The Chancellor at this time dying, the influence of Las Casas was once more shaken. Fonseca, the bishop of Burgos, again returned to power, and, as a consequence, the Jeronimite Fathers were recalled. Las Casas was fortunate enough to obtain the interest on behalf of the Indians of a gentleman immediately attached to the king; and his representations were from time to time fortified by the accounts received of some fresh atrocities committed by the Spaniards in America. The Dominican prior, Pedro de Cordova, had much to tell his colleague of the slave-hunting exploits of the Spaniards in _Trinidad_, and he suggested that one hundred leagues on the coast of _Cumana_ should be set apart by the king as a territory in which the Franciscans and the Dominicans might preach the gospel undisturbed by the presence of laymen.
Las Casas, failing for the meantime to obtain such a grant, fell back upon his scheme of Spanish emigration, and about two hundred men were actually sent out from Seville, a measure which was not attended by any beneficial result, since the emigrants were left on their arrival to provide for themselves from their own resources. A new Grand Chancellor was now appointed; and in his eyes Las Casas likewise found favour. To Gattinara the Protector of the Indians submitted a new scheme of colonization. The plan was that a sort of religious fraternity should be created, consisting of fifty knights, and that by their aid Las Casas should settle the country for a thousand leagues along the coast from _Paria_, a distance which was subsequently reduced to two hundred and sixty leagues. By the help of the king’s preachers, this idea of Las Casas was actually put in the way of being realized.
After the usual Spanish course of _juntas_ and much arguing, it was resolved that the land which Las Casas sought for should be granted to him, although at each step his proposition was opposed by the Bishop of Burgos. Immediately before the departure of Charles from Coruña in May 1520, in order to be crowned Emperor of Germany, the king signed the necessary deed of grant to Las Casas. The land which he thus acquired extended from the province of _Paria_ in the east to that of _Santa Martha_ in the west, and was to go through the continent to the Pacific. Las Casas embarked at _San Lucar_ on the 11th of November 1520, taking with him some humble labourers. After a favourable voyage, he arrived at _Porto Rico_, where he was destined to meet with some startling news that had considerable influence on the fate of the expedition which he had undertaken.