Page:Vol 3 History of Mexico by H H Bancroft.djvu/463

Rh feelings of the people, because of the affection they bore it, and of the degradation inflicted on them by the assurance that they were mere serfs, born to obey, and not to think about, much less dispute, the acts of their master. Some persons, doubting the truth of the mandate, ventured to expostulate, and suffered for it.

But in destroying what the royal government considered an evil which must be eradicated at all hazards,

even against the dearest traditions of the people, every preparation had been made to confront any possible attempts at rebellion. The fact should not be lost sight