The Catholic bulletin. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1911-1995, 1917-06-02
THE HISTORY OF MEXICO

yielded little more than was needed
to satisfy the demands Of the 1.dian
allies, who were content with having
killed some of their red brethren, and
the appropriation of their supplies OF
food and the destruction OF their
homes.
These various expeditions were
largely personal enterprises in which
some leader would enlist under his
banner such volunteers as cared to
share with him the dangers-and par
ticularly the expenses-of the attempt
ed Conquest. For reimbursement
they looked to the collection OF such
gold trinkets ais might be gathered
from the tribes disputing their author
ity. In addition, there was the hope
OF acquiring extensive tracts of fer
tile land with the native peasantry to
work them.
Unjust Comparisons.
1t is altogether unjust to measure
the Sixteenth Century military adj
venturer by Nineteenth Century stand
ards, because he was no worse than
his contemporaries. Those who crit
icize Cortes and his men of iron, for
get that the remainder of Sixteenth
Century Europe was no better, if as
good, as Sixteenth Century Spain, and
that one and all looked to her as a
center of power and culture. Yet there
were not lacking those whose humani-
tartan ideals were as advanced as any
of the present day, and these did not
hesitate to fly effectively to the prac'
teal assistance of the Indian, whose
protectors they became, not only
against the white man but against
himself. And these we're the Catholic
clergy.
Cortes, soon after the Conquest, is.
sued decree, concerning the treat
ment of the Indians, and this docu
ment is remarkable for its humane in
tentions. 1t limited the hours of labor
and prohibited the employment Of chill
dren; it prohibited the entrance Of the
white men into the Indian villages eX-
cept by permission of the authorities
the white men were permitted to call
upon the Indians for service, but the
amount of this was limited, and for it
they were required to feed the Indians
and to pay them a wage.
EvangeIization.
The Characterization of the natives
Iof no l,o l17txJ
charged upon the Spanish monarchs
and from them, in turn, upon their
subjects whose swords and lives had
been risked in the Conquest. To full
| fiji this obligation, in the absence OF
| the necessary number of clergy, there
had been adopted in the Islands the
system of 'Encomiendas," which was
that of placing the Indians Of Ger
| tain district in the care Of some white
settler, whose duty it was to instruct
them in the Faith. This system was
established on the mainland, but was
so much criticized that it was eventu
ally abolished. That this abolishmen
was of questionable benefit is evi
| denced by the fact that the Indians
themselves petitioned that it be re
stored.
The decree of Cortes, just mention
ed, required that on farms where In
dams were at labor there must be {
place set apart for the image of the
Virgin, and that each morning before
going to work the Indians must bt
| taken there and instructed in tht
Faith and taught to repeat the Pate
Noster, Ave Maria, Credo and Salv'
Regina. A pathetic survival Of this il
the custom still observed by the In
dian farm laborers in some parts 0
Mexico, Of meeting to sing the hymn
of praise before going to work in thu
| morning.