Chapter 19

REAL. THE INDIANS OF CHIAPA

Although the Bishop of Chiapa, upon landing in his diocese, determined to follow the dictates of prudence rather than the promptings of zeal in bringing his spiritual subjects into submission to the New Laws, the question of Indian slavery was one so closely bound up with their temporal interests that no moderation or persuasion on his part could have availed to bring about their renunciation of the established system. In the first sermons preached by his friars, the subject of slavery was not mentioned, and Las Casas sought, more by private conversation and argument with individuals, to convince them of the grave infraction of morals as well as the open violation of the law, they committed in holding the Indians in slavery. His arguments fell upon deaf ears, nor did a single Spaniard accept his admonitions or entertain for a moment the idea of liberating his slaves. Nor did their resistance confine itself to a passive form, for within a short time, the colonists openly refused him obedience and withheld his lawful tithes, declaring that they would not receive him as their Bishop, and occasioning him every annoyance and discomfort they could invent. The refusal of his tithes caused the Bishop serious embarrassment, as it left him without funds to pay for the ship he had chartered in Hispaniola for his journey to Campeche. The priest of the town managed to raise about one hundred castellanos for this purpose and Las Casas signed a note for the remainder.

The Governor of those regions at that time was Francisco de Montejo, who had played a conspicuous part in the affairs of Mexico, whither he had gone with Fernando Cortes. He was absent when Las Casas landed at Campeche and became the object of such general and determined hostility, and his son was governing in his stead. In response to the announcement of the Bishop’s presence, the Governor despatched his brother-in-law, who was a person of some authority, to welcome the Bishop, instructing him to treat him in all respects with the highest consideration and in case he wished to come to Merida, to arrange everything necessary for his journey thither.

It was decided to make the journey by sea rather than by the more difficult overland route, and one boat-load of friars sailed, carrying a large part of the stores, which included vestments and altar plate and other church furnishings. Hardly were the preparations for the departure of the Bishop and the remainder of his people completed, when the distressing news of the total loss of this vessel and its cargo reached them from Champoton, an Indian village, where the few survivors of the wreck had found refuge. Nine friars and twenty-three other persons perished in this disaster, the news of which threw a heavy cloud of sadness over the little band of missionaries. Thousands of miles from their native land and in a new world, these men were sustained solely by their faith in their mission and their confidence in the leadership of their venerable Bishop, for they were not only cut off from hope of succour but were exposed to the persecutions of their own countrymen, because of their zeal for justice, in defending the oppressed against cupidity and cruelty. Despite the many causes for discouragement Las Casas decided, on the advice of the pilot of the ship that was to carry them, to profit by the fair weather then prevailing, and set the example to the others of going first on board the vessel. The friars followed in silence, and so entirely were their thoughts given to the premature fate of their lost comrades, that the whole of that night and the following day were passed in silence and prayer: when the ship reached the place where the wreck had occurred, the prayers for the dead were solemnly recited by the tearful company. This becoming tribute rendered to the memory of the departed, Las Casas seated himself at table and, setting the others a wholesome example, he began to eat, for until then no one had had the heart to touch food. The weather suddenly changed for the worse and a perilous Norther, which was the greatest enemy of navigation in those waters, sprang up, forcing the vessel to put in at the island of Terminos, where some fragments of the wreck were found, but the sea had given up no dead. Three days passed in waiting for better weather, and though Las Casas desired to re-embark and continue the voyage, Fray Tomas Casillas was in favour of waiting for the shipwrecked people at Champoton to overtake them, and then to continue the journey overland. This difference of opinion led to a division of the company, the Bishop re-embarking with Father Ladrada and a few of the others, while the majority were left to follow the overland route.

