he drew up a memorial to the King, containing thirty
reasons why the concession granted to Las Casas should be refused. When
these thirty objections were ready the Bishop asked the Chancellor to
summon a special meeting of the Council, before which they were read. Las
Casas was not present at this meeting, but both Cardinal Adrian and the
Chancellor notified him and advised him to reply immediately. The
Chancellor's request to the secretary of the Council, Cobos, to furnish
him a copy of the memorial meeting with no reply, he sent a formal demand
for the memorial to be delivered to him without further delay; no denial
was possible, but the Council only delivered him the document on the sworn
assurance that it should not leave his hands. Gattinara gave the required
promise, but invited Las Casas and M. de Laxao to supper at his house that
evening, and, laying the great dossier on the table, said to Las Casas,
"Now make your answer to these objections advanced against you."

"How, my lord," answered Las Casas; "they were three months in forging and
drawing them up, and after reading them at your convenience, it took your
lordship two months to get possession of them, and now I am to answer them
in the space of a Credo! Give me five hours and your lordship shall see
what I answer."

As his promise prevented the delivery of the memorial to Las Casas, the
Chancellor arranged a table for him in his own apartment where he could
compose his reply, advising him to make it in the form of answers to
questions supposed to be addressed to him by the King. For four nights
Las Casas laboured on his composition until eleven o'clock, at which hour
he supped with the Chancellor and afterwards returned at midnight to his
lodging, not without fears for his personal safety, for his enemies were
as numerous as they were powerful and sufficiently unscrupulous to use any
means for silencing him.

No copy exists of these thirty objections and the answers made to them,
and Las Casas says that the originals were burned. From the little that
is known of the former, they seem to have been so frivolous and strained
that it is amazing the Council listened to them with patience or that the
Chancellor deemed them worthy of a reply. The first, for example, stated
that, as Las Casas was a priest, the King had no jurisdiction over him to
restrain his actions in the territory conceded him; the second asserted
that by his turbulence he had provoked