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ADMINISTRATION OF VICEROY ITURRIGARAY.

for the people; and great was the clamor among all classes, especially the clergy, who were far from satisfied with this enforced investment.[1]

Formal protests were made by many,[2] and the pernicious effect of the measure was duly set forth; but no notice was taken of this action by the authorities. To make matters worse, Iturrigaray received orders from Spain that while steps were being taken to accomplish the sequestration, all funds belonging to corporations and communities, deposits of Indian tributes, the treasures lodged in sacred shrines, and even moneys designed to ransom prisoners should be appropriated. "Peace has been preserved at the cost of millions!" was the cry; "so pay! pay!" But the day was fast approaching when Spain's peace would be of small moment to Mexico. Never had royal license to fleece the colonists been more barefaced; never had the robbery of a people by their rulers been more merciless or infamous. And after all, only about ten millions of pesos were secured, when in 1809 the order was rescinded.[3] Of this sum twenty-four million francs were delivered to Napoleon in May 1806, by Eugenio Izquierdo, Godoy's special agent at Paris,[4] after a large amount had gone as commissions to royal officials in Mexico.[5]

  1. 'La resistance fut si forte de la part des propriétaires, que depuis le mois de Mai 1805 jusqu'au mois de Juin 1806, la caisse d'amortissement ne percevoit que la somme modique de 1,200,000 piastres.' Humboldt, Essai Pol., ii. 477.
  2. One by the merchants and laborers of Michoacan, under the direction of Abad y Queipo, afterward bishop elect; and another by the mining board, headed by Miguel Dominguez, corregidor of Querétaro, for which presumption he was removed from office by the viceroy. Bustamante, in Cavo, Tres Siglos, iii. 222-3.
  3. 'Toda esta trápala,' says a marginal note on the cédula in Cedulario, MS., i. 179-97, 'del malvado Godoy, Solér, y sus sequaces se suspendio por Orden de 26 de Enero de 1809, pero yá no remedió los estragos incalculables y desastrosos que aquellos malvados y sus sequaces hicieron, con esta infame trápala, sin el mas minimo provecho del erario.' See also Humboldt, Essai Pol., ii. 476-7.
  4. Toreno, Hist. Rev. Esp., tom i. lib. ii. 12.
  5. The sum produced by the sequestrations, according to Cancelada, Tel. Mex., 29, was $10,509,537. Alaman, Hist. Mej., i. 140, and Bustamante. in Cavo, Tres Siglos, iii. 250, give $10,656,000. Soc. Mex. Geog. Boletin, ii. 35-6, gives productos $10,507,957, and reditos $524,904 pesos. Of the commissions known to have been paid to officials, who at the same time drew large salaries, the diputado principal Arrangoiz received $124,000; Iturrigaray, $72,000; the archbishop Lizana, who, according to Bustamante, was not a favorite with the Mexicans since his arrival in December 1803, $22,000; ministers of the treasury, $50,000; the secretary, $40,000; and so on to the amount of half a million. Cancelada hurls invectives against all connected with this wholesale robbery.