240 
HISTORY OF THE [book iV. 
a few years afterwards, to revoke the orders issued 
by Ovando, and to authorize, by royal authority, 
the introduction of African slaves from the Portu¬ 
guese settlements on the coast of Guinea. In the 
year 1517 , the Emperor Charles V. granted a pa¬ 
tent to certain persons for the exclusive supply of 
4,000 negroes annually, to the islands of Hispani¬ 
ola, Cuba, Jamaica, and Puerto Rico A This pa¬ 
tent having been assigned to some Genoese mer¬ 
chants, the supply of negroes to the Spanish 
American plantations became from that time an 
established and regular branch of commerce. 
The concurrence of the Emperor in this mea¬ 
sure was obtained at the solicitation of Bartholo¬ 
mew de las Cassas, bishop of Chiapa, the cele¬ 
brated protector and advocate of the Indians; and 
the conduct of this great prelate, on that occasion, 
has been the subject of much censure and animad¬ 
version. He is charged with the iniquitous ab¬ 
surdity of reducing one race of men to slavery 
while he was concerting the means of restoring 
freedom to another. “ While he contended,” says 
a late writer,f “ for the liberty of the people born 
in one quarter of the globe, he laboured to enslave 
the inhabitants of another region; and in warmth 
of his zeal to save the Americans from the yoke, 
pronounced it to be lawful and expedient to im¬ 
pose one, still heavier , upon the Africans.” It 
* Herrera, decad. 2. lib. 2. c. 20. 
f Robertson, Hist. Amer. 
