xiv. 568, the presidents of this audiencia are given as Luis

de Figueroa, 1523; Sebastian Ramirez in 1527; Fuente Mayor in 1533; Maldonado in 1552; Alonso Arias de Herrera in 1560; and in 1566 Diego de Vera, who was sent to Panamá as president when he was succeeded by Doctor Mejía.

[V-10] The word _audiencia_, from _audire_, to hear, has a variety of significations in Spanish; meaning, namely, the act of hearing, the tribunal, the courtroom and building, and finally, jurisdiction. _Oidor_, he who hears, comes from the same root, but is now applied only to the magistrate of an audiencia. The more important general laws governing audiencias in the New World were the following. In 1528 the emperor ordered, and the decree was reiterated in 1548, 1569, 1575, and 1589, that each audiencia should make a tariff of fees of notaries and other officers, which must not exceed five times those in Spain. In 1530 the mandates of this tribunal were made of equal force with those of the king himself. Should any one demand it, decisions in civil suits were to be rendered in one case before another was begun; suits of poor persons always to have preference in time of hearing. Even dissenting judges must sign the decision, making it unanimous. On the first business day of each year, all the members and officers being present, the laws governing audiencias should be read. In 1541 the emperor ordered that in 'first instance' alcaldes, regidores, alguaciles mayores, and escribanos should not be brought before the audiencia; in each pueblo one alcalde should have cognizance of what affected the other, and both of matters concerning its other officers. In 1540, and many times thereafter, the audiencia was charged to look to the welfare of the natives, to watch narrowly the conduct of governors and other officials, and to punish excesses. While in October, 1545, the emperor was at Malines, hence known as the law of Malinas, directions were given for procedure in cases of claims of Indians. _Menor cuantía_ in suits was fixed at 300,000 maravedís; not exceeding this amount two oidores might decide; also in suits of _mayor cuantía_, except at Lima and Mexico where three votes were necessary as in Spanish law. It was ordered in 1548 that audiencias must not meddle with questions of rank and precedence. In 1551, Saturdays and two other days in the week were set aside, there being no suits of poor persons, for hearing disputes between Indians, and between Indians and Spaniards. More _casos de corte_, that is important suits taken from lower courts, were not to be admitted by an audiencia of the Indies than was customary in Spain. This was in 1552, and repeated in 1572. In 1553 it was ordered that any person having a grievance against a president or viceroy might appeal to the audiencia, the accused officer being forbidden to preside at such times. If the president was a bishop he was not permitted to adjudicate in matters ecclesiastic. Six years later all petitions presented were to be admitted. Philip II. in 1561 ordered that suits of the royal treasury should have precedence over all others. The year 1563 was prolific in regulations for the audiencia. Where the president of an audiencia was governor and captain-general, the tribunal should not meddle in matters of war, unless the president was absent, or unless specially directed by the crown. In the city where the audiencia is held there must be an Audiencia House, and the president must live there, and keep there the royal seal, the registry, the jail, and the mint; in this house must be a striking clock; and if there be no such building provided, the residence of the president shall in the mean time be so used. On every day not a feast-day the audiencia must sit at least three hours, beginning at 7 A. M. in summer, and 8 A. M. in winter, and at least three oidores must be present. Audiencias must not annul sentences of exile; or, unless bonds for payment are given, grant letters of delay to condemned treasury debtors. The majority decide. The governor, alcalde mayor, or other person refusing obedience to any mandate of the tribunal must be visited by a judge and punished. In exceptional cases only the audiencia might touch the royal treasury. Each audiencia must keep a book in which was to be recorded—where the amount in question was over 100,000 maravedís, or, in other important cases—the verdict of each oidor; and the president must swear to keep secret the contents of this book unless ordered by the king to divulge the same. A book should also be kept in which was to be entered anything affecting the treasury; and another the fines imposed. Audiencias could appoint only to certain offices. Philip II. further ordered during the subsequent years of his reign, that audiencias must keep secret the instructions from the crown; that they must not interfere with the lower courts, or with the courts of ecclesiastics, except in cases provided by law, but rather aid them; that they should register the names of persons coming from Spain, with their New World address; that with such matters as residencias, compelling married men to live with their wives, and the estates of deceased persons, presidents and viceroys should not intermeddle, but leave them to the other members; that they should use no funds resulting from their judgments, but draw on the treasury for expenses; that when an audiencia was to be closed, a governor should be appointed with power to continue and determine pending suits, but he should institute no new suits, and appeals lie to the nearest audiencia; that they should not make public the frailties of ecclesiastics, but examine charges against them in secret; that royal despatches for the audiencia must not be opened by the president alone, but at an _acuerdo_, and in presence of the oidores and fiscal, and if thought necessary the _escribano de cámara_ must be present; and that they must not remit to the Council of the Indies trivial matters for decision. In subsequent reigns during the seventeenth century it was at various times decreed that a president might impeach an oidor before the Council of the Indies, though he could not send him to Spain, but no oidor might impeach his president except by royal command; that audiencias should exercise their functions in love and temperance, especially during a vacancy in the office of president or viceroy; that in their visits to the jail the oidores should not entertain petitions of those condemned to death by the ordinary justices in consultation with the criminal section of the audiencia, nor should they on such visits take cognizance of anything not specially confided to them; that they should not legitimize natural children, but refer such cases to the Council of the Indies; that each year the president should designate an oidor to oversee the officers and attachés and punish their faults; that no favoritism should be shown appointees of viceroys or presidents; one oidor might transact business, if the audiencia were reduced to that extremity; in arriving at a decision the junior member should vote first, then the next youngest, and so on up to the senior member. This from the _Recopilacion de las Indias_, i. 323-70. In the _Politica Indiana_ of Solorzano, ii. 271-82, may be found how the audiencias of America differed from those of Spain. Larger powers were given the former by reason of their distance from the throne. They were given jurisdiction in the residencias of the inferior judiciary; they could commission _pesquisidores_, or special judges, and order execution to issue where an inferior judge had neglected to do so. They had cognizance in matters of tithes, of royal patronage, patrimony, treasury matters, and jurisdiction; they could even fix the fee-bill of the ecclesiastical tribunals, settle the estates of bishops, retain apostolic bulls which they deemed prejudicial to the royal patronage, and they could watch and regulate the conduct of all ecclesiastical officials. In making appointments the viceroy was obliged to take the opinion of the audiencia. Persons aggrieved might appeal from the viceroy to the audiencia. On the death, absence, or inability of the viceroy the senior oidor stood in his place. None of these powers were given audiencias in Spain. This and kindred subjects are treated at great length by Solórzano y Pereira, who was a noted Spanish jurist, born at Madrid in 1575. He studied at Salamanca, and in 1609 was appointed by Felipe III. oidor of the audiencia of Lima. Later he became fiscal and councillor in the _Consejo de Hacienda_, the _Consejo de Indias_, and the _Consejo de Castilla_. He published several works on jurisprudence, the most conspicuous being _Disquisitiones de Indiarum jure_, 2 vols, folio, Madrid, 1629-39. It was reprinted in 1777, an edition meanwhile appearing in Lyons in 1672. A Spanish translation by Valenzuela was published at Madrid in 1648, and reprinted in 1776. I have used both the Latin edition and the Spanish, but the latter is preferable.

