The hopes of Las Casas were now transferred to the Regent, Cardinal Ximenes, with whom he was fortunate enough to find favour, and who called together a _junta_ to listen to his statements and arguments. The result was that the cardinal appointed Las Casas and two coadjutors to draw up a plan to secure the liberty of the Indians, and to arrange their government. In order to execute the laws agreed upon, Ximenes determined to employ Jeronimite monks, as they were not mixed up with the disputes which had arisen between the Franciscans and the Dominicans respecting the fitness of the Indians for freedom. The three Jeronimite Fathers chosen were instructed on their arrival at _San Domingo_ to call the colonists together and to announce that the cause of their coming was a report of the ill-treatment of the Indians, and to ask their suggestions for a remedy for such a state of things. They were likewise to go to the principal _caciques_, and to inform them that they had been sent to find out the truth, to punish past wrong-doing, and to provide security for the future. It was the will of the governors of Spain that the Indians should be treated as Christians and free men. The Jeronimite Fathers were to visit every island; to ascertain the number of Indians; and to find out how they had been treated, taking notes of the nature of the land for the purpose of forming settlements near the mines. Such settlements were to consist of about three hundred persons, with the requisite buildings, and lands were to be apportioned to each settlement, every individual receiving a plot. One administrator was to be appointed to each one or two settlements. Other regulations applied to religion, education, hospitals, labour upon farms and at the mines, and respecting pasturage and the division of gold. In order in some measure to reimburse the Spaniards for the loss of Indian slave-labour which they would incur, they were to be paid for the land which would be required for the settlements, whilst they were to be permitted to procure gold on easy terms for themselves. They were likewise allowed four or five slaves each from amongst the _Caribs_, these being cannibals. This latter clause was sure to lead to great abuses, as it was only necessary for the slave-hunters to declare their captives cannibals to justify their proceedings. This provision was inserted contrary to the wishes of Las Casas. Finally, he himself was appointed “Protector of the Indians.” With these regulations, and with the cardinal’s benediction, Las Casas set out from Seville. [Sidenote: 1516.]