h America were called, to be held in
a family only during two lifetimes. They then reverted to the crown.
Thus the Indians were being gradually emancipated. There were also
officers appointed to protect the interests of the crown in the
reversion, so that it was no longer possible to repeat the horrors of
Hispaniola.

When Las Casas heard that the proposal had been made to allow the
holders of _encomiendas_ to get possession of them in perpetuity, he
went at once to the King and succeeded in preventing it. As Fiske says:

"It is worth remembering that pretty much the only praiseworthy
thing Philip ever did was done under Las Casas' influence."

The activity of Las Casas was marvelous. His longest work was his
"History of the Indies." At the age of ninety he wrote a "Memorial on
Peru," said to be one of his best, and two years later, in 1566, he went
to Madrid to speak in person for the Indians of Guatemala. He had heard
through the Dominicans that that province had been deprived of its
governing body, so that the Indians had no chance of justice, having to
go to Mexico if they wished to make any appeal. He was successful in
this mission, and the _Audiencia_ was restored to Guatemala.

This was the last work of Las Casas. In July of that year, while still
in Madrid, he was taken ill and died after a short illness, at the age
of ninety-two.

As he lay dying, his brethren, the Dominicans, kneeling about the bed
and reciting the prayers for the dying, he begged them to persevere in
their defense of the Indians, and asked them to join him in prayer that
he might be forgiven any remissness on his part in the fulfillment of
his mission. He was beginning to tell them how he came to enter upon
this work when his spirit departed.

Thousands of people attended the funeral of Las Casas. He was buried in
Madrid, in the convent chapel of "Our Lady of Atocha."

In early American history there is no one who stands on a level with
this remarkable man. Many bitter enemies he had, it is true; such a
man,--fearless, outspoken, able, never to be silenced when he was
convinced of the righteousness of his cause,--was bound to have. Never
during the many years of his long life, did the Indians lack a friend to
plead in their behalf. Amid the cupidity, cruelty, and injustice of the
Spaniards in the New World his character shines like a star in the
darkness of night. We can't do better in closing than to quote the words
i