The work is a commentary on the laws of the Indies, wonderfully concise for a Spanish lawyer of that period, and was of great utility at a time when those laws were in chaotic condition.

To conclude my remarks on audiencias in America I will only say that ultimately their number was eleven; and one at Manila, which, like that of Santo Domingo, had a president, oidores, and a fiscal, and exercised executive as well as judicial functions. The eleven, including that of Santo Domingo, were those of Mexico and Lima, each being presided over by a viceroy, and having 8 oidores, 4 alcaldes del crímen, and 2 fiscales; and those of Guatemala, Guadalajara, Panamá, Chile, La Plata, Quito, Santa Fé, and Buenos Ayres. These several audiencias were formed at different times soon after the establishing of government in the respective places. See further, _Montemayor_, _Svmarios_, 110-11; _Revue Américaine_, i. 3-32; _Zamora y Coronado_, _Biblioteca de Legislacion Ultramarina_, passim.

[V-11] Irving says 1510. I cannot undertake to correct all the minor errors of popular writers, having neither the space nor the inclination. It would seem that in the present, and like instances, of which there are many, the mistake springs from an easy carelessness which regards the difference of a year or two in the date of the settlement of an island as of no consequence; for Las Casas, and other authorities who agree better than usual in this case, were before Mr Irving at the time he entered in his manuscript the wrong date. Important and sometimes even unimportant discrepancies of original or standard authorities will always be carefully noted in these pages. What I shall endeavor to avoid is captious criticism, and the pointing out of insignificant errors merely for the satisfaction of proving others in the wrong.

[V-12] Maria, widow of Diego, demanded of the audiencia of Santo Domingo for her son Luis, then six years of age, the viceroyalty of Veragua, which was refused. She then carried her claim to Spain, where the title of admiral was conferred on Luis, and many other benefits were extended by the emperor to the family, but the title of viceroy was withheld. Subsequently Luis, having instituted court proceedings which were referred to an arbitration, succeeded in having himself declared captain-general of Española. Shortly before his death he relinquished the claim to the viceroyalty of the New World for the titles of duke of Veraguas and marquis of Jamaica, and gave his right to a tenth of the produce of the Indies for a pension of a thousand doubloons. Luis was succeeded by a nephew, Diego, by whose death the legitimate male line was extinguished. Then followed more litigation, female claimants now being conspicuous, until in the beginning of the seventeenth century we find in the Portuguese house of Braganza the titles the discoverer once so coveted, they being then conferred on Nuño Gelves, grandson of the third daughter of Diego, son of Christopher Columbus, and who then might write his name De Portugallo Colon, duque de Veraguas, marqués de la Jamaica, y almirante de las Indias.

