ounced, bore witness
to the truth of his statements and the weight of his arguments. When Las
Casas had finished, Quevedo, who expressed his wish to reply, was notified
that anything further he had to say must be submitted in writing. This
closed the audience and the King withdrew.

In conformity with the King's order that his answer to Las Casas should be
presented in writing the Bishop of Darien prepared two statements, one of
which set forth all the various abuses and the destruction caused by the
Spaniards in that colony, while the other contained suggestions for
remedying those evils; one of these remedies was the prohibition of the
customary raids amongst the Indian tribes and the other was that the
peaceable Indians should be induced to live in villages where they might
be taught, and also pay some tribute to the Crown. The Bishop's view of
the lamentable state of things in the colony, his condemnation of the
violent conduct of the Spaniards, and his opinion that it was urgent to
introduce a new system for regulating the relations between the colonists
and natives seem not to have differed from those of Las Casas himself, and
both the corrective measures he proposed met with the latter's hearty
approval. These memorials were first read by the Bishop to the Chancellor
and M. Laxao, both of whom were highly satisfied to discover such
unexpected conformity with the representations of their friend the
clerigo. When asked by them what he thought of Las Casas's projects, the
Bishop replied that he found them excellent and most just.

This singular conversion of the Bishop of Darien from a formidable
opponent into a supporter, delighted Las Casas, who, when the Chancellor
showed him the two memorials, asked for a pen that he too might sign them,
saying: "Did I ever tell your lordship more than the Bishop has here
admitted? What greater cruelties, murders, and destruction in that country
have I ever reported to your lordship than these?"

What influence worked upon Quevedo does not appear; whether he perceived
that the King looked with sympathy on the enthusiastic Las Casas and that
the latter was high in favour with the important Flemish group at Court
and therefore sure to carry his point, and so decided, as a practised
courtier, to pass over to the winning side, or whether under his choleric
exterior there was a chord that responded to the sufferings of the obscure
Indians in their miseries, and a sense of justi