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cause_n	according_a	justice_n	law_n	1,616	5	4.3920	3	false

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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A35552	Popery truly display'd in its bloody colours, or, A faithful narrative of the horrid and unexampled massacres, butcheries, and all manner of cruelties, that hell and malice could invent, committed by the popish Spanish party on the inhabitants of West-India together with the devastations of several kingdoms in America by fire and sword, for the space of forty and two years, from the time of its first discovery by them / composed first in Spanish by Bartholomew de las Casas, a bishop there, and an eyewitness of most of these barbarous cruelties ; afterward translated by him into Latin, then by other hands, into High-Dutch, Low-Dutch, French, and now taught to speak modern English.; Brevísima relación de la destrucción de las Indias. English. Selections	Casas, Bartolomé de las, 1474-1566.	1689 (1689)	Wing C798; ESTC R8882	62,150	91

declare with incontrovertible and undeniable Testimony those Transactions which I saw with my own Eyes and particularly such as relate to the usage of the Inhabitants of this Region In the first place I was an Eye-Witness and am certainly assur'd that these Perusians are a People who transcend all other Indians in Meekness Clemency and Love to Spaniards and I have seen the Indians bestow very liberally on them Gold Silver and Jewels being very serviceable to them many other wayes Nor did the Indians ever betake themselves to their Arms in an Hostile manner till by infinite Injuries and Cruelties they were compell'd thereunto For on the contrary they gave the Spaniards an amicable and honourable Reception in all their Towns and furnished them with Provisions and as many Male and Female Servants as they required I can also farther testifie that the Spaniards without the least provocation on their part as soon as they entred upon these Territories did burn at the Stake their most Potent Cacic Ataliba Prince of the whole Country after they had extorted from him above Two Millions of Gold and possessed themselves of his Province without the least Opposition and Cochilimaca his Captain General who with other Rulers came peaceably into them follow'd him by the same fiery Tryal and Death As also some few days after the Ruler of the Province of Quitonia who was burnt without any Cause given or Crime laid to his Charge They likewise put Schapera Prince of the Canaries to the same Death and in like manner burnt the Feet of Alvidis the greatest of all the Quitonian Lords and rackt him with other Torments to Extract from him a discovery of Ataliba's Treasure whereof as appear'd after he was totally ignorant Thus they treated Cocopaganga Governour of all the Provinces of Quitonia who being overcome with the Intreaties of Sebastian Bernalcarus the Governours Captain went peaceably to pay them a Visit but because he could not give them as much Gold as they demanded they burnt him with many other Cacics and Chief Persons of Quality And as I understand did it with this evil Intention that they might not leave one surviving Lord or Peer in the whole Countrey I also affirm that I saw with these Eyes of mine the Spaniards for no other reason but only to gratifie their bloody mindedness cut off the Hands Noses and Ears both of Indians and Indianesses and that in so many places and parts that it would be too prolix and tedious to relate them Nay I have seen the Spaniards let loose their Dogs upon the Indians to bair and tear them in pieces and such a Number of Villages burnt by them as cannot well be discover'd Farther this is a certain Truth that they snatched Babes from the Mothers Embraces and taking hold of their Arms threw them away as far as they would from them a pretty kind of barr-tossing Recreation They committed many other Cruelties which strook me with Terror at the very sight of them and would take up too much time in the Relation I likewise aver That the Spaniards gathered together as many Indians as fill'd Three Houses to which for no cause or a very inconsiderable one they set fire and burnt every one of them But a Presbyter Ocana by Name chanced to snatch a little Boy out of the Fire which being observ'd by a Spaniard he tore him out of his Arms and threw him into the midst of the Flames where he was with the rest soon burnt to Ashes which Spaniard the same day he committed that Fact returning to his Quarters dyed suddenly by the way and I advised them not to give him Christian Burial Farthermore I saw them send to several Cacics and Principal Indians promising them a protecting Passeport to travel peaceably and securely to them who no sooner came but they were burnt Two of them before my Face one at Andonia and the other at Tnmbala nor could I with all my perswasions and preaching to them prevail so far as to save them from the Fire And this I do maintain according to God and my own Conscience as far as I could possibly learn that the Inhabitants of Perusia never promoted or raised any Commotion or Rebellion though as it is manifest to all Men they were afflicted with Evil Dealings and Cruel Torments And they not without Cause the Spaniards breaking their Faith and Word betraying the Truth and Tyrannically contrary to all Law and Justice destroying