CHAPTER XX.

MARROQUIN AND LAS CASAS IN GUATEMALA AND VERA PAZ.

1541-1550.

A NEW CATHEDRAL WANTED—A POOR PRELATE AND UNWILLING TITHE-PAYERS—TWO CONTENTIOUS BISHOPS—CHARITABLE INSTITUTIONS FOUNDED—DOMINICAN CONVENT ORGANIZED—FRANCISCANS ARRIVE—THEIR LABORS—MOTOLINIA FOUNDS A CUSTODIA—DISPUTES BETWEEN FRANCISCANS AND DOMINICANS—LA TIERRA DE GUERRA—LAS CASAS' SYSTEM—HIS FIRST EFFORTS IN VERA PAZ—HE GOES TO SPAIN—DECREES OBTAINED BY HIM AND AN INDIGNANT CABILDO—LAS CASAS RETURNS—PROGRESS IN VERA PAZ—PEACEFUL SUBMISSION AND HEAVY TRIBUTES—CANCER'S EXPEDITION TO FLORIDA—OMINOUS OPINIONS—AN INDIFFERENT CAPTAIN—A DOMINICAN MARTYR.

After the destruction of Santiago and the removal of the city to a new site the erection of another cathedral and episcopal residence was necessary.[XX‑1] The means, however, for the construction of these edifices could not be immediately procured. The bishop therefore caused to be built a hermitage, called Santa Lucía, which served temporarily as the parish church in the new city.[XX‑2] The removal of the episcopal seat was, moreover, a matter which did not depend upon either the decision of the cabildo or the prelate, and both his Majesty and the pope had to be consulted on so momentous a question. The necessity of permission to make such a change was pointed out to the cabildo by the bishop, who during a visit to Acajutla was informed by that body that the roof of the old church had been removed.[XX‑3] With regard to the building of the new cathedral few particulars are known, other than that the bishop was compelled for a number of years to appeal to the king for aid in its completion.[XX‑4]

Marroquin's bishopric, indeed, was not a rich one. In 1542 he represents to the king the objection of the settlers to pay tithes, which they regarded as an unheard of demand, and implores his Majesty to enforce the payment to the church of one tenth of all tributes.[XX‑5] He, moreover, assures him that his salary of five hundred thousand maravedís was not sufficient to meet the demands of hospitality and charity, and requests that a portion of the revenues of Honduras and Soconusco be granted to him.[XX‑6]

But the colonists were not easily compelled to pay their tithes of cacao,[XX‑7] maize, and feathers, and in 1545 the bishop again brought the matter before the notice of the throne, declaring that the frequency of disputes between the clergy and the colonists on this account was prejudicial in the extreme. He represented the poverty of his church and his own indebtedness, and asked that some compensation might be made him for his services, and the expenses which he had incurred in his visits to Honduras and Chiapas. Nevertheless the colonists maintained a stubborn opposition, and in 1548 matters had so little improved that Marroquin once more asks for aid from the crown.[XX‑8]

[Sidenote: QUARRELLINGS OF THE BISHOPS.]

The effort of Marroquin to obtain Soconusco as a district of his diocese widened the breach between him and Las Casas, the particulars of which have already been given, and was one of the causes of the abuse which these prelates heaped upon each other. The prince regent had issued a cédula assigning Soconusco to the bishop of Chiapas on the ground of its proximity to that province. This decision Las Casas communicated to Marroquin in 1545, and hence arose mutual vituperation, charges of grasping after territory, and misrepresentations, if not untruthfulness, on either side. The bishop of Guatemala writes to the people of Soconusco urging them to appeal against the royal cédula, and in a letter to the king dated June 4, 1545, describes the diocese of Las Casas as extending from sea to sea, and broad enough to contain half a dozen bishoprics, while Las Casas reports that the bishop of Guatemala had appropriated districts extending almost to Nicaragua, and states that his see is the asylum of vagabond clergymen.[XX‑9]

* * * * *

[Sidenote: FRESH ARRIVALS.]

