adding the usual anathemas; the inquisition cited Hidalgo to appear before it, charging him with heresy and apostasy, and raking up old accusations brought against him ten years previously.[1] From the pulpit he was described as a demon of impiety, a monster of bane; and the royal university of Mexico gloried in the fact that he had never acquired the degree of doctor in that institution![2]
Every means, in fact, which would tend to prejudice the cause of independence was employed. The bishops and the higher clergy issued exhortations to loyalty, representing, in the darkest colors, the object of the insurgents as selfish, and their intentions as impious. The archbishop published edicts and pastorals;[3] politicians and officials, barristers, learned doctors of theology, and scribblers, heaped execrations on the authors of the revolution, and the press teemed with loyal productions in prose and doggerel verse, heaping abuse upon Hidalgo, and printed by permission of the supreme government.[4] The viceroy
- ↑ Dispos. Varias, iii. fol. 152; vi. fol. 59; Diario de Mex., xiii. 425-7. The edict of the inquisition was issued on the 13th of October.
- ↑ The rector of the university addressed an official communication to the viceroy, requesting him to make public the fact that Hidalgo's name did not appear in any of the books in which were registered the higher degrees conferred on its members. The request was made because the title of doctor was being constantly given to Hidalgo in the papers and public sheets of the day. Id., 386-7. According to the citation of the inquisition, the cura of Dolores entertained a supreme contempt for the university faculty, which he regarded as a body of ignoramuses, 'y finalmente, que sois tan soberbio que decis, que no os habeis graduado de Dr en esta universidad, por ser su claustro una quadrilla de ignorantes.'
- ↑ Consult Id., 433-6; Hernandez y Dávalos, Col. Doc., ii. 100-4, 167-9; Dispos. Varias, ii. fol. 7; Lizana y Beaumont, Exhortacion, . . . Mex. 1810; Id., Carta GratuL, Mex. 1810; Queipo, Edict. Instruct., Sep. 30, 1810; Id., Edict., Oct. 8, 1810; Leon, El cura. . . a sus fieles habit. , Querétaro, 1810; Mendizábal, Sermon, Mex. 1810.
- ↑ Consult a series of letters written by a Mexican doctor, as a specimen of the style of abuse. They are thus addressed to Hidalgo: 'Carta primera De un Dr Mexicano al Br. D. Miguel Hidalgo Costilla, ex-Curade Dolores, ex-Sacerdote
greater excommunication. The validity of this excommunication was questioned by many, on the ground that Queipo had not yet been consecrated bishop. In order to terminate these doubts, Archbishop Lizana y Beaumont ratified it by edict of the 11th of October following. Mora, Mej. y sus Rev., iv. 52-8, supplies a copy of these edicts. Guerra maintains that Queipo had no power to excommunicate. Hist. Rev. N. Esp., L 311-16. The bishops of Puebla and Guadalajara also fulminated excommunications. Zerecero, Hem. Rev, Mex., 64-5.
