Page:Vol 4 History of Mexico by H H Bancroft.djvu/33

Rh Natives of the Country, who do hate the Spanish Government, and all such as come from Spain; and reason they have for it, for by them they are much oppressed, as I have before observed, and are and will be always watching any opportunity to free them selves from the Spanish yoak."

But apart from these main causes of discontent, other aggravations, permanent or periodical, excited a spirit of antagonism. Excessive taxation galled and irritated; the venality of officials and the corruptness of the judicial courts caused indignation; while the expulsion in 1767 of the Jesuits, who had ingratiated themselves in the hearts of the lower orders, insulted the people in their dearest affections. From that time conspiracy arose and became wide spread; and the attempt at Apatzingan, prematurely undertaken, and abortive though it proved, opened the eyes of the Spanish rulers to the fact that ideas of independence were abroad in New Spain. The measures adopted to suppress such wickedness only added fuel to the fire. Disdaining the further support of the church, the government determined to rely on military force, and organizing the army on a much larger scale, humiliated in a variety of ways the clergy, who thus alienated became a powerful element in working out the independence.

While the industries of the country were cramped, the masses were unaware of the extraordinary resources of New Spain; but when certain restrictions were removed by the home government, and the war with England at the close of the eighteenth century almost annihilated trade with the peninsula, great impulse was given to the development of internal resources and commerce with foreign nations. While belief in the necessity of dependence on Spain was thus being weakened, Humboldt opened their eyes to their