[V-13] The _Consejo Supremo de Indias_, Supreme Council of the Indies, sometimes termed the _Consejo de Indias_, or India Council, was a body possessing executive as well as judicial powers, in permanent session at Madrid, and having the same jurisdiction over Spanish colonies in America that was held in Spain by the other supreme councils, especially the _Consejo de Castilla_. Immediately after its discovery the American portion of the Spanish realm was superintended by the Council of Castile, or by councillors selected therefrom. But with the constantly increasing burden of business the creation of a separate supreme tribunal became necessary. Thus the machinery set in motion by Ferdinand was augmented by Charles, and further improved by Philip, until these vast western interests were watched over with undeviating care. Thence all measures for the government and commerce of Spanish America issued; it was the tribunal likewise of ultimate resort where all questions relating thereto were adjudicated. For many years, however, the India Council had no formal existence. Fonseca; Hernando de Vega, _comendador mayor_ of Leon; Mercurino Gatinara, afterward superintendent of all the councils; a gentleman of the emperor's bedchamber called De Lassao; Francisco de Vargas, treasurer-general of Castile, and others, acted specially at the request of their sovereign. This fact gave rise to errors of date into which several historians fell. Thus Prescott, _Ferd. and Isabella_, iii. 452, says, copying Robertson, _Hist. Am._, ii. 358, that the Council of the Indies was first established by Ferdinand in 1511. Helps, _Span. Conq._, ii. 28—drawing a false inference from a false inference drawn by Herrera, ii. ii. xx., who makes the date 1517—goes on to describe a council for Indian affairs, dating its organization 1518, and of which Fonseca was president, and Vega, Zapata, Peter Martyr, and Padilla were members.

It was the first of August, 1524, that the office proper of the Council of the Indies was created. See _Solorzano_, _Politica Indiana_, ii. 394. The decree of final organization may be found in the _Recop. de Indias_, i. 228. It sets forth that in view of the great benefits, under divine favor, the crown daily receives by the enlargement of the realm, the monarch by the grace of God feeling his obligation to govern these kingdoms well, for the better service of God and the well-being of those lands, it was ordered that there should always reside at court this tribunal. It should have a president; the grand chancellor of the Indies should also be a councillor; its members, whose number must be eight, should be _letrados_, men learned in the law. There were to be a fiscal, two secretaries, and a deputy grand chancellor, all of noble birth, upright in morals, prudent, and God-fearing men. There must be, also, three _relatores_, or readers, and a notary, all of experience, diligence, and fidelity; four expert _contadores de cuentas_, accountants and auditors; a treasurer-general; two _solicitadores fiscales_, crown attorneys; a chief chronicler and cosmographer; a professor of mathematics; a _tasador_ to tax costs of suits; a lawyer and a _procurador_ for poor suitors; a chaplain to say mass on council days; four door-keepers, and a bailiff, all taking oath on assuming duty to keep secret the acts of the council. The first president appointed was Fray García de Loaysa, at the time general of the Dominicans, confessor of the emperor, and bishop of Osma, and later cardinal and archbishop of Seville. The first councillors were Luis Vaca, bishop of the Canary Islands; Gonzalo Maldonado, later bishop of Ciudad Rodrigo; Diego Beltran; the prothonotary, Pedro Martyr de Anglería, abbot of Jamaica, and Lorenzo Galindez de Carbajal. Prado was the first fiscal. A list of the earlier presidents, councillors, and officials may be found at the end of _Descripcion de las Indias Occidentales_, in vol. i. Barcia's edition of Herrera.

The jurisdiction of the council extended to every department, civil, military, ecclesiastical, and commercial, and no other council in Spain might have cognizance of any affairs appertaining to the New World. Two thirds of the members must approve of any law or ordinance before it was presented to the king for his signature. In the _Recopilacion de las Indias_, i. 228-323, is given the legislation on the council to 1680. Philip II. ordered the council to be obeyed equally in Spain and in the Indies. Three members were to constitute a quorum, and sit from three to five hours every day except holidays. For purposes of temporal government the New World was to be divided into viceroyalties, provinces of audiencias, and _chancillerías reales_, or sovereign tribunals of lesser weight than audiencias, and provinces of the officials of the royal exchequer, _adelantamientos_, or the government of an adelantado, _gobernaciones_, or governmentships, _alcaldías mayores_, _corregimientos_, _alcaldías ordinarias_, and of the _hermandad_, _concejos de Españoles y de Indios_; and for spiritual government into archbishoprics and suffragan bishoprics, abbeys, parishes, and _diezmerías_, or tithing districts, and provinces of the religious orders. The division for temporal matters was to conform as nearly as possible to that for spiritual affairs. The council was commanded to have for its chief care the conversion and good treatment of the Indians. The laws made by the Council for the Indies should conform as nearly as possible to the existing laws of Spain. In selecting ecclesiastics and civil officers for the Indies, the greatest care should be exercised that none but good men were sent, and their final nomination must rest with the king. Nepotism was strictly prohibited, and offices were not to be sold. In 1600 Felipe III. ordered that twice a week should be held a council of war, composed of eight members, four of whom were councillors of the Indies, and four specially selected by the king. It was decreed in 1584 that the offices of governors, corregidores, and alcaldes mayores of the Indies, when bestowed on persons residing in Spain, should be for five years; when residents in the Indies were appointed, it should be for three years. Felipe IV. in 1636 ordered that in the archives of the council, beside records, should be kept manuscripts and printed books treating on matters moral, religious, historical, political, and scientific, touching the Indies, all that had been or should be issued; and publishers of books of this class were required by law to deposit one copy each in these archives. Two keys were ordered kept, one by the councillor appointed by the president, and the other by the senior secretary. And when the archives of the council became too full, a portion might be sent to Simancas. It was early ordered that the chronicler of the council should write a history, natural and political, of the Indies, every facility being afforded him; and before drawing his last quarter's salary each year, he must present what he had written. So it was with the cosmographer, who was to calculate eclipses, compile guide-books, prepare tables and descriptions, and give an annual lecture. The regulations governing this august body were most wise, and it was the constant aim of the Spanish monarchs to increase its power and sustain its authority. Its jurisdiction extended over half the world, being absolute on sea and land. By it viceroys were made and unmade, also presidents and governors; and, in ecclesiastical rule, patriarchs, archbishops, bishops, and lesser spiritual dignitaries. His Holiness himself was second here. All bulls or briefs of indulgences issued by the pope must be laid before the _Consejo de Cruzada_, and pass through the Council of the Indies. The Consejo de Indias continued in Spain till by a law of the Cortes, March 24, 1834, it was abolished, as indeed was the _Consejo de Castilla_. The judicial functions of the two were vested in the _Tribunal Supremo de España é Indias_; their executive powers in the _Consejo Real de España é Indias_, both being created by the same law.

