The New York Herald Newspaper, May 25, 1866, Page 4

4 MEXICO. Tnteresting Review of Its Po- litical History. Its Geographical and Commer- cial Advantages. Church Domination the Cause of All Its Miseries. Its Revolutions Elements of Progress. The Measures of Juarez Against the Church the Commencement of Its Regeneration. THE WORK SUSPENDED, NOT STOPPED, Probabie Speedy Abdication of Maxirasilian, THE FUTURE OF: MEXICO. &e. &eo. do. From the peculiar and commanding geographical post- tion of Mexico there is, perbaps, no country in the world destined to play a more important réle in the history of mankind. Situated midway between supply and de- mand, she stands like a barrier interrupting and claim- ing tribute from modern European civilization. on the east and ancient Asiatic civilization on the west. At her ‘western doors she may bathe her commercial entirpriso in the products of Japan, China, India, Australia and all the islands of the Pacific. To the eastward the vast wave of progressive civilization ts fast rolling onward towards her shore, bearing with it the demands for ccaseless ac- tivity and the germs of national development. It is upon her territory that the wave of empire, which has for so many centuries been sweeping westward, reaches tho contines of that great sen from who- western shore It parted. Northward she enjoys the immediate contact of the wonderful national progress of the great republic, while to the southward, within easy reach, lie the trade and wealth of South America. There is not a commer- cial country in the world which she cannot reach by easy water communication and in almost a straight line, THE COMMERCIAL ADVANTAGES OF MEXICO. With such a ma:nificent geographical position there should spring up great cities and commercial centres upon her territory; for, as commerce advances, it will place her, with reterence to the modern trade of the world, in nearly the same position that Syria, Mesopotamia and the whole of Western Persia occupied to its ancient trade. It was the East Indian and European trade currents, flowing over these countries, which gave birth to the cities of Selucia, Palmyra, Sidon and ber colony Tyre. The same causes, later, forced into notice Byzantium and Alexandria, made Rome and Carthage centres of distribution for East Indian products, and gave Venice wealth and power to turn back the Ottoman sword from Europe. No better illustration of the importance of occupying © central position with referen’e to the great trade cur- Tents can b* selecte| than by the comparison of Europe in the latter part of the Mfieonth with the beginning of the sixteenth century. In 1498 her whole Indian com- merce flowed westward froi its Asiatic ‘sources through the old laborious channels to the eastern shore of the Mediterranean, where the merchants of Genoa and Venico became its’ principal European distributors, Every Mediterranean port reeounded to tae hum of com- Meroial life. Suddenly ths tide was turned; Vasco de Gama, retracing the track made by Pharaoh Necho's Phernictan ships twenty centuries befure, rolied awny tho barriers to great commercial development and order- ed Europe henceforth to look to the Atlantic coast for centres of East Indian supply. The whole Atlantic sea- board immediately sprang to meat the demands made UpoRit; aud to reap tho civilizing influences causod by an intense forcing of mental activity’ to sapply the demands of rival commercial interests and reap the now harvest iid at the fect of ‘Western Europe. It was like a desert simoom to the Mediterranean ports; the great Nile of Asiatic commerce which had annually borne in its tide the segrosated ‘wealth of the Indies bad changed its course and now Poured its wealth around the Cape of Good Hope and through tho dreaded portals of Hercules, The Moditer. Tanean porta which had thrived upon its bounty suddcnly sunk into mere local importance, or, no longer imbibing its fructifying power, became, like Venice, a mournfal wreck of their former splendor, The world now breathed westward. Tho great trade currents now fast settling their foci ‘upon the northern half of the New World point unerring- ly to a culmination in Mexico; for as they have advanced ‘wostward, constantly nearing the gfeat source of supply, and constantly having more Wemand to the east of them, the cities with which they have been pregnant have Tisen to opulence and grandeur in proportion to their ability to intercept and distribute the waves of wealth flowing past them. Mexico, 80 favorably sitaated with reference to every country for all these purposes, must indeed then bare at her command more elements than apy other country ever before possessed for the building up of a mighty people. Under the colonial rale of Spain the advantages which she porsessed for @ direct trade with the Indies were not overlooked, and her splendid harbor of Aca- paleo upon the western const became the great centre of East India commerce, not only for all the Spanish. Aterican possessions, but even for the mother country, who found it to her advantage to ship direct t the Indies, from the Mexican mines, that silver which the Asiatics sv largely demand in exchange for their pro. ducts; while from Acapuleo many of the Fast India goods, crossing the country by the great national roe’ to Vera Cruz, wero reshipped to suppiy the demand in o} Spain. CLIMATE, SOIL, RTO. Added to tho blessings of geographical position, thang. ia, internally, 00 country In the world which surpadien Mexico in thegnataral blessings of climate, fertile soll and opporiunities for the development of agricultu- ral, pastoral and mineral wealth, While ander a united people her military position would be almost invulner. able, Thus pro-eminent among the countries of the world, Mexico occupies ® superiot position for great na- tional development, homogenrousness ana intense con- centration of the elements of stability To making this statement we are not unmindfal of the Fefined horrors entailed upon her by Spanish misrule, nor {te goalous cultivation mto ettl! more bitter fruit by the Mexican clergy; it is this which has prevented her from making use of thore mngnificent advantages which Heaven has conferred upou ber, Mexico bas been too much derided by the world for her misfortunes, Our countrymen are too fond of having her