t more capable of enduring it. I do not say that Las
Casas considered all these things; but, at any rate, in estimating his
conduct, we must recollect that we look at the matter centuries after
it occurred, and see all the extent of the evil arising from
circumstances which no man could then be expected to foresee, and
which were inconsistent with the rest of the clerigo's plans for the
preservation of the Indians.
I suspect that the wisest among us would very likely have erred with
him; and I am not sure that, taking all his plans together, and taking
for granted, as he did then, that his influence at court was to last,
his suggestion about the negroes was an impolite one.
[1] Helps was an English writer who is best known for his social
essays entitled "Friends in Council." He was the author of several
works on America, including "The Spanish Conquest in America."
[2] Las Casas was a Dominican, born in Spain, who came to the West
Indies in 1502 and devoted himself to protecting the Indians
against slavery at the hands of their conquerors. In 1544 he was
made a Mexican bishop.
II
ITS BEGINNINGS IN THE UNITED STATES
(1620)
BY JOHN A. DOYLE[1]
The economical success which had attended the introduction of negroes
into the West Indies made it almost certain that the American colonies
would betake themselves to the same resource. The first introduction
of negroes is commonly placed in the year 1620, when a Dutch ship
landed twenty of them for sale at Jamestown. For some years their
numbers increased but slowly. In 1649 Virginia contained only three
hundred. By 1661 they had increased to two thousand, while the
indented servants were four times that number. Twenty-two years later,
if we may trust Culpepper's statement, the number of white servants
was nearly doubled, while that of the negroes had only increased by
one-half. Of their numbers and proportions in Maryland and North
Carolina we have no definite evidence. In South Carolina negro slavery
seems to have been almost from the outset the prevalent form of
industry.
As early as 1708 we are told that three-fifths of the population were
blacks. This alteration in the relative numbers of white servants and
black slaves was accelerated by a change which had come over the
commercial policy of the English Government. In 1662 the Royal African
Company was incorporated. At the head of it was the Duke of York, and
the King
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