s his error:

"This advice, that license should be given to bring negro slaves to
these lands, the _cleriqo_ Casas first gave, not considering the
injustice with which the Portuguese take them and make them slaves;
which advice, after he had apprehended the nature of the thing, he
would not have given for all he had in the world. For he always held
that they had been made slaves unjustly and tyrannically; for the
same reason holds good of them as of the Indians."

The above confession is delicately and truthfully worded--"not
considering"; he does not say, not being aware of; but though it was a
matter known to him, his moral sense was not watchful, as it were,
about it. We must be careful not to press the admissions of a generous
mind too far, or to exaggerate the importance of the suggestion of Las
Casas. It would be quite erroneous to look upon this suggestion as
being the introduction of negro slavery. From the earliest times of
the discovery of America, negroes had been sent there. But what is of
more significance, and what it is strange that Las Casas was not aware
of, or did not mention, the Hieronymite Fathers had also come to the
conclusion that negroes must be introduced into the West Indies.
Writing in January, 1518, when the fathers could not have known what
was passing in Spain in relation to this subject, they recommended
licenses to be given to the inhabitants of Espanola, or to other
persons, to bring negroes there. From the tenor of their letter it
appears that they had before recommended the same thing. Zuazo, the
judge of residencia, and the legal colleague of Las Casas, wrote to
the same effect. He, however, suggested that the negroes should be
placed in settlements and married. Fray. Bernardino de Manzanedo, the
Hieronymite father, sent over to counteract Las Casas, gave the same
advice as his brethren about the introduction of negroes. He added a
proviso, which does not appear in their letter--perhaps it did exist
in one of the earlier ones--that there should be as many women as men
sent over, or more.

The suggestion of Las Casas was approved of by the Chancellor; and,
indeed, it is probable there was hardly a man of that time who would
have seen further than the excellent clerigo did. Las Casas was asked
what number of negroes would suffice? He replied that he did not know;
upon which a letter was sent to the officers of the India House at
Seville to ascertain the fit number in t