Page:Mexico in 1827 Vol 1.djvu/529

Rh 72.—Thus, when notwithstanding the opinion expressed against the measure by the Bishops of Puebla, Valladolid, Guadalajara, Monterey, Merida, and Mexico, together with the Intendants of Mexico, Oaxaca, San Luis Potosi, Guanaxuato, and Zacatecas, the liberty of the press was established; it left traces which more than justify the necessity of suspending it, in order to deprive the rebels of its support. In two months it completely perverted the public opinion, as it was foreseen that it must and would do.

74.—The military character of our chiefs was decried, and the Revolution indirectly defended by the use made of the name of Ferdinand, until the rebels threw off the mask, and declared in the letter addressed by the Revolutionary Junta to the Cura Morelos, "that Ferdinand was for them a supposititious being, whose name appeared to advantage in their projects, without any fear that he would ever claim the crown."

84.—The Pensador, equally bold and ignorant, ventured to assert "that the Viceroys had been here absolute sovereigns; that no civilized nation had ever been so ill governed as this; that despots and bad government were the real cause of the insurrection, and not the Cura Hidalgo; that the Spanish system had been a most pernicious one; that the door to preferment had been shut upon every native; and that an armistice ought to be concluded until the justice of their complaints could be inquired into."—Vide Nos. 5, 6.

(The Audiencia attempts to disprove the reality of these complaints by quoting the Reales Cedulas of the 12th March, 1697, the 21st February, 1725, and the 11th September, 1766; by which equality was conceded to the Creoles in all employments. It quotes likewise the order of the 23d August, 1796, respecting free trade; the encouragement given to silk manufactures, &c. and attributes to the natural indolence and imbecility of the natives the fact of their not having turned any of these beneficent provisions to account.)—Vide Paragraphs 84—122.

122.—Nor was the abuse of the liberty of the press confined to this. On the 25th of June, a decree had been published, directing military commandants to treat all ecclesiastics taken