Luís Sánchez, 1566 
165 
been or are to-day in the Indies, for they never have executed properly the 
constant commands which the government sends them from here, neither 
the New Laws nor a thousand other orders and instructions which are 
every day sent to them for the good government of the Indies. Some of 
them, especially those of lower grades, do not obey commands because 
they are heaped with honors and attentions and corrupted among the 
encomenderos in covetousness. Others, who are more prudent, are 
praised for performing nothing. They say: It is not fitting to do 
this, I will inform his Majesty that this is not the right time, the 
order is not fitting for this country, or, the governor does not under¬ 
stand; thus crimes go without punishment and justice is not executed. 
For this and for no other reason so many tyrants have sprung up in Peru 
and in other places, for the end of justice we well know is peace, but good 
judges over there are few, and their companions are of such character that 
their opinions do not prevail nor do decisions ever take effect. I will cite 
notorious instances of all this, which I have seen and heard over there. 
The second third of the blame for these evils I attribute to all the cleri¬ 
cals and friars who now are or have been in the Indies, who for the sake 
of enriching themselves have condoned all the evils which desolate the 
Indies and have confessed and absolved their authors without demanding 
restitution of what has been stolen from the Indians. They absolve the 
tyrants, leaving them all in their actual state, forgiving them their sins, 
although they see plainly that the Indians are being consumed and exter¬ 
minated in fleeing from their persecutors until death overtakes them. 
Then the religious assert that this is unfathomable. 
The last and third part of the blame is shared by the conquerors them¬ 
selves, the encomenderos of the Indians, their servants, and the soldiers, 
that is, among all the residents of the Indies, since they are the perpetra¬ 
tors of these crimes. If I had to count them I should never finish, and 
your lordship would command me to be silent, for ears so Christian as 
yours could not bear to hear of such serious crimes as the Spaniards have 
committed and are to-day committing in the Indies. 
May God our Lord provide the remedy whereby these many ills may be 
stopped, for men are not equal to the task. It would, however, provide 
some amelioration, and would make manifest that there is a desire to 
remedy certain things in the Indies if an effort were made to attempt to 
understand them. This could not be done without convoking a large com¬ 
mittee suitable for such an important affair, at which his Majesty or your 
lordship should be present, with the Council of the Indies itself and others, 
great theologians, all sitting as judges. Then, when they should all be sit¬ 
ting together as a council, all the good religious and other persons of virtue 
who have knowledge of this business, having had experience in the Indies, 
should be placed on one side, and on the other should be put the crowd 
of those people who have come from the Indies, and let each one tell 
what he has seen and knows concerning each of the provinces. In this 
way Christendom might ascertain before such good judges, by taking the 
testimony of good people from the Indies, what is occurring there; the 
evils which exist there might thus be clearly and openly seen. When this 
has been ascertained, it being the point of the inquiry, your lordship and the 
