Beckmann has brought together in a useful little opus the known materials on proposals by sixteenth-century missionaries in Mexico to transfer their activities to China. The earliest proposal, that of Martín de Valencia in 1532, was quickly ended by difficulties in Mexico and by Fray Martín’s death. A much better organized plan, supported by Charles V, was that of the three friends, Juan de Zumárraga, Domingo de Betanzos, and Juan de la Magdalena in 1543-1545. Later plans and attempts to establish missions in China from the new Spanish base in the Philippines, which are dealt with briefly, really have less connection with Mexico. One of the most important impulses to the early missionary plans, according to Beckmann, lay in disillusionment of the missionaries over the permanence of results in Mexico and certainty that the Indians there were destined to go the way of those of the West Indies. China, therefore, promised a wider field of action with more durable residents, who could fit into and survive in European polity.
The most notable part of this booklet i3 that devoted to the plans of 1543-1545, perhaps half the essay. The message of Charles V to the rulers of Asia and his instructions to the missionary leaders, both quoted in full in bilingual text, are striking testimony to the confidence of the expanding Europe of the Renaissance. Charles V and his missionaries had no doubt that the dominion of God and the emperor went together and that a simple mission could bring submission. Beckmann also records the uncomfortable position of Domingo de Betanzos within the Dominican province at the time and his long friendship with Zumárraga. The two men were both anxious to abandon administration and return to their proper function—spreading the gospel.
