anish government to effect reforms in the
colonies, whose intention to discharge their duty was conscientious,
though Las Casas does not even admit this in their favour, for he declares
that they had relatives in the islands whom they desired to benefit, and
that in writing to the Governor of Cuba they even signed themselves as his
"chaplains," which seemed to him conclusive proof of their too subservient
attitude towards the higher colonial authorities.

The Jeronymites, however, had been furnished with two sets of instructions
and it was within their discretion to guide their policy according to
either, as their judgment formed on the spot might dictate. The first set
of instructions was in conformity with the plan drawn up by Las Casas and
Palacios Rubios; the second was provided in case the result of their
investigations showed the full application of the first to be inexpedient,
for Cardinal Ximenez, though sympathising with the ideas of Las Casas, was
not led by him, but viewed the situation, as he did every other that
concerned the welfare of the Spanish realm, from the standpoint of a
statesman trustee for the absent sovereign.

The first measures of the Jeronymites were in the right direction, but
they were far too timid and temporising to satisfy the expectations of Las
Casas; the conditions he had foreseen were only too prompt in declaring
themselves, for the Jeronymites showed themselves somewhat insensible to
the crying abuses which he incessantly pressed upon their attention. They
did not give full credit to all of his representations and even ignored
many of the proofs he adduced. They had failed to find the picture he had
drawn in Spain of the Indians an entirely accurate one, and they resisted
his reiterated demand that they should scrupulously obey the injunction to
at once deprive all royal judges and officials of their encomiendas. The
exasperation of Las Casas at this time pushed him to excesses which
aroused such a storm of ill-feeling and hostility against him that his
good friends the Dominicans feared for his life and insisted that he
should come to live with them in their monastery, where he would be safer
from any violence his enemies might attempt. Whether it was feasible to
proceed in the drastic manner demanded by Las Casas is open to doubt. It
is evident that the colonists would have offered an obstinate resistance,
to combat which the three Jeronymites had nothing but the moral force