were restrained by the canon, the conde de Sierra Gorda, and other ecclesiastics, who, at the risk of their lives, quelled the tumult by elevating the host.
Cruz entered Valladolid on the morning of the 28th, having given orders to the officer in command of his advance guard to put all the male inhabitants to death, and set fire to the city if any further at tempt should be made to take the lives of Europeans.[1] His entrance was signalized by the usual expression of welcome extended to either royalist or revolutionist when in power. The cathedral chapter, the ayuntamiento, and different corporations escorted him into the city, and in the cathedral te deum was chanted. The municipal and ecclesiastic cabildos vied with each other in representations of their past fidelity, and in the expression of their future zeal for the royalist cause.[2] The conde de Sierra Gorda, who two months before had removed the excommunication fulminated against Hidalgo and his followers, now gracefully annulled his former action, explained the reason of his unorthodox proceeding, and ordered the validity of the excommunication to be proclaimed throughout the diocese.[3] In order not to be behind hand in offering a sop to the royalists, the rector of the college of San Nicolás petitioned the bishop that Hidalgo's name might be struck off the books of that institution. Thus, as blew the political breeze, so turned like a weather-cock the civil and ecclesiastical authorities of Valladolid.
One of the first acts of Cruz after his entrance into
- ↑ 'Si la infame plebe intentase de nuevo quitar la vida á los europeos, entre V. en la ciudad, pase á cuchillo á todas sus habitantes, exceptuando solo las mugeres y niños, y pegándole fuego por todas partes.' Such are his instructions, a copv of which he forwarded to Calleja. Bustamante, Campañas de Calleja, 59.
- ↑ See the alcalde Ramon de Huarte's proclamation to the inhabitants, and the address of the cathedral chapter to the viceroy, dated respectively Dec. 30, 1810, and Jan. 2, 1811. Gaz. de Mex., 1811, ii. 28, 31-3.
- ↑ A copy of his circular is given in Id., 20-8.
oners that they should be removed to the convents and clerical college. This proposal was carried out, though strongly opposed by the military officers. Ansorena, Defensa, 15.
