Page:The Rambler in Mexico.djvu/130

124 were drawn up before the palace, with the artillery in advance; and it was with the utmost difficulty I could make my way into the cathedral. Every part of its pavement was crowded.

I had hardly made my way to the high altar, when the deep bell of the church tolled half past nine, and the lofty roof and the impending dome resounded with the burst of sounds which instantly pervaded the great city from one end to another! Within—the trumpet and full organ mingled their burst with the clang of the great bells; the dark veil which had shrouded the high altar parted and rolled back, displaying the gorgeous pile of ornament which it had concealed. Without—the artillery thundered in the square—the bells of every church and convent through the city clanged incessantly, and were answered by those in the towns and villages far and wide—the Judases exploded by thousands, and the multitude hailed the conclusion of the Holy Week!

Before an hour was at end, the streets resounded to the roll of the carriages, and the sounds of innumerable hoofs; the calzadas and canals were crowded with Indians returning to their homes; the buyer and the dealer repaired to their traffic; the idler to his vices, and the gambler to the monte table. The robber, exulting under his lightened conscience, betook himself to his stand in the pine forest, to commence a fresh career of rapine; and the assassin to the resumption of his cherished schemes of blood and vengeance. The reopening of the opera was publicly announced, and the citizens joyfully anticipated the recommencement of bullfights.

And this is Christianity! and the worship of the only true God! to introduce which, in place of existing superstitions, the blood of millions of the blind heathen of this vast region was shed by its Spanish conquerors! The plea for all the cruelties exercised against the aborigines was their idolatry, and their inhuman sacrifices; and the most exaggerated statements, suited to excite the horror and extinguish the compassion of the bigoted Catholics of Europe, were found necessary, and were made, to