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Royal Commentaries..
BooK
l.V
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" prive them of thofe few
Vaffi.lsthey
had purchafed to
themfelves.
a~d
the
'' Souldiers huft and mutter
ed, thatthey would not concern themfelves ·farther
in
'' new
adventures ,
fince they haci no encouragement
:
but were
refolved
co
live
'' upon fpoil and plunder on all hands.
'' The King'
Officers
and MiniO:ers com_plained ,
chat they
were
hardly
dealc
" with,
to
be deprived of the vaffalage of the
Indians
whom chey
had
fo
kind
cc
ly
treated and ufed in their Services: an'd the Friers and Clergy declared
tha~
'' they fhould be unable
fupport and fufiain their Monafieries,
and
Ch~ches
" and
Hofpitals, without the
neceiliiry Cervices
of the
Jndi1:mf.
Bue none
fpok~
'' more daringly and freely ,
both
againfr the Vice-king
and
the
Ki~
himfelf
'' then
did
Frier
Peter Munno1:.,
of the Order of
Merced,
faying plainly,
that
his
Ma~
" jefry had
ill
reward~d
thofe who had ferved him well; and chat chofe ·new
" Laws fmelt rank
of
intereft and felfifhnefs rather than of equity; for it was an
'' intolerable iojuftice in the King, to cake away thofe Slaves
whom
be had fold
'' and yet not return the money for them, and the price he had received .
and
'' that Monall:eries, Hofpitals and Churches,
and
cne
very Conquerours
~hem,, felves fuould be divefied of their fervants and flaves, to make chem vaflals to
" the King : And,
what was mofi unreafonable, in the
mean
time
a
double
du–
,, ty
-and
tribute was impofed upon the
Indiam;
which was
intended
for their eafe
" and relief, though in reality it proved their greatefi aggrievance and oppreffi–
cc
on. Thus far are the words of
Gomara.
•
CH AP.
III.
Of
the
Difcourfe and
Reports the People of
Peru
raifed a–
gainfl
the Promoters of the new
Laws;
and particularly
againfl the
Civil-Lawyer
Bartholomew de
las ·.caras.
S
Uch Liberty the People generally took in
t~ir
Difc.ourfes againfr all thofe
who had been Contrivers and Promoters of
rnefe
new
Laws,
.that they
re–
ported
a
thoufand evil things of
chem;
and particalarly' of Friei:
Bartholomew
de
ltU
CaftU,
who being notorioufly known
to
have
had
a
chief
hand
in thefe
new
Regulations, fell under
the
fevere la{h of thcir Tongues; for as
Diego
Fer11a11de~,
one of the
firfr Adventurers
and Conquerours of
Peru,
reports,
they
ri})t up a
thoufand Mifdemeanours of which he was guilty before he entred into the pro–
feffion of a religious Life; and
panicularly how
he had endeavoured
co
make
himfelf
che
Conquerour and Governour of
the
Ifiand in
Cumana
;
and
that
he had
been the caufe of the defiruccion and llaughter of many
Spaniard1
;
by the falfe
reports he had given to che Emperour of the State of Affairs in
P&u
;
making
great and
large Prornifes of
advancing
the
King's revenue,
and of,
Tending vafi:
quantities of Gold and Pearl to the
Flemiru
and
Burgundianf
,
who relided in the
Court of
Spain.
Many
of thofe
Spaniard!
who had been employed
in
the Con–
quefr of the Illes of
Bar/()Vcnto
,
were well acquainted with
Bartholomew
de
!tu Caftu
before he profeffed himfelf a Frier ,
and
were well informed of the
effea
and
fuccefs of the Promifes he made touching the Converfion
of
the
lndif!.n1
in
the Ille
of
CHmana;
of all which
Lope:G de Gomara,
in the 77th Chapter of his
Hillery
writes
fo
particularly that it is probable he might have received a Relation there–
of from fome of the Conquerours of that Countrey; in confirmation \.\hereof,
and for the better authority of this his Hillary; I will here infert the very Chap·
ter
it
felf, the
Tide whereof
is as followerh.
Chapter the
77th,
wherein
u
contained a relaticm of the Death
of
thofe Chrifli1tn
Spa–
niards
who Jollbwed
Bartholomew de las Cafas
a
Prieft.
Bartholomp
de
/tU
CaftU,
a Priell: was in that time a
t St.Domingo
7
when
che
Monafieries of
Cumana
and
Chirivichi
were in their
flouri
!hi.ngfiate and condition;
and
having
he~q
a good
rep_orc
of the fruitfulnefs of
ch
at foil, of
the
ge~tle
and
acifick humour of the.
Naaves,
and of the great
abundaoce of
Pearl
which
thac
Counrrey