o
begged that no more religious institutions or communities might be
established, asserting that more than half the wealth of the country
was in the hands of these, and that there were more than six thousand
priests--most of them idle--in the country.

From the middle to the close of the seventeenth century the social life
of the people developed but slowly. The main events were the conspiracy
of the Irishman Lampart to secure independence for the country, the
dedication of the cathedral of Mexico, the founding of the town of
Albuquerque in the territory of New Mexico--to-day part of the United
States, the enactment against the violation of private correspondence,
the fortification of the ports on the Gulf coast against the operations
of sea-rovers--among them the famous British buccaneer Morgan, the
eruption of Popocatepetl (1665), the sacking of the town of Campeche by
British ships (1680), the insurrection and murders by the Indians of
Chihuahua and New Mexico, the piratical exploit of Agramonte and his
band, who disembarked at and looted the port of Vera Cruz, imprisoning
the greater part of the population in a church, the exploration of
California, and the operations against the French and English settlers
upon the Mexican Gulf coast. The last years of the century were
disturbed by serious rioting and tumult in the capital, due to scarcity
of food and the inundation of the city.

The first years of 1700 opened with some alarm for the Spaniards of
Mexico, for England and Spain were at war, and it was feared that
British naval operations might be undertaken against the country. The
loss of a plate-ship's treasure, due to the war, caused heavier taxes
to fall upon the colonists, for continued exactions marked this
century, from Spain, for treasure for the prosecution of her wars. The
Gulf coast was placed in a position of defence against the British,
who, however, after the capture of Habana, in 1762, concluded peace
with Spain in the following year. Previous to that the English Admiral
Anson had captured a galleon on its way from Acapulco to Manilla, with
two and a half million dollars on board. The main events of this
century, in addition to the foregoing, were the explorations of the
Jesuits in California (1700), the severe earthquake of 1711, the
distress among the common people, due to famine and oppression, which
the Viceroy, the Duke of Linares, strove to remedy. In 1734 the first
_creole_ Viceroy, the Marqui