painted writhing under tho miseries from which for a baif century she hae been trying to shake herscif free. We have been too fond of comparing her woes with the happiness of our own country, which was born under different cireum- stances; for while everything aided us in our national advancement she drank the bitterest dregs that were ever poured out for the mental crushing of a people Bat In epeaking of ber chances in the great march of nations we are looking into the future, when this Mex can chaos shall have cooled down and the volcanic elo. mente o rudely stirred to action by her priesthood shall flod outlet in more peaceiul pursuits; when that areat cloud of Ofteenth century darkaess whieh found ite Spanish-American focus in Mexico shall be swept Away by the advancing sun of modern civilization, and her people, freed from the incubus of a long night of Digoted religious misruie, may really deveiop thelr uo example’ opportunities for national pr VOLUTIONS—RLRMENTS OF P The insvurrectionary cuthreate t dowwlated the Sp gary to thelr pro n th » of perits NEW YORK HERALD, FRIDAY, MAY 25, 1866.—TRIPLE ‘SHEET | mization; at each mow rovolt some grievance, some curse which the rule of old Spain inflicted ujon them, is thrown into its grave, and the next up- rising buries it¢ompietely. No one who has not lived in Spanish-American countries*and studied their colonial history can judge of the depth of the flood of entailed woes in which they have had to float their republicun arks for a half century, until the subsiding revolutionary surges might give them some hope of reat. Nor does history present instanecs In European progress where 80 much misrule has been shaken off so quickly. In all the Spanish-American republics it will be found asarole that, in proportion to their distance from Mexico, the great centre of Spanish-American Catholic power, 80 has been their progress im civilization since their war of independence; for the great prime causes, especially in Mexico, of the numerous revolutions have been the attempts of tho progressive portion of her peo- ple to shake themselves freo from the crusiiing rule of the clergy. But circumstances far back ip the history of Spain," and baving’ more direct and powerfully drawn lines of cause and effect than most his- torical events, conspired to turn Spanish charactor into a tide that spent its full and culminating force upon the American colonies, ERA OF THE SPANISH CONQUEST. Spain, at the very date of the discovery of America, was taking breath after the moat torrible religions war on record. It had taken nearly eight hundred yrars for the flow and ebb of the Moslem tide, and in that time the whole nation had received an intensely concentrated re- ligtous education in asingls given direction. pain was the great (battle ground, the bulwark of Catholicism against the more tolerant Moslem faith, whose cimiters, having carved their way across her territory, were threatening to rest om the plains of Italy, under.the shadows of the Moslem standards which were advancing westward. Spurred on by all the flery fanaticism which the Catholic faith could inspire, the whole nation lost itself in a single idea and became the mighty exponent of Catholic militant power in western Europe. As war rolled ong and shock after shock baptized the Cross in Moslem blood the mind of Spain lost its balance; every element of the in- tellect was forced into the channel of religious fervor, until Spain became educated to engraft upon her moral code the most revolting crimes, (‘Any one, it was said, might conscientiously kill an apostate whenever he could meet him. There was some doubt whether a man might slay his own father, if a heretic or infidel, but none whatever as to his right, im that event, to take swayithe life of his son or his brother,?’—Prescott’s Ferdinand and Isabella, vol. 2, p, 461.) Religious fanaticism, true to its instincts to enslave, not to cultivate the intellect, step by step crushed out every ennobling influence, until the former generosity of Spanish charaster lost itself in the darkness which advanced southward with their armios, The wild tide which, while it hurled back the Moors and drowned human progress in its waves, at Jength reached the Spanish Jews, who, with all their advance- ment in civilization, refinement and wealth, bout to the blast which scemod to drive civilization to the shelter of the Crescent, At length came the Inquisition to en- throne itself upon the ruin, fit sovereicn to crush out the Jast spark of intellectual opposition to religioas fa- naticism, and in the wild wreck to sway the destinies of a people. The rulers of Spain were at that time the monks and inqnisitors, Their sovereign, the exponent of a religious idea, turned the thunderbolts in his power to the task of the upholding of the Cross and the overthrow of the heretic, The whole country became a vast monastery, in which the stormy elements of the times swayed natures as potent for religion, ambition and avarice as ever ligured in history; and ail these elements, swayed by the Koman poutif, became in his hands the lash with which he seourged Europe. The brain of Spatn, at all times pawerfal in the direction of its education, proved what mighty efforts man can inake when jis forces are Jed in a given direction. The period produced some of tho most extraordinary men of history, and though we fament the talent which, per verted, flooded all opposition to its inclinations, we can not bat admire the genius which could spring from such elements and wield such power with so much suc- cons, Suddenly the barriers which had for so pany centuries heid in check tie tlood of religious fervor were no more. Swept southward by the fanatical torrent, the Moors had disa| ed across the Mediterranean aud Spain was at length {ree trom civilization and the Crescent. The spir- itual fervor was at a loss where to vent its fury; the na- tonal mind, missing its accustomed recreation, turned its forces wherever the sanctity of the Cross was to be upheld, and found employment under Cardinal Ximenes in a campaign against the Moorsof Northern Africa, or. latenstill, against Solyman, the Magnificent, in Hungary, aud the crushing of Protestantisin in Germany. But tis was not enough for the occupation of all the turbu- lent spiri's to which