[Footnote 8: Such, however, it is but fair to Valverde to state,
is not the language applied to him by the rude soldiers of the
Conquest. The municipality of Xauxa, in a communication to the
Court, extol the Dominican as an exemplary and learned divine,
who had afforded much serviceable consolation to his countrymen.
"Es persona de mucho exemplo i Doctrina i con quien todos los
Espanoles an tenido mucho consuelo." (Carta de la Just. y Reg. de
Xauxa, Ms.) And yet this is not incompatible with a high degree
of insensibility to the natural rights of the natives.]
The effort to Christianize the heathen is an honorable
characteristic of the Spanish conquests. The Puritan, with equal
religious zeal, did comparatively little for the conversion of
the Indian, content, as it would seem, with having secured to
himself the inestimable privilege of worshipping God in his own
way. Other adventurers who have occupied the New World have
often had too little regard for religion themselves, to be very
solicitous about spreading it among the savages. But the Spanish
missionary, from first to last, has shown a keen interest in the
spiritual welfare of the natives. Under his auspices, churches on
a magnificent scale have been erected, schools for elementary
instruction founded, and every rational means taken to spread the
knowledge of religious truth, while he has carried his solitary
mission into remote and almost inaccessible regions, or gathered
his Indian disciples into communities, like the good Las Casas in
Cumana, or the Jesuits in California and Paraguay.
Pages:
566
567
568
569
570
571
572
573
574
575
576
577
578
579
580
581
582
583
584
585
586
587
588
589
590