The record-union., 1896-03-07

lish Queen let her jewels blaze around
her scraggy neck, while Philip II. pre-
sented his baubles to some favorite
shrine.
But while the English Kings and
Queens who followed Elizabeth looked
askance at gold which they believed
was the spoil, wrenched from the mur-
dered natives, or the results derived
from the needless treatment of cap
tives, the sovereigns of Spain, the great
officers of the State, asked no trouble
some questions, but they took and they
took. All the Spanish possessions
then became as milch cows-to be
squeezed to the utmost. If the aborig-
ines of the sixteenth century in the
West Indies were almost exterminated
within the following hundred years, the
same process of draining the last mite
of gold and silver has ever been con-
tinued
The volume referred to, 1.-THE History
of the British Colonies in the West
Indies,' written in 1897, may have been
somewhat colored, because then Eng
land was fighting the rest Of the world.
But if there may be eXaggeration, still
there is to be found a strong basis of
facts. Sources of history are not de-
rived from writer's adverse to Spain,
but the data can be had from Spanish
authorities.
"The whole story of mankind" writes
Bryan Edwards, affords no scene of
barbarity equal to that of the cruel
ties exercised on these innocent and in
offensive Indians All the murders
and desolations of the most pitiless
tyrants that ever diverted themselves
with the pangs and convulsions of their
fellow creatures fall infinitely short of
the bloody enormities committed by the
Spanish nation in the conquest of the
New World-a conquest on a low esti-
mate effected by the murder of 10000,
600 of the species. But although the
accounts which are transmitted to US
OF this dreadful carnage are authenti-
Gated beyond the possibility of dispute,
the mind, shrinking from the contem
plation, wishes to resist conviction and
to relieve itself by incredulity."
We cannot fix with any accuracy
what was the total Of the population
of Hispaniola when it was discovered.
1t seems, however, to be authentic that
in fifty years, from what was probably
a million of natives, only $4,000 were
left That is what Robertson wrote in
his History of America Robertson
says that many of the Indians. com
PEELED to dig in the mines without rest
or. intermission, killed themselves. Hor-
rible stories have come down to us of
natives forced to baptism, then having
their throats cut ."to prevent apostasy."
The cruelty of the Spaniards in His
~, he
timony Of Peter Martyr He relates
that it was a frequent practice among
the Spaniards to murder the Indians
in sport or merely as he observes, ito
keep their hands in When there
were no more poor wretches to be sent
to the mines, by permission of the
King the natives of neighboring isles
were kidnapped and sent to perish in the
mines of San Domingo
The butcheries in Mexico and Peru
dc not need being told us by an author
ity as old Edwards. Our own histori-
ans have given us with great exacti-
tude the terrible story of Spanish cru
city. When, in 1885, Drake made a
descent on Hispaniola (see Hakluyt)
there were no natives to be found. Las
Casas and Oviedo testify to the exter-
mination of the natives. Oviedo says
that in 1885 (the discovery of Hispani-
ola was forty-three years before), when
he was in Hispaniola, there were alto
gether only 500 natives. What does
Las Casas write? II once beheld four
or FIVE principal Indians roasted alive
at slow fire, and as the miserable vic
tins poured forth dreadful screams
which disturbed the commanding officer
in his afternoon slumbers, he sent word
that they should be strang1ed; but the
officer on guard know his name, and
know his relations in Seville) would
nottsuffer it; but. causing-t their mouths