But though Marroquin was thus involved in difficulties with his flock and disputes with his brother bishop, he labored hard for the welfare of the former by founding various charitable institutions. Under his auspices was established between 1546 and 1548,[XX‑10] the convent of La Concepcion, the first lady superior being Doña Beatriz de Silva, a nun of the Dominican convent of Madre de Dios in Toledo.[XX‑11] This institution was liberally aided by the crown.[XX‑12]

About the same time the hospital of San Alejo was founded by the Dominicans,[XX‑13] and in 1849 Bishop Marroquin founded that of Santiago. This latter establishment was designed for Spanish and native patients of both sexes. It was a spacious building containing four wards, so that the races and sexes could be kept apart. Marroquin, retaining the office of administrator, ceded the patronage of this institution to the crown; hence it was known as the royal hospital of Santiago.[XX‑14] While the bishop thus studied the temporal welfare of his flock, its spiritual good was ever in appearance, at least his anxious care, and I find his requests for more ecclesiastics almost as frequent as his petitions for more money. From both Franciscans and Dominicans he received great assistance. This last named order had with the rest of the settlers removed to the new city,[XX‑15] having received from the municipality an assignment of four lots of ground whereon to rebuild their convent.[XX‑16] In 1547 the provincial chapter of the order in Mexico recognized and accepted the convent of Guatemala as regularly organized, and appointed Friar Tomás Casillas as a prior. At this date there were thirteen members of the community besides the prior. In 1550 Fray Tomás de la Torre succeeded Casillas, by which time the number had increased to only fifteen.[XX‑17]

[Sidenote: THE FRANCISCANS.]

Meantime the rival order of the Franciscans had appeared upon the field of labor. When the first members arrived it is not possible to decide. According to Torquemada, Fray Toribio Motolinia was sent in 1533, by the custodia of the order in Mexico, to found monasteries in Guatemala,[XX‑18] but the first permanent establishment of Franciscans in Santiago was due to the efforts of Marroquin. At the entreaty of that prelate six friars were sent from Spain in 1539,[XX‑19] and arrived at Mexico in 1540, their expenses having been paid by him.[XX‑20] After remaining six months at that city they proceeded by land to Guatemala, but at Tepeaca, six leagues from Puebla, their prelate Casaseca fell sick and died.[XX‑21] The rest continued their journey and were received at Santiago with every demonstration of welcome. By private contributions and with the assistance of the bishop they were enabled to erect a humble dwelling,[XX‑22] in which they discharged the duties of their calling with as punctual and strict observance as if it had been a convent of the highest order. After the destruction of Santiago appropriate ground was allotted to them for the erection of their convent, church, and other buildings,[XX‑23] and by June 1542 an unpretending monastery had been built. When the Franciscans had acquired some knowledge of the native tongues, they engaged in missionary labors throughout the country.[XX‑24]

The need of more friars was, however, urgent, and ere long Fray Valderas, with the approval of the bishop, went to Spain in order to procure more members of his order. He soon accomplished his mission and returned with twelve brothers to Mexico. Unhappily in their haste to engage in their labors most of them broke down on the long and toilsome journey to Santiago, and died.[XX‑25] At a later date, however, the want was somewhat relieved by the arrival of Motolinia with a considerable number of his order.[XX‑26]

The Franciscan order was now firmly established in Guatemala. Motolinia erected the convents which had been founded[XX‑27] into a custodia, despatched friars to Yucatan,[XX‑28] and visited different parts of the country. He then returned to Mexico and was succeeded in his office of custodio by Fray Gonzalo de Mendez.[XX‑29]

The jealousy which existed between the Dominicans and Franciscans was exhibited in Guatemala as strongly as elsewhere, and the bickerings which occurred, and opposition offered by the earlier established order to the new-comers, were so discouraging that many of the Franciscans left the province.[XX‑30] But for the efforts of Bishop Marroquin they would have abandoned the field.[XX‑31]

In 1547 the comisario general states that there were only twelve Franciscans in Guatemala, and requests that young members of the order, capable of acquiring the native language, be sent out.[XX‑32] He also impresses upon the emperor the necessity of assigning separate fields of labor to the two orders, and it is to be noted that the Franciscans were inimical to the Mercenarios, who are described as being detrimental rather than beneficial to the cause of the church.[XX‑33]

[Sidenote: MEASURES CONCERNING NATIVES.]

The disagreement between the two highest regular orders was not based entirely upon a struggle for supremacy. Each had its distinct views with regard to the method of implanting Christianity in America. The Dominicans, led by their unyielding chief Las Casas, would not recognize wholesale baptism as practised by the Franciscans, and they would not admit that the interests of the conquerors were compatible with the welfare of the conquered races. The Franciscans, with Motolinia as their leader, imagined that a system of ecclesiastical and civil policy could be adopted which would conduce to the interests of both the dominant and conquered races. This order did not object to the sword being called into operation; the Dominicans denied it as a means of advancing the gospel. The Dominicans were uncompromisingly opposed to slavery; the rival order not so, and I am inclined to think that the Franciscans honestly believed that under the pressure of the encomenderos and the impossibility of rapid manumission, more benefit could be obtained for the natives by a tolerant system of servitude, supervised by the religious orders, than by a sudden change. It is unnecessary to relate the bitter denunciations that each leader uttered against the other. While it is to be regretted that Motolinia in his fierce attack on Las Casas appears to have been guided by a spirit not altogether free from jealousy,[XX‑34] it cannot be disputed that the indiscreet zeal of Las Casas gave dissatisfaction to eminent men even in his own order.[XX‑35]