The chief city of the diocese of Chiapa was Ciudad Real, and the Bishop, on his arrival, was accorded a warm welcome and was lodged in one of the best houses in the place, belonging to a Spaniard who was absent at that time, while the friars were accommodated in another, just opposite. The clergy of the immense diocese was scanty enough, being composed of two priests in that town and three others elsewhere; of these latter common report did not speak well, as their secular occupations and efforts to enrich themselves brought discredit upon their clerical character. The cathedral was a small church, of poor construction and meagrely furnished with the necessaries for celebrating the religious offices. One of the new Bishop’s first disciplinary acts was to summon the three vagrant priests to Ciudad Real, where he might constrain them to a more sacerdotal life under his immediate authority. Las Casas lived according to the strict rule of his Order, eating only fish, eggs, and vegetables, and, though he permitted meat to the others who sat at his table, there was so little to tickle the palate of the epicure that two out of the three renounced allegiance to their Bishop and betook themselves beyond the confines of his diocese where they speedily fell into evil ways. His life at this period was one of truly apostolic simplicity; although seventy years old, his habits were as frugal and austere as those of any anchorite. Towards the Spanish colonists he at first manifested mild and affectionate sentiments, which blinded them so entirely to the indomitable energy and fearless spirit that animated him, that they, on their part, showed themselves obsequious and generous. The deception was mutual, and disillusion only awaited the moment when the material interests of the Spaniards should be touched, to declare itself. Slavery flourished throughout the diocese, to the great affliction of the Bishop: he first sought by private conversations with the principal persons of the colony, by arguments, explanation of the New Laws and of the Emperor’s wishes, to effect the liberation of the Indians, but failing in this, he next preached publicly on the subject. No headway was made by one or the other means employed, while shocking cruelties were of daily occurrence and the Indians, who recognised the Bishop as their only protector and advocate, brought him tales of their sufferings which left him no choice but to have recourse to stronger measures.

The Easter season of 1545 was approaching, and the fulfilment of the precept of confession, which marks the farthermost frontier of Catholic observance, within which even the most lax must remain under penalty of excommunication ipso facto, afforded the Bishop his opportunity. He withdrew from all his clergy, except the dean and canon of his cathedral church, their faculties for granting absolution, reserving to himself all questions involving the relations of the Spaniards to the Indians. He furnished the two appointed confessors with a detailed list of cases in which not merely the questions of holding slaves and cruel treatment were involved, but likewise those which had to do with the right to hold property acquired unjustly from the natives and by violation of the law.

This treatise was doubtless the same that was published in 1552 entitled _Confesionario_, etc., or in any case it contained the root doctrines of which that tract may have been an elaboration. Both upon the ability and the fidelity of the two confessors he had selected, the Bishop felt he could rely, but in the case of the Dean he was again mistaken in his choice, for in certain of the reserved cases the latter declared that he found no grounds, either in canon law or in any authorities, for his Bishop’s decision. The Mercedarian friars, who also had a community in the diocese, were likewise opposed to the severity of the Bishop, and as none of the colonists were disposed to ruin themselves by liberating the Indians, the situation was a grave one for a Catholic community, for no matter how little in conformity with the Church’s teaching were the daily lives of many, excommunication was intolerable to all of them. Remonstrances and petitions against his trenchant decision poured in upon the Bishop, and the Dean, supported by the Mercedarians, undertook to intercede for the Spaniards and, if possible, to obtain some relaxation of the obnoxious ruling. Their efforts were vain, for the simple reason that Las Casas held that it was not within his competence to recede from his decision without practically denying his life’s mission. As the tension became daily more severe, the colonists addressed to the Bishop, a formal “requirement” drawn up by a notary public, containing arguments to support their claims, based on the terms of the Bull of Alexander VI. and threatening, if he persisted in refusing them the sacraments, to appeal to his metropolitan, the Archbishop of Mexico, and ultimately to the Pope: meanwhile they would denounce him to the King and his Council as a disturber of the public peace and a formenter of dissensions and troubles in the country. To this threat the Bishop answered: “O blind men! How completely does the devil deceive you! Wherefore do you threaten me with your complaints to the Archbishop, to the Pope, and to the King? Know then that though I am obliged by the law of God to do as I do, and you to obey what I tell you, you are likewise constrained thereunto by the most just laws of your sovereign, since you think yourselves such faithful vassals to him.” After reading some of the articles of the New Laws forbidding slavery to them, he continued: “According to this, it is I who might much better complain of you, for not obeying your King.” The situation was a deadlock, for the Bishop was immovable, neither would the Spaniards give way. From murmuring against his decision and questioning his authority to impose such unreasonable and ruinous commands, they passed to calumny and ridicule, and as these weapon are forged by evil imaginations and their exercise is unhampered by the restrictions of truth, many fantastic accusations were invented against Las Casas, and diligently circulated. The most frugal and abstemious of men was accused of gluttony and intemperance; his learning, which was certainly varied if not vast and was by no means mediocre, was declared to be superficial and insufficient to enable him to properly weigh nice questions of theology and law, and finally it was insinuated that some of his opinions were heretical and that his refusal to allow the sacraments of penance and the eucharist in his diocese proceeded from his dissembled Lutheranism. As a hint of what might overtake him if he persisted in his course, a musket was fired into the window of his room one night. Even the children were taught scurrilous couplets which they sang at him, when he appeared in the streets: only his Dominicans remained faithful to him in this difficult season and their fidelity, though doubtless a source of great consolation to him, had for its chief visible effect, to involve the friars in the popular execration visited on the Bishop. It was a repetition of the incidents in Hispaniola, for likewise in Chiapa the people turned against the friars, refraining from their ministrations and refusing them alms and support. (57)

