History of Mexico (Bancroft)/Volume 3/Chapter 21

by Hubert Howe Bancroft

 

CHAPTER XXI.

VICEROYS FORTY-SEVEN TO FORTY-NINE.

1779-1787.

Viceroy Martin de Mayorga — His Exceptional Position — War with Great Britain — Warlike Measures — Mayorga’s Efficient Rule — Viceroy Matías de Galvez — His Short Administration — He Promotes Improvements — The Conde de Aranda's Plan — Independent Kingdoms in Spanish America to be Erected — King Cárlos' Objections — The Addiencia Rules a Few Months — Viceroy Conde de Galvez — His Great Services and Rank — Unbounded Popularity — Treasonable Schemes Attributed — His Illness and Death — Posthumous Birth of his Child — Magnificent Ceremonials at the Christening — The Family Liberally Pensioned — The Audiencia Rules Again.

Martin de Mayorga, a knight of Alcántara and mariscal de campo of the royal army, who had been captain of the Spanish royal guards, governor of Alcántara in Estremadura, and lastly governor, president, and captain-general of Guatemala, became the forty-seventh viceroy of New Spain. He had but just surrendered the baton of command to the inspector of the troops, and was on the point of departing for Spain, when despatches reached him that in the pliego de mortaja opened in Mexico at the death of Viceroy Bucareli he was named as the successor ad interim.^[1] On the 23d of August, 1779, he entered the viceregal palace, and took the oath of office, which was administered him by the regente in the presence of the oidores.^[2] Mayorga is represented to have been affable and liberal, possessing a magnanimous charitable heart, and making himself beloved by all, and yet he had to exercise much prudence as well as force of character, his position being an unfortunate one, as will be seen hereafter.

The new viceroy's arrival at the capital occurred just eleven days after the proclamation there, on the 12th, of war having been declared May 18th against Great Britain by King Cárlos III. Assistance secretly afforded by Spain to the British North American colonists to attain their independence,^[3] had much to do with the animosity of the day; in which measure Spain did not know how surely she was working her own undoing in the same direction.

The people of Mexico saw in this war nothing but misfortune; their trade would be harassed, and their coasts ravaged. Taxation, loans, and sacrifice of life would naturally follow. Nor were their fears unfounded, for very soon Mexico was called to the aid of Guatemala for the recovery of the port of Omoa in Honduras, which the English had taken. She was also required to take a prominent part in the combined Spanish and French operations against Florida. Those operations were quite active from 1779 to 1781.^[4]

Fearing an assault on Vera Cruz, the government made every preparation to repel it. The disposable force, both regulars and provincial militia, was called into active service. Mayorga and his secretary^[5] visited Vera Cruz, inspected the fortifications, corrected defects, and stationed the troops in Orizaba, Encero, Jalapa, and other convenient spots. In this inspection and in all the arrangements, which occupied about nineteen days, Mayorga conducted himself with ability, energy, and dignity. Fortunately, the enemy attempted no movements upon the coasts of Mexico.

But offensive operations were carried on from Yucatan to expel the British from Belize and the neighborhood, pursuant to orders from the crown to the governor. Captain-general Roberto Rivas Betancourt, who hastened his preparations; and before the enemy could effect his purposes against Bacalar, Rivas was at this town ready for action. The viceroy of New Spain had been directed to aid the governor, but he could not do it. He sent him, however, a great quantity of gunpowder, and money, which were of much benefit for the campaign.^[6]

Rivas' efforts were successful. He not only dislodged the British from Belize, capturing on Cayo Cocina the 15th of September, 1779, a number of prisoners, over three hundred slaves, and some small vessels, but with his canoes and pirogues made a prize of an English brig armed with fourteen guns. He did not, it is true, accomplish all that was expected of him; but considering the small resources at his command to counteract the large ones of the enemy, his conduct was deemed meritorious.