The next most important agency in the management of New World affairs was the _Casa de Contratacion_, house or board of trade, supreme in commercial matters, save only in its subordination to the Consejo de Indias, in common with every other power below absolute royalty. As before stated, on the return of Columbus from his first voyage, Fonseca, with two or three assistants, was appointed to take charge of the business appertaining to the discovery, the nature or importance of which was then but faintly conceived. This Indian office or agency was established at Seville, with a branch office in the form of a custom-house at Cádiz. But before the expiration of the first decade the New World business had so increased, and the New World dimensions were so rapidly expanding, that it was found necessary to enlarge the capabilities and powers of the India Office; hence by decrees of January 20, and June 5, 1503, was ordered established at Seville the _Casa de Contratacion de las Indias_, or India house of trade, that commerce between the mother country and the Indian colonies might be promoted. The first cédula ordered the office placed in the arsenal, the second in a building known as the _alcazar viejo_, and in that part of it called the _cuarto de los almirantes_, or admirals' quarters. The board consisted of a president, three royal officers, or judges, to wit, treasurer, auditor, and factor; also three judges bred to the law; one fiscal, and other lesser officers and attendants. Among the first to serve, beside Fonseca, were Sancho de Matienzo, a canon of Seville, treasurer; Francisco Pinelo, factor, or general agent; and Jimeno de Berviesca, contador, or auditor. By law those three officers were to reside in the building; and were to despatch all ships going to the Indies, and receive all merchandise coming thence. In all which they were scrupulously to respect the agreement made with Columbus by the sovereigns. They were, moreover, to proclaim that licenses for discovery and trade would be given, under just conditions, to all seeking them and filing commensurate bonds. See _Nueva España_, _Brev. Res._ MS.; _Veitia Linage_, _Norte de la Contratacion_; _Recop. de Indias_; _Solorzano_, _Pol. Ind._; _Zamora y Coronado_, _Bib. Leg. Ult._; _Young's Hist. Mex._, 40-6; _Democratic Review_, i. 264-9; _Walton's Exposé_, 24; _Niles' S. Am. and Mex._, 65-8; _Revolution in Sp. Am._, 5-6; _Purchas_, _His Pilgrimes_, iv. 916-17. An officer appointed by the king resided at Cádiz to despatch vessels under the supervision of the Casa de Contratacion. The India House was a court of judicature no less than a board of trade; it had cognizance in all civil, criminal, and commercial questions arising from the traffic of Spain with the Indies, appeal being to the Council of the Indies. I will mention a few only of the more important of the many minor orders regulating this board. The volume and variety of its business rapidly increased from year to year. In 1510 Diego Colon was instructed to inform its officers concerning all that he should write to the king. The board was obliged to possess itself of the minutest knowledge concerning New World affairs, and of persons asking permission to go thither, and in the execution of its duties it was not to be interfered with even by royal officers of high rank. The actual powers conferred on the three officials first named by Queen Juana are not given by any of the chronicles, or collections of laws, which I have examined. Indeed, the powers and jurisdiction of the board were never clearly defined until the issuing of the ordinances of the 23d of August, 1543, known as the _ordenanzas de la casa_, and which should not be confounded with the _ordenanzas_ of other years. Every day but feast-days the board should meet for business, and remain in session for three hours in the forenoon, and on the afternoons of Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays for the despatch of ships. Absence involved primarily loss of pay, and finally loss of office. If this be not time sufficient for the business, they must take more time. The president and judges together should transact the business; a judge might not act singly except upon a matter referred to him by all. The notary should keep in his book an account of the hours of absence among the officers. Before the platform on which sat the judges, benches were ordered placed for the convenience of the _visitadores_, or inspectors of ships, and such other honorable persons having business there as should be invited by the tribunal to sit. The authorities of Seville should not interfere in the trial and punishment of crimes committed on board ships sailing to and from the Indies. If the penalty was death or mutilation, the offender was to be tried by the three judges, members of the board, learned in the law. In the civil suits of private persons, appertaining to the Indies, litigants were given the option of bringing their disputes before the judges of the India House, or before the ordinary justice of Seville. Disputes arising from shipwreck, loss of cargo, and frauds connected therewith, were all brought before the India House. Traders to the Indies residing in Seville were authorized to meet and elect a prior and consul, or consuls, which consulate should be called the _Universidad de los Cargadores á las Indias_, and hold their meetings in the Casa de Contratacion. No foreigner, his son or grandson could so hold office. This consulate had cognizance in disputes between these merchants and factors in matters relative to purchases, sales, freights, insurance, and bankruptcy, all being subordinate to the regular tribunal of the India House. Appeals were from the consulate to one of the regular judges selected annually to that duty. The consulate could address the king only through the Casa de Contratacion, and government despatches from the Indies must be forwarded by the board. As justice alone was the object of these merchants, and not chicanery, or the distortion of evidence, parties to suits before the consulate were not allowed lawyers. That harmony might be maintained, the Casa de Contratacion should carry out the orders of the _audiencia de grados_ of Seville, if deemed conformable to law, and to existing regulations of the board. Communications from the board to the king must be signed by the president and judges conjointly, and no letter must treat of more than a single subject. All gold, silver, pearls, and precious stones coming from the Indies were first to be deposited in the India House, and thence distributed to the owners. The king's share was to be placed in a safe with three keys, or if this was too small, then in a room having three keys. Other safes were to be kept, one for each kind of property. Accounts of receipts at the India House were to be rendered the king every year. The board must render an annual statement of its expenditures on _religiosos_ sent to the Indies. Felipe IV. ordered that the board should collect from all ships and merchandise, including a _pro rata_ on the king's share, the cost for convoying them forth and back. Such was the famous India House at Seville, modest in its beginning, mighty in its accomplishments, through which passed into Spain the almost fabulous wealth of Spanish America.

