efices in America, and
the administration of ecclesiastical revenues--a privilege which the
crown did not possess in Spain. The bulls of the Roman pontiff could not
be admitted into Spanish America until they had been examined and
approved by the king and Council of the Indies. The hierarchy was as
imposing as in Spain, and its dominion and influence greater. The
archbishops, bishops and other dignitaries enjoyed large revenues, and
the ecclesiastical establishment was splendid and magnificent. The
Inquisition was introduced in America in 1570 by Philip II., the
oppressor of Protestant England and of the Netherlands, and patron of the
monster Alva. The native Indians, on the ground of incapacity, were
exempted from the jurisdiction of that tribunal. No scruple was shown,
however, in converting the natives to Christianity, and multitudes were
baptized who were entirely ignorant of the doctrine they professed to
embrace. In the course of a few years after the reduction of the Mexican
empire, more than four millions of the Mexicans were nominally converted,
one missionary baptizing five thousand in one day, and stopping only when
he had become so exhausted as to be unable to lift his hands.

Conversion to Christianity did not save the Indians from being reduced to
slavery. Columbus himself, in the year 1499, to avoid the consequences of
a disaffection among his followers, granted lands and distributed a
certain number of Indians among them to cultivate the soil. This system
was afterward introduced in all the Spanish settlements, the Indians
being everywhere seized upon and compelled to work in the mines, to till
the plantations, to carry burdens and to perform all menial and laborious
services. The stated tasks of the unhappy natives were often much beyond
their abilities, and multitudes sank under the hardships to which they
were subjected. Their spirit was broken, they became humble and degraded,
and the race was rapidly wasting away. The oppressions and sufferings of
the natives at length excited the sympathies of many humane persons,
particularly among the clergy, who exerted themselves with much zeal and
perseverance to ameliorate their condition. In 1542 Charles V. abolished
the enslavement of the Indians, and restored them to the position of
freemen. This caused great indignation in the colonies and in Peru
forcible resistance was offered to the royal decree. But although
relieved in some degree from the burdens of