The evening times. [volume] (Grand Forks, N.D.) 1906-1914, 1912-02-26
Slavery.

IL Is 10 ne regretted that the charge
OF a%trocious cruelty to the Indians
was cruel. there is no doubt about it.
But an English-American, non-Cath-
olic historian, writing in scholarly
leisure three centuries later was not
qualified to tell the story of those
Spanish enthusiasts. and temperament
tally unable to understand them OF
do them justice. Besides. no deed of
history can. with justice. be dissociat-
ed from 1t century, its circumstantial
setting, its oneness with the spirit of
its time and. thus isolated. held up
before the metal tribunal OF an alien
postcrity.
The Spaniards captured the Indians.
held them in cruel servitrde or sold
them as slaves. True But slavery is
older than the oldest records of men.
The monuments of Egypt were built
archs were slave owners: classic
Greece and imperial Rome were en-
riched by the marts that traf1icked in
the persons of men," And within the
Christian era. in spite Of the fulmin-
atoms of philosophers ard the edicts
of popes. slavery has flourished. Pope
Alexander III said in denunciation of
slavery, nature having made no
slaves. all men have an equal right to
liberty Leo X declared that mot
the Christian religion only. but nature
herself cries out against the state Of
slavery" Paul III. in TWO separate
briefs, pronounced imprecations upon
those who should enslave the .Ameri-
can Indians or any other race of men.
And yet Anglo-Saxon enslaved An
glo-SaSon: n the number of cap
tiNes taken and reduced TO slavery by
the Teutonic race in the long and ter
rible combats with the Slavonic race
gave to western Europe and ultimate
~ to the world the very name, Slav
or slave. Portuguese slavers opened
a trade mart at Nigrita chiefly for the
sale of black men captured in the
wilds of Africa. Sir Joan Hawkins
brought over a cargo OF slaves to the
West Indies and thus brought Eng
land into completely With the dc,esta-
bic trade: five e later Queen Eli
zaheth of England took sllares in an
expedition of slavers traficking be-
tween the African slave nlarts and
British West Indies.
If in the words of the classic poet,
"Cui prodest scelus, is facit" Che who
profits by a crime commits it,, then all
crime of slavery and special odium
ought not to o~vershadow any one age
OF nation.
The Mississippi.
De Soto's men grew weary of their
wanderings and longed 10 return. Il
will not. turn back" said De Soto as
with gloomy brow and heart differing
the long series of reverses and
disappointn1ents, he again started the
march westward. De Soto had be-
come. in the words of the chronicler.
his followers urged on by the old mag
netic charm. V condescended to
do his will. And so on through forest.
marshes. canehrakes, impossible
roads. dread wilderness ana atmos-
pheres of hate wandered the fast
dWindling company. Indictment wealth
or, starvation. home sickness. pesti-
lence, heart weariness We're proving
powerful allies Of the Indian toma-
Portuguese brocade had long since
fed the flames of the burning Indian
Villages: the wanderers We're clad in
skins of animals and mats of ivy.
After a sever DAYS march through
marsh lands and tangled forest growth
they came suddenly in full view of a
mighty river. The great Father of
Waters hitherto unknown to history
and grandly content in hat august
s%eclusion throughout historic and pre-
historic ages, rolled on Enthusiastically,
unknowing and unheeGing their as
tonished gaze: unknoWing and UNI
caring Of its W accession. into his
tory. Fernando de Soto and his fol-
lowers first beheld the waters of the
lower Mississippi.
Death of De Soto.
On barges hastily constructed the
spaniards crossed the lordly tide and
continued their search westward. No
Ell Dorado had vel been found, none
seemed near. De Soto's proud deter
mlnation had hardened into obstin-
acN. True. home and friends and posi-
tlon and comparative wealth and a
loving wife waited for him in Havana.
CUBA; but could he who had vowed
to outrival Cortes and, Pizarro stink
pack in poverty. humiliation. failure?
NO: ne could die. but he could not
endure the smile of pity or the frown
of opprobrium.
Ne soto,s followers obeyed him to
the last. and. at his request. promised
allegiance to Moscoso. whom he an.
pointed as his successor. On the west
nank OF the Mississippi. to which the
expedition had returned after a year
OF fruitless wanderings west and north
south. De Soto died. His follow
ers rearing an immediate attack of
me !ndlans If they should learn Of the
death Of the dauntless leader, they
resolved to oncea their loss, and at
dead of night they rowed silently out
over the lordly tide and by the light
o. TAR off summer stars and Pickering
altar-tapers. they gloomily lowered
into the dark rolling waters the man
t!e-wrapped body of the man whom
they had feared too much to love.
but whose loss they deplored and
whose memory they honored.
De Soto. in his last will, had writ
ten these words: Il order that wher-
ever I may die. my body shall be car.
r1ed to Xeres. to the Church of San
Higuel. and laid in the sepulchre
Where lies my mother" How little
did he foresee that night burial scene
when he wrote those words and how
little did he know that the church's
requiem for the dead should arise for
the first time over the waters OF an
unknown river in an unknown world.
IN pleading PRAYER for the repose 81
his own troubled soul!
Moscoso turned homeward: he
longed, he said. to get to a place
where he could sleep his full Sleep"
The tattered remnant Of that once
gay and gallant company succeeded
at last in getting back to Havana.
De Soto's wife dice just three DAVIS
after learning with certainty Of the
fate Of Fernando de Soto.