It was through the exertions of Bartolomé de Las Casas that the pacification of Vera Paz was achieved without the aid of an armed force. The native name of this territory was Tuzulutlan. The Spaniards after their entrance into Guatemala made several unsuccessful attempts to subdue it, and from this cause and the fierce character of the natives they called it Tierra de Guerra.[XX‑36] Its dimensions at the time the Dominicans entered it nearly corresponded with its present limits. In 1574 friars of the convent at Coban reported that Vera Paz, as already bounded by royal decree, extended sixty leagues from east to west, measured from the river Nito[XX‑37] to the river Zacapulas, and fifty leagues from south to north, commencing from the northern slope of the Canal and Rabinal mountains.[XX‑38] The surface was rugged and mountainous; roads were almost unknown, and the inhabitants active and warlike.[XX‑39] Nevertheless Las Casas proposed to penetrate it in defiance of danger, exposure, and hardship.

[Sidenote: PEACEFUL CONQUESTS.]

Previous to 1536 he had published a treatise,[XX‑40] in which he condemned conquest by force of arms, and urged that to civilize and convert the Indians was the true system of subjugation. These precepts he incessantly upheld in Santiago both from the pulpit and in conversation, and his teachings only drew upon him general ridicule and enmity, and eventually the people of Santiago dared him to put his principles in practice by accomplishing the conquest of Tuzulutlan. The undaunted padre accepted the challenge, and in conjunction with Fray Rodrigo de Ladrada and Fray Pedro de Angulo, agreed to undertake the perilous enterprise on the condition that the natives should never be assigned in encomiendas, and that for a period of five years, dating from the entrance of the friars into the province, no Spaniards should be permitted to enter the country.[XX‑41]

Las Casas at once proceeded to put his designs in execution, and by the employment of converted Indians and the establishment of frontier posts, opened friendly relations with the hitherto exclusive inhabitants of Vera Paz,[XX‑42] and laid the basis of the future acknowledgment of the sovereignty of Spain.[XX‑43]

Nevertheless the work of conversion could not be straightway accomplished. Though Las Casas was convinced of the practicability of his scheme, the small number of friars in the country rendered its immediate execution impossible. Moreover much opposition was offered to his broad and uncompromising views, and although the work was begun under the best auspices, so far as the action of the native chiefs was concerned, he felt himself compelled to suspend operations until he had had a personal interview with the emperor.[XX‑44] Accordingly he left Guatemala and proceeded by way of Mexico to Spain.[XX‑45]

On his arrival at court he advocated his system of peaceful conquest with his usual vigor, but his action gave great offence to the cabildo of Guatemala. Two indignant letters were addressed to the emperor attributing to him the existing troubles and turmoils.[XX‑46] The direct cause of these despatches was the receipt of two decrees obtained by the representations of Las Casas, the first of which was addressed to the bishop and governor of Guatemala and intended to remedy the prevailing neglect in the religious instruction of the Indians and negroes. It ordered that at a stated hour each day, all such as were not already instructed should be taught their religious duties.[XX‑47] The second guaranteed to Las Casas and his companions, in their labors in Tuzulutlan, freedom from interference on the part of the Spaniards.[XX‑48] At the same time he obtained other documents authorizing him or his companions to take such Spaniards as they themselves might select into the converted regions. Letters of thanks, also, were sent to such caciques as had aided in the work begun, and lastly as a precaution against the interference of Alvarado, the assistance of certain caciques was secured to the Dominicans, and the adelantado and his lieutenant commanded not to interfere with them.[XX‑49]

But Las Casas was aware that the promulgation and execution of a decree in the western world were two different matters. He had learned by experience that subterfuge was commonly resorted to in order to prevent the enforcement of a cédula or delay its operation until there was no longer necessity for it, and this without the charge of disloyalty being incurred. The ceremony of kissing the royal order and placing it upon the head was duly and submissively performed, but if it could be alleged that his Majesty had been misinformed, ground for appeal was at once established, and its execution postponed until a truthful statement of the question could be submitted to the king. This delayed the arrival of the final decision until it became inoperative, and the evasion of royal orders was at this time severely felt by the ecclesiastics. Las Casas consequently represented these abuses to the council and procured a final cédula which entrusted the enforcement of the preceding ones to the audiencia of Mexico, authorizing that court to punish disobedience to previous decrees.