[V-14] _Recopilacion de Leyes de los Reynos de las Indias_, of which I make general use in referring to the laws passed in Spain for the regulation of the affairs of the New World, is the result of several previous efforts in the direction of compilation. It was published at Madrid, the first edition in four volumes, by order of Cárlos II. in 1681, and the fourth edition in three volumes, under the direction of the Royal and Supreme Council of the Indies, in 1791. The work aimed to embody all laws in force at the date of the respective editions relative to the Spanish American colonies. The three volumes are divided into nine books, and each book into from eight to forty-six titles. The first title of the first book is _De la Santa Fe Católica_, a subject then second to none in grave importance. In fact the whole of the first book is devoted to ecclesiastical and kindred matters. The second book refers in the main to tribunals and officials; the third in a great measure to the army; the fourth to discoveries and settlements; the fifth to executive and judicial offices; the sixth to Indians, including treatment, repartimientos and encomiendas; the seventh to crimes and punishments; the eighth to the management of the royal treasury; and the ninth to the India House and the commerce of the Indies. By a decree of the emperor in 1550, which was embodied in the ordinances of audiencias in 1563, by Philip II., it was ordered that all _cédulas_ and _provisiones_ should be copied _in extenso_ in a book set apart for that service, and of which great care should be taken, and that the said documents were to be filed chronologically in the archives of each audiencia. In 1571, by Philip II., it was decreed, and the decree embodied in the _Recopilacion_ of 1680, that cédulas and provisiones concerning the royal treasury should be kept in a separate book.

The earliest printed collection of laws relating solely to the Indies is that of the _ordenanzas_ for the government of the audiencia of Mexico. This was issued in 1548. In 1552 a similar collection was made by order of the viceroy of Peru, Antonio de Mendoza, for the government of the audiencia of Lima, but was not printed at that time. Later the fiscal of Mexico, Antonio Maldonado, began a compilation to which he gave the name _Repertorio de las Cedulas, Provisiones, i Ordenanzas Reales_, but it does not appear that he ever completed his task, although a royal cédula in 1556 authorized him to do so. Upon the representation in 1552 by Francisco Hernandez de Liébana, fiscal of the Council of the Indies, of the urgent necessity of such a work, a royal cédula was issued in 1560, directing the viceroy of New Spain, Luis de Velasco, to have prepared and printed such regulations as were in force within the jurisdiction of the audiencia of Mexico, which was done in 1563 under the direction of Vasco de Puga, oidor of the audiencia. Francisco de Toledo, sent from Spain in 1569 as viceroy of Peru, was ordered to make a similar compilation covering the limits of his viceroyalty, but it was afterward thought better the work should be done in Spain. Hence in 1570 Philip II. ordered made a general compilation of laws and provisions for the government of the Indies, which was intended as a code, obsolete laws being omitted, new ones provided where necessary, and those in conflict reconciled. Of this work, from some cause not satisfactorily explained, probably from the death of the author, only the title relating to the Consejo de Indias and its ordenanzas was printed, although the whole of the first book had been prepared.

