the Creoles, to seek in the Independence of their country the enjoyment of those rights, of which they had been so long deprived; and although the attempt failed in 1810, and the first Insurrection, (which may be termed the insurrection of the Clergy) was almost suppressed, still, without it, that of the Army in 1821 would never have taken place, and Mexico might have been, to this day, a Province of Spain.
The fatal influence of the Clergy is frequently insisted upon, both in Calleja's letter to the King, and in the representation of the Audiencia to the Cortes, to which I have so often had occasion to allude, (Vide Appendix;) and there is no doubt that the fact of so many Curas being engaged on the Independent side, could alone have destroyed the efficacy of those spiritual weapons, of which the Viceregal Government endeavoured to avail itself at the commencement of the contest. Excommunications fell harmless when directed against persons, whose sacred character acted as a shield against them; and Hidalgo was not less respected, or less implicitly obeyed, by his followers, because declared, both by the Inquisition and by the Bishop of Valladolid, to be no longer within the pale of the Church, although such a denunciation, if directed against a layman, might have been attended with the most serious consequences.
The Court of Madrid saw its error when too late, and the elevation of Don Antonio Perez (a
