New Worlds and Th eir Challenges 117the contrary, I hear only of provocations, savage crimes, and multitudes of
unholy acts.”
Vitoria then proceeded to identify eight bases on which, at least in prin-
ciple, conquest of the Indians could be justifi ed. Th ese included possible vio-
lations by the Indians of various rights of the Spanish, such as a right of
“natural partnership and communication.” War could also be justifi ed for
the purpose of spreading information about the Christian faith, protecting
converts, and defending innocent persons against tyrannical rulers. Mental
incapacity on the part of foreign peoples could also justify their conquest.
Vitoria carefully held back, however, from pronouncing on whether any of
these justifi cations had actually been present at the time of the conquests.
Th e nearest that he came was in his endorsement of the lawfulness of assist-
ing allies who were fi ghting a just war. He cautiously noted that “[t]his is
what is said to have happened” during Cortés’s campaign in Mexico, when
the Spanish allied themselves with an Indian state that was fi ghting against
the Aztecs.
Even the existence of a iusta causa did not necessarily entitle the just side
to embark upon a war of conquest. Just- war principles, Vitoria insisted (in
another of his relections), must apply to pagans as they did to Christians—
and those principles allowed the just side to go no further than the correc-
tion of the wrongful conduct that had justifi ed the war. Th ey did not confer
a right onto the just side to depose the unjust prince and annex his state.
Vitoria made it clear that he looked with equanimity on the Spanish giving
up their conquests. No great prejudice would occur, he maintained, since
trade relations with the Indian states could still continue. But he also con-
cluded, in his parting words, that “once a large number of barbarians have
been converted, it would be neither expedient nor lawful... to abandon al-
together the administration of those territories.”
Th e Natural- Slavery Th esis
It will be recalled that, in classical times, even writers as enlightened as Ar-
istotle held that barbarians were the natural inferiors of Greeks and, as such,
fi t chiefl y for slavery to them. In the age of the Re nais sance, which was
strongly marked (or even defi ned) by a high respect for classical antiquity,