[Sidenote: SUCCESS OF THE FRIARS.]

In 1541 Fray Luis Cancer returned to Guatemala, and continued in Vera Paz the work of conversion inaugurated by Las Casas. From this time the pacification proper may be considered to have begun.[XX‑50]

The exertions of Las Casas during the time he remained in Spain were, as the reader is already aware, mainly directed to the promulgation of the new code of laws. In 1545 he again arrived in New Spain to take charge of his diocese as will be hereafter related, and in July, being anxious to witness the progress that had been made in Vera Paz, he visited that province. He found the condition of affairs to be so satisfactory that he caused the depositions of six Spaniards to be taken for the purpose of reporting to the emperor the true nature of the conquest of this formerly warlike region. From the statements of these deponents it appears that previous to the entrance of the Dominicans the inhabitants of these districts opposed all attempts to subdue them,[XX‑51] but that by infinite labor and care the friars had overcome their ferocity and exasperation. In his progress through the country the bishop everywhere met with a kind welcome. Escorted by Don Juan, a son of the lord of Coban, with many of his subjects, he proceeded from town to town,[XX‑52] receiving offerings and presents at each place. At Coban he was gratified to find that a substantial wooden church had been erected, and that every day many natives eagerly received religious instruction. Proceeding thence to the town of Tuzulutlan he there met Bishop Marroquin, who was making a similar visit[XX‑53] and I apprehend that the two prelates did not entertain such friendly feelings to each other as had been displayed to both of them by the natives.

But Las Casas had still to learn that however successful his own efforts had been he could not ward off the oppression of his countrymen. The Spaniards now began to enter the region, impose tributes, and make slaves as was their wont, and in October following Fray Luis Cancer wrote to him—the prelate being then at Gracias á Dios—stating that more than seven hundred slaves of both sexes had been taken from the town of Tuzulutlan alone, and that the tribute which the natives of Vera Paz were called upon to pay was intolerable.[XX‑54] Moreover he was soon to find, greatly to his mortification, that his peaceful system of conversion was not necessarily unattended by bloodshed, as was shown a few years later by the martyrdom of Luis Cancer and two brothers of the Dominican order.

[Sidenote: FURTHER EFFORTS.]

In 1547 Fray Cancer and Las Casas returned to Spain, and by their representations induced the emperor to consent to an expedition to Florida to be conducted by the former on the system by which the pacification of Vera Paz was accomplished. His Majesty extended every facility to the friar, supplying him with funds and issuing an order which would enable him to obtain every encouragement and aid from the authorities in Mexico.[XX‑55] The friar made his preparations with great enthusiasm; yet he met with considerable delay, caused by the unfavorable light in which his dangerous enterprise was regarded in Spain. He had great difficulty in obtaining a pilot, and indeed, although he had hoped to procure the assistance of four or six colleagues, two only were found ready to risk their lives in the cause. "All Seville," he wrote, "is surprised at this undertaking; those who most fear God approve of it; others think that we are going to the slaughter-house."[XX‑56]

[Sidenote: MARTYRDOM.]

Writing these prophetic and ill-omened words on the very day of his departure Fray Luis sailed on his last voyage from Spain. Few particulars of his expedition are known, except the manner of his death. On his arrival in Mexico he obtained the assistance which the king ordered to be extended to him, and about the middle of 1549 set sail from Vera Cruz, accompanied by Frailes Gregorio de Beteta, Juan García, Diego de Tolosa, and a lay brother named Fuentes. Contrary to his express desire the captain of the vessel landed him at a part of the Florida coast where Spaniards had previously committed depredations and thus exasperated the natives. Unconscious of this act of carelessness,[XX‑57] Fray Cancer, accompanied by Tolosa and the lay brother, proceeded on his mission, but the ill-fated ecclesiastics had not advanced far from the shore when they were assailed by Indians, and immediately beaten to death with clubs.[XX‑58]

This disastrous termination of an enterprise from which Las Casas and his advocates had expected so much was a bitter cup which his opponents did not fail to hold out to him. Yet this stout combatant for the system of bloodless pacification yielded not an iota in his principles, and ably defended himself against Sepúlveda by maintaining that the previous cruel conduct of the Spaniards on the coast was the cause of the tragedy in Florida.[XX‑59] The career of Las Casas in Chiapas and the appointment of Cerrato as governor of Guatemala have already been mentioned.