Note 1016 — Chapter V

The administration of affairs in the Western colonies of Spain was committed by Ferdinand, in 1511, to a body composed chiefly of clergy and jurists, called “The Council for the Indies.” Its powers originally conferred by Ferdinand were afterward greatly enlarged by Charles V. These powers were full and supreme, and any information, petition, appeal, or matter of business concerning the Indies, though it had been first brought before the monarch, was referred by him for adjudication to the Council. This body had an almost absolute sway alike in matters civil and ecclesiastical, with supreme authority over all appointments and all concerns of government and trade. It was therefore in the power of the Council to overrule or qualify in many ways the will or purpose or measures of the sovereigns, which were really in favor of right or justice or humane proceedings in the affairs of the colonies. For it naturally came about that some of its members were personally and selfishly interested in the abuses and iniquities which it was their rightful function and their duty to withstand. At the head of the Council was a dignitary whose well-known character and qualities were utterly unfavorable for the rightful discharge of his high trust. This was Juan Rodriguez de Fonseca, successively Bishop of Badajoz, Valencia, and Burgos, and constituted “Patriarch of the Indies.” He had full control of colonial affairs for thirty years, till near his death in 1547. He bore the repute among his associates of extreme worldliness and ambition, with none of the graces and virtues becoming the priestly office, the duties of which engaged but little of his time or regard. It is evident also that he was of an unscrupulous and malignant disposition. He was inimical to Columbus and Cortés from the start. He tried to hinder, and succeeded in delaying and embarrassing, the second westward voyage of the great admiral. (Irving’s Columbus, iii.; Appendix XXXIV.) He was a bitter opponent of Las Casas, even resorting to taunting insults of the apostle, and either openly or crookedly thwarting him in every stage and effort of his patient importunities to secure the intervention of the sovereigns in the protection of the natives. The explanation of this enmity is found in the fact that Fonseca himself was the owner of a repartimiento in Hispaniola, with a large number of native slaves.