In 1581 some ordinances relative to the Casa de Contratacion and its judges were printed at Madrid; and more of a similar nature in 1585, beside the _Leyes y Ordenanzas_ for the government of the Indies, and the ordinances of 1582 concerning the despatch of fleets for New Spain and Tierra Firme, printed at Madrid; and in Guatemala the _ordenanzas_ of July 14, 1556, relating to the _Universidad de los Mercaderes de Sevilla_. In 1594 the marqués de Cañete, viceroy of Peru, published at Lima a small volume of ordinances relative to the good treatment of the Indians. But the want of a general compilation becoming more and more apparent, Diego de Encinas, a clerk in the office of the king's secretary, was ordered to prepare a copy of all _provisiones_, _cédulas_, _cartas_, _ordenanzas_, and _instrucciones_ despatched prior to 1596, which work was printed at Madrid, in four folio volumes, the same year. Harrisse is mistaken when he says these volumes were suppressed, not having been authorized; for not only is their authorization distinctly stated over the king's own hand in the enacting clause of the _Recopilacion de las Indias_, May 18, 1680, where it says that Philip II. ordered Encinas to do this work, but that owing to their faulty arrangement the volumes 'aun no han satisfecho el intento de recopilar en forma conveniente,' which clearly shows them to have been in use up to that time. Shortly after this, Alvar Gomez de Abaunza, oidor of the audiencia of Guatemala, and subsequently _alcalde del crímen_ of the audiencia of Mexico, compiled two large volumes under the title of _Repertorio de Cedulas Reales_, which were not printed. And in Spain, Diego de Zorrilla made an attempt to revive the project of the _recopilacion de leyes_, by making extracts from Encinas and adding laws of later date; but having received an appointment as oidor of the audiencia of Quito, he left the work incomplete and in manuscript. Others made similar attempts; I shall not be able to enumerate them all, or give a full list even of the printed collections. For example, in 1603 was published at Valladolid a folio entitled _Ordenanças Reales del Consejo de Indias_, and another thin folio called _Leyes y Ordenanças Nuevamente hechas por su Magestad, para la gouernaciõ de las Indias_; later appeared a folio entitled _Ordenanças de la Casa de la Contratacion de Sevilla_, and another, _Ordenanças Reales para el gobierno de los Tribunales de Contaduría Mayor en los Reynos de las Indias_. In 1606 Hernando de Villagomez began to arrange cédulas and other laws relating to the Indies; and two years after, the celebrated conde de Lémos being president of the Council, Villagomez, and Rodrigo de Aguiar y Acuña, member of the Council of the Indies, were appointed a committee to compile the laws; but nothing came of it, even Fernando Carrillo failing to complete their unfinished task. Juan de Solórzano y Pereira, oidor of the audiencia of Lima, also began a collection of cédulas, and sent to the Council of the Indies the first book of his contemplated work, with the titles of the other five books which he intended to compile. In a _carta real_ he was thanked for what he had done, and charged to continue his labors, sending each book as prepared to the Council. I have no evidence that he did so.

All this time our book was a-building, and indeed for 170 years more. A complete history of this one work would fill a volume; obviously in a bibliographical note, even of undue length, only the more prominent agencies and incidents of its being can be touched upon.