eight centuries of warfare had given birth. They sighed for a wider field, and. as 1{ destiny bad fixed the proper noment, the ships of Columbus brought back Ue udings of the wonderful New World which was to become @ curse to Spain, of the vast flelas which wero open for the plantiug of the Cross and the propaga- von of the faith, ‘Tho stories of untold treasures to be gained thore expanded ke wave ripples, and pandering to the cupidity of the mind linked .ts two moat power- fal forces, religion and avarice. The brain of came @ vast crucibie in which the flery Spanish imagina- tion melted down the wealth of the New World and threw its power into the religious idea that still swayed th» naiion, The conquest of Mexico by Cortez, the boldest (1. busteo of his ime, and Abe overthrow of the Empire of the Incas by his cousin, Pizarro, with the tide of treasure which immediately poured into Spain, inflamed to a still higher degree the Toagioation which bad been tame ip its estimates of resulta, To the Span- fard the new sun which sbimmered in the West was fall of opulent empires only awaiting the Cross and sword of some bold adventurer to build a mighty family upon their ruins, 7 launched out in quick be is the New World. The of bardy woldiers who bad bronzed their faces in the wars of Italy under the > great captain or in the wars of Spain against the Moors, of Hidalgos of all classes; from the nobie with royal blood to the ‘Hidalgo de Bragueta,’? and while they drew into their wild excitement much of the best blood of the Peninsula they also furnished for much of the most (urbulent and unprinci- ent of the Spanish population, The first expe- ns were generally of a better class than the emicra- which (ollowed. The countries being all oceupied or apporuoned to Idalantados there was le!t no induce- ment to men to organize such knightly expeditions as Pedro de Mendoza fitted at his own cost and led to the conquest of the La Plata region in 1534 Mendoza in Uhis expedition agreed to take with him one thousand men, well armed and equipped, with physicians for the sick and with a namber of missionaries for the conver- sion of the Indians. The latter point was particularly insisted upon by the Emperor, Not even the salary of an Adalantado—two thousand ducats per year—was to be claimed by Mendoza. It was, moreover, especially stip- ulated in’ bis contract that if any sovereign prince should fail into his bands his ransom, although belong. ing by law to the Emperor, should ‘be divided a: the engutvadores, deducting only the royal ith, It was by such contracts as this that the New World was apportioned to ‘he adventurous spirits of the times, To indicate che intense activity of the =pauish mond im the direction of America, it may be stated that so goon as the terms of the contract were promulgated crowds of ali classes presenied themselves. No less than fifty grandees and Hemen of distinction took part in this expedition, Among them were Don Jian de Ose who Lad gained great renown in the wars of Itaiy; Don Diogo de Mendoza, a brother of the Adalaniado, and who was named Admiral of the fleet; Jiun de Ayolas, Don Dowingo Martinez, afierwards ‘a famous poets Francisco de Me major domo of the King of whe Romans, aud Don Carlos Dubin, foster brother of the JI volunteers led by the spint of adventure ire of riches. The multitude desirwus to om- bark became #0 great that it was necessary to sail before the appointed day; and when the account was taken of the number ou Loord the fourteen vessels which com- the feet, it wax found that Instend of the one «i men for which Mendoza bad stipulated, there twenty-ftve hundred Spaniards and one hundred ty. Germans, besides the crews of the vessels, (See Sir W. Paris's Rio do Ia Plata ) In the organization of these expeditions for conqnests in the New World there appeared to be very little thought of (he wants of the colonists in the new condl- tions of life upon which they were about to enter. It did not appear to be the policy of Spain to found agricultural dependencies. The New World, in Ste ear. her developments, was considered a vact treasure house of the precions metala, The expeditions of Hernando Cortes end Francisco Pizarro had demonstrated the trath of the theory, and Spain acted ypon this principle, ex- ting in Teturn for her expeditions not agricultural, Povmmerat products, Wherever agricultural settlements wore formed, as on the banks of th La Plata, they were the results of the disappointed hopes of the conquida- dre, who, failing im their attempts to realize their gokten d had been forced to cultivate the lands aronnd them ( sustain life. The conqueat of the country, whether to glut their avarice or religious bigotry, was the prime object; and they carried it onward with a cournge and pers-verance which the sole exercise of the two most power fl elements of the mind could bring to bear for the object in view, The tide of conquest, after deso- lang Mexieo, ewept acroes the Isthmus of Panama and overthrew thé empire of the Incns. southward it fowed, bearing al! before it, until at Valdevia they found some- thiog of (he cournge in the Araucanian tribes which ant mated the rown swords; and from that day to this the Araucanions, Muelcher, Pueiches, Pebuenches and Pam- pas have beld their territory, (We have had the pleasure of perticipating in two battles with the banded a above mentioned and ean attest to thelr wi has lost nothing of ite former energy. We have seen hem charge a regiment of modern infantry with rude anors, made of reed, baving sharpened pieces of hoop rom beund to the ends of them with hide thongs.) GOVERNMENT OF THR VICRROTS, The country in great part conquered, there became ,fonger eny new kingdoms await the adventurous — sw sto make th: into their hand wore ground ato etive ne sway of the earlier ¢ overthrew sovnmiee Yo Menten ba Pora which they xoarcely replaced during their ocoupation of the cvumtry. Spanish America was wrecked, and lke a hnge huik thrown among savages sho tora in the metal that held her template what a been to the mother country had a liberal policy ruled the councils of tho nation in its government. What could be the government of the colonies during that tong night of Spanish misrule that it could eo brand itse!f upon them that after fifty of revolutionary throos they