and converting the Indians. It was maintained that by kind
treatment the Indians could be attracted to the Spaniards and thus, little
by little, become civilised, profitable, and voluntary subjects of the
King.

Unfortunately for the prosperous development of these benevolent projects,
the mischievous Bishop of Burgos and his brother, who, since the latter
part of Cardinal Ximenez's regency, had been excluded from active
participation in Indian affairs, began once more to exercise an influence,
partly, perhaps because long experience had equipped them with a practical
knowledge of details which the Grand Chancellor found useful, and partly,
so Las Casas hints, because they had succeeded, by spending important sums
of money, in recovering their former offices. At first the Bishop's
opposition was mild enough, and he contented himself with pointing out
that he had never been able to induce emigrants to go to the Indies and
that Las Casas's scheme was unworkable. Las Casas, however, affirmed that
he could easily find three thousand workmen as soon as he was authorised
to assure them of the King's conditions, and that the Bishop had not
succeeded in finding men because he had treated the islands as a penal
colony, whereas now, on the contrary, the severest punishment, after the
death penalty, with which a colonist in the Indies could be threatened,
was that of being shipped back to Spain.

The King had left Valladolid(35) on his way to take formal possession of
the kingdom of Aragon and these negotiations were being carried on at
Aranda de Duero, where a halt had been made. Las Casas fell ill and the
court moved on without him, but it is indicative of the favour he had
already acquired with the King that frequently the monarch exclaimed: "Oh,
I wonder how Micer Bartolome is getting on!" Micer was the title the
Flemings gave to ecclesiastics, and Charles V., who was the reverse of
demonstrative, commonly used this familiar appellation in speaking of Las
Casas. Before the court reached Zaragoza, the invalid was on his legs
again and had rejoined the others, being received with great joy by the
Grand Chancellor, (36) who was almost as enthusiastic as Las Casas himself
in pushing forward the Indian reforms. Delay, however, was again caused at
Zaragoza, where the King and court were established, by the illness of the
ever-contrary Bishop of Burgos; while waiting there to resume business, a
letter was sent to Las Casas from S