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Show 34-6 J)tS<;ERT. v. ' • I H I S T 0 R Y 0 F M E X I C 0. Some of the firft Europeans who eftabli!hed themfelves in America, not' lefs powerful than ~varicious, defirous of en1.1iching themfelves to the detriment of the Americans, kept them continually employed, and made ufe of them as fiaves; and in order to avoid the reproaches which 'were made them by the bifhops and miffionaries who in culc~ttcd humanity, and the giving liberty to thofo people, to get themfelves i11fl:ruCle l 1n religion, that t11ey might do their duties towards the church and their families, alledged, that the Indians were by nature Oaves and in c~tpable of being inftmcted; and many other falfhoods of wl1ich the Chronicler Herrera makes mention againft them. Thofe zealous eccldiaftics being unable, either by their authority or preaching, to free thofe unhappy converts fr.om the tyranny of fuch mifers, had recourfe to the C1tholic kings, and at lall: obtained from their juftice and clemency, thofe laws as favourable to the Americans as honourable to the court of Srain, that compofe the Indian code, which were chiefly due to the indefatigable zeal of the. bi!hop de las Cafas. On another fide ' Garces , biiliop of Tlafcala, knowing tHat thofe Spaniards bore., notwithfiand-ing t})eir perverfity, a great refpect to the decifions of tb,e yicar of Jefus Chriil:, made application in the year 1586, to pope Paul III. by that famous lett~r, of which we have made mention ; repre'fenting to him the evils which the Indians fuffer.ed from the wicked Chri!l:ians, and Braying him to interpofe bis autl~ority~ in their behalf. ·The pope, moved by fuch heavy remonfl:rances, difpatched the next year the original bull, a faithful. copy of which we have here fubjoined (t), which was not . (t) Pau),u(.1>~pa rlJ, univcr?s y~riOi Fidelibus pr~ientes'Litteras illfj,eC!uri3 Salutcm ~ Apofio!: m lJe~cdithon~m~" _Ycru~s 1pfn, ~ t~:r nc.c falh, nee fa ll erc P?tcfi, cum Pr:rdicato1cs Fidei aclofficlum ~rre d1c:ouoms dc l1 1naret, denffe chgnofcitur: E11ntcs doait DIIIII<'S'gfims: 6n ncs dixit ' ~'bfqu e omm .delcetu.' cum omncs Fidei difciplina capnce~ cx iOant. ~od vidcns ·& invidens :: 1phui .htn;1:1111 genen~ a:mt~lu s , qui bonis opcr~bu , , ut pcrcant, f'cmpcr advcrfatur, modum exco~ltav1t haClcnus maud1tum, quo impcdiret, nc Verbum Dei Gentibus ut falv:r liercnt ::·prtrdtcaretu~: ut quofdam f:10.s fatellitea commovit, qui fu :lll• cupiditaten; adimplcre cuJili~ entcs. ?~c~dc ntal es & M endwnale ~ Indos, & aliaa Gen tes, qua: tempori htls irtis :lli nof" tram notlt ~<t m pcrvcncrunt, fu b pr<e textu quou Fidei atho l ic~r cxpcrtcs e ' 11:· t t' b · tf 'in r d a . , X I ,1 n 1 ll I I ll t a I ) I • an•. am, II ~o t·~ o_bfc.quua .rcd1gendo3 cffc, paffim aficrcre prrefurnal]t , & cos in fcrvitutom ".. red1g,u n, t tanus .n ffi,u ~ I0111b1•s tl.l o.s Ul'gc nt~~e , quant·1 s vt·x ' b 1·u ta nn·u na I1' a J· ib· s fervt·c ntl·: t urgc:ult. N?s 'lP.tUr, qu~ CJllfdcm Domtnl no nri vices, licct il!digni, gerimus in tcn·is & Ovcs grcgis •• fu1 nobta commtiT.