denouncing the Spanish conquerors as bad patriots and worse Christians, whose acts outraged religion and disgraced Spain, his evidence against his countrymen was diligently spread by all enemies of his country, especially in England and the Netherlands, while Protestant controversialists quoted him against popery, and in the conduct of the conquerors the evidences of the Catholic depravity.

The earliest English edition was printed in 1583 under the title of The Spanish Colonie or Briefe Chronicle of the Acts and Gestes of the Spaniardes in the West Indies, called the Newe Worlde, for a space of XL Yeares.

John Phillips, who was a nephew of Milton, dedicated another version, called The Tears of the Indians, to Oliver Cromwell.

Other English editions, bearing different names, appeared in 1614, 1656, and 1689. This last volume bore a truly startling title: Casas's horrid Massacres, Butcheries and Cruelties that Hell and Malice could invent, committed by the Spaniards in the West Indies. It doubtless had a large sale.

Ten years later another edition was printed in London: An Account of the Voyages and Discoveries made by the Spaniards in America, containing the exact Relation hitherto published of their unparalleled cruelties on the Indians in the Destruction of about Forty Millions of People.

[pg xxviii] The Netherlands being in revolt, both against the Catholic religion and the Spanish government, it is not surprising to find that, in addition to the French editions published in Amsterdam and Antwerp, no less than six different versions were circulated in the Flemish and Dutch vernaculars, as follows: Seer cort Verhael van de destructie van d'Indien, etc., Bruselas, 1578. Spieghel der Spaenscher tyrannye, in West Indien, etc., Amstelredam, 1596. Another edition of the same followed in the same year and another in 1607. Den Spieghel van de Spaenscher Tyrannie, etc., Amstelredam, 1609. Second edition of the same work in 1621.

A German translation entitled Umständige Wahrhafftige Beschreibung der Indianischen Ländern, etc., was published at Frankfurt-am-Main, in 1645.

It seems hardly necessary, otherwise than as a matter of quaint chronicle, to notice the fantastic attempt of the Neapolitan writer, Roselli, to prove that the Brevissima Relacion was not written by Las Casas, but was composed years later by an unknown Frenchman. This suggestion was too agreeable to Spanish susceptibilities to lack approval in Spain when it was first advanced, but it has since been consigned by general consent to the limbo of fanciful inventions.

The limits of the present volume exclude the possibility of dealing adequately with a life so fertile in effort, so rich in achievement, as that of Las Casas, and I have confined myself to composing, [pg xxix] from an immense mass of material, a brief narrative of the acts and events that seem to best illlustrate his character and to establish his claim to a foremost place among the great moral heroes of the world.

I have drawn largely upon his own works, and by frequent and ample quotations from his speeches I have sought to reveal my hero more intimitely to my readers. In reluctantly quitting this field of profitable research, I confidently promise myself the satisfaction of one day seeing literature enriched by an abler presentation of this great theme than I have felt myself prepared to undertake.