onquest was unique. The Spaniard not only found and
conquered, but converted. His religious earnestness was not a whit
behind his bravery. As has been true of all nations that have entered
new lands,--and as we ourselves later entered this,--his first step had
to be to subdue the savages who opposed him. But as soon as he had
whipped these fierce grown-children, he began to treat them with a great
and noble mercy,--a mercy none too common even now, and in that cruel
time of the whole world almost unheard of. He never robbed the brown
first Americans of their homes, nor drove them on and on before him; on
the contrary, he protected and secured to them by special laws the
undisturbed possession of their lands for all time. It is due to the
generous and manly laws made by Spain three hundred years ago, that our
most interesting and advanced Indians, the Pueblos, enjoy to-day full
security in their lands; while nearly all others (who never came fully
under Spanish dominion) have been time after time ousted from lands our
government had solemnly given to them.

That was the beauty of an Indian policy which was ruled, not by
politics, but by the unvarying principle of humanity. The Indian was
first required to be obedient to his new government. He could not learn
obedience in everything all at once; but he must at least refrain from
butchering his new neighbors. As soon as he learned that lesson, he was
insured protection in his rights of home and family and property. Then,
as rapidly as such a vast work could be done by an army of missionaries
who devoted their lives to the dangerous task, he was educated to
citizenship and Christianity. It is almost impossible for us, in these
quiet days, to comprehend what it was to convert a savage half-world. In
our part of North America there have never been such hopeless tribes as
the Spaniards met in Mexico and other southern lands. Never did any
other people anywhere complete such a stupendous missionary work. To
begin to understand the difficulties of that conversion, we must look
into an appalling page of history.

Most Indians and savage peoples have religions as unlike ours as are
their social organizations. There are few tribes that dream of one
Supreme Being. Most of them worship many gods,--"gods" whose attributes
are very like those of the worshipper; "gods" as ignorant and cruel and
treacherous as he. It is a ghastly thing to study these religions, and
to see what dark and