Viceroy Mayorga attended to all his duties, not neglecting those of charity to the poor in a time of affliction, with signal zeal and ability. His measures for the defence and security of the country were effected with the utmost possible economy to the royal treasury, and it is a well known fact that his remittances of treasure during his short rule amounted to about fifty million pesos, without delays or burdening the people with extra taxation.^[7] But all his wisdom and valuable services could not save him from the constant fault-finding of the all-powerful José de Galvez, ministro universal de Indias. He had incurred the enmity of that dignitary, it seems, because he had been called to the viceroyalty, an office which the minister had intended should fall to his brother, Matías de Galvez; but Bucareli's death took place sooner than was expected, and before Matías de Galvez had been commissioned as president of Guatemala.^[8] Whatever the motive, Mayorga was the victim of the minister's ill-concealed resentment.

In November, 1781, there arrived in Mexico Francisco Saavedra,^[9] a person who later, though but for a short time, became one of the ministers of state in Spain. He made it appear that he held some authority from the court. The common people believed him to be a royal prince travelling incognito. As he presented a grave demeanor, and never gave public offence, a certain mystery and respect surrounded him.

The viceroy's unpopularity at court was soon known in Mexico, and there were not wanting those to take advantage of it. Even the audiencia of Mexico with whom he had endeavored to maintain cordial relations, tried to interfere with his action; but in a dignified manner he upheld his authority. The regente of the audiencia of Guadalajara, Eusebio Sanchez Pareja, took upon himself the title of captain-general, and required the commissioner sent by Mayorga to attend to military affairs in Nueva Galicia to first ask his leave to carry out orders. His presumption was rebuked, Mayorga maintaining the unity of the chief military command.^[10]

The governor of Vera Cruz also manifested some insubordination, because the viceroy did not approve some of his schemes,^[11] and thus the viceroy's position was made unpleasant. Besides these annoyances was the injustice of not making his appointment regular, or sending out a successor. His tenure was ad interim, and therefor he was allowed only half pay, though his expenses were great.^[12] At last he was recalled, and gave up the office on the 29th of April, 1783, soon after embarking for Spain, He died on board the vessel in sight of Cádiz,^[13] foul play being suspected by some. In April, 1784, news reached Mexico that Mayorga's estate had been attached by the king's order. This was probably the usual course where an official was subjected to a residencia. That of the ex-viceroy was published in Mexico on the 3d of June, the alcalde de corte, Juan Francisco de Anda, being the judge,^[14] with results favorable to the residenciado.

The forty-eighth viceroy of New Spain was Matías de Galvez, García, Madrid, y Cabrera,^[15] a lieutenant general of the royal armies,^[16] transferred from Guatemala, where he had been president, governor, and captain-general.^[17] The new viceroy brought with him his wife, Ana de Córdoba.^[18] Though a brother of the talented minister of state, the marqués de Sonora, and having a better heart, Matías de Galvez was not endowed with the same powers of mind. But best of all he had sound common sense and indefatigable industry. He had been a plain farmer, and he looked like one; and he loved a farmer's life, from which he had been drawn at his brother's elevation to high official position near the king's person. He was not afraid, and on every proper occasion showed a martial spirit; but to inflict punishment upon another was an infliction upon himself. His solicitude for the general welfare, and particularly for the relief of the poor and afflicted, was well known both in Guatemala and Mexico. He was cheerful, witty, frugal, modest in his tastes, affable, and was reputed pious; and so disinterested was he, that having held high and lucrative offices, his estate did not probably reach, at his death, the value of 50,000 pesos.^[19]

On the 29th of April, 1783, he took possession of the baton of command ad interim,^[20] at the town of San Cristóbal Ecatepec, and not at Guadalupe, as his predecessors had done, owing to the bad condition of the reception house at the latter place. It had been the viceroy's intention, on account of his advanced age and bodily infirmities, to enter the city in a carriage; but some difficulty about precedence having been raised by the city council, he cut it short by mounting a gentle horse and riding into Mexico. He was the last viceroy that entered the city on horseback.^[21] The passage to the palace was adorned with triumphal arches, bearing descriptive devices of his military prowess against the English, and his wise administrative acts in Central America. The services of the Galvez were compared in emblems and verse with those of the Vespasian family in ancient Rome.^[22] On the same day he took the oath of office, before the real acuerdo, administered to him by Regente Herrera.