We come now to the time when Antonio de Leon Pinelo, judge in the India House, presented to the Council of the Indies the first and second books, nearly complete, of his _Discurso sobre la importancia, forma, y disposicion de la Recopilacion de Leies de Indias_, which was printed in one volume, folio, in 1623. This was in reality Encinas' work with some cédulas added. Meanwhile it appears that some direct official work was done on a compilation, for in 1624 we find the Council instructing Pinelo to enter into relations with the custodian of the material for the compilation. Pinelo was likewise authorized to examine the archives of the Council; and for two years he employed himself continuously in examining some 500 MS. volumes of cédulas, containing over 300,000 documents. In the law authorizing the _Recopilacion de las Indias_ of 1680, it is said that in 1622 the task had been entrusted to Rodrigo de Aguiar y Acuña, probably the custodian referred to. In 1628 it was thought best to print for the use of the Council an epitome of the part completed; hence appeared the _Sumarios de la Recopilacion General de las Leies de las Indias_. Aguiar y Acuña dying, Pinelo worked on alone until 1634, when the Council approved of what had been done; and in the year following this indefatigable and learned man had the satisfaction of presenting the completed _Recopilacion de las Indias_. To one of the members, Juan de Solórzano y Pereira, the work was referred, and received his approbation in 1636. More than half a million of cédulas had been examined and classified during the progress of this compilation. And yet it was not published; and during the delay it was becoming obsolete, and new material and partial compilations were being made both in Spain and in America, some of which were printed in separate pieces. In 1634 the _Ordenanzas de la Junta de Guerra de Indias_ were published; in 1646 Juan Diez de la Calle compiled and published for the Council of the Indies in small quarto a memorial containing some of the cédulas of the _Recopilacion_. A useful aid for the study of statistic geography in America is to be found in the exceedingly rare _Memorial y Noticias Sacras y Reales del Imperio de las Indias Occidentales_. By Iuan Diez de la Calle, 1646, sm. 4to, 183 folios. A register for the Spanish colonies, chiefly of state and church officials, of towns, their wealth and notable objects. Folios 41-132 refer to the jurisdictions of the audiencias of Mexico, Guadalajara, and Guatemala. Calle had in the previous year, as assistant chief clerk to the secretary of the Royal Council of the Indies, presented the work to the king as _Memorial Informatorio al Rey_, and in accordance with his approval it had been reprinted with additions as above. Encouraged hereby he wrote at greater length the _Noticias Sacras i Reales_ in twelve libros, the publication of which was begun, but never finished. Puga's work was continued in the form of an _Inventario_ of the cédulas relating to New Spain issued from 1567-1620, the manuscript being presented to the secretary of the New Spain department of the Council of the Indies by Francisco de Párraga, afterward forming part of the Barcia collection. In 1647 appeared at Seville the _Ordenanças Reales, para la Casa de Contratacion de Sevilla, y para otras cosas de las Indias_; in 1658 Pinelo published at Madrid the _Autos, acuerdos y decretos de gobierno del real y supremo consejo de las Indias_. In 1661 there was printed at Madrid a folio entitled _Ordenanzas para remedio de los daños, é inconvenientes que se siguen de los descaminos i arribadas maliciosas de los Navios que navegan de las Indias Occidentales_; and in 1672 the _Norte de la Contratacion de las Indias Occidentales_ of Ioseph de Veitia Linage was published at Seville. J. Stevens translated this last work into English and published it in London in 1702.

The many and long periods of suspended animation of the _Recopilacion de Indias_, between its inception and its birth, is no less remarkable a feature in the history of the work than its multiplicity of origins and collateral affluents. In 1660 the case was brought before the king, and then referred to successive committees, in each of which were several members of the Council, the whole being under the supervision of their successive presidents, until finally, on the 18th of May, 1680, a royal decree made the _Recopilacion de Indias_ law, and all ordinances conflicting therewith null. Even now printing did not seem to be at first thought of. Two authenticated copies were ordered made, one to be kept in the archives of the Council, and the other at Simancas. It was soon seen, however, that this was not sufficient, and in 1681 the king ordered the book printed under the superintendence of the Council of the Indies, which was done. Although the _Recopilacion de Indias_ was several times revised, and well fulfilled its mission for over a hundred years, in fact to the end of Spain's dominion in America, several partial collections appeared from time to time in Spain and in America. Among these were _Sumarios de las Cédulas ... que se han despachado ... desde el año 1628 ... hasta ... 1677_, printed in Mexico in 1678; _Ordenanzas del Perù_, Lima, 1685; also the _Ordenanhas de Cruçada, para los Subdelegados del Perù_; _Reglamento y Aranceles Reales para el Comercio Libre de España à Indias_, 1778; _Teatro de la legislacion universal de España e Indias_, by Antonio Javier Perez y Lopez, 28 vols. 4to, Madrid, 1791-8. In the various public and private archives of Spain and Spanish America are manuscript collections of cédulas and compilations on special subjects.

