MEXICO. 125 the real state of affairs. He ordered troops from La Puebla, Orizava, and Toluca, to march upon the Capital, and, at the same time, by way of conciliating the Creoles, he in- trusted the command of one of the finest regiments to the Conde de la Cadena, a Mexican born. The event proved his calculation to be correct, for the Count, who had been sup- posed before to be one of those most desirous of seeing Mexico independent, became, from that moment, a zealous adherent of Spain, and perished soon after in the defence of her cause. The same policy was recommended to Don Felix Maria Calleja, who commanded a brigade of troops, at San Luis PotosT, and was ordered to augment his division as much as possible and to march in pursuit of Hidalgo. Nor did the Viceroy neglect to turn to account the superstition of the people : some doubts having arisen, in the Capital, with re- spect to the justice of a sentence of excommunication pro- nounced against Hidalgo by his Diocesan, the Bishop of Valladolid, (as the Cura, though in arms against the King, had not committed any offence against the Catholic Religion,) Venegas caused this sentence to be confirmed by the Arch- bishop Lizana, and by the Inquisition, who pronounced, at the same time, the penalty of excommunication, ipso facto in- correnda^ against any one who should presume to question its validity in future. But the advantages which the Spanish cause might have derived from these measures, were more than counterbalanced by the public distribution of honours and rewards amongst the Europeans who had been concerned in the deposition of Iturrigaray.* It renewed all the feelings of irritation which the event itself had excited, both in the Provinces and in the
- It must not be forgotten that the Mexicans considered the cause of
Iturrigaray as identified with their own. That the Audiencia thought so likewise, may be seen by the " Representation, paragraphs 26 to 34. — Vide Appendix.
