224 THE OCEAN RIVER 



of the Indian population and its slavery and destruction 

 moved him deeply. He was a man of great strength of char- 

 acter and a man of action. He stood out against the local 

 governments and took his case to the king in Spain, and finally 

 won new laws, which for a time ameliorated the worst condi- 

 tions. But the economic forces of the colonial world were 

 against him, and his greatest enemies were the local planters 

 and exploiters of new wealth who had influential friends at 

 court. This great see-saw battle went on for half a century. 

 Las Casas lost out in the West Indies, but in Central America, 

 after he had become a Dominican father, won notable tri- 

 umphs. He ended as Bishop of Chiapas. 



Arthur Helps wrote sympathetically of Las Casas: 'Tn an 

 age eminently superstitious he was entirely devoid of super- 

 stition. At a period when the most extravagant ideas as the 

 divine right of kings prevailed, he took occasion to remind 

 kings to their faces that they were only permitted to govern 

 for the good of the people ... at a period when brute force 

 was appealed to in all matters, but more especially in those 

 that pertained to religion ... he contended that a missionary 

 should go forth with his life in his hand, relying only on the 

 protection of God and depending neither upon civil nor mili- 

 tary assistance. Eloquent, devoted, charitable and fervent, a 

 subtle and skillful manager of men, he was rightfully called 

 the Apostle to the Indians." He had the capacities and the 

 common sense and courage to see to it that his ideals did not 

 exist in a vacuum; he went into action. The story of his peace- 

 ful conquest of the dangerous Guatemalan tribes stands in 

 brilliant contrast to the brutality of Spanish conquests else- 

 where. It stands as a symbol of the kind of colonial wisdom 

 and human decency that somehow, in the face of greed and 

 brutality, managed to effect a blended Indian-Spanish culture 

 in Central and South America, succeeding in this respect 

 where the English failed in the north. 



