tillable lands, and those located at great distances from Spanish settlements, were alone left the natives.
What the officials, descendants of the conquerors,[1] and other Spanish settlers did not possess, was held by the friars, who through bestowals, testaments, or endowments had in time succeeded in obtaining possession of large areas of the finest land. This had been a comparatively easy task for the friars, though it was done in violation of the law, which forbade their holding lands or other property.[2]
Like those of some other countries Spain's Indian regulations were good enough in theory. Indians must not be conquered, but they may be pacified; they must not be enslaved, but they may be forced to work all their lives in the mines at half a real a day; the provincial council might place their soul and body on an equal footing with those of the conqueror, even permitting them to take orders and become priests, yet there was ever present the iron heel beneath which it is the destiny of the weaker to be around to dust. How were the tender consciences of Isabella, of Charles, and of Philip appeased! Was there not a cédula of December 29, 1593, which required the audiencia to punish Spaniards who mal-
- ↑ A complete list of these descendants with brief remarks may be found in Mem. de los Hijos de Conquist. en 1590, in Monumentos Hist. y Polit., MS., preface. As the more prominent of these are mentioned in the course of this history, I do not deem it desirable here to repeat their names.
- ↑ Nor could the Indians legally transfer what they did not legally own; their lands were deemed the property of the crown, except the patrimony of chiefs, who were the only natives having property in land, and the right of disposal. See Memorial, in Pacheco and Cárdenas, Col. Doc., vi. 185. It was recommended that the king should institute an examination of the titles to lands held by Spaniards and friars; and that all possessions not held under legal tenure should revert to the crown. Also, among various other measures, that future grants should be prohibited; tributes to be assessed according to the value of the lands.
Indies, speaks of the necessity of providing that there should be only one lawyer, one proctor, and one interpreter to attend to Indian affairs, as the natives were constantly victimized by pettifoggers. He also urges that the chiefs be protected in their possessions, for they were often swindled out of them. The masses of the native population should be relieved of taxes, and their ignorance be considered in the imposition of penalties for offences; their imprisonment or detention for debts should be done away with. Escobar, Gob., in Pacheco and Cárdenas, xi. 197-200.
