Bartholomew de Las Casas; his life, apostolate, and writings. Francis Augustus MacNutt

title: Casas's horrid Massacres, Butcheries and Cruelties that Hell and Malice could invent, committed by the Spaniards in the West Indies. It doubtless had a large sale.

      Ten years later another edition was printed in London: An Account of the Voyages and Discoveries made by the Spaniards in America, containing the exact Relation hitherto published of their unparalleled cruelties on the Indians in the Destruction of about Forty Millions of People.

      [pg xxviii] The Netherlands being in revolt, both against the Catholic religion and the Spanish government, it is not surprising to find that, in addition to the French editions published in Amsterdam and Antwerp, no less than six different versions were circulated in the Flemish and Dutch vernaculars, as follows: Seer cort Verhael van de destructie van d'Indien, etc., Bruselas, 1578. Spieghel der Spaenscher tyrannye, in West Indien, etc., Amstelredam, 1596. Another edition of the same followed in the same year and another in 1607. Den Spieghel van de Spaenscher Tyrannie, etc., Amstelredam, 1609. Second edition of the same work in 1621.

      A German translation entitled Umständige Wahrhafftige Beschreibung der Indianischen Ländern, etc., was published at Frankfurt-am-Main, in 1645.

      It seems hardly necessary, otherwise than as a matter of quaint chronicle, to notice the fantastic attempt of the Neapolitan writer, Roselli, to prove that the Brevissima Relacion was not written by Las Casas, but was composed years later by an unknown Frenchman. This suggestion was too agreeable to Spanish susceptibilities to lack approval in Spain when it was first advanced, but it has since been consigned by general consent to the limbo of fanciful inventions.

      The limits of the present volume exclude the possibility of dealing adequately with a life so fertile in effort, so rich in achievement, as that of Las Casas, and I have confined myself to composing, [pg xxix] from an immense mass of material, a brief narrative of the acts and events that seem to best illlustrate his character and to establish his claim to a foremost place among the great moral heroes of the world.

      I have drawn largely upon his own works, and by frequent and ample quotations from his speeches I have sought to reveal my hero more intimitely to my readers. In reluctantly quitting this field of profitable research, I confidently promise myself the satisfaction of one day seeing literature enriched by an abler presentation of this great theme than I have felt myself prepared to undertake.

      FRANCIS A. MACNUTT.

      SCHLOSS RATZÖTZ, TIROL,

       June, 1908.

AUTHORITIES CONSULTED

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      Principal authorities consulted in the preparation of this work:

	Antonio de Remesal, Historia de la Provincia de San Vicente de Chiyapa, 1619.
	Davila Padilla, Historia de la Fundacion, etc., 1625.
	Antonio de Herrera, Historia General de las Indias Occidentales, 1601.
	Gonzalo Fernandez de Oviedo y Valdéz (in Ramusio). Motolinia in volume i. of Icazbalceta's Documentos Ineditos.
	Juan de Torquemada, Monarquia Indiana, 1614.
	Agostino de Vetancourt, Teatro Mexicano, 1698.
	Fray Domingo Marquez, Sacro Diario Dominicano, 1697.
	J.A. Llorenta, Œuvres de Las Casas, 1822.
	José Antonio Saco, Historia de la Esclavitud, 1875–78.
	Manuel José Quintana, Vidas de Españoles Celebres, 1845.
	Carlos Gutierrez, Fray Bartolomé de Las Casas, sus Tiempos y su Apostolado, 1878.
	Antonio Maria Fabié, Vida y Escritos de Don Fray Bartolomé de Las Casas, 1879.
	Sir Arthur Helps, The Spanish Conquest in America.
	Henry Stevens, The New Laws of the Indies, 1893.
	Aristotle, Politics (Canon Weldon's translation).
	William Robertson, History of America. History of Charles V.
	Fléchier, Vie de Ximenez.
	Marsollier, Vie de Ximenez.
	Baudier, Histoire de Ximenez.
	Henry Harrisse, Notes on Columbus.
	Justin Winsor's Narrative and Critical History of America.
	John Boyd Thatcher'sChristopher Columbus.

      Illustrations

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        Fray Bartholomew de Las Casas

        Juan Gines de Sepúlveda

        Christopher Columbus

        Cardinal Ximenez de Cisneros

        Charles V.

        Paul III.

        Philip II.

        Scenes of Las Casas's Labours

        Holograph of Las Casas Giving Directions for the Publication of his Work.

CHAPTER I. - FAMILY OF LAS CASAS. EDUCATION OF BARTHOLOMEW. HIS FIRST VOYAGE TO AMERICA

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      The Spanish wars against the Moors, no less than the Crusades against the Moslems in the Holy Land, enlisted under the Christian standard the chivalry of Europe, and during the victorious campaign of the King, St. Ferdinand, knights from France, Germany, Italy, and Flanders swelled the ranks of the Spanish forces in Andalusia. Amongst these foreign noblemen were two French gentlemen called Casaus, who claimed descent from Guillen, Viscount of Limoges, one of whom was killed during the siege of Seville. The city was taken in 1252, and the surviving Casaus shared in the apportionment of its spoils, and founded there a family, whose descendants were destined to become numerous and illustrious. The name Casaus assumed with time the more Spanish form of Casas, though it continued to be spelled in both ways for several centuries, and Bartholomew