With the conclusion of peace between Spain and England^[23] Galvez was free to devote his attention to public affairs. Many improvements in the capital and elsewhere were made; he was zealous in the king's service, and jealous of anything that might prove detrimental to the authority of his sovereign. Hence his disapproval of the aid given the revolted colonies of North America to attain their independence, and of the treaties afterward concluded with them. He foresaw dangers to Spanish domination in America from the presence of a democratic republic.^[24] Amidst high duties well performed came death. On the 16th of September, 1784, he lay ill at Tacubaya, unable to sign his name,^[25] and some Indians brought him to the city on a litter. After receiving the sacrament and executing his last will, he breathed his last the 3d of November. The 4th being the king's birthday, the remains could not be laid in state, so the ceremony was postponed to the next day, when the death was promulgated by firing three guns; after that, one gun was fired every half hour till the morning of the 8th, when the funeral cortége left the palace for the convent of San Fernando, where the remains were deposited, with religious rites.^[26] As a mark of appreciation of the purity, uprightness, and ability shown by Galvez during his rule in Mexico, the king on the 26th of March, 1785,^[27] decreed to relieve him of a residencia, and consequently his estate of the expenses incident thereto.

It was at this interesting period in American history—1783—that Cárlos' principal secretary of state, Pedro Abarca de Bolea, conde de Aranda, having returned with a leave of absence from Paris where he went by express order to sign the general treaty of peace with Great Britain by virtue of which the independence of the United States of America was afterward recognized by George III. and his government, made a sweeping suggestion to his sovereign. Entertaining a favorable opinion of the state of learning and culture prevailing among the Spanish Americans, he recommended the creation of three independent monarchies in the king's American dominions, each under a prince of the Spanish reigning family, Cárlos for himself and his successors assuming the title of emperor, and the latter for all time to be recognized by the American monarchs as the head of the family. Marriages of the new sovereigns and their offspring and near connections were to be, as a matter of policy, with members of the royal family of Spain, and vice versa. Treaties of reciprocity for commerce, and of offence and defence, were to be made between the European and American sovereignties, and forever maintained in force. France, the family ally, was to be specially favored in her manufactures. Relations of any kind with the British were not to be tolerated. The aggrandizement of the new republic, or of any other powder that might establish itself in America, was also to be averted.

The three kingdoms thus proposed to be erected were Mexico, Peru, and Costa Firme. Cuba, Porto Rico, and one or two more islands were to be retained to serve as entrepôts to foster the national trade. Every argument that could be adduced in favor of this project was brought forth in a memoir, and among them the following: The large extent of the possessions and their great distance from the mother country rendered it difficult for the supreme government to protect them against foreign hostilities, or to obtain correct views on affairs, so as to adopt the wisest and most efficacious measures for the benefit of the country, to check abuses, and administer justice. So far as the people of America were concerned the benefits were obvious, chief among which was the facility with which they might resort to the sovereign authority. All the difficulties enumerated of course tended, as was affirmed, to breed discontent among the crown's American vassals.

We have the assurance that Aranda's scheme was seriously considered by the king in council, and that it would have been resolved in the affirmative, had there been in those countries a larger number of pure white people and mestizos able to withstand the possible attempts at subjugation by the other more numerous races. This fear of danger was attributed to Cárlos himself, in whose lips were placed words suggestive that in the event of the subversion of the upper classes by the lower, tyranny and licentiousness would follow, smothering, perhaps in its very cradle, each national autonomy. How the proposed new political organization was to increase this danger does not appear. Possibly opposition on the part of Great Britain was foreseen, or Cárlos could not be brought to voluntarily abdicate his undivided sovereignty over the immense domains of America. Aranda at an audience persisted in his views, but the king continued his objections.^[28] The plan was, therefore, postponed to a future day; and the policy of crossing the races was warmly persevered in.

