Page:Vol 4 History of Mexico by H H Bancroft.djvu/55

Rh, which being clandestinely introduced into Mexico caused no little annoyance to the political authorities and the inquisition. This institution consisted at the time of thirty-one officers, exclusive of a multitude of secret agents and spies, and their labors were so arduous and important that the inquisitors petitioned for an increase of salary on that ground. Such was the powerful array of zealots, ever on the alert to persecute those whose religious and political views dared to pass the bounds prescribed by church and state.

The deplorable condition of the press was another proof of the incessant endeavors on the part of the authorities to keep the people in intellectual bondage. It was not well for subjects of Spain to know too much of what was going on in the world. Four daily papers appeared in Vera Cruz between 1804 and 1807; three of them were soon discontinued, and the other was prohibited from publishing any political news from foreign countries, that being a privilege granted only to the Gazeta de Mexico. In 1805 the Mexican writer Cárlos Maria Bustamante, and the alcalde del crímen Jacobo de Villa Urrutia, established the Diario de Mexico with but little better success. Being suppressed at one time, this periodical was allowed to appear again only on condition that it should be subject to the personal revision of the viceroy.