- Yet
the ordinances received the sanction of the emperor that same
year, and in November, 1543, were published at Madrid. *14
[Footnote 14: Las Casas pressed the matter home on the royal
conscience, by representing that the Papal See conceded the right
of conquest to the Spanish sovereigns on the exclusive condition
of converting the heathen, and that the Almighty would hold him
accountable for the execution of this trust. Oeuvres de Las
Casas, ubi supra.]
No sooner was their import known than it was conveyed by numerous
letters to the colonists, from their friends in Spain. The
tidings flew like wild-fire over the land, from Mexico to Chili.
Men were astounded at the prospect of the ruin that awaited them.
In Peru, particularly, there was scarcely one that could hope to
escape the operation of the law. Few there were who had not
taken part, at some time or other, in the civil feuds of Almagro
and Pizarro; and still fewer of those that remained that would
not be entangled in some one or other of the insidious clauses
that seemed spread out, like a web, to ensnare them.
The whole country was thrown into commotion. Men assembled
tumultuously in the squares and public places, and, as the
regulations were made known, they were received with universal
groans and hisses. "Is this the fruit," they cried, "of all our
toil? Is it for this that we have poured out our blood like
water? Now that we are broken down by hardships and sufferings,
to be left at the end of our campaigns as poor as at the
beginning! Is this the way government rewards our services in
winning for it an empire? The government has done little to aid
us in making the conquest, and for what we have we may thank our
own good swords; and with these same swords," they continued,
warming into menace, "we know how to defend it.
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