The first act of open rebellion came from the Dean, who administered the communion during Holy Week to various persons who not only continued to hold their Indians in spite of the Bishop’s remonstrances and admonitions, but were notoriously engaged at that very time in buying and selling slaves. The disobedience of his subordinate could not be left unnoticed and the bishop resolved to reprimand him, but paternally, in presence of the other clergy, as an example. This intention was more easily formed than executed, for the Dean refused to appear, although the first summons came in the form of an invitation to dinner: three times was the summons repeated but each time, on one pretext or another, it was evaded, until there only remained to summon him officially and to censure his violation of his Bishop’s instructions and his refusal to appear before him. As even this severe measure left him unmoved, Las Casas ordered his arrest and sent his alguacil and some of the clergy to bring the recalcitrant Dean before him. The news of what was passing had spread through the town and when the diocesan authorities went to make the arrest, quite a crowd of people had collected to see the outcome of the ecclesiastical duel. The appearance of the Dean, being conducted by force to answer to the Bishop for disobedience that had been prompted by his compliance to the Spaniards’ desires, provoked a demonstration in his favour. He, seeing his opportunity, began to call for help, crying: “Help me to get free, gentlemen, and I’ll confess everybody! Get me free and I’ll absolve all of you!” A great hubbub ensued; men armed themselves to attack the Bishop’s alguacil; some barricaded the Dominicans in their convent to prevent their coming to the assistance of the arresting party, others freed the Dean from his captors, and thus, with great uproar and shouts for the King and his justice against the Bishop, the mob arrived at the latter’s house, into which a crowd forced its way with clamorous disorder.

A gentleman named Rodriguez de Villafuerte, who was in the ante-chamber in company with Fray Domingo de Medinilla, managed to somewhat calm the turbulence of the people. The leaders of the mob burst into the room beyond, where Fray Domingo had insisted that the Bishop should remain, instead of coming out to face the rioters as he wished, insulting him in the coarsest language and even threatening to kill him. The storm of popular fury broke itself against the imperturbable serenity and inflexible determination with which Las Casas met and dominated it. Though the crowd dispersed, cowed and sullen, to their houses, the murmuring continued, and the friars dared not leave their convents, for fear of provoking a fresh outbreak.

The Bishop cancelled the ecclesiastical faculties of his Dean and excommunicated him.

The man who had threatened to kill Las Casas was the same one who had once before fired a musket shot through the Bishop’s window, by way of warning him, and as he was known for a hot-headed reckless person, the friars were seriously apprehensive lest he might execute his threat; they begged Las Casas to leave and go to a place of safety. “Where,” he asked in reply, “would you, Fathers, have me go? Where shall I be safe as long as I act in behalf of these poor creatures? Were the cause mine, I would drop it with pleasure, but it is that of my flock, of these miserable Indians, wearied and oppressed by unjust slavery and insupportable tributes, which others of my flock have imposed upon them. Here I wish to remain; this church is my spouse, it is not mine to abandon. This is the purpose of my residence [here]. I wish to irrigate it with my blood, if they take my life, so that zeal for God’s service may be absorbed by the very ground I hold, to make it fertile, to bring forth the fruit of desire—the end of the injustice that stains and infects it. This is my wish, this is my determined resolve, and I shall not be so fortunate that God will permit the inhabitants of this city to fulfil it; other times have I found myself in greater dangers and, because of my unworthiness, God has withheld from me the crown of martyrdom. These disturbances, and the hatred of the conquerors for me, are of ancient date; I no longer feel their insults nor fear their threats, and in comparison with what has happened to me in Spain and the Indies, those of the other day were very moderate.”

