and luxuriant groves and fields teemed with all that was requisite for their subsistence. Under the mastery and the goading of the Spaniard they bent their backs to digging in the mines, to tillage in the fields to supply a wasteful indulgence, and to the carrying of heavy burdens. As retainers of their oppressors they were also trained to warfare, and bound to do a hateful service in raids against their own former friendly fellows.
Mr. Parkman[1] rightly says that the spirit of Spanish enterprise in America is expressed in the following address of Dr. Pedro de Santander, to the King, in 1557, of the expedition of De Soto: —
“It is lawful that your Majesty, like a good shepherd, appointed
by the hand of the Eternal Father, should tend and lead out your
sheep, since the Holy Spirit has shown spreading pastures whereon
are feeding lost sheep, which have been snatched away by the
dragon, the Demon. These pastures are the New World, wherein
is comprised Florida, now in possession of the Demon; and here he
makes himself adored and revered. This is the Land of Promise
possessed by idolaters, the Amorite, Amalekite, Moabite, Canaanite.
This is the land promised by the Eternal Father to the Faithful,
since we are commanded by God in the Holy Scriptures to
take it from them, being idolaters, and, by reason of their idolatry
and sin, to put them all to the knife, leaving no living thing save
maidens and children, their cities robbed and sacked, their walls and
houses levelled to the earth.”
The writer, however, leaves open the opportunity for
securing many slaves. In pleadings like this, no previous
measure or limitation of effort or time is indicated for
attempts at conversion, and we are left to infer that the
supposed futility of them warranted anticipating them by
death, and so making the doom of the heathen sure.
In accordance with that rule of equity and reason which enjoins, that, when we judge or rehearse the actions and methods of men of other generations and circumstances
- ↑ Pioneers of France, p. 13.
