CHICHIM.ECAS REVOLT JESUITS INQUISITION. 161 



have kindled the flame of sedition, but the mild diplomacy of the 

 viceroy sufficed to calm the litigants and to restore perfect peace to 

 the capital. A religious dispute, in such a community as Mexico 

 then was, seemed, indeed, an affair of no small moment, especially 

 when it arose in so tempestuous a period of the nation and was 

 the first occasion to try the temper and talents of a new viceroy. 



But the attention of Don Martin was soon to be drawn from the 

 capital towards the frontiers of his government, where he found 

 that the troublesome bands of wandering Chichimecas, had been 

 busy in their old work of robbery and spoliation, whilst the Audi- 

 encia was engaged in its intrigues and corruption in the city of 

 Mexico. The impunity with which these martial vagabonds had 

 been allowed to proceed, increased their daring, and the evils they 

 inflicted on the country were becoming continually greater. Not 

 satisfied with having despatched the chief alcalde of the hostile 

 region with the militia to punish the rebels, he joined the forces of 

 that officer, and succeeded after great slaughter in compelling the 

 Indians to quit the soil they had hitherto ravaged. It should be 

 recorded, in justice to the viceroy, that he ordered the Indian 

 children who fell into the hands of his soldiery, to be spared, and, 

 at the end of the campaign, brought them all to the metropolis, 

 where he distributed them among rich families so that they might 

 receive a christian education. In order to save the region from 

 further devastation he established therein a colony, to which he 

 gave the name of San Felipe, perhaps in honor of his king, as he 

 bestowed upon it the title of " city. " 



Such was the condition of things when Pedro Moya de Contreras 

 arrived in Mexico as Inquisitor, having been sent by Philip to 

 establish the dread tribunal of the faith in that capital. The 

 Spanish king feared that the doctrines of the reformation which 

 were then rife in Europe might find friends among his transatlantic 

 subjects, and he mercifully resolved to give them, as a guardian of 

 their consciences, this sad and dreadful present. In 1572, Doctor 

 Pedro Sanchez, a Jesuit, with various brethren of the same order, 

 came to the city of Mexico, and founded a college in certain edi- 

 fices which were ceded to them for that purpose by Alonso Villaseca. 

 The brethren of the holy office, or inquisition, meanwhile organ- 

 ized their body, for future operations, and settled under the wings 

 of the church of Santo Domingo. 



It was at this period, also, that Don Martin established the 

 alcabala ; and, although the merchants opposed the measure, which 

 was entirely new to them, and alleged that it was a mortal blow to 



