Branz Mayers' Mexico [pp. 117-141]

124 Brant~ ~Iayer's Mexico. [July,
alchemy of political invention, he managed to coin even the superstitions of the people, and add to the royal income, by the sale of
"Lulls Je defuntos," "Lulls for eatin~ milk and eggs during Lent,"
and "Bulls of composition." Bales upon bales of thes~e badly
printed licenses were sent out from Spain, and sold by priests,
under the direction ~r a commissary.
"The villany of this scheme may be more evident, if we detain
the reader a mom~nt, in order to describe the character of these
spiritual licenses. Whoever possessed a "Bull de cruzada" might
be absolved from all crimes except heresy; nor could he be suspected
even of so deadly a sin, as long as this talismanic paper was in his
possession. Besides this, it exempted him from many of the rigorous fasts of the church; while two of them, of course, possessed
double the value of one. The "Bull for the dead" was a needful
passport for a sinner~s soul from purgatory. There was no escape,
without it, from the Satanic police, and the poor and ignorant classes
suffered all the pains of their miserable friends, who had gone to
the other world, until they were ab~e to purchase the inestimable
ticket of release. But, of all these wretched impostures, the "Bull
of composition" was probably the most shameful, as well as dangerous. It" released persons who bad stolen goods from the obligation to restore them to the owner, provided the thief had not
been moved to commit his crime in consequence of a belief that he
might escape from its sin, by subsequently purchasing the immaculate`Bull.'" Nor were these all the virtues of this miraculous
document. It had the power to "correct the moral offence of false
weights and measures, tricks and frauds in trade, all the obliquities
of principle and conduct by which swindlers rob honest folks of
their property, and, finally, whilst it converted stolen articles into
the lawful property of the thief, it also assured to purchasers the
absolute ownership of whatever they obtained by modes that ought
to have brought them to the gallows. The price of these bulls
depended on the amount of goods stolen; but it is just to add that
only fifty of them could be taken by the same person in a year."
After the sceptre came the crozier, and when the 5crvants of the crown had gathered in the royal harvest of
taxation, the fbllowers of the cross swarmed to the gleaning of the field. If the paternal rule was bad, the maternal rule was worse; for while both grasped at the pursethe one claiming a tithe, where the other raised a taxthe Holy Mother laid her blighting hand upon the mind of
the country. The religion introduced by Cortez was to
be enforced by Loyola. The sword and the inquisition!
stern teachers these of the religion of love! The simple