obnoxious Spaniards from the Indian towns. He also insisted that the authorities, both high and low, should be ever watchful, in order that the natives might accept as real the government's protection.
Among the measures favoring the natives the provision of hospitals for the care of their indigent sick was worthy of much commendation. Prince Philip, at the suggestion of Viceroy Velasco, decreed in 1553 the construction of a suitable building for that purpose in the city of Mexico,[1] and other hospitals and infirmaries were founded.[2]
Obviously the enforcement of the new laws soon began to tell on the royal revenue. This had been predicted to Velasco in the beginning of his rule, but he had said that such considerations were of little import; the freedom of men was of more importance than all the mines in the world.[3] Velasco was forced to admit, however, that the new laws had caused trouble and poverty, partly because of exemption from personal service, but in a great measure owing to the fact that the Spaniards would not exert themselves. He feared that the royal treasury would long feel the bad effects of this state of things, unless a timely remedy was applied.[4]
- ↑ It was to cost 2,000 pesos de oro. An extra allowance of 400 pesos de oro yearly was also granted. The fund having been exhausted before the edifice was finished, the prince, now King Philip II., in 1556 gave a further sum of 2,000 pesos de oro from the royal treasury. This, together with the aid the natives themselves could afford, was deemed all-sufficient. This hospital, and others which were subsequently established, proved very useful during the desolating epidemics of 1555 and later. Cavo, Tres Siglos, 163. In 1556 Father José de Ángulo was at Brussels, where Philip's court then was, and heard from the royal lips high praise of Viceroy Velasco's Indian policy and of the loyalty of the natives. Velasco was commended in a letter of January of that year. Felipe II., Carta, in Pacheco and Cárdenas, Col. Doc., iv. 403-6. Puga, Cedulario, 187.
- ↑ Viceroy Enriquez, who ruled the country from 1568 to 1580, saw their necessity, and made provision accordingly. He distrusted his countrymen, who, he feared, cared little for the Indian. In his suggestion to his successor he speaks clearly: 'despues de servirse de los indios, mas cuidado tienen de sus perros que no dellos.' Henriquez, Instruccion, in Pacheco and Cárdenas, Col. Doc., iii. 482-6.
- ↑ Cavo, Tres Siglos, i. 158-9, piously ascribes Velasco's first act of justice to the natives to his anxiety for bespeaking God's favor to his rule: 'para comenzar su gobierno con la bendicion de Dios.'
- ↑ Velasco, Carta al Emp., in Cartas de Indias, 267.
