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THEIR EXPULSION FROM SPANISH DOMINIONS.

These fears had seized the mind of Charles III. who dreaded a divided dominion in America, with the venerable fathers. We do not believe that there was just cause for the royal alarm. We do not suppose that the Jesuits whose members, it is true, were composed of the subjects of all the Catholic powers of Europe, ever meditated political supremacy in Spanish America, or designed to interfere with the rights of Charles or his successors. But the various orders of the Roman church, the various congregations, and convents of priests and friars, are unfortunately, not free from that jealous rivalry which distinguishes the career of laymen in all the other walks of life.

It may be that some of the pious brethren, whose education, manners, position, wealth or power, was not equal to the influence, social rank and control, of the Jesuits, had, perhaps, been anxious to drive this respectable order from America. It may be, that the king and his council were willing to embrace any pretext to rid his colonial possessions of the Jesuits. But certain it is, that on the 25th of June, before the dawn of day, at the same hour, throughout the whole of New Spain the decree for their expulsion was promulgated by order of Charles. The king was so anxious upon this subject, that he wrote, with his own hand, to the viceroy of Mexico, soliciting his best services in the fulfilment of the royal will. When the question was discussed in the privy council of the sovereign, a chart of both Americas was spread upon the table,the distances between the colleges of the Jesuits accurately calculated, and the time required for the passage of couriers, carefully estimated, so that the blow might fall simultaneously upon the order. The invasion of Havana by the English and its successful capture, induced the king to supply his American possessions with better troops, and more skilful commanders than had been, hitherto, sent to the colonies. Thus there were various, veteran Spanish regiments in Mexico capable of restraining any outbreaks of the people in favor of the outraged fathers who had won their respect and loyal obedience.

At the appointed hour, the order of Charles, was enforced. The Jesuits were shut up in their colleges, and all avenues to these retreats of learning and piety were filled with troops. The fathers were despatched from Mexico for Vera Cruz on the 28th of June, surrounded by soldiers. They halted awhile in the town of Guadalupe, where the Visitador Galvez, who governed the expedition, permitted them to enter, once more, into the national sanctuary, where amid the weeping crowds of Mexi

THEIR ARRIVAL IN EUROPE

BANISHED.

245

cans, they poured forth their last, and fervent vows, for the happiness of a people, who idolized them. Their entrance into Jalapa was a triumph. Windows, balconies, streets, and house tops were filled with people, whose demeanor manifested what was passing in their hearts, but who were restrained by massive ranks of surrounding soldiery from all demonstration in behalf of the banished priests. In Vera Cruz some silent but respectful tokens of veneration were bestowed upon the fathers, several of whom died in that pestilential city before the vessels were ready to transport them beyond the sea. Nor did their sufferings cease with their departure from New Spain. Their voyage was long, tempestuous and disastrous, and after their arrival in Spain, under strict guardianship, they were again embarked for Italy, where they were finally settled with a slender support in Rome, Bologna, Ferrara and other cities, in which they honored the country whence they had been driven by literary labors and charitable works. The names of Abade, Alegre, Clavigero, Landibares, Maneyro, Cavo, Lacunza and Marques, sufficiently attest the historical merit of these Mexican Jesuits, who were victims of the suspicious Charles. For a long time the Mexican mind was sorely vexed by the oppressive act against this favorite order. But the Visitador Galvez imposed absolute silence upon the people, -telling them in insulting language that it was their "sole duty to obey," and that they must "speak neither for nor against the royal order, which had been passed for motives reserved alone for the sovereign's conscience!"

Thus, all expression of public sentiment, as well as of amiable feeling, at this daring act against the worthiest and most benevolent clergymen of Mexico was effectually stifled. It had been well for New Spain if Charles had banished the Friars, and spared the Jesuits. The church of Mexico, in our age, would then have resembled the church of the United States, whose foundation and renown are owing chiefly to the labors of enlightened Sulpicians and Jesuits, as well as to the exclusion of monks and of all the orders that dwell in the idle seclusion of cloisters instead of passing useful lives amid secular occupations and temporal interests. If the act of Henry VIII. in England was unjust and cruel, it was matched both in boldness and wickedness by the despotic decree of the unrelenting Charles of Spain. Nor can the latter sovereign claim the merit of having substituted virtue for vice as the British king pretended he had done in the suppression of the monasteries. Henry swept priest and friar from his kingdom with the same

246

CAUSES OF THIS CONDUCT TO THE ORDER.

blow; but the trimming Charles banished the intellectual Jesuit whilst he saved and screened the lazy monk.

The pretext of Charles III. for his outrageous conduct was found in an insurrection which occurred on the evening of Palm Sunday, 1766, and gave up the capital of Spain, for forty-eight hours, to a lawless mob. It was doubtless the result of a preconcerted plan to get rid of an obnoxious minister; and, as soon as it was known that this personage had been exiled, the rioters instantly surrendered their arms, made friends with the soldiers, and departed to their homes. In fact, it was a political intrigue, which the king and his minister charged on some of the Spanish grandees and on the Jesuits. But as the former were too powerful to be assailed by the king, his wrath was vented on the Fathers of the Order of Jesus, whose lives, at this time, were not only innocent but meritorious.

