pressing the hostile demonstrations. In vain the use and sale of hand printing-presses were prohibited, [1] and in vain rewards were offered for the detection of the authors of these treasonable acts.
In April 1809 news of reverses sustained by Spanish arms in the peninsula reached Mexico, and Garibay issued a proclamation on the 20th, [2] exhorting the public to show their loyalty by contributions in aid of the mother country, by sentiments expressing a closer union in mind and heart, [3] and above all, by refusing to be influenced by the secret operations of those who were endeavoring to seduce them from their allegiance. But this proclamation had no effect in arresting the steady advance of the revolutionary party. Its adherents were jubilant, and did not refrain from openly expressing their joy at the news. They greeted with delight the intelligence of disasters suffered by the Spanish forces; and while they exaggerated their defeats, they underrated and derided the advantages which they gained.
Day by day the government was losing its influence over the public mind, and becoming more and more an object of ridicule on the part of the disaffected. In the hope of changing the current, Garibay, or rather his advisers, established a junta consultiva, composed of three oidores, before which all cases of treason were to be tried instead of in the criminal court. This tribunal was formed in June
- ↑ On the 27th of April, 1809, the viceroy published a proclamation ordering that all such presses should be delivered up to the judge of the tribunal de la Acordada within three days. Diario de Mex., x. 508. Yet on the 20th of May following he found it necessary to offer a reward of 2,000 pesos for the discovery of the persons who had scattered treasonable sheets in the churches during holy week. Gaz. de Mex., ut cit. These sheets were directed against the Spanish junta central, and invited the people to assert their independence. The junta central of Spain was recognized by the viceroy by decree of March 16, 1809. Hernandez y Dávalos, Cot. Doc., i. 680-3.
- ↑ Gaz. de Mex., xvi. 365-8.
- ↑ 'Olvidad desde ahora para siempre esos apodos de criolios y gachupines, de que haceis una aplicacion odiosa é ideal, supuesto que todoa los miembros de una nacion no deben ser conocidos sino por el nombre mismo que lleva la nacion de que son parte: ademas de que es tan ridículo como absurdo hacer mérito de una cosa que no está en nuestra mano: es decir de nacer aqui ó del lado-de allá del mar.' Id., 368.
