did splendid missionary work in their day. The
Franciscans had not always been in sympathy with Las Casas, but seem now
to have been as anxious as he to have something done to set matters
right. Some of them were well known to the Grand Chancellor, and they
gave the clerico letters to that official, who was at once interested;
and as Las Casas came to see more of him, the two became great friends.
The Chancellor spoke to the King about the matter, and the King
commanded that he and Las Casas should consult together and find a
remedy for the evils of the Indies.

The plan that they proposed was this:

That colonists should be sent out at the expense of the King and be
cared for until they should be able to manage for themselves, when they
should begin to pay tribute to the crown. In order to supply laborers,
Las Casas suggested that each Spaniard should have permission to import
twelve negro slaves. This he did because the Indians died by hundreds
from the hard labor in the mines, while he had observed that the negroes
endured it much better. Afterward Las Casas confessed with sorrow that
he had done wrong in this, as it was no more right to hold the negroes
in slavery than to so treat the Indians.

The Bishop of Burgos, who was, you will remember, always bent on
opposing the clerico in everything he undertook, laughed at this plan.
He said he had been trying for years to get men to go out to the Indies
and could not find twenty that were willing to venture. However, Las
Casas was not stopped by this, and set to work at once to see what he
could do. A man named Berrio was appointed to go with him and assist
him; but this Berrio turned out to be anything but a help, refusing to
obey the clerico's orders, and finally leaving him, without permission.

Berrio got together about two hundred vagabonds, not at all the right
sort of people for colonists, and sent them to Seville, to be shipped
to the Indies. Las Casas was not informed of the matter, and as no one
had any instructions with regard to these colonists, they were sent out
with no supplies for their necessities. When Las Casas heard of it, he
insisted upon having provisions sent after them; but it was too late to
benefit many of them, for numbers had died of the hardships suffered,
and those who lived and stayed in the Indies proved a very bad addition
to the white population.

Meanwhile, the Grand Chancellor had died, and Bishop Fonseca was again
at the head of