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156 by which it is provided, that in cases where the Viceroy exceeds his powers, the Audiencia has a right of interference, in order to preserve the tranquillity of the country. But all attempts at concealment were vain: the Creoles knew that the removal of Iturrigaray implied their exclusion from power, and they consequently regarded his cause as their own. These feelings were rather confirmed, than checked, by the pains which were taken by the Audiencia to repress them. Juntas of public security were formed by its orders, and armed bands of Spaniards organized, who, under the curious denomination of Patriots, exercised a most rigorous surveillance over all whose opinions were suspected of being favourable to the imprisoned Viceroy. Many persons of note were arrested, who had voted in favour of a Mexican Junta in the Ayuntamiento, of whom some were banished to the Philippine Islands, and others sent to Spain, to be there tried, or confined in the Castle of St. John of Ulloa. The Viceregal authority was confided, for the time, to the Archbishop Lizana, and an account of all that had taken place transmitted to Spain, for the approbation of the Central Junta.

But although the Mexicans submitted at the moment to these innovations, they were far from viewing them with indifference. The moral change which a few months had produced was extraordinary; they had learnt to think, and to act; their old respect for the King's Lieutenant was destroyed