Bartholomew de Las Casas; his life, apostolate, and writingsMacNutt, Francis Augustus
History
Bartholomew de Las Casas; his life, apostolate, and writings
MacNutt, Francis Augustus
Casas, Bartolomé de las, 1474-1566
And even this they do not verify, nor make it as clear as they
should; for if they did their duty to God and the king, they would
discover that the said German tyrants have robbed the king of more
than three million crowns’ worth of gold, because that province of
Venezuela, with the others they have ruined, devastated, and
depopulated for an extent of more than four hundred leagues, (as I
have said) was the most prosperous, the richest in gold, and the
most populous of the universe.
24.24. During the sixteen years those tyrants, enemies of God, devastated
it, they have wasted and caused the loss of more than two millions
of revenue that the king of Spain would have drawn from that
kingdom. Nor is there hope of repairing this damage between now and
the end of the world, unless God, through a miracle, should
resuscitate so many million persons.
25.25. These are the temporal injuries to the king. It would be well to
consider what, and how many are the injuries, the dishonour,
blasphemies, and insults to God and His law, and with what will be
requited so many numberless souls, burning in hell, because of the
avarice and cruelty of these tyrant animals or Germans. (100)
26.26. To sum up this wickedness and ferocity, I will only say that from
the day the Germans entered the country till the present time, that
is in these sixteen years, the Indians they have transported in
their ships amount to more than a million who were sold as slaves in
Santa Marta, Hispaniola, Jamaica, and the island of San Juan.
27.27. And even now, in the year 1542, the traffic continues, for the
royal Audiencia of Hispaniola dissembled—nay favoured this and all
the other numberless acts of tyranny and destruction done along all
that coast of the continent, which is more than four hundred leagues
from Venezuela to Santa Marta, and is under their jurisdiction,
though they could have prevented and corrected them.
28.28. There has been no other reason to make slaves of all these Indians
except the perverse, blind, obstinate will of these most avaricious
tyrants, and to satisfy their insatiable avarice for money; just as
all the others have always done everywhere in the Indies, taking
those lambs and sheep away from their houses, their wives, and their
children in the said cruel and wicked ways, marking them with the
king’s brand to sell them as slaves.
The Provinces of that Part of the Continent which is Called Florida
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