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Show APPENDIX TO P1\RT liT. Cou r·ts martial, for the trial of a commissioned o!Ticer, must be j(,rmed of general officers; but this clause subjects the officers of the pJ'()vinces to a great species of tyranny, for the commanding ge· twral has taken upon himself to puni !:>h for all offences not capital, lonsecpJently accol'ding to his own j11dgmcnt and preju ~liccs, from \v hich there is only <~n ~1ppcul to the ldn g , and difficult is it indeed fur the complaints of a subaltem to reach his majesty throu gh the lltlme rous crowd of sycophants who surround him, one holf of whom <1rc prob~1bly in leag ue "ith his oppressor: it likewise <kprivcs an ofiirer of the mo~t sacred of all rights, the being tr·iecl by his peers; fo r, sllonld he be S<>nt to .\Iexico o1· Eu1'0J)e fi>I· trial, it is possible he cannot take half the tcsti rnony which is' necessary to complete his justific.ttion. There is another principle (}cflncd by the ordinances, which has often beeu the cause of di sputes in the service of the United ~'ltatcs :-' iz. The commandant of a post (in the Spanish service), if b.lt'cly a c:1ptuin, receives no orders from a general, should one mrivc at his post, unless that general should be superior in authority to the p<.r::;on who posted him, for, says the ordinance, he is rcspon ~ il>lc lo the ki11g ulonc for his post. That principle, acco1·ding- to nay ideas, is Yery injurious to any countJ·y which adopts it; for c·x.. tru ple, '"e "ill say that a post of g1·cat importance, c;:ontaining im· 111 en ~e military sto t·cs, is likely to fall into the hands of the enemy; ~n ofllccr superior to the commandant r·ecei,•es the information, and repairs tt> the post and orcle!'S him immediately to evacuate it. The tommandant, feeling himself only responsible to the authority who })laced him in tlwt position, refu&cs to obey, <mel the magazines aud place arc lost! ! ! The principle is also subversive of the very root of military subordination ~md discipline, w hez·e an infcrio1' should ill all caus obey a superi01·, who only should be responsible fur the effect arising from the execution of his ot·ders. It will readily be lJelievc <l \hat, in my tints advocating imjllicit obedience to the on\crs of a Sllperiol', thHt I do not suppose the llig !u-st imjlrobahilitirs Ol' imjw.~bibilitit-.~, such as an order to tum your arms ag·ainst the c-on:;tit rttul autiJO r-ity of your crmnt1·y, or· to be the ensign of his tymuny or the J!andf-r of his vices: those arc cnses where a man':s reason must aTone clil'cct him, and are not, nor cannot ue subject to any human rule" hatcvc1·. R etigion.-lt:s form s is a suhjccl with which I am very impcrf( ·ctly acr1uainted, but having made some enquiries aml observations .vn the religion of the country, I will freely communicate thcnh APPENDIX TO P~\HT ll f. t •arfu} at the same time that J lay myself open to tltc SC\'Cl'C Cr ill( i'in1s of pe r c;on'i who have, in any degree, appl ied th emsch·cs to the !'>tucly of theology 01' tltc ritual or the catholic church. The kin~dom of New S pain, is divided into fuut· archbishop ricks, viz: Mexico, G u:ldalaxara, Durango, nncl St. L ouis Potosi ; under them again arc the sub-bishopricks -Deacons, Curates, &c. each of whom nrc subject and accountable to th c it· immediate chief for the distri c:ts committed to thei r c haq!;e, and the whole is again subject to the oJ·clinnnrcs of the hi ~h comt of inqu isition held at the capital of 1\Iexico; from whence is fulrllinated the edic t-; of their censut·c np,-ainst the h e resies, and impious doctrines of the mo· dcm philosophy, both as to politics and r e lig ion ; and I am crcuibly informed, that ~he influence of that tribunal, is greater in his ca. tholic m ajesty's Mexican dominions, than in any Catholic count1·y in Europe, 01' perhaps in the world. A few years since, they condemned a man to the flames, for asserting and maintaining some doctrine which they deemed he rcticnl; and a Jew who was impt·H< Ient enough to take the image of Christ on the cross, ancl put it under the sill of his door, saying privately he would " m ake the dogs walk over their God., They likewise examine and condernn to the Oamcs all books of a modern sentiment, either as to religion o1· politics, and excommunicate any one in whose hands th('y may be found. I recollect to have seen a decree of theirs published in the Mexican Gazettes, condemning a number of books, " as het'c" tical and contra1·y to the sacred principles of the holy Catholic "church, and the peace and durability of the government of his "Chatholic majesty." Amongst which were mentioned "Ilclvc tius" on man, J. J. Rousseau's works, Voltaire's, Mirabeau's and a number of others of that description, Md even at so great a distance as Chihuahua; an officer dared not take " Pope's Essay on l\Ian," to his quarters, uut used to come to mine to read it. The salaries of the arch-bishops arc superior to any officers in the kingdom. The bishops of Mexico, being estimated at S 150,000 per annum, when the vice roy's is 880,000, and sso,ooo allowed for his table, falling short of the bishop 820,000. Those incomes arc r aised cnticely from the people who pay no tax to the king , but give one tenth of thci1· yearly income to the clergy; be~ides the fees of confessions, bulls, burials, bapti~m s, marriages, and a thousand impo&itions, which the cotTuptions of pricstscraft has introduced, and has been kept up by their sttpcrs~i tion and ignorance . Notwithstanding all this, the infcriot· cle1·gy, who do all the sla\'cry of the ollice are liberal and well informed |