of the delegate was reprehended in no unmeasured terms, while, on the streets, knots of heated disputants took one view or the other of the question as their feelings prompted. On his part the archbishop, more than ever exasperated, ordered the spiritual outcasts to be excommunicated anew with all the dramatic accompaniments of bell, book, and candle, and that the list be again posted with the name of the subdelegate added to the rest. On that same night of January 3d, he ordered also that all the churches of the city should announce the threatened interdict. While the ceaseless clamor of the bells, ringing as though for this end only had they been cast, was inspiring in the souls of the people the shadowy fear of some greater ill impending, came the final notification of the delegate commanding the archbishop to remove the ban. The sub-delegate was ordered, in case of the prelate's refusal or neglect, to execute upon him the sentence of fine and banishment. The stubborn archbishop again refused compliance, and the sub-delegate prepared to carry the sentence into effect. He again removed the censures and ordered the ringing of the bells to cease, and now the very silence aroused new-fears among the terrified people.
Early on the morning of the 9th of January the archbishop sent Cristóbal Martinez de Recalde, parish priest of the cathedral, accompanied by notaries, to the viceregal palace with a petition addressed to the audiencia. After setting forth the facts of the case in a manner very favorable to his own view of it, the archbishop demanded that the audiencia should decide immediately the pending appeal.[1] In presenting this petition to the oidores Juan Paez de Vallecillo, Juan de Ibarra, and Diego de Avendaño, Martinez said that
- ↑ He stated moreover that it was with difficulty he could find a notary who dared to publish the decree of excommunication; also that in notifying his decrees the viceroy behaved 'con menos decencia de lo que convenia,' and, finally, that the proceedings against Varaez were unwarranted by law, and were undertaken solely for the purpose of causing delay. Serna, Rep., in Doc. Hist. Mex., série ii. tom. ii. 151-72.