have been Lee to shake themselves entirely free from to suill Linger in thelr valleys and hold tho thel Hi 3 i i i u i i it f ; i dj i i : Fy i A i il i Ee | i a Hs E BEY HI a Hl opel and the introduction of foreign goods,"’ while ‘at one time even government situations were in demand with- out asalary’’ (sce Ward's Mex.co), the opportunities for plunder were so numerous, Special privileges or “Fueros” were granted to Spaniards which enabled them to make vastsums of money. Spanish America appear- ed to be an immense fleld over which avarice run riot in acts of oppression and imisrule, . LAWS REGULATING LABOR. repartimentos and tho mita were other ovils forced upon the country. The mita, as if to grind out every physical effort of the Indian, imposed upon him the most abject slavery, It was a year’s personal toll exacted from him; and the owner of every mine had aright to a The four reals (fifty conts) per day. keep the Indian and bis family from starvation. A sys- tem of credit was established, whereby the Indian could keep life in him while his physical energies endured, the owner of the mine crediting him with ab- solute necessities; but if at the end of his term of ser- vice he was in debt, the law forced him to remain until it was paid. As it was impossible for him to pay it, the poor Indian found no relief from his misery except iff death, which, from scanty food, hard labor and toy crane | seldom gave him more than two or three years lease of lite. The destruction to Indian life was immense; to be detailed to work in the mines was considered by the SoS ings he was ol 0 pay a a x of laf por head, not to apeal of the of the maret which will be hereafter mentioned. The result upon Indian clement in Mexico was not so crushing as in the other colonies farther removed from the mother country, consequently more liable to misrule; but even in Mexico the philanthropic Las Casas has cruelties which freeze the blood. In the 1,400 mines of Peru it is stated (see General Miller's Memoirs) that no lesy than 8,285,000 ind.ans perished under colonial rule; but this must be an exaggeration. The Indian could not eens. to exceed the value of $50 without permission of the ‘* ctor de los naturales,’ appointed by the King. EDUCATION. Education, at all times nocessary to the intellectual expansion of a people, was confined in the colonies to the narrowest limits, While the rest of the world was basking in the sunshine of a mighty intellectual advance- ment, while Protestantism was confirming the richt to think which God gave to man, the whole of ish ‘America was overspread with the dark yell of bigotry. The curse which had rested on Furcpe for so many cen- tures, and from which, after Yo1g and tremendous efforts, she had shaken hersel! free, fled tothe New World, where, nursed by ambition, avarice and all the most fearful elements of perverted haman nature, it found a soll where its po’ planted by the Vicoroys and their parasites and nurtured by the clergy, weighed heay- ily upon the oppressed creole and Indian races. ‘The only studies itted Gui Sod cational furlepeadaate, "wb. civil and — canon’ ju while only ‘history taught was that of Spain. schools were forbidden under plea that ‘it was not expe- dient for learning Oe holier tats in ep Mr ete ignorance was the policy imposed. The Board Trade at Buenos Ayres was not alowed to establish a school of mathematics, it being suppress:d by the Vice- roy Joaquin det Pino. Juan Francisco, an Opata chief, Journeyed on foot to Mexico, a distance of five hundred miles, and crossed the ocean to Madrid, to solicit the privilege of teaching to his tribe the mere rudiments of education. This petition to the ‘Council of the Indies” ‘was rejected In 1798. Cirilo de Castella, a carique, failed in a similar canse, which, after a twenty years’ effort at Madrid, resulted in his death. Merida, in Venezuela, was by Charles IV. refused permission to found a uni- versity. In Mexico every effort in a similar direction Proved entirely fruttess. | With the exception of Pert, luenos A} and Mexico, printing presses were denied to the colovies, In the attr viceroyalty, so lato as 1806, there was but one printing preas—and that was a the control of the government, to promulgate laws for the crushing of the people aud the exaction of Tevenue. It is unnecessary to detail the acts committed during this long night of saternahan horrors which held high carni- val from San Francisco to Valdivia. We find in the war ot the Revolution sufficient haman suffering to der to the naturally morbid condition of the mind wi delights in pictures of concentrated misery. During the long colonial dependence of the Americas the exclusive policy of the mother pow bad shut them out from the progress of the New World; they gained nothing by abrasion with other nationalities; ae were free from ical doctrines which were rocking Europe like @ cradle, and which were giving birth to a new ern in the history of religion and civillza- ton. The jealous exclusion of all historical information, of the history of Spain Visca hav- except that portion ing passed the censorship of the clergy, was deemed fitted for the colonial mind, had narrowed their ideas ot humanity, and entirely unprepared them for the flood of Nght which was to pour in upon them when the dynasty was overthrown in the mother country, INFLUENCE OF CATHOLICISM. Catholicism had found a virgin field in where it had loxuriated and spread its dogmas, free from all contact with beresies which might contaminate it The land was free tho seeds of the Eieatic phi- loeophy which the school of Xenophanes, Parmeni and Zeno bad drawn from physical speculations, It was free from the scientific deductions which Aris. totle and Zeno bad planted in the Old World. The Church of Rome did not have to mto the New World and dash aside such theories as the opening of the Egyptian ports had spread over Europe. There Was no contact with extraneous ¢loments; no Pantheism to the cast of them; no Greek philosophy, no Mahom- medism to overran some of the fmrest territory of the Chureh; no sects to distract the faithful; no Trinitarian controversy to set.the mind in action.’ The religious force which had concentrated itself in the Old burst over the virgin wilds of the New like a pestilence. ‘The fanatical monk penetrated with the crucifix into the midst of the most savage tribes; white sword, fire And massacre were the true instruments used in’ the propagation of the faith, and made more converte than the Bible, whose blessed teachings the Indians at the point of the sabre. Truly, the sword holds mighty errumenta, and, as Mabommedan and Christian have proven, makes more converts than tongue or pen. In touching the results of the establishment of Catho- lic power in the New World we are not attacking the high moral teachings of the Church of Rome, but the version of ite reit when in the hands of bad men, nd its wonderful capacity for such perversion. We know that the Catholic religion was born of the moral wants of the Mediterranean nations, who, completel; ik in immorality, were ready to seize upon any faith which could lift them from the degradation into whieh the crimes and tust of the Roman enpire had sunk them; but, Mice any other great monopoly of the human mind tm @ single direction, it soon becomes perverted and deems no meagure too atrocious to obtain Proselytes, We may ‘hot, as Protestants, ite too much virtue in our own minds of proclaim ow 8 free from the same madnoss which wrecks what it would beautify. We hi te. o our arly ptm baw are kindred to those of tion, a opportunity was alone lacking to make proselytes with quite as much fanatical spirit as was ever used by the clergy of Rome in the New World. In tracing the cauges of the nambertess revolations the Span! American States, we shall find that at every phase of their history, and especially im Mexico, the olerey bave been the great vital principle which has oc- casioned tbe chronic revolutionary condition of the coun- ty. To form an idea of their power it ts to glance at the immense influence which they e: colonial affairs, and the vast ac a b duces of the country. Notwithstanding, the tae ays. tem was abolished in 1838 by the government, of the devoted adherents of the Chureh still mubmit to it, Ti costa Mexteo yearly to sustain her clerey $8,000,000, while the estimated vaine of church property is from $250,000,000 to $300,000,000—abo:t one-third the valua- tion of the whole country, can cities, oun Srey had, side by boos with Cortez, entered Mex- 409; and, having the tcht of the sainted religion coe. wtantly before his eyes, the bold conquerer never re- fused pene consolation of the boly ‘aith for the riches of the Indian, See eee 8 3 é 3 ES 8 ~ i s 2 Hi f H i Hs tox of political and reli immorality which, like a had swept over the land. Tho most brutal pas- slons were uppermost in tho Mexican mind. Three great 'o8—Spaniards, creoles and Iadians—had been estab- Mshed at the beep ase of the country, and those had year after year taken more marked features, until tho ‘woes of the two latter were finally foreed to coalesce and form a companionship in misery. The creoles had, at the date of the revolution, been ground down in propor- tion to tho jealousy which their constantly increasing numbers had excited in the of the old Spaniards, who saw, trou the groans which their intolerable exac- tions cruelties had forced upon them, that they could not be kept much longer (rom sharing in the gov- ernment. Tho Europeans had h woo upon misery until Spanish America could no longer endure it, Petition after perition was laid at the foot of the throne; but, spurped in the most outragoous Ianguage, they were re- turned unconsidered to the colon'sts. A few of the vory lowest offloes in the Americas hnd beon doled out to the creoles. So late as 1785 the Minister Galvez referred to the fact that a few Mexicans held office in thoir country asan abuse. Thus was a wide breach opened between the old Spaniard and his progeny, So late as 1817 it ‘was asserted in n Spanish legislative assembly that ‘so Jong as a man lived in Spain every Amorican owed him othe efeot of this polt 0 ol icy upon the crooles, who at the date of the revelation were very, numer. isastrous. Ignorant, though pos- ous, was most di sessing great natural ‘talent, their whole mind 80 warped by the enslaving rule to which it had been subjected that thought flowed in its channels more by instinct than by reason. With minds corrupted by their masters; with tho most disgust- ing vices engrai upon their political upas tree; with the clergy pandering to every known vice of a corrupt education; in the culmination of three centuries ot the vilost exe -sses; with honor a myth, virtue a mockery, and honesty buried deep in the fout pool of crime and horror which seemed to have poured down upon them in a ceaseless torrent, they drank trom this pool of misery until nature, overloaded, shook itself free by revolution. ing the ideas which were traced out in the action of the Europeans, the creoies imbibed the spirit of their i and deemed that the only honorable employ- ments were to be found in the army or in the charek, piedmont an Ben wele i government to cherish {ts temporalities; and thus the “mayorazzos,” or rights of primogeniture, fre- quently forced the younger sons into the roliaious orders; but after the of primogeniture was abol- ished, during the revolation, the church became un- ular as a profession ox for the lowest classes, e shall seo in the course the Mexican revolutions ba ad this action both in the military aud in the ure! BOUCCANRERING. The only ports from which the Spanish Americans could have communication with the mother country were Porto Bello aud Vera Cruz It was as late as 1774 before the colonies were allowed to communicate with each other, and not until about fifty years before the revolution that commerce from any other port th: Seville, in Spain, could be carried on with the colonies. It was not until 1713 that the ships of any other pation were allowed to touch at any Span- ish colonial port. Great Britain at that datee in her contract to y slaves, iad a very slight trading interest granted to her, but confined to the ships in which the slaves were transported. Not until 1764 did commence running to Havana, Porto Beilo Buenos Ayres. Spain not only claimed the exclusive Jurisdiction of all the Spanish Americas, bat even the surrounding oceans, and it was these claims which gave rse tothe disputes between the Spanish Crown aud Queen El who'claimed that Spain had Bo right to the which she did not ‘It was this controversy, in