is teaching was unalterably
the same, and he eloquently insisted upon his doctrine of peace and kind
treatment of the Indians, whom he never ceased to declare were reasonable
people of unspoiled nature, who were to be converted by gentleness and
justice--not by brutality and oppression. His theories provoked the same
ridicule and opposition in Guatemala as elsewhere, though there was not
the same bitterness of feeling towards him as existed in the Islands.

The heads of the Spanish colony in Guatemala even challenged him to put
his theories into practice, saying that if he succeeded in subduing any
tribes, they would admit that they had been unjust, and would abandon
their opposition and liberate their slaves. This challenge Las Casas at
once accepted, and selected for the field of his undertaking the mountains
of the province of Tuzulatlan, inhabited by a warlike people, whom the
Spaniards had never been able to conquer, partly on account of the
difficult nature of the country, and partly on account of the skill and
courage of the inhabitants in defending themselves. Besides the bare
necessaries for his support, Las Casas only asked that the conditions
expressed in the following agreement bearing the Governor's signature
should be scrupulously observed. The act was thus worded:

"By these presents I promise and give my word in the name and on behalf of
his Majesty and by the royal power which I hold that should you, or anyone
of your religious here present, to wit, Fray Bartholomew de Las Casas,
Fray Rodrigo de Ladrada, and Fray Pedro de Angulo, by your efforts and
care, bring any provinces or Indians of them, which may be all or partly
within my jurisdiction which I exercise for his Majesty, to peaceably
recognise his Majesty as sovereign and to pay a tribute according as their
means and property may permit either of gold, if it exists in their
country, or of cotton, maize, or any other product which they possess and
use for trade amongst themselves, I will, by virtue of his Majesty's
authority, recognise all such and their provinces in his Royal name and
present them to his Majesty that they may serve him as his vassals; nor
will I give them to any one, nor shall they be given in encomienda to any
Spaniard either now or at any time. I will command that no Spaniard shall
molest them nor enter their country, under grave penalties, for a period
of five years, that they may not disturb them or hinder your preaching an