aith; and third, that this imputation is also applicable to such
Spaniards as have not acquired their slaves by right of repartimiento but
have obtained them from other Indians."

He combated the almost universally accepted theory that justifiable
conquest conferred the right of enslaving the conquered, and he maintained
that the most that might be exacted from a conquered people, even from
those who had actively resisted, was recognition of the government
established by the victorious party; taxes were justifiable and must be
paid, and prisoners of war might be held until the close of hostilities,
while extra burdens might be laid upon the country during the period of
military occupation. Not one of these principles was at that time acted
upon by any Christian power engaged in war with uncivilised nations, yet
every one of them is now placed beyond dispute by the universally accepted
principles of international law.

Wars unjustly undertaken, according to Las Casas, could confer no rights,
because right is not founded upon injustice, and he defined war as unjust
when undertaken without the sanction of legitimate authority, or even when
ordered by legitimate authority, but without sufficient motive or
provocation. This touched the question of the Indians very closely, for
most of the Spanish invasions of the different islands and the countries
of the mainland were begun without any authority from, or even the
knowledge of the Spanish government. No Spanish sovereign ever authorised
the invasion or conquest of any of the countries, on which their distant
and self-styled representatives embarked, for motives of personal
aggrandisement or in a pure spirit of adventure. Both Velasquez in Cuba
and Cortes in Mexico were destitute of any royal authority for their
undertakings, and only the splendour of their successes sufficed to
condone their license, when they were able to confront the King with a
profitable fait accompli. The royal instructions to all governors and
representatives of the Spanish Crown were, on the contrary, filled with
injunctions to treat the Indians humanely, to provide for their conversion
and instruction by pacific means, and on no account to employ force save
for self-defence.

Las Casas arraigned the conduct of all the colonial governors and
officials, mercilessly attacking and exposing the various deceits and
subterfuges, by means of which they evaded or overstepped their
instructions, provokin