connection pts of the Dutch and Envlish to trade in i upon RPFROT OP THB INVASION OF SFAIN BY BONA- PARTE. On the 20rh in the no July, 1808, maida of the thee», claim! ae ry , somerataty Ing jurisdiction in the co! they o all yeh deposed and bad been forced to surrender the royal rights of a family which were not in his power to surrender. Meanwhile Joseph Bona parte bad summoned one hundred and fifty deputies, ninety-two of whom assembled and accepted the consti. tution which Napoleon bad prepared for them. This constitution provided that the colonies were to be repre- ented in the general Cortes at Madrid, and enjoy all the rights and privileges of the mother country. OPPOSITION OF THA MEXICAN CLERGY TO FRENCH OCCUPATION, From Ferdinand VII. and the Council of the Ii orders were immediately to the conten te The transfer to Fr: the allegiance of for ance America, emissaries of King Joseph were immediately scat- tered thi out A: to make the ~, merica, transfer more At made every effort to turn the shined oy | brit bled on the 16th Jaty, 11 of alleciance to Ferdinand Thi colonies the clergy used their in- fi to support the mense sume and id the dethroned King 3 3 i i H not to separate from the mother counts ding could have equal rights with the ol Wards The interests of the clergy colneiding for the the moment appeared most propitious, Loyalty was, however, a oo by in the creole character, ait will be noticed that they made every effet in favor wir Soversign before the acuou the “Supreme as & i E Junta’ and Cadiz Regency forced them to declare their entire independence of the mother country. The period which had elapsed frm the drst news of the French invasion of the l'eninsula until 1810 was ali ering with the agitation of the elements which, io the oioti ad been so long subject to the control of the fow, ey maintained themselves in complete un- certainty as to their future, and the whole political forces of the country being unsettled left the people to Imagine the wildest theories with respect to their government, - It was in this condition that they received Rows ofthe dissolution of the Supreme Junta of Seville, traitors; that the French had conquered the whole of Spain, excepting Cadiz, 'whery a had oly 2 pees pe hea regions i ane defunct 4 Sante, ished a decree, without naming me! who composed ft, ’ ly RSTABLISHMENT OF 4 COLONIAL JUNTA. During this uuceriain condi of had espoused the wide Sind Lastcod: tn tho tormchion offs Cotoniat which Voraisang.durige is capaiity Dut she powcr of the his But the of the old still the offices both civil and >was more than a for the un- Organized creole faction, and they, therefore, immo- those who. deposed ‘and appointed another Vice- 17, Ee ae taal tr meta oneal affairs) Moxico, vile z BEE i ie i a tH ilk a3 FF 3 983 He Ki z 3 = in or Siaanras a Ereoien folpd a te =a it am ‘gen- nt until the ‘former, y of things, wero ‘entirely exclu junta then establ Tho ‘at first inclined ‘to espoune the French canse, found { ‘the creole and church intorests, it was impracticable; they, therefore, with the hope of continuing their monopoiies, espoused the cause _ the Cadiz Regency which threatened to overthrow all the colonial juntas and restore America to its former de- ‘pendent position. The mative element had, however, A | crashing out all the waters at tie spring of ‘had so sighed, and though the fountain has often, that/day to this, flowed blood of water in to free itself from the poison of colonial rule, liberty and progress are still the moving forces of the Spanish-American mind. ‘Tho first impulse of the Cadiz Regency was to deal Mberally with the colonies, On May 17, 1810, they de- clared them open to free trade in all articles of their own production which Spain could not consume. The merchants of Cadiz, all powerful in their monopoly of colonial trade, found means to have this decree revoked one month after its issue; and the Regency went back to the old system of trade throughout America, It was too late to exercise gach a vacitlating policy; the colon'sts had discovered their rights and were now determined to assert them, while, trom reasons already mentioned, the clergy sided with them. It is a notable fact that the revolution in Spain against Freuch power was incited principally by the parish prieste, while the nobility higher orders were the Principal adherents of King Jos°ph. ‘There was a similar power existing in America; the “Curas,” who were in immediate contact with the lower classes, swayed their minds in any desired direction, and the lower orders of the clergy, being composed entirely of creoles and mixed Faces, naturally exercised their influence in the direction reba! provisional juntas from which they had so much rope. Strong in the belief that by provisional governments they might be enabied to hold the country for Ferdinand VIF., they established juntas almost simnitaneously in all ped of the country—that of Caraccas 19th April, 1309; La Paz, 15th July, 1809 ; Quito, 19th Angust, 1809 ita Fo do Bogota, 26th May, 1810: Buonos Ayres, 25th May, 1810, and Chile, 18th September, 1510. No people in history wero over blessed with a more favorable opportunity to free themselves from the crushing despotism that weighod upon them than were the Spauish-Americans. Thoir whol» country contained but very few Spanish troops. In fact, so convinced was the mother country of the loyalty of the colonies that immense districts Lad been guarded with but the shadow of an army. SEVERE MEASURES OF THB REGENCY. When the regency received news of the formation of colonial jzntas they were animated with the utmost fury against the colonists. They immediately despatched a royal commissioner to Venezuela, who was “to assume tho regal power to its fallest extent; to remove, suspen! or disinis« the authorities of every rank and class; to pardou or punish the guilty at pleasure; to use the mo- noys belouging to the royal treasury,” &¢. The junta of Caraccas refused to reovive him, Veneauela was then declared tn asiace of biocvade, although there was not a 8b ip to enforce the decree. With money which the colonies had furnished tno regency to uphold the cause of Ferdinand VIL ‘an exped.tion was immediately organized and sent Venezueia The whole proceedings of the colonics were declared revolutionary, and