fall of Cárlos IV. was not likely to maintain that faith in the high majesty of the Spanish sovereigns which for ages it had been impious to hold in doubt. Respect for monarchy was weakened, and the more reflective and enlightened recognized with satisfaction that these convulsions would augment the possibilities of independence for New Spain. The holy inquisition still maintained its power, and indeed we find it at this period more zealous than ever in attempting to stifle the progress of the age. Libertinism and impiety, as it was called, [1] were so great, that there were over a thousand cases pending before that tribunal. [2]
One of the victims of an auto de fé at this time was the presbyter Juan Antonio Olavarrieta, curate of Axuchitlan. In his possession was found a work written by himself, entitled Man and Beast. On the frontispiece was a representation of a tyrant king. The author had come well recommended from Spain to the chief inquisitor, Bernardo de Prado y Obejero, and great was the scandal. The auto was celebrated with more than ordinary solemnity in the presence of the secular and ecclesiastical authorities, the nobility, and principal persons of the city. Olavarrieta was sentenced and shipped to Spain, but managed to escape during the voyage. Soon after this the same ceremonies were repeated on the person of José Rojas, professor of mathematics in the college at Guanajuato. A man of extraordinary talents and great learning, [3] he possessed but little knowledge of the world. Carrying on a correspondence on philosophical and theological topics with a woman at Guanajuato, he was denounced by her and imprisoned. After sentence by the holy office, Rojas escaped to New Orleans. There he published in flammatory proclamations against the Spanish gov-
- ↑ Iturrigaray, in Carta á Caballero; Cavo, Tres Siglos, iii. 208.
- ↑ Bustamante remarks that a great number of these cases must have been of a political nature, 'pues este tribunal era el brazo derecho del despotismo.' Id.
- ↑ 'Y de una memoria tan feliz, que aprendió literalmente las principales actuaciones de su causa, con solo haberlos oido leer.' Id., 207-8.
