Page:Vol 2 History of Mexico by H H Bancroft.djvu/303

Rh of the audiencia and the cabildo held for the election of municipal officers, as was customary at the beginning of the year.

The valley of Mexico, with its numerous towns, teeming with a busy population, and rich in products of the soil and workshop; its stately capital, wherein concentrated the wealth of the whole country — it must have seemed a paradise to the not opulent oidores, and to Guzman, fresh from the wilderness of Pánuco. From the beginning of their rule they were seized by an insatiable avarice to which all things were made subservient. Knowing that his hold on office was provisional at the best, the president above all determined to take advantage of opportunities which at any time might cease, and no persuasion was needed on his part to gain the active coëperation of his colleagues. They had already been persuaded by the wily factor Salazar, who found more than one powerful reason to prompt him in dancing attendance on those in power. Having won their appreciation with liberal gifts, he continued to point the way to extortion and opposition, wherein he shared to a great extent, and he figured indeed as the leading adviser in nearly every evil transaction. Under his experience and advice the audiencia cast aside all duty to the emperor, to justice, and to humanity. They strengthened their hands for evil by usurping the functions of the ordinary ministers of justice, while the suppression of all letters directed to persons in Spain which contained complaints of their conduct shielded, if but temporarily, their iniquities.

They kept themselves fully apprised of all