[VI-1] The world was at a loss at first what to call the newly found region to the westward. It was easy enough to name the islands, one after another, as they were discovered, but when the Spaniards reached the continent they were backward about giving it a general name. Everything was so dark and uncertain; islands were mistaken for continent, and continent for islands. The simple expression New World that fell with the first exclamations of wonder from the lips of Europeans on learning of the success of Columbus sufficed for a time as a general appellation. More general and more permanent was the name India, arising from the mistake that this was the farther side or eastern shore of India, applied at first to the continent as well as to the islands, and which fastened itself permanently on the people as well as on the country. 'Segun la opinion mas probable, que penetró hasta aquellos parages, y tambien mas comunmente se da à este nuevo mundo descubierto, el nombre de Indias Occidentales, para distinguirlas de las verdaderas que están situadas en la Asia à nuestro Oriente entre el Indo, y el Ganges.' _Nueva España, Brev. Res._, MS. i. 3. As the coast line of the continent extended itself and became known as such it was very naturally called by navigators _tierra firme_, firm land, in contradistinction to the islands which were supposed to be less firm. And, indeed, not the islands only, but the people of the islands are inconstant, the moon being mistress of the waters. As Las Casas, _Hist. Indias_, iii. 395, puts it, 'La naturaleza dellos no les consiente tener perseverancia en la virtud, quier por ser insulares, que naturalmente tienen ménos constancia, por ser la luna señora de las aguas.' The name Tierra Firme, thus general at first, in time became particular. As a designation for an unknown shore it at first implied only the Continent. As discovery unfolded, and the magnitude of this Firm Land became better known, new parts of it were designated by new names, and Tierra Firme became a local appellation in place of a general term. Paria being first discovered, it fastened itself there; also along the shore to Darien, Veragua, and on to Costa Rica, where at no well defined point it stopped, so far as the northern seaboard was concerned, and in due time struck across to the South Sea, where the name marked off an equivalent coast line. Lopez Vaz, in _Purchas_, _His Pilgrimes_, iv. 1433, says, 'From this Land of Veragua vnto the Iland of Margereta, the Coast along is called the _firme Land_, not for that the other places are not of the firme Land, but because it was the first firme Land that the Spaniards did conquer after they had past the Ilands.' In the _Recop. de Indias_, i. 324, is a law dated 1535, and repeated 1537, 1538, 1563, 1570, 1571, and 1588, which places within the limits of the kingdom of Tierra Firme the province of Castilla del Oro. As a political division Tierra Firme had existence for a long time. It comprised the provinces of Darien, Veragua, and Panamá, which last bore also the name of Tierra Firme as a province. The extent of the kingdom was 65 leagues in length by 18 at its greatest breadth, and nine leagues at its smallest width. It was bounded on the east by Cartagena, and the gulf of Urabá and its river; on the west by Costa Rica, including a portion of what is now Costa Rica; and on the north and south by the two seas. On the maps of _Novvs Orbis seu descriptionis Indiæ Occidentalis_ by De Laet, 1633, and of _Ogilby's America_, 1671, the Isthmus is called Tierra Firme. Villagutierre writes in 1701, _Hist. Conq. Itza_, 12, 'Tierra-Firme de la Costa de Paria, ò Provincia, que llamò de Veragua; principio de los dilatados Reynos de aquel Nuevo, y Grande Emisferio.' Neither Guatemala, Mexico, nor any of the lands to the north were ever included in Tierra Firme. English authors often apply the Latin form, Terra Firma, to this division, which is misleading.

The early Spanish writers were filled with disgust by the misnomer America. Pizarro y Orellana, _Varones Ilvstres_, in his preface speaks of the 'Nueva, y riquissima Parte del Mundo, que se llama vulgarmẽte _America_, y nosotros llamamos _Fer-Isabelica_;' and throughout his book the author persists, where 'Nuovo Mundo' is not employed, in calling America Fer-Isabelica, that is to say Ferdinand and Isabella, an attempt at name-changing no less futile than bungling. This was in 1639. If with these seventeenth-century writers the name Columbia, the only appropriate one for the New World, smacked too strongly of Genoa, they might have called it Pinzonia, which would have been in better taste, at least, than in bestowing the honor on the cold and haggling sovereigns. Jules Marcou, like thousands of his class who seek fame through foolishness, writes in the _Atlantic Monthly_, March, 1875, to prove that the name America came from a mountain range in Nicaragua, called by the natives Americ, which became a synonym for the golden mainland, first at the islands and then in Europe, until it finally reached the foot of the Vosges, where Waldsee-Müller, or Hylacomylus of Saint Dié, confuses it with the name of Vespucci, and is led to print in the preface of Vespucci's Voyages:—'And the fourth part of the world having been discovered by Americus may well be called Amerige, which is as much as to say, the land of Americus, or America.' Had the name been so early and so commonly applied to Tierra Firme, it is strange that some one of the many Spanish writers in the Indies or in Spain had not employed it or mentioned it. Villagutierre in 1701 endorses the effort made by Pizarro y Orellana in 1639, saying, _Hist. Conq. Itza_, 13, that the New World should have been called after the Catholic sovereigns, 'de cuya orden, y à cuyas expensas se descubrian.' He states further, on the authority of Simon, that the Council of the Indies as late as 1620 talked of changing the name, but were deterred by the inconvenience involved. Likewise Vetancurt, _Teatro Mex._, 13-15, in 1698 says that the name America should be erased from history, calling attention to the bull of partition issued by Pope Adrian VI., which alludes to the new lands as the Western Part—only it was not Adrian but Alexander VI. who perpetrated the bull, in which moreover there is no such term as Western Part used—arguing therefrom that Indias Occidentales was the most proper term. On the application and origin of the name America see cap. i. p. 123-5 of this volume.

[VI-2] Now gulf of Darién. The name Urabá was first applied to the gulf by Bastidas, or by navigators immediately following him. Subsequently the territory on the eastern side of the gulf was called Urabá, and that on the western side Darien. On Peter Martyr's map, _India beyond the Ganges_, 1510, is the word _vraba_; on the globe of Orontius, 1531, _Sinus vraba_ is applied to the gulf, and _vrabe_ to the river Atrato. Pilestrina, _Munich Atlas_, no. iv., 1515, places _G: d epimeg_ at the southern end of the gulf, which is represented as very wide. Maiollo, _Munich Atlas_, no. v., 1519, writes _Vraba_ in small letters at the southern end; also the words _aldea_, _tera plana_, and _Rio basso_.

[VI-3] Castilla del Oro was for the time but another name for this part of Tierra Firme. Then Castilla del Oro became a province of Tierra Firme; for in the _Recop. de Indias_,