I append to this present volume an English translation of the most celebrated of all the writings of Las Casas; that is, of the short treatise published in 1552 in Seville under the title of _Brevissima Relacion de la Destruycion de las Indias_, and which recited in brief form his accusations against the conquerors and his descriptions of the cruelties that formed the groundwork of all his writings. This was the first of nine tracts, all treating different aspects of the same subject. The full titles of these little books, of which a complete set is now extremely valuable, may be found in Henry Harrisse, _Notes on Columbus_, pp. 18-24; also in Brunet’s _Manuel_, the Carter-Brown Catalogue, and other bibliographical works. The first quarto gothic edition, printed by Trujillo in Seville in 1552, entitled _Las Obras Brevissima Relacion de la Destruycion de las Indias Occidentales por los Españoles_, contains seven tracts. The second edition, in Barcelona, 1646, bore the title _Las Obras de B. de Las Casas_, and contains the first five tracts. The _Brevissima Relacion_ was quickly translated into most of the languages of Europe. A French version, published in Antwerp in 1579, was entitled _Tyrannies et Cruautés des Espagnols_, par Jacques de Miggrode. _Le Miroir de la tyrannie Espagnole_, illustrated by seventeen horribly realistic engravings by De Bry, contains extracts from several of the nine treatises, composed into one work, issued in Amsterdam in 1620. Other editions followed in Paris in 1635, in Lyons in 1642, and again two others in Paris in 1697 and 1701: these latter were translated and edited by the Abbé de Bellegarde. The Italian translation, made by Giacomo Castellani, followed closely the original text, by which it was accompanied; editions were printed in Venice in 1626, 1630, and 1643, bearing the title _Istoria o Brevissima Relatione della Distruttione dell’ Indie Occidentali_. Three different Latin versions were published as follows: _Narratio regionum Indicarum per Hispanos quosdam devastatarum Verissima_, per B. Casaum, Anno 1582; _Hispanice, anno vero hoc Lating excusa_, Francofurti, 1597; _Regionum Indicarum Hispanos olim devastatarum accuratissima descriptio. Editio nova, correctior…_Heidelbergae 1664. Despite the fact that Las Casas was the first and most vehement in denouncing the Spanish conquerors as bad patriots and worse Christians, whose acts outraged religion and disgraced Spain, his evidence against his countrymen was diligently spread by all enemies of his country, especially in England and the Netherlands, while Protestant controversialists quoted him against popery, and in the conduct of the conquerors the evidences of the Catholic depravity. The earliest English edition was printed in 1583 under the title of _The Spanish Colonie or Briefe Chronicle of the Acts and Gestes of the Spaniardes in the West Indies, called the Newe Worlde, for a space of XL Yeares_.