" If gold could do all that, who would
not try to possess it?
But so far as his letter to the monarchs went, Columbus knew, even while
writing it, that real gold and the promise of gold were two very
different things. His promises could never fill up the empty hold of the
ship that was going back to Spain; and so, failing the rich cargo which
the men of La Navidad were to have gathered, Columbus bethought himself
of some other way in which his discoveries might bring money to the
Spanish Crown. The plan he hit upon was the plan of a sick,
disappointed, desperate man, as will be seen from a portion of his
letter. The letter, intended for the sovereigns, was addressed, as was
the custom, to their secretary.
"Considering what need we have for cattle and beasts of burden ... their
Highnesses might authorize a suitable number of caravels to come here
every year to bring over said cattle and provisions. These cattle might
be paid for with _slaves_ taken from among the Caribbeans, who are
a wild people fit for any work, well built and very intelligent; and
who, when they have got rid of the cruel habits to which they have been
accustomed, will be better than any other kind of slaves."
Horrible, all this, we say, but it was the fifteenth century. Slavery
had existed for ages, and many still believed in it, for men like the
good Las Casas were few.
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