Page:Vol 4 History of Mexico by H H Bancroft.djvu/758

742 of this assassination upon the resident Spaniards was startling, and the number of departures increased. Portions of the press, too, which now enjoyed full liberty, added to the alarm, certain writers making it their aim to keep alive the old enmity against the European interlopers, and impugning the guaranty of the plan of Iguala. To arrest this dangerous influence, the regency, by decree of October 22d, pronounced all authors of such malignant teachings guilty of treason against the nation, and subject to corresponding punishment. The edict had little effect. The guaranties of the plan of Iguala and of the treaty of Córdoba were still attacked, and on the 11th of December a sheet appeared, in which the author, Francisco Lagranda, exhorted the Spaniards to sell their property and leave the country, as the detestation in which they were held was so great that even Iturbide could not protect them, however willing he might be. The alarm created by this publication amounted to a panic, and extraordinary efforts to counteract the effect were made by the government. The departure of the mail was postponed till the following day, in order that the condemnation of the sheet might be simultaneous with its circulation in the country, and that the reiterated assurance on the part of the junta and regency of their determination to sustain the security of the lives and property of Europeans might be promulgated. Lagranda was arrested and condemned to six years' imprisonment, with the loss of his rights as a citizen, and an act was passed reforming the law regarding the liberty of the press. But this decisive action failed