Against such steadfast resolution, the colonists could not hope to prevail, and one of the first results of the violent attack upon the Bishop, was a certain reaction in public sentiment when calmer Judgment reasserted itself. There was even some counter demonstration, and the news was brought to Las Casas that the man who had threatened to kill him had himself been badly mauled and beaten. The Bishop was the first and most assiduous of the injured man’s visitors, even preparing with his own hands, bandages and ointments to dress his hurts. Such charity and abnegation could not but touch even the rude object of these attentions, and after repeatedly begging the Bishop’s forgiveness for his recent violence, the man attached himself to him from thenceforth, and became one of his warmest defenders.

Nevertheless, the attacks on the Bishop and on the friars did not lessen for long, nor was the resentment against them diminished amongst the greater number of the colonists, who pushed their reprisals to such an extent that, not only were the priests reduced to the barest necessities of life, but even wine for the celebration of mass was wanting and unobtainable. To remedy this necessity, Indians were sent out into the province to beg for the friars, but the Spaniards learned of this measure and, after forbidding the natives to give them anything, they seized whatever these messengers obtained in spite of the prohibition, and gave them a sound beating as a preventive of any future excursions.

Existence in such surroundings was no longer possible, and the friars resolved to leave Ciudad Real. They sent out four of their number in advance, after which Fray Tomas de la Torre announced from the pulpit their intention to abandon the convent and the reasons which forced them to go.

Learning from those who had gone ahead that they had been well received in Chiapa, and that everything seemed propitious for the foundation of a convent there, the community prepared to follow. Before definitely abandoning Ciudad Real, it was thought well to deliver a final address to the people, explaining clearly and fully the righteousness of their doctrine concerning slavery. This discourse was pronounced by Fray Alonso de Villabra, who cited many authorities to show that the iniquity of slavery was beyond dispute and that it was condemned by the laws of God and man alike. The sermon failed to convince the hostile and unwilling listeners, whose interests were bound up in slavery, and the only result of this last well-meant effort was to intensify, if possible, the irritation against the Bishop and the friars.

The reception of this interesting band of apostolic men by the people of Chiapa, was in striking contrast to the menacing demonstrations which provoked and accompanied their departure from Ciudad Real. More than a league outside the town, the exiles found a large number of Indians, decked out in their best gold ornaments and plumes, carrying crosses made of feathers and flowers, awaiting their arrival, to escort them to the quarters prepared for them.

As soon as the Bishop was housed, an immense number of natives came from all parts of the neighbourhood, begging to be taught the Christian religion. The joy of the tormented Bishop at this demonstration may be imagined, and he urged the friars, after such proofs of the disposition of the Indians to receive the faith, to send to persuade other religious to come and join them in the work of converting the willing people.

The Spaniard who held the encomienda of Chiapa was an astute person, in reality quite as vicious as any of the others but more adroit in concealing his evil doings; he found small difficulty in deceiving the simple friars and, by showing them hospitality and professing great respect for the New Laws, he succeeded in persuading them that he was their friend and protector. The harmony of their relations could not however remain long undisturbed; from professing friendship he passed to more or less open acts of hostility, and from flattery he resorted to calumny. An incident which occurred may serve admirably to illustrate the deceptions practised by the colonists on the ignorant Indians. One of the more intelligent of the natives came one day to the Dominicans and spoke as follows:

“Fathers, behold we are becoming bewildered. Our master told us when you came, that he had written a letter to the Emperor _his brother_ [sic] asking that you be sent to say Mass for us and that it was by his order that you came to live amongst us. Since then, he tells us that you are poverty-stricken people, who come here to be supported by our labour, because you have not enough to eat in your own country. He has forbidden us to give you the ground for your convent and to allow the church to be altered. You, on the other hand, tell us we should not call him our master, for no man other than God whom you preach, is that; you tell us, also, that this man is a mortal like ourselves, subject to the Emperor, King of Castile, and that the Alcaldes at Ciudad Real may punish him. He tells us that he is next to God and has no master in the world. I don’t understand you; you speak ill of our master; he speaks ill of you, and with all this we see you going about together good friends, neither of you daring to speak in the other’s presence of what each tells us in the other’s absence. If you are honest, speak clearly, for we are in a cloud of smoke from your manner of proceeding.” (58)