id,
that though they themselves were cruel tyrants, they marvelled and
were horrified to behold the traces of such lamentable devastation.
21. Many witnesses have proved these things before the chancellor of the
exchequer of the India Council and the proofs are in the possession
of the same Council but they have never burnt alive any of these
nefarious tyrants.
22. But what has been proven is as nothing compared to the massacres and
great wickedness that have been committed, because all the officers
of justice in the Indies are so mortally blind that they do not
investigate the crimes, destruction, and slaughter that have been,
and are to-day wrought by all the tyrants of the Indies, beyond
declaring that as such and such a one has used cruelty towards the
Indians, the King's revenue has lost so many thousand crowns; they
are satisfied with little proof, and that of a very general and
confused character.
23. And even this they do not verify, nor make it as clear as they
should; for if they did their duty to God and the king, they would
discover that the said German tyrants have robbed the king of more
than three million crowns' worth of gold, because that province of
Venezuela, with the others they have ruined, devastated, and
depopulated for an extent of more than four hundred leagues, (as I
have said) was the most prosperous, the richest in gold, and the
most populous of the universe.
24. During the sixteen years those tyrants, enemies of God, devastated
it, they have wasted and caused the loss of more than two millions
of revenue that the king of Spain would have drawn from that
kingdom. Nor is there hope of repairing this damage between now and
the end of the world, unless God, through a miracle, should
resuscitate so many million persons.
25. These are the temporal injuries to the king. It would be well to
consider what, and how many are the injuries, the dishonour,
blasphemies, and insults to God and His law, and with what will be
requited so many numberless souls, burning in hell, because of the
avarice and cruelty of these tyrant animals or Germans. (100)
26. To sum up this wickedness and ferocity, I will only say that from
the day the Germans entered the country till the present time, that
is in these sixteen years,