Bartholomew de Las Casas; his life, apostolate, and writings | Page 7

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Fabi�� writes that his examination of the original manuscripts of the two works preserved in the library of the Spanish Academy of History in Madrid, shows that the first chapter of the Apologetica was originally the fifty-eighth of the Historia General. Prescott possessed a copy of these manuscripts, which is believed to have been burned in Boston in 1872, and other copies still exist in America in the Congressional and Lenox Libraries, and in the Hubert Howe Bancroft collection.
During his constant journeying to and fro, much of the material Las Casas had collected for the Historia General was lost and when he began to put that work into its actual form--probably in 1552 or 1553--he was obliged to rely on his memory for many of his facts, while others were drawn from the Historia del Almirante, Don Cristobal Colon, written by the son of Christopher Columbus, Fernando.
The first historian who had access to the original manuscript, in spite of the instruction of Las Casas to his executors to withhold them from publication for a period of forty years after his death, was Herrera, who dipped plenis manibus into their contents, incorporating entire chapters in his own work published in 1601. His book obtained a wide circulation despite the fact that it was prohibited in Spain.
It was not until 1875-1876 that a complete edition of the Historia General and the Apologetica was printed in Spanish. This work was edited in five volumes by the Marques de la Fuensanta and Se?or Jos�� Sancho Rayon, and was issued by the Royal Academy of History in Madrid. A Mexican edition of the Historia General in two volumes, but without the Apologetica, appeared in 1878. The Historia Apologetica treats of the natural history, the climate, the flora, fauna, and various products of the Indies, as well as of the different races inhabiting the several countries; their character, costumes, habits, and forms of government. Though its purpose bore less directly upon the injustices under which the natives suffered, it was none the less educational, the author's purpose being to put before his countrymen a minute and accurate description of the New World and its inhabitants that should vindicate the latter's right to equitable treatment at the hands of their conquerors. Misrepresented and defamed, as he maintained the Indians were, by the mendacious reports sent to Spain, Las Casas composed this interesting apology as one part of his scheme of defence. As a monument to his vast erudition, his powers of observation, and his talents as a writer, the Apologetica is perhaps the most remarkable of all his compositions.
I append to this present volume an English translation of the most celebrated of all the writings of Las Casas; that is, of the short treatise published in 1552 in Seville under the title of Brevissima Relacion de la Destruycion de las Indias, and which recited in brief form his accusations against the conquerors and his descriptions of the cruelties that formed the groundwork of all his writings.
This was the first of nine tracts, all treating different aspects of the same subject. The full titles of these little books, of which a complete set is now extremely valuable, may be found in Henry Harrisse, Notes on Columbus, pp. 18-24; also in Brunet's Manuel, the Carter-Brown Catalogue, and other bibliographical works.
The first quarto gothic edition, printed by Trujillo in Seville in 1552, entitled Las Obras Brevissima Relacion de la Destruycion de las Indias Occidentales por los Espa?oles, contains seven tracts. The second edition, in Barcelona, 1646, bore the title Las Obras de B. de Las Casas, and contains the first five tracts.
The Brevissima Relacion was quickly translated into most of the languages of Europe. A French version, published in Antwerp in 1579, was entitled Tyrannies et Cruaut��s des Espagnols, par Jacques de Miggrode. Le Miroir de la tyrannie Espagnole, illustrated by seventeen horribly realistic engravings by De Bry, contains extracts from several of the nine treatises, composed into one work, issued in Amsterdam in 1620. Other editions followed in Paris in 1635, in Lyons in 1642, and again two others in Paris in 1697 and 1701: these latter were translated and edited by the Abb�� de Bellegarde.
The Italian translation, made by Giacomo Castellani, followed closely the original text, by which it was accompanied; editions were printed in Venice in 1626, 1630, and 1643, bearing the title Istoria o Brevissima Relatione della Distruttione dell' Indie Occidentali. Three different Latin versions were published as follows: Narratio regionum Indicarum per Hispanos quosdam devastatarum Verissima, per B. Casaum, Anno 1582; Hispanice, anno vero hoc Lating excusa, Francofurti, 1597; Regionum Indicarum Hispanos olim devastatarum accuratissima descriptio. Editio nova, correctior{~HORIZONTAL ELLIPSIS~}Heidelbergae 1664. Despite the fact that Las Casas was the first and most vehement in denouncing the Spanish conquerors as bad patriots and worse Christians, whose