instructions were given to the Spanish forces to devastate the country with fire and sword. So thoroughly were the orders carried out that they often murdered their own brothers and relatives whom shey found among the insurgents, General leja in a despatch informs the re that after losing one man killed and two wounded he put five thou- sand betrayed Indians to the sword, and that their toral Toss was double that number. Most of them were kisied while on their knees begging for mercy. Caraccas capitulated to Monteverde, July 25, 1812. en conceded that life and proporty should be held sacred. Av Engtish naval commander on that station thus describes bow that treaty was kept:—"Monteverde cased to be ar- Tested nearly every creole of rank throughout the country, chained them in pars and had them conducted to tho prisons of Laguayra and Porto Cabello, where many perished by suffocation and dis- case.” Tho same oillcer states that Boves and Rosette, Toyalist officers, in traversing the route from the river Orinoco to the valley of Caraccas, more than four hundred miles, left no human be'ng alive of avy age or sex, ex- cept such a- joined their standard. RESTORATION OF NAND—SAVAGE MEASURES AGAINST THE COLONISTS. Upon the restoration of Ferdinand to the throne, pemnen 4 Saran Bd being More bea pe +. the pl throughout Ew je threw bim- #elf tnto the hands of the most bij and fanatical of the reactionary party, and refused to uphold the liberal constitution to which the Cortes had taken oath in March, 1812, and in which the colonies were placed upon a foot- ing with the mother country, being entitled to one repre- sentative for every seventy thousand inhabitants, He immediately declared the colonies to be in a state of mu- tiny, refused to listen to any representations from them, but offered to them uncon: pardon. The viceroys and all their acts were coufirmed; the colonists were Soave we for presuming to frame under Genera! and active measures were and wrote to Spain that “by ‘cutting read and write he hoped sally to arrest the spirit of revolution.” Six hundred of the frst people of the city were the royal council would have immediately restored the colonies to Spain, but this course was only widening the. Groat Britain interposed her good offices to mediate be- tween the colonists and the mother country, but fruit- u by fifty gare of subsequent revolutions, which were the reulta f the curses thus entailed upon The colonists had poured out their blood and no jer to io encbain com} ray night sight of freedom. shits he condition of one section is to recoum the . The Congress of the La Plata, in their the nations of the earth, which was more savages, enid:—‘Tho Spanish Ministers irsued vigorous Coders to all their g-nerele to pach the war and to inflict ee ee * “From that moment el wored to divide ua by all the means in their wer, that we 3 Ros order ue a Ty against atrocious calumnies, atiril i 2 4 fs > ie i fi i : i, fs a i HY Hi Hf fi: Hi il i af i iit rannuated priests, ® burned the church ‘and pat to the sword old men, women and children, the only inhabitanta therein found. They have ina most Shameful manner failed to full every oppitulation we derogatory Con, to Titel with malignant insury + This as to sane! the cophelnsion of Mi. ja Venezuela, in 1812, was the rule of Ferdinand from Northern Mexice confirm a cap‘tulation te the La Plata. The. posit aoa hes Spaniel, lor mated by @ common misfo: tne, their efforts were not confined to their own States; they marched their armes from Ruewos Ayres, under the herolc San Martin, te Chile; from Chile to Peru, over the deserts of Atacama; through the mourtain paths of the Andes, trailing their -worn forces through the mountain torrents, oF lying down to sleep upon the frozen snows of the Corditieras, Teascas of the Ta- imsurrection. Hidalgo, a “cura,” menced in the tov of niards and creoles, This united the letier wuttal defence, fr ee Oe Tuthless barbarities were committed. The Churet op- posed the insurzents, and the Archbishop of Mexico ex- communicated their whole force ina body. This wase similar uprising to that of Don José Gabriel im Peru im 1780, He was a descendant of tho Inca, ‘Tupac Amara, who was behended in 1662 by Francisco de Toledo, The Indians, having endured the most terrible oppression, were roused to revenge themseives upon their tyrante, Undisciplined, without munitions of war, bat full of the courage of despair, they for. along time wageda ‘both Spaniard and creole, both men and women fonght until Gabriel was made prison As & punishment “he be. held the execution of his wife and children, and many ef his faithfal followers; his tongue was then cut * and wild horses harnessed to his legs and arms tore his limbs | asunder,” At the town of Sorata, taken by Andres, a nephew of Ganrie!, hiv death was terrbly revengod, At Guanaxnato, which Hidalgo stormed and sacked, the most terrible retribution was taken upon their oppressors, and fora time it appeared that the entire ure European blood would be forced from the couutry. jad the insurgents ben properly commanded, there no donbt but they might have swopt every European from Mexico; this with a lack of the necessary material of war rendered it comparatively easy for the regular forces to overthrow them. ‘This terrible war of caste was waged with savage fero- city on both sides, General Calleja met the insurgente and defeated them at Guanaxuato wi he pnt fourteen thousand men, women and children to t! sword; for which he was created ‘Mariscal de Campo” for dis- tinguished services, decorated with the Cross of the Order of Charles III, and appointed to the vice-royalty. Hidalgo through the treachery of Bustamente was cap- tured and shot July 11, 1811. CONVENING OF A MEXICAN CONGRRSS. Gradaully ths creoles began to take sides with the m- surgents, and very many valuable officers were added te their ranks by ‘the desertions from the royalist * bat it was not until 1820 that any considerable mover Looke place among the creole forces in aid of the revola- Uonists Gen, Morelos, furinely the lieutenant of HI in November 1513 established x Mexican Congroas, proclaimed that “despots and bad government, wot idalzo, were the roa) cause of the insurroction,”’ ' The Congress appeaied to the creoles to join them in thetr struggle against the