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432, solemnly relinquished to the viceroy all the missions, more especially those in California, offering to establish others among the heathen whenever desired. This must have been put forth as a test, with a full conviction that the surrender could not and would not be accepted. And so it proved. The viceroy called a council, consisting of oidores, the auditor de guerra, and the fiscal, who asked the opinions of the bishops and governors of the regions where the missions were situated. The bishops and most of the governors objected to the renunciation, stating their reasons. The viceroy then referred the matter to the crown.

This great association, notwithstanding its wealth and almost unlimited sway over the Roman Catholic mind and conscience, was now to undergo a great calamity. Persecution,* dire and relentless, was at hand. On the 27th of February, 1767, King Cárlos III., after a consultation with his intimate counsellors, and for reasons that he reserved in his royal breast, issued a mandate to his minister of state, the conde de Aranda, for the expulsion from his dominions in Europe, America, and Asia of all the members of the society of Jesus that is to say, ordained