The real object in view on the minister's part, as avowed by him, for an independent Mexico, was to counteract Anglo-Saxon supremacy and protestantism in America.^[29] Indeed, Aranda apprehended serious evils to Spain from the act he had just performed at Paris, on the ground that the American federal republic would in due time assume greatness, and forget the benefits received at the hands of France and Spain, and think only of self-aggrandizement; and this would naturally be at the expense of the Spanish possessions in America, beginning with the Floridas in order to obtain control of the gulf of Mexico.^[30]

The administration of public affairs had been by direction of Viceroy Galvez in charge of the real audiencia since the 20th of October. On the evening of the 3d of November, just fifteen minutes after that ruler's death, the audiencia held a meeting to ascertain on whom the government should devolve, and there being no pliego de providencia, or mortaja, it became ex officio the governor and captain-general of the kingdom of New Spain. This fact was duly announced, and the regente, Vicente de Herrera y Rivero, formally took possession of the baton, and presented himself with it in public.^[31] There is no record that during the rule of that body of about eight and a half months it did anything worthy of notice, save that under apprehensions of certain designs of the British on the port of Trujillo it adopted precautions to defeat them.

The succeeding and forty-ninth viceroy was Bernardo de Galvez, Madrid, Cabrera, Ramirez, y Marquez, conde de Galvez,^[32] a pensioned knight of the royal order of Cárlos III., commander of Bolaños in the order of Calatrava, and a lieutenent-general of the king's armies.^[33] The conde de Galvez, a son of his predecessor in office, was now about thirty-seven years of age, of noble mien, gentlemanly deportment, frank and affable. He possessed, in short, the requisite qualifications to make him popular with all classes. The reputation had preceded him that in every act of his government elsewhere he had shown mildness, united with a just and enlightened spirit; and his course in Mexico confirmed repute. His young wife, Felícitas de Saint Maxent, a native of Louisiana and of French extraction, was a lady of surpassing loveliness, charitable, gracious, and intelligent.^[34] Scarcely more than fifteen years had elapsed since the young general had been in Mexico in an humble position and with scanty means.^[35] He had served as a subaltern in Portugal in 1762. The marqués de Croix gave him a commission in the Corona regiment. He finds himself a little later a captain in the same regiment, serving as comandante de armas in Nueva Vizcaya, where he punished the Apaches in several encounters, being himself wounded several times, once quite severely. He afterward went to Habana, and in 1772 to Spain, where he continued his military service, and followed it up in America with brilliant success, obtaining rapid promotion till he reached, with other honors, the highest rank but one in the army.^[36] On the morning of the 29th of May 1785 a special messenger arrived in Mexico, announcing that the new viceroy had arrived in Vera Cruz, and on the 30th would start for the capital. On the 16th of June he arrived at the town of San Cristóbal,^[37] and received the command from the regente. During the day he was honored and magnificently entertained by the real consulado, the archbishop, courts, religious orders, corporations, and citizens. The next morning at ten he reached Guadalupe. After the religious ceremonies, and having been greeted by the audiencia and others, he pursued his way to the capital, entering amidst the greatest marks of respect and enthusiasm, and a salute of fifteen guns. The same salute had been given to the vicereine, who had gone in advance escorted by the police of the real acordada, four halberdiers at the steps of the carriage, and a squad of dragoons. The people manifested their joy in many ways.^[38]

At the palace, his commissions being produced and read, he took the oath of office before the real acuerdo. The rest of that day and the two following were spent mostly in ceremonials and compliments. But he soon after devoted his attention seriously to public affairs. His short rule was marked by two great calamities, the loss of crops, consequent upon heavy and continuous frosts, and famine followed by an epidemic. To meet the latter he was foremost in liberality, not only contributing 12,000 pesos remaining from his father's estate, but borrowing $100,000 more for the same purpose. He formed a board of relief, and used every exertion to supply the city with the necessaries of life.

