and great natural ability, "representing the best elements of the people to whom he belonged,“ having endeared himself to them by a blameless life and by fatherly care over their temporal as well as their spiritual interests. In spite of stringent laws against colonial enterprise, he had encouraged them to make the most of the vegetable treasures with which Mexico is so richly endowed. Under his direction they had cultivated the native silk-worm and planted vineyards and olive trees. But the jealousy of the government was aroused. Spanish monopolies could be sustained only by crushing the serfs, soul and body, under foot. Hidalgo saw the olive and mulberry trees of Dolores uprooted by a special order from Mexico, the vineyards laid waste and his people ordered to go back to tasks more befitting their condition as slaves. An oil-and-wine press had been established near by, in Guanajuato, and just then the war in Spain had made oil and wine so scarce and dear that home manufacture was much encouraged and very profitable. New hope had sprung up, therefore, among the small planters throughout the district of Salamanca, when the police-force came upon them, tore down the mill and destroyed the stock of the proprietor.
The long-pent-up hatred toward the conquerors now burst forth with redoubled strength. Hidalgo had become one of a band of conspirators scattered throughout the country who had plotted to make Mexico independent. For years he had been brooding over the wrongs of his people, when the outrages at Guanajuato and Dolores fired him with new zeal and courage. The war-cry would soon have sounded, when, by the treachery of one of the band, the plan was exposed. The man was suddenly taken ill, and, fearing that he was
