Page:Vol 4 History of Mexico by H H Bancroft.djvu/471

Rh. Further than this, the Spaniards of Mexico kept sending letters to the government and private persons which were printed in the Spanish journals, and translations of them inserted in foreign papers. A prominent London journal was subsidized by them. Such letters were filled with abuse against the natives of America.

The representation of the consulado was referred to a committee of three Americans and two Spaniards. The majority reported pretty much the form of decree that was proposed by Morales Duarez; but one of the Spaniards, Gutierrez de la Huerta, dissented. The subject gave rise to violent words, which coming to nothing, it was formally buried. In Mexico they had but a confused idea of the consulado's representation by an extract from it that was circulated in November, which gave rise to an edict published on the 11th by the viceroy, prohibiting certain seditious papers that were in circulation on rivalries between European and American Spaniards, and even forbidding conversations on these matters. A mail ship that left Cádiz the 2d of October brought advices toward the end of December of the occurrences in the córtes, which added to former anger, and sent many into the ranks of the revolutionists. Indignation was still further aroused when by royal order the consulado was thanked for its representation, its zeal and patriotism being praised, and fault found only with a few of its expressions.