ing merchants in accord with those of Mexico, of the direction affairs were taking under his management. The pressure brought to bear by this junta upon the regency caused that council to issue a decree on the 22d of February, 1810,[1] relieving the archbishop, in consideration of his advanced age and failing health, from the labors of administration, and placing the audiencia in charge of the government until the arrival of a new viceroy. Lizana immediately obeyed the command, and on the 8th of May following surrendered the viceregal power to the audiencia, and retired to his archiepiscopal palace.[2]
Though Lizana's rule tended to foster the revolutionary spirit, it was not owing to any infidelity on his part, but to a mistaken principle and a childlike trust in men. A few days before his retirement, he issued an exhortation to loyalty, denouncing a proclamation of Joseph Bonaparte which he publicly burned in the principal plaza of the capital.[3] He recognized later some of his mistakes, and endeavored with the ecclesiastical weapons of excommunication and pastoral circulars to rectify the evil which he had unintentionally fomented. The Spanish regency decorated Lizana with the grand cross of Cárlos III., an honor conferred upon him a few months before his death, which occurred on the 6th of March, 1811.[4]
The removal of Lizana in no way improved matters. There was want of harmony among the oidores; when unanimous accord was the only road to successful administration, the audiencia was divided into two factions. The regent Catani was influenced by the same ideas and the same advice which had so ill directed
- ↑ Hernandez y Dávalos, Col. Doc., ii. 21.
- ↑ Gaz. de Mex., 1810, i. 391-2.
- ↑ Proclama del Arzob. Virey, 24 de Abril de 1810; Bustamante, in Cavo, Tres Siglos, iii. 272; Diario de Mex., xii. 674; Hernandez y Dávalos, Col. Doc., ii. 28-32.
- ↑ Sosa, Episcop. Mex., 206-13.
of the city; but its influence soon became greater than that of the regency. Id., 226-7; Junta Sup. de Cádiz, á la Amer. Esp., 3.