them and the whole Country inflicting on them great Injuries and Losses were more ready to prepare themselves for Death than still to fall at once into such great and irrecoverable Miseries Nay I do declare according to Information from the Indians themselves that there are to this day far greater Quantities of Gold kept hid and concealed than ever were yet detected or brought to light which by means of the Spanish Injustice and Cruelty they would not then nor ever will discover so long as they are so barbarously treated but will rather chose to dye with the Herd Whereat the Lord God is highly offended and the King hath very ill Offices done him for he is hereby defrauded of this Region which was sufficiently able to furnish all Castile with Necessaries the Recovery whereof can never be expected without great difficulty and vast expenses Thus far I have acquainted you with the very words of this Religious Franciscan ratified by the Bishop of Mexico who testifieth that the srid Ftier Marc did affirm and maintain what is above-mentioned Here is to be observ'd what this said Frier was an Eye-Witness of for he travelled up in this Countrey Fifty or a Hundred Miles for the space of Nine or Ten Years when as yet few Spaniards had got footing there but afterward at the noise of Gold to be had there in great plenty Four or Five Thousand came thither who spread themselves through those Kingdoms and Provinces the space of Five or Six Hundred Miles which they made wholly desolate committing the same or greater Cruelties than are before recited for in reality they destroyed from that time to these very days above an Hundred Thousand poor Souls more than he gives an Account of and with less fear of God and the King nay with less Mercy have they destroyed the greatest part of Mankind in these Kingdoms above Four Millions suffering by violent Death A few days after they darted to Death with Arrows made of Reeds a Puissant Queen the Wife of a Potentate who still sways the Imperial Scepter of that Kingdom whom the Spaniards had a design to take which instigated him to raise a Rebellion and he still continues a Rebel They seized the Queen his Consort and contrary to all Law and Equity murdered her as is said before who was then as reported big with Child only for this Reason that they might and fresh Affliction and Grief to her Husband Of the New Kingdom of Granda MANY Tyrants there were who set Sail from Venecuela St. Martha

means there have been taken out of this Province Five Hundred Thousand Inhabitants and upward who before were Freemen and made Slaves and in the Wars made on them and the horrid Bondage they were reduc'd unto Fifty or Sixty Thousand more have perished and to this day very many still are destroy'd Now all these Slaughters have been committed within the space of Fourteen years inclusively possibly in this Province of Nicaraqua there remains Four or Five Thousand Men who are put to Death by ordinary and personal Oppressions whereas according to what is said already it did exceed the other Countries of the World in multitude of People Of New SPAIN NEW Spain was discovered Anno Dom. 1517. and in the detection there was no first or second Attempt but all were exposed to slaughter The year ensuing those Spaniards who style themselves Christians came thither to rob kill and slay though they pretend they undertook this Voyage to people the Countrey From this year to the present viz. 1542. the Injustice Violence and Tyranny of the Spaniards came to the highest degree of extremity for they had shook hands with and bid adieu to all fear of God and the King unmindful of themselves in this sad and deplorable condition for the Destructions Cruelties Butcheries Devastations the Demolishing of Cities Depredations c. which they perpetrated in so many and such ample Kingdoms are such and so great and strike the minds of Men with so great horror that all we have related before are inconsiderable comparatively to those which have been acted from the year 1518 to 1542 and to this very month of September that we now live to see the most heavy grievous and detestable things are committed that the Rule we laid down before as a Maxim might be indisputably verified to wit that from the beginning they ran headlong from bad to worse and were overcome in their Diabolical acts and wickedness only by themselves Thus from the first entrance of the Spaniards into New Spain which hapned on the 18th day of April in the said month of the year 1518 to 1530 the space of ten whole years there was no end or period put to the Destruction and Slaughters committed by ther merciless hands of the Sanguinary and Blood-thirsty Spaniard in the Continent or space of 450 Miles round about Mexico and the adjacent or neighbouring parts which might contain four or five spatious Kingdoms that neither for magnitude or fertility would give Spain her self the pre-eminence This intire Region was more populous then Toledo Sevil Valedolid Saragoza and Faventia and there is not at this day in all of them so many people nor when they flourisht in their greatest height and splendor was there such a number as inhabited that Region which embraceth in its Circumference four hundred and eighty Miles Within these twelve years the Spaniards have destroyed in the said Continent by Spears Fire and Sword computing Men Women Youth and Children above four