We would be very thankful to know that you had resolved to act independently of your harmful counsellor; and in such a case we consider that it would be easy enough to arrive at a settlement. In place of Mr. Palafox you should be able to consult your principal chiefs, who have struggled faithfully for the cause, and you will surely find among them better standards and better counsel than from your ancient secretary. I know that the majority of your chieftains hold Mr. Palafox in scant esteem and do not care for him; and if they have not so expressed themselves to you it has been perhaps through lack of opportunity or excess of discipline. Now it would be convenient that you consult them regarding this matter. I trust, Mr. General, in your good judgment and sense of right, to kindly bear in mind with a spirit of serenity and justice what we have set before you, and unite your efforts to ours with a view to realizing the peace which our Republic needs so much, without lessening the agrarian ideals for which you have struggled for so long a time. I am happy to sign myself, Yours affectionate and loyal friend, ANTONIO I. VILLARREAL. CHAPTER XVI ONE HUNDRED YEARS’ STRUGGLE FOR LAND AND DEMOCRACY, AGAINST CLERICALISM In August, 1521, Cortez consummated the conquest of New Spain and in August, 1821, under Iturbide, the independence of Mexico was wrested from the mother country. For exactly three hundred years Spain governed Mexico with soldiers and priests. Ten prelates of the Dominican order, out of a list of sixty-two viceroys, had ruled New Spain, which was surrounded with a ring that was mightier than a Chinese wall. Education, outside of religious teaching, was discouraged. Communication with the outside world was forbidden. Spain fed New Spain commercially, politically and intellectually. The Mexican born was allowed no privileges, no rights. The Spaniards, soldiers, priests and aristocrats monopolized everything; all the offices, the commerce, the property, were theirs. Four-fifths of the lands were in the hands of the Church. In 1811 an ex-priest, Hidalgo, unfurled the banner of the revolution by the shouts of: “Long live Religion! Death to bad Government! Death to the Gachupines!” (Spaniards). The revolution for freedom from Spanish rule was initiated by an ex-priest. Morelos, Matamoros, Dr. Cos, and Navarrete, who continued the struggle, were all ex-priests. Great personalities appeared in the ten years’ revolution, such as Alvarez, Guerrero, Bravo, Victoria. The Mexican revolutionists were battling for political liberty and land. When the Church realized that Mexico was lost to Spain, it put forward a Spanish officer, Iturbide, as the Liberator. Iturbide betrayed his own king, and after accepting the first Constitution, betrayed the revolution and became emperor by means of a military “cuartelazo” (mutiny).