One day while transacting business with the board, information reached him that the alhóndiga, or public granary, was empty, and that poor people could get no maize for the morrow. Rushing into the streets without an escort, or even his hat, he walked to the alhóndiga, where he took steps to keep up the supply. When the people saw him, and learned what had brought him there, they were moved to tears, and escorted him back to the palace in the midst of acclamations.^[39] On another occasion, the Saturday preceding palm Sunday, April 8, 1786, as Galvez was riding from the country house called El Pensil to meet the audiencia for the general visit of prisons, either purposely or accidentally^[40] he encountered three prisoners on their way to the scaffold, followed by a rabble, who besought the viceroy to spare the condemned, which was done. Much obloquy was heaped upon Galvez for this act; he was charged not only with the deliberate intent of saving the criminals to win favor with the populace, but of misrepresenting the facts to the crown.^[41] He stated that under the circumstances it was his duty, as the agent of a benign sovereign, to heed the clamors of a people then stricken by famine, misery, and disease. Be it as it may, the crown confirmed the viceroy's act; but at the same time added to the approval a reproof; for he was directed in future to abstain when possible from going out of the palace at such hours as prisoners were usually taken to the place of execution.

A certain distance had been heretofore maintained, as a matter of etiquette, between the ruler and the ruled. Very few could approach the viceroy with any degree of intimacy. Galvez ignored that practice, and from the moment of assuming the vicegerency of his sovereign in New Spain, established close relations with the chief families, without in any manner lowering by undue familiarity the decorum of his high position. His countess' attractions aided to awaken enthusiasm and to win affection, at the same time exalting the office. He caused his little son and heir Miguel to be enrolled in October 1785 as a private in the grenadier company of the Corona regiment, on which occasion the boy was bandied from hand to hand among his new comrades. The same day the father gave a banquet in the throne-room to the officers of the regiment and the grenadier company, and also entertained civilians on the flat roof of the palace.^[42]

Such acts at such a time, tending to unusual popularity, awakened at court suspicion of treasonable intent. Some authorities assert that the viceroy entertained the plan of setting up a throne for himself; that when certain of the affection of the Mexicans he began to feel his way, throwing out ambiguous remarks of double meaning, which could not compromise him. With his more intimate friends, they say, he would

discuss the present superiority of affairs over those of Montezuma's time, referring to the elements possessed by the country to become an independent monarchy. At other times he spoke of the difficulties there might be to keep up uninterrupted relations with the mother country in future wars with England or France, now that their navies were becoming so much more powerful than Spain's. Then he would expatiate on the need the Mexicans had of erecting strong fortifications at certain points in the interior, and of making other preparations, so that they could rely on their own resources in the event of a foreign invasion when Spain could afford them no aid. Thus he would hint, his accusers said, that Mexico received no benefits, but on the contrary much injury from maritime wars, and all because of a useless, indefensible, and damaging connection with Spain. The frequent social gatherings at the palace and at private houses are said to have afforded him opportunities for quietly promulgating such ideas.^[43] Another charge advanced against the count is that, to further gain the good-will of the people, he invited the ayuntamiento of the capital to stand sponsor of a child soon to be born, and which, if a girl, was to be named Guadalupe after the worshipped patroness of the city.^[44] The reconstruction of Chapultepec, and the peculiar form and strength given it, likewise aroused suspicion. It was not, they said, a palace for the viceroy's pleasure, but a masked fortress, or a citadel to command the city. The expense incurred was large and disapproved by the crown, but the order came out when it could not annoy Galvez. If, as charged, the viceroy was plotting independence, his rule was too short for his ambition.

