milk and eggs during lent_,"--and "_Bulls of composition_." Bales upon bales of these badly printed licenses were sent out from Spain and sold by priests under the direction of a commissary. The villany of this scheme may be more evident if we detain the reader a moment 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 virtue 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 able 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 had 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."[23] These disgusting details might suffice to show the student how greatly America was oppressed and corrupted by the Spanish government; yet we regret that there are other important matters of misrule which we are not authorised to pass by unnoticed. Thus far we have considered the direct administration and taxing power of the king and Council of the Indies; we must now turn to the despotism exercised over the mind as well as the body of the creoles.