Page:Vol 2 History of Mexico by H H Bancroft.djvu/689

Rh supreme, subject only to the throne. Carried away by excessive zeal in the friars' cause, he exhibits likewise great animosity toward the public officials in general — Viceroy Velasco only excepted — and all Spaniards living in Mexico who were not friars. He speaks of the discontent prevailing among the religious orders, all members of whom, he asserts, were anxious to abandon a field in which their services were considered no longer useful. Things had come to such a pass, in his opinion, that the 'friar had lost all heart for his work, the old fervor having died away, both on the part of the missionaries and the recently converted natives.

The position of the friars during this period was, indeed, an unenviable one, and so effectively had the church and audiencia represented them to the throne that certain cédulas were issued against them which caused serious loss of influence. In fact, both Spaniards and Indians openly displayed their lack of reverence. Even Bishop Quiroga, who had been a warm supporter of the orders, now as warmly defended his prerogatives in this ecclesiastical warfare, and would have closed the Augustinian convents