LAS CASAS

las casas, bartolome de (1474-1566), for some time bishop of chiapa in mexico, and known to posterity as "the apostle of the indies," was a native of seville. his father, one of the companions of columbus in the voyage which resulted in the discovery of the new world, sent him to salamanca, where he graduated. in 1498 he accompanied his father in an expedition under columbus to the west indies, and in 1502 he went with nicolas de ovando, the governor, to hayti, where in 1510 he was admitted to holy orders, being the first priest ordained in the american colonies. in 1511 he passed over to cuba to take part in the work of "population and pacification," and in 1513 or 1514 he witnessed and vainly endeavoured to check the massacre of indians at caonao. soon afterwards there was assigned to him and his friend renteria a large village in the neighbourhood of zagua, with a number of indians attached to it in what was known as _repartimiento_ (allotment); like the rest of his countrymen he made the most of this opportunity for growing rich, but occasionally celebrated mass and preached. soon, however, having become convinced of the injustice connected with the _repartimiento_ system, he began to preach against it, at the same time giving up his own slaves. with the consent of his partner he resolved to go to spain on behalf of the oppressed natives, and the result of his representations was that in 1516 cardinal jimenes caused a commission to be sent out for the reform of abuses, las casas himself, with the title of "protector of the indians," being appointed to advise and report on them. this commission had not been long at san domingo before las casas perceived the indifference of his coadjutors to the cause which he himself had at heart, and july 1517 found him again in spain, where he developed his scheme for the complete liberation of the indians--a scheme which not only included facilities for emigration from spain, but was intended to give to each spanish resident in the colonies the right of importing twelve negro slaves. the emigration movement proved a failure, and las casas lived long enough to express his shame for having been so slow to see that africans were as much entitled to freedom as were the natives of the new world. overwhelmed with disappointment, he retired to the dominican monastery in haiti; he joined the order in 1522 and devoted eight years to study. about 1530 he appears to have revisited the spanish court, but on what precise errand is not known; the confusion concerning this period of his life extends to the time when, after visits to mexico, nicaragua, peru and guatemala, he undertook an expedition in 1537 into tuzulutlan, the inhabitants of which were, chiefly through his tact, peaceably converted to christianity, mass being celebrated for the first time amongst them in the newly founded town of rabinal in 1538. in 1539 las casas was sent to spain to obtain dominican recruits, and through loaysa, general of the order, and confessor of charles v., he was successful in obtaining royal orders and letters favouring his enterprise. during this stay in europe, which lasted more than four years, he visited germany to see the emperor; he also (1542) wrote his _veynte razones_, in defence of the liberties of the indians and the _brevisima relacion de la destruycion des las indias occidentales_, the latter of which was published some twelve years later. in 1543 he refused the mexican bishopric of cuzco, but was prevailed upon to accept that of chiapa, for which he sailed in 1544. thwarted at every point by the officials, and outraged by his countrymen in his attempt to carry out the new laws which his humanity had procured, he returned to spain and resigned his dignity (1547). in 1550 he met sepulveda in public debate on the theses drawn from the recently published _apologia pro libro de justis belli causis_, in which the latter had maintained the lawfulness of waging unprovoked war upon the natives of the new world. the course of the discussion may be traced in the account of the _disputa_ contained in the _obras_ (1552). in 1565 las casas successfully remonstrated with philip ii. against the financial project for selling the reversion of the _encomiendas_--a project which would have involved the indians in hopeless bondage. in july of the following year he died at madrid, whither he had gone to urge (and with success) the necessity of restoring a court of justice which had been suppressed in guatemala. his _historia de las indias_ was not published till 1875-1876. sir arthur helps' _life of las casas_ (london, 1868) has not been superseded; but see also f. a. macnutt, _bartholomew de las casas_ (1909). las cases, emmanuel augustin dieudonne marin joseph, marquis (1766-1842), french official, was born at the castle of las cases near revel in languedoc. he was educated at the military schools of vendome and paris; he entered the navy and took part in various engagements of the years 1781-1782. the outbreak of the revolution in 1789 caused him to "emigrate," and he spent some years in germany and england, sharing in the disastrous quiberon expedition (1795). he was one of the few survivors and returned to london, where he lived in poverty. he returned to france during the consulate with other royalists who rallied to the side of napoleon, and stated afterwards to the emperor that he was "conquered by his glory." not until 1810 did he receive much notice from napoleon, who then made him a chamberlain and created him a count of the empire (he was marquis by hereditary right). after the first abdication of the emperor (11th of april 1814), las cases retired to england, but returned to serve napoleon during the hundred days. the second abdication opened up for las cases the most noteworthy part of his career. he withdrew with the ex-emperor and a few other trusty followers to rochefort; and it was las cases who first proposed and strongly urged the emperor to throw himself on the generosity of the british nation. las cases made the first overtures to captain maitland of h.m.s. "bellerophon" and received a guarded reply, the nature of which he afterwards misrepresented. las cases accompanied the ex-emperor to st helena and acted informally but very assiduously as his secretary, taking down numerous notes of his conversations which thereafter took form in the famous _memorial de ste helene_. the limits of this article preclude an attempt at assessing the value of this work. it should be read with great caution, as the compiler did not scruple to insert his own thoughts and to colour the expressions of his master. in some cases he misstated facts and even fabricated documents. it is far less trustworthy than the record penned by gourgaud in his _journal_. disliked by montholon and gourgaud, las cases seems to have sought an opportunity to leave the island when he had accumulated sufficient literary material. however that may be, he infringed the british regulations in such a way as to lead to his expulsion by the governor, sir hudson lowe (november, 1816). he was sent first to the cape of good hope and thence to europe, but was not at first allowed by the government of louis xviii. to enter france. he resided at brussels; but, gaining permission to come to paris after the death of napoleon, he took up his residence there, published the _memorial_, and soon gained an enormous sum from it. he died in 1842 at passy. see _memoires de e. a. d., comte de las cases_ (brussels, 1818); _memorial de ste helene_ (4 vols., london and paris, 1823; often republished and translated); _suite au memorial de ste helene, ou observations critiques_, &c. (2 vols., paris, 1824), anonymous, but known to be by grille and musset-pathay. see too gourgaud, montholon, and lowe, sir hudson. (j. hl. r.)