Page:Vol 3 History of Mexico by H H Bancroft.djvu/446



come now to one of those episodes in the history of intellectual development which occasionally startle us from our contemplation of the more usual monotony of facts; in this instance an episode which causes us to wonder at a state of human society that could evolve such phenomena. There are few events in the annals of the race, very few upon its later pages, wherein is so displayed the mighty power of one over the many, not of one mind over the will of the many, as frequently occurs in the great currents of superstition, but the arbitrary and unjust domination, the iron tyranny of one will over the minds and bodies of millions. In the midst of its palmiest days, at a time when its wealth and influence are almost limitless, the church throws a faint, almost imperceptible scowl at the state, and instantly one of her most powerful divisions is hurled hence, and dissipated to the winds; and this in a Catholic country, by a Catholic monarch,

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