Millions of people in these their Acquests or Conquests for under that word they mask their Cruel Actions or rather those of the Turk himself which are reported of them tending to the ruin of the Catholick Cause together with their Invasions and Unjust Wars contrary to and condemned by Divine as well as Human Laws nor are they reckoned in this number who perished by their more then Egyptian Bondage and usual Oppressions There is no Tongue Art or Human knowledge can recite the horrid Impieties which these Capital Enemies to Government and all Mankind have been guilty of at several times and in several Nations nor can the circumstantial Aggravations of some of their wicked Acts be unfolded or display'd by any manner of Industry time or writing but yet I will say somewhat of every individual particular thing with this protestation and Oath that I conceive I am not able to comprehend one of a Thousand Of New Spain in Particular AMong other Slaughters this also they perpetrated in the most spatious City of Cholula which consisted of Thirty Thousand Families all the Chief Rulers of that Region and Neighbouring places but first the Priests with their High Priest going to meet the Spaniards in Pomp and State and to the end they might give them a more reverential and honourable reception appointed them to be in the middle of the Solemnity that so being entertained in the Appartments of the most powerful and principal Noblemen they might be lodged in the City The Spaniards presently consult about their slaughter or castigation as they term it that they might fill every corner of this Region by their Cruelties and wicked Deeds with terror and consternation for in all the Countries that they came they took this course that immediately at their first arrival they committed some notorious ●utcheries which made those Innocent Sheep tremble for fear To this purpose therefore they sent to the Governours and Nobles of the Cities and all Places subject unto them together with their supream Lord that they should appear before them and no sooner did they attend in expectation of some Capitulation or discourse with the Spanish Commander but they were presently seized upon and detained Prisoners before any one could advertise or give them notice of their Captivity They demanded of them six thousand Indians to drudge for them in the carriage of their bag and baggage and as soon as they came the Spaniards clapt them into the Yards belonging to their Houses and there inclosed them all It was a thing worthy of pity and compassion to behold this wretched people in what a condition they were when they prepared themselves to receive the burthens laid on them by the Spaniards They came to them naked their Privities only vail'd their Shoulders loaden with food only covered with a Net they laid themselves quietly on the ground and shrinking in their Bodies like poor Wretches exposed themselves to their Swords Thus being all gathered together in their Yards some of the Spaniards Armed held the doors to drive them away if attempting to approach and others with Lances and Swords Butcher these Innocents so that not one of them escaped but two or three days after some of them who hid themselves among the dead bodies being all over besprinkled with blood and gore presented themselves to the Spaniards imploring their mercy and the prolongation of their Lives with tears in their Eyes and all imaginable submission yet they not in the least moved with pity or compassion tore them impieces but all the Chief Governours who were above one hundred in number were kept bound whom the Captain commanded to be affixed to posts and burnt yet the King of the whole Countrey escaped and betook himself with a Train of thirty or forty Gentlemen to a Temple called in their Tongue Quu which he made use of as a Castle or Place of Defence and there defended himself a great part of the day but the Spaniards who suffer none to escape out of

Peregrination in this and of Damnation in the World to come not only to Indians whose Number is numberless but even to Spaniards themselves by whose help and assistance he committed such detestable Butcheries and flagitious Crimes I supplicate Almighty God that he would please to have Mercy on his Soul and require no other satisfaction than the violent Death which turn'd him out of this World. A farther Discourse of New Spain And some Account of Panuco and Xalisco AFter the perpetration of all the Cruelties rehearsed in New Spain and other places there came another Rabid and Cruel Tyrant to Panuco who acted the part of a bloody Tragedian as well as the rest and sent away many Ships loaden with these Barbarians to be sold for Slaves made this Province almost a Wilderness and which was deplorable Eight Hundred Indians that had Rational Souls were given in Exchange for a Burthen-bearing-Beast a Mule or Camel. Well He was made Governour of the City of Mexico and all New Spain and with him many other Tyrants had the Office of Auditors confer'd upon them Now they had already made such a progress toward the Desolation of this Region that if the Franciscans had not vigorously opposed them and that by the King's Council the best and greatest Encourager of Vertue it had not speedily bin prevented that which hapned to Hispaniola in Two Years had bin the Fate of Hispania nova namely to be unpeopled deserted and intomb'd in its