THE SPANISH CONQUEST IN AMERICA, AND ITS RELATION TO THE HISTORY OF THE GOVERNMENT OF COLONIES. BY ARTHUR HELPS. VOL. I. NEW YORK: HARPER & BROTHERS, PUBLISHERS, FRANKLIN SQUARE. TO THE REV. ROBERT PHELPS, D. D., MASTER OF SIDNEY SUSSEX COLLEGE, CAMBRIDGE. MY DEAR FRIEND, DEDICATE this book to you, because it is based upon "The Conquerors of the New World and their Bondsmen," which I dedicated to you several years ago. Finding that, for the completeness of the work, it required to be more developed, I have been obliged to extend its plan and to enlarge its form. I need hardly dwell upon the difficulty of my enterprise, and the labor which, for many a weary year, it has entailed upon me. I feel, however, that the more it has cost me, with the greater confidence I can dedicate it to you, who will not look so much upon the result, whether successful or unsuccessful, as upon the expense of life and energy which it represents. If the work should afford the least aid or enlightenment to those who would legislate wisely upon matters connected with slavery or colonization, neither you nor I shall regret any labor that has been expended upon it. At the time of my former dedication you were Vicechancellor of Cambridge, and I had the additional pleasure of paying a mark of respect to the first officer in a University which I always look upon with due filial reverence and gratitude. These feelings have not grown weaker in the lapse of time, and I am glad to have an opportunity of renewing my expression of them. It is nearly seven years since I dedicated the "Conquerors" to you; and it is a pleasure to think that, though so much has changed in us and around us during these boisterous years, we have the same secure friendship for each other as we had then, and, indeed, as we had when we were at college together. I remain, my dear friend, yours affectionately, ARTHUR HELPS. June, 1855. PREFACE. THER HE present history being a work of a peculiar kind, and the drift of it not likely to be perceived until the reader has advanced some way in the work, it may save him trouble, and may secure his attention to what he would otherwise be likely to pass by as unimportant, if I endeavor to explain at once the object in view, and the mode in which that object has been pursued. Some years ago, being much interested in the general subject of slavery, and engaged in writing upon it, I began to investigate the origin of modern slavery. I soon found that the works commonly referred to gave me no sufficient insight into the matter. Questions, moreover, arose in my mind, not immediately connected with slavery, but bearing closely upon it, with respect to the distribution of races in the New World. "Why," said I to myself, "are there none but black men in this island; why are there none but copper-colored men on that line of coast; how is it that in one town the white population predominates, while in another the aborigines still hold their ground? There must be a series of historical events, which, if |