[28] It is obvious that he refers to Christ, who is spoken of in
Scripture as the Holy One of God (St. Mark i. 24; Acts ii. 27), not, as
ignorance and malice have suggested, to himself.
[29] Ulrich von Hutten was a friend and supporter of Luther.
[30] In 1521-1522 Frederick the Wise gave Luther asylum in the Wartburg,
where for ten months the reformer remained in disguise as "Junker
Georg." His room, with its furniture, is still preserved.
NEGRO SLAVERY IN AMERICA
ITS INTRODUCTION BY LAW
A.D. 1517
SIR ARTHUR HELPS
In 1442 the first negro slaves were imported into Europe.
They were taken from Africa to Portugal in ships of Prince
Henry, the "Navigator." From that time there was little
traffic in negroes until after the discovery of America.
Then there was great destruction of American Indians by war,
disease, and killing work, and the importation of negroes
into Spanish America was begun in order to fill the void in
the labor market.
Influenced by the spirit of Bartolome de las Casas, a
Spanish monk, celebrated as the defender of the Indians
against his own countrymen who conquered them, the monarchs
of Spain prohibited Indian slavery. "It is a very
significant fact that the great 'Protector of the Indians,'
Las Casas, should, however innocently, have been concerned
with the first large grant of licenses to import negroes
into the West India Islands."
We first hear of the introduction of negro slaves in those
islands through the instructions given in 1501 to Nicolas de
Ovando, who in the following year succeeded Columbus as
governor. During the nine years of his governorship negro
slavery in the Spanish possessions of the New World was
greatly extended. A few years later, as shown by Helps,
official license gave it a legal sanction. Helps' account
begins with an abstract of Las Casas' memorials to the King
of Spain looking to a remedy for the bad government of the
West Indies.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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