s and refused to recognize his
authority. There were some actual conflicts with force and arms between
the two factions, in which the followers of the local government appear
to have triumphed over the fewer adherents of the Bishop, and from which
no profit nor advantage of any kind accrued to the unhappy objects of
the strife.

When these things were reported to the King and his advisers, there was
much indignation, and new and peremptory orders were sent to the
governor, that involuntary service by the Indians was immediately to be
abolished, and that the natives were to be free to work for whom they
pleased, or not to work at all. Moreover, they were to be treated in all
respects as well as the Spaniards themselves. This radical decree seems
to have impressed the governor and bishop as going a little too far, and
an appeal was made by common consent to the Council for the Indies, in
Spain. That body was divided in opinion, but the majority of it inclined
to a modification of the order, to which the King agreed. The governor
and the bishop were directed to act together for the welfare of the
natives, with a view to granting them ultimately entire liberty and
equal rights. There was to be no more slavery. All the Indian slaves who
had been brought to Cuba from other islands or from the mainland were to
be released and returned to their homes. To hold such slaves, or to
engage in the slave trade, was made a grave penal offense. The native
Cubans who were held under the repartimiento system were not immediately
to be released, but they were not to be transferred from one master to
another, and upon the death of their master they were not to be
bequeathed as chattels to his heirs, but were to be released. Moreover,
if any of the proprietors were proved to be cruel to their native
workmen, or neglectful of their interests, the natives were to be
released from their authority and set at liberty. In all cases, the
natives were to receive fair wages for their labor, and were not to be
compelled to do any kind of work for which they were not suited or to
which they objected. Finally, it was forbidden for the governor, the
bishop, or any other functionary of state or church to hold native Cuban
Indians in bondage, though negro slavery was apparently still
permitted.

These regulations, put forward by the King and the Council for the
Indies, were actually more far-reaching than the order of the crown
which had been disputed, t