Page:Vol 3 History of Mexico by H H Bancroft.djvu/71

Rh prelate replied that he sought justice, and that he would not leave the audience-chamber until he had received it. He then desired to read a petition in which it was set forth: That he was obliged to appear thus in person because the president of the audiencia had given orders that no communication brought from him by an ecclesiastic would be received, and no layman dared to aid him by presenting one. Since it was not just that he alone in all New Spain should be denied the right to appeal to the audiencia for protection, he humbly besought that body, in the name of God and the church, to pity the wretched condition of the country as well as of his dignity and jurisdiction, and to receive and hear this petition against the threatened action of the papal delegate; further, to decide the appeal pending in the matter of the guards of Varaez without delay. Were this not done, he was determined to go to Spain, there to appeal to the king in person. This petition the oidores refused to receive; and summoned by the viceroy they left the prelate in the audience-chamber. He immediately placed the petition and the accompanying documents on the table beneath the canopy of state, calling upon the multitude present to bear witness that he did so. There were present about one hundred persons, among them some eight or ten clergymen. Fearful lest there might be a disturbance, the viceroy ordered that all persons having no business before the audiencia should depart at once, and presently the archbishop, his notary Aguilar, and the two pages alone remained.

The prelate was now formally required to return to his palace, there to await the answer to his petitions, which must pass through the usual course. This he refused to do, insisting upon receiving justice and upon the admission of appeals. For this obstinacy he was fined four thousand ducados, and upon his