In their attitude toward the Indians the Spaniards simply applied the theory of their time regarding slavery. The taking of slaves was then considered part of any expedition of discovery or conquest. The high authority of the Church sanctioned the institution of slavery to the extent that the leading theologians had declared all barbarous and infidel nations who shut their ears to the truths of Christianity, fair objects of rapine, captivity and slavery.[111] The general feeling regarding the relation of the Indians to the Spaniards is well expressed by Hernando de Escalante Fontanedo, who was with Menendez in Florida as interpreter. In writing of Florida, he declared it his belief that the Indians “can never be made submissive and become Christians”; so he advocated that they all be taken, “placed on ships, and scattered throughout the various islands, and even on the Spanish Main, where they might be sold as His Majesty sells his vessels to the grandees in Spain.”[112] Given this attitude on the subject it was but natural that the enslavement of the American Indians should begin with the discovery of the Antilles,[113] and that it should be continued by the explorers on the mainland. The Spanish exploring expeditions were war expeditions in the sense that they aimed to conquer and retain for the crown the territory through which they passed. All these expeditions captured and retained Indians as slaves. Yet in some cases it might be difficult to determine whether the Indians enslaved were captives taken in actual warfare, or whether they were merely kidnapped by the expedition passing through their territory. Often the expeditions possessed the double character of a war party and a kidnapping company. The enslavement of the Indians by the Spaniards in the early years of occupation was legalized by a royal decree which declared the act to be in accord with the laws of God and man, and justified it on the ground that Indians could otherwise not be reclaimed from idolatry and converted to Christianity. Consistent with its assertion the home government made careful provision, in the various patents issued to the explorers, for the spiritual welfare of the enslaved Indians.