The facts of Las Casas’ life hardly need to be recited here. His prodigious defence of the Indian’s right to liberty has made him widely known and given him an exalted position in the estimation of those in sympathy with his purposes. He was born in Seville about eighteen years before the discovery of America: the date of his birth is usually set down as 1474. His studies, begun in his native city, were continued at Salamanca, where he was graduated as “Licenciado”. His first knowledge of the Indians appears to have been obtained through one who had been brought from America to Spain by his father, and was attached to Bartolomé at the University in the capacity of a servant. Las Casas went to the West Indies with Nicolás de Obando, governor of Santo Domingo. This was in 1502. In 1510 he became a priest, and a year later he accompanied Governor Velásquez to Cuba. In these nine years he witnessed certain acts of barbarity by the Spaniards, which seemed to presage the diminution of the native population, and intensified his sympathy for the oppressed race. [Sidenote: _Brevísima relación_] In the islands, on the mainland, or as Bishop of Chiapas, one dominating purpose controlled his actions, it was to ameliorate the condition of the Indians, and, in planning for their welfare, the welfare of no other race mattered. Las Casas’ ideal of the Indians, which helped to inspire his zeal for their liberty is set forth in this passage from the _Brevísima relación_: “All the territory that has been discovered down to the year forty-one is full of people, like a hive of bees, so that it seems as though God had placed all, or the greater part, of the entire human race, in these countries. God has created all these numberless peoples to be the simplest, without malice or duplicity, the most obedient, the most faithful to their natural Lords, and to the Christians, whom they serve, the most humble and patient, the most peaceful and calm, without strife or tumults, nor wrangling or querulous, as free from rancour, hate, and desire for revenge as any in the world. They are likewise the most delicate people, weak and of feeble constitution, and they are less able than any other to bear fatigue, and they succumb readily to whatever disease attacks them, so that not even the sons of our princes or nobles, brought up in luxury and effeminate ways, are weaker than they; although there are among them some who belong to the class of labourers. They are also very poor people, who have few worldly goods, nor wish to possess them.” [Illustration: Bartolomé de Las Casas] [Sidenote: Las Casas and Liberty]