oppression of the dominant claga, to jom hands with them and overthrow heir hail “Brethren,” said they, “et nsembrace and be instead of "mutually bringing disgrace upon our heads, If they covld not have peace, they desired to carry om the war ina civilized manner. In article five of the conditions upon which they would baye peace or on the war, trey aaid: “It is contrary to the ri war as well asythove of nature, to enter with sword into dofexceless or to assign by tenthe and fifths persons to be shot, by which the innocent are confounded with the guilty; one be allowed under the severest poraities to commit such enormities a8 those which eo Kreutly dis houor a Christian an civilized pape” They as lergy to abstain from calling it a war against the Cathohe religion, The war, alter the reception of this mesaage, was waced by Calleja with relentless fury, Almost every, ingurgen® who felt into his hands was sicrifieed. The insurzents were forced to retaliate, and for a timo Mexico was a per- fect pandemonium, CHANGE IN THE POLICY OF THE MBXICAN CLERGY. Cireumstances were, however, fast iuducivg the Mext- can clerey to throw their influence into the scale with the insurgents, The revolutionary troubles whieh tm- mediately followed the restoration of Fertivand VIL im Spain bad shown the Chureb that it hed little to hope from the motter country for a continuance of its monopoles. The blind infatuation of Ferdi nand in waging war upon the colonies imme diately upon his restoration to power bad prevented entirely any lull in che stormy commotion, wherein the colonies might explain more frilly the cauves whieh had impelled them to thajourse they had pursued during the French occupation of the Peninsula. fhe clergy, see! iu the liberal constitution of the Cortes nothing bat the downfail of the Mexican chureh system, aided inthe estrangement of the colonies, and ured onward the policy of complete independence, uniess the signs im Spain became more fayprable 0 their interests, The Cortes had, in t liberal constitution sworn to by them, declared the (ngu sition abolished, and effected numerous chorch reforms, while all ecclesiastical post- tious were placed under control of the Cortes, and decrees promulgated against church property. This was a direet and staggering blow to the Mext-an clergy, wuless they could escape its effects by freeing that colony {rom the mother country. The consilimion which the Cortes bad sworn to, was held in abeyance by the revolutionary condition of the country and the opposition of Ferd nand, until March, 1820, At that time the Cortes bei Teinstated, the free constitution was ic. laimed at sworn to by the king, who was forced to foliow a popular will which he could not control. YTURBIDE ESPOUSES THE INSURGENT CAUSR. So long av Ferdinand had opposed the poputar lberal party in Spain, the Mexican clerzy clung to his cause ‘with the hope of a reaction to the old sysiem; but whem the news reached them of his adoption ot the liberal com stitution, they immediately threw their whole influence into the cause of the ineutzenta in an attempt to extab- lish @ separate government, with the idea of inviting the bigoted Ferdinand to cross the Atiautic and accept the crown. At this time Augustin Yturbide came prominenth into notice, Although of Indian blood, he had since 181. been swayed entirely by the chureh, and nad thus figured in various positions. In command of « small detachment of the royalist forces he tad carried on an unsparing warfare against the josurgents. As an instance of his cruelty he states ina despatch to the Viceroy, in 18t& that, “in honor of the day,” Good Friday, “le had just ordered three hundred excommunicated wretches to be shot” Upon the clergy changing sidlex Yturbide be came one of their strongest adherents, while tm command of a amail force on the western const, where bé had been sent to prociaim the abeolate anthe- rity of the King, he espoused the insurgent cause, heated the forces that flocked to his standard and marcued om the Mexican capital. At the mal not I a, he faimed the plan of Igoula on the constitution of the “Three Guarnutees."’ The move. ment was entirely successful, as most al! the movernent® for the overthrow of any established government have been in Mexico when the clergy have directs lutioniats, Mexico was ocoupied tw Yt of September, 1821. Nearly the w the influence of the clerry, rent The newly appoinied constitutional Vicerny (O'Dynayay at that moment arrived to assume tho reins of govern: He was forced to acknowledge the independence of the coontry and in conformity with the plan of Iguain endorse the right which it gave to the house of irbon to the throne of Mexico. PLAN OF 16UaLA. Tho = of Iguaia,” deelared on the 24th of Fem Tuary, 1821, breathed progress and liberal government, but contained one element which was more potent than all the others combined and indicated not oniy the secret control which the church possessed in the revolu tionary movement of the country, but ite determination to ite into every department of State aud io vi rule the country. The plan of Iguala was:— F.rst—The Mexican nation is independent of the =pan- ish bation and of every other, even on li own continent Seema—Ite religion shall be the Catholic, which all ma Third—They shalt be all united, without any ‘listinction Detreen American and Beropea Dreelfth—. shall be formed for ow tnaopeaseaes and union, iguctemnetcy toon ‘and therefore it shall be called the army noiples apen jonte was rested sa . free from CONFL OF PARTY INTERESTS. na the clergy, the creoles and the Indian and mixe had banded their interests and reached the iret int in the problem of Mexican freedom. But the mo- Pregnant with an intense and fresh menial ae vity; one Feached, another, perforce, must be and they immediately divided into three parties. He i is e ‘The republicans wanted a central or federal re pe the military power, whom hey accused of a desire to usurp all authority, whieh roperly belonged to the whole people, The Bour- Boniste adliered to the iden of inviting Ferdinand the throne, and being very strongly anpported by the clergy were really the dominant. party, The third party Which sprang up was the Yrurbldiets eho aeaired fe 0@ (helt favorite upon the throne which the plan of ula, bad reserved for Forjinaud Boorton. &