Page:Vol 4 History of Mexico by H H Bancroft.djvu/465

Rh say, in the event of Spain becoming subjugated. The ultramarine committee approved the plan; but it lay on the table eight months or more, the European deputies opposing its reading on the gronnd that it was revolutionary.

Next it was resolved to extend to America a forced loan decreed in Spain on the silver plate of the churches and private persons, excepting only that in the churches of Indians, that of the church of Guadalupe, and that of the parish churches. This decree was never published in New Spain, but the viceroy did seize the plate of private persons, as I stated, but as his own measure, and with a promise of reimbursement. No silver plate was taken from the churches. Other minor measures affecting America followed, most of which I allude to indirectly elsewhere. Other deputies arrived from time to time, and so the number of American members was completed. Among the suplentes of New Spain the most remarkable was José María Gutierrez de Teran, not only by reason of his eloquence, but also for his sterling character and energetic speech. But among American representatives, many of whom were an honor to their country, there was one particularly bright man, the deputy from the 'provincias internas de oriente' Doctor Miguel Ramos Arizpe, parish priest of the villa of Borbon in the colony of Nuevo Sántander, now state of Tamaulipas. He was a native of Coahuila, and began his professional studies in the seminary of Monterey, finishing in Guadalajara. He was full of spirit, fond of talking, and one would never suspect, either from his manner or dress, that he was a priest. He thought his countrymen too patient and gentle, and he would often say, "I am not a Mexican; I am a Comanche;" and he came to be known in the córtes by that name. Alaman assures us there were some