158 SECOND MISSION TO COBAN. [CHAP. X. have seemed quite wondrous to his eyes; but the natural gravity of the Indian caused him to refrain from expressing any astonishment; and he gazed upon all that was pointed out to him with as much indifference, says Remesal, "as if he had been born in Milan!" Many objects of value were offered to him, but he would accept of nothing save an image of the Virgin, which, when the Bishop had it taken down and presented to him, he reverently received on his knees. After a brief sojourn in Santiago the cacique and his companions returned to Tutzulutlan, highly satisfied with his visit; Las Casas and Rodrigo de Ladrada accompanied them to prosecute their mission, and, entering the province of Coban, continued to reap the fruits of their exertions, the inhabitants showing themselves very peaceable, and well disposed to receive the doctrines of the Christian faith. To trace the footsteps of the worthy Fathers through regions which no longer retain their ancient denominations, would convey but little information to the modern reader, neither does the history of their mission offer any strikingly salient features. The principle laid down by Las Casas, that mildness and persuasion should be the only agents employed to ensure the conversion of the idolatrous Indians, was never departed from in the expeditions which he originated, and which, after his departure from Spain, was continued by Pedro de Angulo and the Dominican and Franciscan monks by whom he was subsequently joined. This principle was fully recognized by the Council of the Indies at the Court of Castile, and the amplest instructions were transmitted for the protection of the Indians, and the punishment of those who dared to violate the decrces in their favour, as is apparent by the royal letters addressed to Pedro de Angulo from Barcelona on the 1st of May, 1543, and to the Licentiate Maldonado, from Valladolid, on the 7th of September, in the same year1. In both these documents the service of God, the protection, the liberty, and the good government of the Indians are strongly insisted on. While these ordinances were observed, Christianity continued to make great progress in the country; and, by the command of the Emperor Charles the Fifth, the name of "Tierra de Guerra" was changed to that of "Vera Paz," because it had been conquered, not by the sword, but by the word of peace2. A few years later the capital of the province was built, and received the same name, at which time, at the desire of the Emperor, it was made by the Pope an episcopal city, and Pedro de Angulo was selected as the first bishop, it being judged that none could more easily guide the people than the man who had begun his career by becoming their apostle. The good bishop however did not live long enough to wear his mitre, for, laden with years and worn out with toil, he died before the Papal bull arrived at Vera Paz, on the 1st of April, 1562, having preached a sermon that same day to his wellbeloved Indians at a place called Zalama. 1 Remesal, lib. iv. cap. 12. p. 199. 2 "A esta provincia le diéron 'los soldados Castellanos el nombre de Tierra de Guerra, porque no la pudiéron sugetar con la industria de las armas. Los religiosos Do mínicos le diéron, en odio de la HIS DEATH.-NEW CODE OF LAWS FOR THE INDIANS.-LABOURS OF THE MISSIONARIES.-DIEGO DE LAUDA. HIS COURAGEOUS CONDUCT IN SAVING A YOUNG INDIAN FROM SACRIFICE.-INTRODUCTION OF ROMISH MIRACLES.-" MIRACULOUS" CURES.-SEPARATION OF YUCATAN FROM MEXICO.-FATHER FRANCISCO TORAL ARRIVES AT MERIDA. -DIFFERENCES WITH LAUDA.-EXCULPATION OF THE LATTER.-HE SUCCEEDS TORAL IN THE BISHOPRICK.-HIS DEATH.-CIVIL GOVERNMENT OF THE PROVINCE.-SUCCESSION OF GOVERNORS.-PIRATICAL DESCENT ON THE COAST.-PROCLAMATION OF PHILIP THE THIRD.APPEARANCE OF AN ENGLISH CORSAIR, WHO ATTACKS CAMPEACHY.— RENEWED ATTEMPTS OF THE PIRATES. THE religious establishments of Yucatan having now been fixed on a broad and secure basis, the administration of the laws by which, in their spiritual as well as in their temporal relations, the Indians were henceforward to be governed, became the chief object of their rulers. Although, according to the terms of the original grant from the Crown of Spain, supreme power was nominally vested in the Adelantado, the circumstances under which the country was finally pacificated deprived that officer of much of his real authority, and threw it into the hands of the religious communities. The Council of the Indies, presided over by a church man, and numbering many ecclesiastical dignitaries amongst its members, kept a jealous eye upon the proceedings of all the governors of the Transatlantic provinces, and omitted no opportunity that afforded it the means of controlling their acts, and extending the influence of the Church. It was in many respects advisable that such control should exist, for the adventurous men who conquered those distant lands were too apt to exercise an authority that was purely military, to the neglect of many of the provisions by which they had consented to be bound. It has been shown how Montejo departed from his instructions with respect to the ecclesiastics who should have accompanied him when he left Spain for Yucatan, and in what terms of severity the Council of the Indies censured him for his conduct: he afterwards gave that body additional cause for visiting him with reproof. It arose out of the question of the "Encomiendas,"-those military commanderies or settlements in the conquered provinces which were assigned to the "Conquistadors" as their private property, in reward for the services which they had rendered. To make these estates of value, it was necessary that more labour should be bestowed upon them than the Spaniards were able to give; but, as the protection of the natives was always a main point with the Council of the Indies, the owners of the "Encomiendas" were strictly prohibited from employing the Indians as slaves. In spite however of this prohibition, slavery was the principle on which all these estates were worked in Yucatan, and the reports which the missionaries sent home satisfied the Council of the general disobedience to its orders which prevailed in this important particular. M 162 AN AUDITOR SENT FROM SPAIN. CHAP. XI Steps were therefore taken to enforce the royal commands; and, in the year 1549, a writ, or "Real Provision," was sent out from Spain on the subject of the "Encomiendas," renewing the former prohibitions, and ordering the Adelantado, and all others, to release the slaves on their estates forthwith, a certain compensation being provided, in order to cover past expenses. To see this order carried into execution, an Auditor accompanied the writ, whose power, for the time being, entirely superseded that of the Governor; indeed the capacity in which he appeared, as a corrector of abuses, actually clothed him with the chief authority. Father Lizana says that the name of this auditor was Herrera; but Cogolludo calls him "the Licentiate Santillan," stating that he is so designated in the "Real Provision" dated June 16, 1549. He arrived at Campeachy, and immediately proceeded to Merida, where he took up his residence, being received with much deference and respect by the Adelantado. The Auditor lost no time in ordering the restoration to liberty of all the slaves on Montejo's Encomienda," and this part of his instructions was speedily performed; but the promised compensation was long before it arrived. Indeed neither Montejo himself nor his immediate descendants were benefited by it, for although a suit for its recovery was instituted, after the Adelantado's death, by his daughter Doña Catalina Montejo, the proverbial delay of the law-nowhere so slow-footed as in Spain-kept the question open for almost seventy years, the final decision in her favour not being given till the year 1618. While the Auditor was engaged in the settlement of this matter of the "Encomiendas" throughout the province, the Adelantado took leave of Yucatan, with the |