Sepulveda's treatise, but his victory was a fruitless one, as the Government must have been convinced the other way, for they would not allow Sepulveda's work to enter the Indies. Of Las Casas, Sepulveda speaks "as most subtle, most vigilant, and most fluent, compared with whom the Ulysses of Homer was inert and stuttering." The bishop was then seventysix years of age. Las Casas resided in the Dominican convent at Valladolid, and continued to exercise his self-imposed functions of protector to the Indians with his accustomed zeal. Philip II. had now succeeded to the throne of Spain, on the abdication of his father, Charles V. His finances were in a deplorable state; he had only to give up the claims of the Crown to the reversion of the encomiendas, and he would be sure to receive ample and immediate recompense. Never was the fate of the Indians in greater peril. Las Casas appealed to the king, through his confessor, Carranza. "What right have they to impose upon the miserable Indians tributes of money, watered with tears, to pay the debts of their Crown? How repugnant to all just ideas; and what an atrocity it is, to wish to promote the interests of the king, without thinking even of God!" Charles V., then dying

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