own Ruins A Companion of this Governour employed Eight Thousand Indians in Erecting a Wall to inclose his Garden but they all dyed having no Supplies nor Wages from him to support themselves at whose Death he was not in the least concern'd After the first Captain before spoken of had absolutely profligated and ruin'd the Panuconians Fifteen Thousand whereof perished by carrying their Bag and Baggage At length he arriv'd at the Province of Machuacan which a Forty Miles Journey from Mexico and as Fertile and Populous The King to honour him in the Rencounter with a Multitude of People marcheth toward him from whom he had received One Thousand Services and Civilities very considerable who gratefully requited him with Captivity because Fame had nois'd it abroad that he was a most Opulent Prince in Gold and Silver and to the end he might extort from and purge him of his Gold he was cruciated with Torments after this manner his Body was extended Hands bound to a Post and his Feet put into a pair of Stocks they all the while applying buring Coals to his Feet at a tormenting distance where a Boy attended who by little and little sprinkled them with Oyl that his Flesh might roast the better Before him there stood a Wicked Fellow presenting a Bow to his Breast charged with a Mortal Arrow if let fly behind him another with Dogs held in with Chains which he threatned to let loose at him which if done he had bin torn to pieces in a moment and with these kind of Torments they racked him to extort a Confession where his Treasures lay till a Franciscan Monk came and deliver'd him from his Torments but not from Death for he departed this miserable Life not long after And this was the severe Fate of many Cacics and Indian Lords who dyed with the same Torments which they were expos'd to by the Spaniards in order to the engrossing of their Gold and Silver to themselves At this very time A certain Visiter of Purses rather than Souls hapned to be here present who finding some Indian Idols which were hid for they were no better instructed in the Knowledge of the true God by reason of the Wicked Documents and Dealings of the Spaniards detain'd Grandees as Slaves till they had deliver'd him all their Idols for he phancied they were made of Gold or Silver but his Expectation being frustrated he chastised them with no less Cruelty than Injustice and that he might not depart bubbled out of all his hopes constrain'd them to redeem their Idols with Money that so they might according to their Custom Adore them These are the Fruits of the Spanish Artifices and Juggling Tricks among the Indians and thus they promoted the Honour and Worship of God. This Tyrant from Mechuacam arrives at Xalisco a Country abounding with People very fruitful and the Glory of the Indians in this respect that it had some Towns Seven Miles long and among other Barbarisms equal to what you have read which they acted here this is not to be forgotten that Women big with Child were burthen'd with the Luggage of Wicked Christians and being unable to go out their usual time through extremity of Toil and Hunger were necessitated to bring them forth in the High-wayes which was the Death of many Infants At a certain time a profligate Christian attempted to devirginate a Maid but the Mother being present resisted him and endeavouring to free her from his intended Rape whereat the Spaniard enrag'd cut off her Hand with a short Sword and stab'd the Virgin in several places till she Expir'd because she obstinately opposed and disappointed his inordinate Appetite In this Kingdom of Xalisco according to report they burnt Eight Hundred Towns to Ashes and for this Reason the Indians growing desperate beholding the dayly destruction of the Remainders of their matchless Cruelty made an Insurrection against the Spaniards slew several of them justly and deservedly and afterward fled to the insensible Rocks and Mountains yet more tender and kind than the stony-hearted Enemy for Sanctuary where they were miserably Massacred by those Tyrants who succeeded and there are now few or none of the Inhabitants to be found Thus the Spaniards being blinded with the Lustre of their Gold deserted by God and given over to a Reprobate Sense not understanding or at least not willing to do so that the Cause of the Indians is most Just as well by the Law of Nature as the Divine and Humane they by Force of Arms destroying them hacking them in pieces and turning them out of their own Confines and Dominions nor considering how unjust those Violencies and Tyrannies are wherewith they have afflicted these poor Creatures they still contrive to raise new Wars against them Nay they conceive and by Word and Writing testifie that those Victories they have obtain'd against these Innocents to their ruine are granted them by God himself as if their unjust Wars were promoted and managed by a just Right and Title to what they pretend and with boasting Joy return Thanks to God for their Tyranny in imitation of those Tyrants and Robbers of whom the Prophet Zechariah part of the Fourth and Fifth Verses Feed the Sheep of the slaughter whose Possessors slay them and hold themselves not guilty and they that sell them say Blessed be the Lord for ye are rich Of the Kingdom of JUCATAN AN Impious Wretch by his Fabulous Stories and Relations to the King of Spain was made Praefect of the Kingdom of Jucatan in the