Page:Mexico (1829) Volumes 1 and 2.djvu/544

504 APPENDIX. low their own vehement desires in favour of Independence. To them it is an iEgis, beneath which they not only conceal the perversity of their own wishes^ but turn against their country the remedies that were intended to heal its wounds 72. — Thus, when notwithstanding the opinion expressed against the measure by the Bishops of Puebla, Valladolid, Guadalajara, Monterey, Merida, and Mexico, together M'ith the Intendants of Mexico, Oaxaca, San Luis Potosi, Guanaxuato, and Zacatecas, the liberty of the press was establislied ; it left traces which more than justify the necessity of sus- pending it, in order to depz'ive the rebels of its support. In two months it completely perverted the public opinion, as it was foreseen that it must and would do. 74. — The military character of our chiefs was decried, and the Revo- lution indirectly defended by the use made of the name of Ferdinand, until the I'ebels threw oS the mask, and declared in the letter addi-essed by the Revolutionaiy Junta to the Cura Morelos, " that Ferdinand was for them a suppositious being, whose name appeared to advantage in their projects, without any fear that he would ever claim the crown. 84. — The Pensador, equally bold and ignorant, ventured to assert " that the Viceroys had been here absolute sovereigns ; that no civilized nation had ever been so ill governed as this ; that despots and bad go- vernment were the real cause of the insurrection, and not the Cura Hi- dalgo ; that the Spanish system had been a most pernicious one ; that tlie door to preferment had been shut upon every native; and that an armistice ought to be concluded until the justice of their complaints could be inquired into." — Vide Nos. 5, 6. (The Audiencia attempts to disprove the reality of these complaints by quoting the Reales Cedulas of the 12th March, 1697, the 21st Feb- ruary, 1725, and the 11th September, 1766; by which equality was con- ceded to the Creoles in all employments. It quotes likewise the order of the 23d August, 1796, respecting free trade ; the encouragement given to silk manufactures, &c. and attributes to the natural indo- lence and imbecility of the natives the fact of their not having turned any of these beneficent provisions to account.) — Vide Paragraphs 84 — 122. 122. — Nor was the abuse of the liberty of the press confined to this. On the 25th of June, a decree had been published, directing military commandants to treat all ecclesiastics taken in arms, as they would the other Insurgents, without any regard to their sacred character. 123. — This decree was attacked by the clergy of Mexico, and by the author of the Juguetillo (No. 3.) ; and 129. — Public opinion was so completely corrupted by their artifices, that, in the mobs of the 29th and 30th of November, assembled under the plea of celebrating the election of the electors for the Constitutional Ayuntamiento of Mexico, there were Vivas in honour of the Creoles, of