-u qutr extt"t CJ.llS 0 'le f d · r 0 'I · ' · · 11 • • • VI unt, a IJ>t l) lll vt e toto nncu cxqlllrunu s, at· .. ~ed~entes l~1d?s lpfo~, utpot.e veros homines, non folum Chri.fiian:-e. Fhlci capaces exiricre •• e , du"t oobu 'dtn notmt, a·d F1dem ipfiun , promptiffime c: urre ·e• ""C vo'l e t co.. rH lper h't s qongrm·s remc us prov1 et-c, pradtl\os Indos & omnes alias gentes ad .noutiarn L.hr)nianoqun)n• poAe- " ·1'Urt\ H r S T- · 0 R Y 0 _, F M E X I .. C 0 n.o~ made, as is manifefi, to declare the A(llericans ft•cc men ; for fuch a piece of weaknefs was very diil:ant from that or any other pope: but folely to fupport the natural righ"ts of the Americans_ againil: .the at .. tempts of thei1 oppreffors, and •-to condemn . the injuil:icc and inhu- · manity of thbfc, who, under the pretence of fuppofing thofc people idoht rous , or inca.paole of being infhucl:ed, took from them their property and thefr liberty, ~nd treated them as fia.ves and bcafis. The Spaniards, indeed, would have been more pitiable than the rudeft faw. ges of 1the new world, if they'had waited for a decifion from Rome before they would acknowledge the Americans to be true men. Lt i , well known, that long before the pope,difpatchecl that bull, the pat, tholic ki'ngs had earn<tftly recommended the inftrutl:ion of the Ameri ... cans, had given the moil: careful orders that they !hould be well treat-· eel, and that nv wrong fhould be offered either to their. property or their perfoR:S; and ha:d fent feveral bifuops to r the neW world, and fome hUndreds of mifiionaries at the royal ex pence, to teach thofe fatyrs· the faitH of J efus · Chriil:, and train them in the Chriil:ian mode of life. In ~53 1, fix years before that bull was out, the French mifiionaries alone had baptized in Mexico more than a million of thofe {atyrs; and In t 5 34, ·the {eminary of the Holy Crofs was founded in Tlatelolco, for the infimetior:t of a •con:fiderable number of thofe ]arge apes, where they learned the Latin language, Rhetoric, Phi]ofophy, and Medicine. If at firfi the Americans were eil:eemed fatyrs, no body can better prove it than Chri.fl:opher Columbus their difcoverer. Let us hear, theref" Ore, how that celebrated admiral fpeaks, in his account to the Catholic kings Ferdinand and Ifabelhl., of the firfl: fatyrs he faw in the ifland of Haiti, or Hifpanio]a. " . I [wear," he fays, " to your ma" je!l:ics, that there is not .a better people in the world than thefe, "' more affcet:io nate, afttble, or mild. They love their neighbours as cc them1elves; their language is the fweetdt, the foft ft, and the moil: •i rum dcvcnturas, licct extra fidem Chrifl.i c:o<ilhnt, fualihertare & dorninio hujufinocli uti, & •• potiri, & gaudcrc lib r.rc & li citc po!n·, nee in fcrvitu.tem rcdigi d~be~e, ~c qui~.qui~ (c;cus H fieri contigc rit irritum & inane, ipfoflluc Indos, & altas Gcntes..Vcrb1 Det pra~cltcauonc, & 1< cxcmplo hon:-c vitx llli dietam Fidem Chrifri i11vitand?s fore. ~uetorimt~ Apoflolica P~.r. pr~· "fcntes litcras dcccrnimus, & dcchtramus, !lOU obitantrbus prrermffis, tc:ctenfque contrarm <Jill•, "buicunquc."-Datum Rom:t: nnno •5 37• JV. Non.lun. l'ontificatus nofi:rinmrto Ill. ~clbtJ, II! non altra c <}uclb famofa bolla, per Ia qtmlc s' c fatto un sl graude f.'l\t41nitU.O. l I tt • ' ' !J i. t 11( lotH' .,.t 1L't: 11iJ ok l1d.J Y y 2 llcilt - 347 DISSERT. v. '--.---' |
