Page:Mexico (1829) Volumes 1 and 2.djvu/541

 APPENDIX. 501 thought dubious:* advantage was taken of the inexperience of the Archbishop to induce him to prepare a vast force to resist Napoleon, as if it were possible for the armies of the tyrant to reach our coast, while Spain was in alliance with England. He was taught, too, to dread a design, on the part of the Europeans, to remove him, as they had done his predecessor ; and to carry his suspicions so far that he planted can- nons before the palace tq defend himself against those who never dreamt of attacking him. Nor was this all : under the plea of taking precau- tions against the emissaries of France, the Viceroy's confidential advisei-s designated, under this odious name, all their own rivals, or opponents, marking out in particular a number of European Spaniards ; and this conduct prepared the Indians, and mixed Castes, who had hitherto re- mained indilfei'ent, to take an interest in the controvei'sy, and to believe, one day, that the Gachupines were resolved to betray the kingdom to Napoleon. Thus was destroyed that moral force, which, since the dis- covery of these countries, had maintained their tranquillity ; and with it was lost that, which it was most our interest to preserve. Information was received, both of the conspiracy of Valladolid, and of the machina- tions of Hidalgo himself, but no attention was paid to it ; and people were thus taught, that, in Mexico, they might attempt every thing with impunity, since, whether they failed, or were successful, they were sure of pardon. 36. — The Audiencia succeeded to the Viceroyalty ad interim, and did, what in it lay, to remedy the evil ; but its roots had already struck too deep : it was too late. 37. — Under these circumstances, the Viceroy appointed in 1810, ar- rived, and so opportunely that, but for him, all must have been lost. Hidalgo had already raised the standard of rebellion. This man, with- out honour or religious principle, had nevertheless sufficient knowledge of mankind to calculate not only upon the assistance of the troops whom he had seduced, but (as he himself said a little before,) upon the pow- erful aid of the ambition, the,vices, and the ignorance of his countrymen. His war-cry was the proscription of the Europeans, who had been lulled into security by habitual confidence, and still more by the testimony of their own consciences : he was joined instantly by a host of curates, friars, and lawyers, all men of desperate fortunes, and all determined to seek in the public ruin the impunity of their own crimes. The great mass, too, of Indians, and mixed castes, which had taken no part till then in the affairs of the state, was roused at once into open rebellion against the Government ; stimulated by the desire of indulging their vicious passions, concealed by the plea that the Europeans, against arrest of Iturrigaray.
 * The Archbishop to whom the reins of Government were confided after the