"Some years preceding, on a charge as destitute of foundation, they had been expelled from Portugal. In 1764, their inveterate foe, the Duke de Choiseul, minister of Louis XV., had driven them from France; and, in Spain, their possessions were regarded with an avaricious eye by some of the needy courtiers. To effect their downfall, the French minister eagerly joined with the advocates of plunder; and intrigues were adopted which must cover their authors with everlasting infamy. Not only was the public alarm carefully excited by a report of pretended plots, and the public indignation, by slanderous representations of their persons and principles; but, in the name of the chiefs of the order, letters were forged, which involved the most monstrous doctrines and the most criminal designs. A pretended circular from the general of the order, at Rome, to the provincial, calling on him to join with the insurgents; the deposition of perjured witnesses to prove that the recent commotion was chiefly the work of the body, deeply alarmed Charles, and drew him into the views of the French cabinet."1

Spain was thus made a tool of France in an act of gross injustice, not only to the reverend sufferers, but to the people over whose spiritual and intellectual wants they had so beneficially watched.

From this digression to the mingled politics of Mexico and Europe we shall now return to the appropriate scene of our brief annals. The captain of so important a port as Havana, and the inadequate protection of the coast along the main, obliged the government to think seriously about the increase and discipline of domestic troops, and especially, to improve the condition of the

Dr. Dunham's History of Spain and Portugal, vol. 5, p. 175.

ORIGIN OF THE MILITARY CHARACTER OF MEXICO.

247

coast defence. These fears were, surely, not groundless. The possessions of Great Britain, north of Mexico, on the continent, were growing rapidly in size and importance; and from the provinces which now form the United States, the viceroy imagined England might easily despatch sufficient troops, without being obliged to transport reinforcements from Europe. Accordingly suitable preparations were made to receive the enemy should he venture to descend suddenly on the Spanish main. The veteran regiments of Savoy and Flanders were sent to the colony in June, 1768, and the Marshal de Rubi was charged with the disposition of the army. From that period, it may be said, that Mexico assumed the military aspect, which it has continuously worn to the present time.

Besides the increase and improvement of the troops of the line, the government's attention was directed towards the fortification. of the ports and interior passes. The Castle of San Juan de Ulua was repaired at a cost of a million and a half of dollars. The small island of Anton Lizardo was protected by military works at an expense of a million two hundred thousand dollars. A splendid battery was sent from Spain for the castle, and the inefficient guns of Acapulco were despatched to the Fillipine islands to be recast and sent back to America. In the interior of the country, in the midst of the plain of Perote, the Castle of San Carlos was built in the most substantial and scientific manner; and although this fortress seems useless, placed as it is in the centre of a broad and easily traversed prairie, yet, at the time of its construction, it was designed as an entre depot between the capital and the coast, in which the royal property might always be safely kept until the moment of exportation, instead of being exposed to the danger of a sudden seizure by the enemy in the port of Vera Cruz. Many other points along the road from Vera Cruz are better calculated to defend the interior passes of the country from invasion; but as the attacks of the enemy were not expected to be made beyond the coast upon which they naturally supposed they would find the treasure they desired to plunder, it was deemed best to establish and arm the fortress of San Carlos de Perote.

Such were some of the leading acts and occurrences in New Spain during the viceroyalty of the Marques de Croix. His general administration of affairs is characterized by justice. He lived in harmony with the rigid Visitador Galvez, and although the gossips of the day declared he was too fond of wine, yet, on his return to Spain he was named Captain General of the army, and treated most kindly by the king.

DON ANTONIO MARIA DE BUCARELI Y URSUA,
LIEUTENANT GENERAL OF THE SPANISH ARMY,

XLVI. VICEROY OF NEW SPAIN.

1771-1779.

BUCARELI reached Vera Cruz from Havana on the 23d of August, 1771, and took possession of the viceroyalty on the 2d of the following month. During his administration the military character of the colony was still carefully fostered, whilst the domestic interests of the people were studied, and every effort made to establish the public works and national institutions upon a firm basis. The new mint and the Monte de Piadad are monuments of this epoch. Commerce flourished in those days in Mexico. The fleet under the command of Don Luis de Cordova departed for Cadiz on the 30th of November, 1773, with twenty-six millions two hundred and fifty-five dollars, exclusive of a quantity of cacao, cochineal and twenty-two marks of fine gold, and the fleet of 1774 was freighted with twenty-six millions four hundred and fifty-seven thousand dollars.

Nor was the accumulation of wealth derived at that time from the golden placeres of Cieneguilla in Sonora less remarkable. From the 1st of January, 1773, to the 17th of November of the year following, there were accounted for, in the royal office at