It is only fair to the early Spanish settlers in America, the account of whose proceedings in respect to the Indians cannot fail to rouse feelings of horror and disgust, that we should duly consider and weigh the feelings of the age in which they lived on the part of Christendom towards all who were beyond its pale. They were in fact the feelings of the chosen people towards the surrounding heathen, who were only deserving of being spared on condition of their becoming hewers of wood and drawers of water. It is true that in the case of a number of Spanish leaders, including Columbus himself and his brother _Don_ Bartholomew, the Indians were to be spared and protected on the condition of their accepting the yoke imposed upon them and fulfilling the tasks assigned to them by their invaders; but upon the slightest resistance or evasion of their duties, all their natural rights were at once abrogated, and they became as so many beasts of burden, to be employed at the pleasure of their drivers. Amongst rulers and governors Queen Isabella stands out alone to protest against such a construction of the duties of one race towards another, even although the one were Christian and the other heathen. But yet, seeking to make every allowance that can be urged in excuse or palliation, there is but one verdict that can possibly be given as to the general conduct of the Spaniards towards the natives of America, namely, that it surpassed in remorseless, and often stupid and short-sighted, cruelty the conduct of any one conquering or so-called “superior” race towards another conquered or “inferior” race of which history contains any record. In this respect we cannot but think that the Spaniards as a race have been too leniently judged by modern writers--not Spanish, but foreign. Much, for instance, as Washington Irving is to be admired for his clear judgment and his mastery of his subject, we cannot help thinking that he is scarcely justified in assigning the undoubted excesses committed by Spaniards in the New World merely to a set of ruthless adventurers, the scum of their race, rather than to Spaniards in general. It would of course be in the highest degree unjust to make an entire people responsible for the wholesale atrocities of two unlettered adventurers such as Pizarro and Almagro; but the accusation of scandalous and intolerable rapacity and cruelty is unfortunately not confined to the class to which such men belong; it applies equally to all ranks and grades of the invaders, with here and there a notable exception--generally, but not always, on the part of one or more churchmen--most of all in Las Casas.