Page:Vol 4 History of Mexico by H H Bancroft.djvu/178

162 issued proclamations, and denounced the rumors which prevailed of the cession of Mexico to France as groundless, attributing their origin to Hidalgo. At the same time, town officers, governors, and other authorities were urged to express their fidelity to Spain, and their detestation of the revolution; while in order to conciliate the Indians they were relieved from the payment of tribute, and measures taken for the improvement of their condition.

This action at first was not without effect, and the capital and many other cities remained loyal. The heaviest blow sustained by the revolutionists was that dealt by the church and inquisition. The awful denouncement of the leaders as heretics, their terrible punishment of greater excommunication, and the dread of the same appalling fate falling on them, working upon an ignorant and superstitious people, decided for a time the vacillating and deterred the disaffected. Hidalgo fully recognized that he had to fight with