Others scouted the imputation of treason, and said that he who, like his father, and his uncles the marqués de Sonora, and Miguel de Galvez, ambassador at Berlin, had been so exceptionally favored by their sovereign, would never lend himself to treasonable schemes; and further, if gratitude would not deter him, fear of the consequences would. And again, if, as the count's accusers say, his ambiguous behavior gave rise to suspicion, how is it that neither the sovereign, nor his ministers, nor the audiencia or other authorities in New Spain, gave information of it?^[45]

I am inclined to doubt the truth of any charge of treason, and for the following reasons. On the 22d of May 1786, the audiencia sent a petition to the king that the count might be retained at the head of the government in New Spain, recounting his merits and services to the crown. Speaking for the people of Mexico the oidores praise his benevolence; the wisdom of his measures in government; in the subjugation of hostile Indians; in the arrangement and division of the provincias internas; and generally, in everything he had done, all which they declare as conducive to the public welfare and happiness. To that petition the king answered on the 18th of August promising to retain Galvez as viceroy in Mexico,^[46] so long as he might not be more urgently needed for other duties. The idea of treason seems not to have occurred to any one at the time, and what follows tends only to disarm the impartial observer of any suspicion.

The young viceroy was stricken by disease, and on the 9th of October 1786, a consultation of physicians took place at the palace. On the 13th the sacraments were publicly administered to him in the presence of the archbishop, curates of the parishes, religious orders, and courts. The dean of the cathedral chapter officiated.^[47] On the 31st the patient was removed to Tacubaya in a litter, hoping benefit from the change of air. On the 8th of November, feeling his end approaching, he executed his last will, his estate being estimated at a trifle over 40,000 pesos. Eight days later, the 16th, extreme unction was administered. He then addressed his family in most touching terms, such as drew tears from all present. On the morning of the 30th he expired, aged about 38 years, and his remains were transferred to the palace in the city.^[48]

At the funeral, on the 4th of December, the highest honors were paid; the civil, military, and ecclesiastic authorities and the people contributing to the splendor of the rites, the cathedral chapter defraying the expenses. The body was deposited temporarily in the cathedral church.^[49]

On the 30th of November, after the viceroy's demise, the audiencia, who had charge of affairs by Galvez' direction since the 16th, took formal possession of the government, no pliego de providencia having been found, and the regente Eusebio Sanchez Pareja^[50] acting as captain-general. On the 1st of December the marqués de Sonora, ministro universal de Indias, was officially apprised of these occurrences, and of the fact that the commissions issued by the late viceroy had all been endorsed by the present ruler. The audiencia on the same day petitioned the king to extend to the widow and her children the utmost liberality consistent with the condition of the royal treasury. To the chief secretary of state, conde de Floridablanca, a despatch was addressed, to be forwarded post-haste from Coruña, with the object of preparing the marqués de Sonora to hear of his nephew's death.^[51]

December 12th at 1:15 in the night, the vicereine gave birth to a girl, who was christened on the 19th and given the names of María de Guadalupe, Bernarda, Felipa de Jesus, Isabel, Juana Nepomucena, and Felícitas, to which was added afterward that of Fernanda, as a compliment to one of the sponsors. The sponsors were the 'nobilísima ciudad de Mexico,' represented by the corregidor Colonel Francisco Crespo, a knight of Santiago, and Josefa Villanueva, wife of the senior oidor, José Angel de Aguirre. The godfather at the confirmation was Fernando José Mangino. Both baptism and confirmation were administered by the archbishop on the same day.^[52] On

the 6th of May 1787, came an order from the crown to pay the countess dowager 30,000 pesos for her passage to Spain. She left the city on the 25th with her four children.^[53] According to Gomez, Diario, 298, on the 10th of June, 1788, the residehcia of the late viceroy was published with little formality, forty days being allowed within which to present charges to his successor.

 

 

1. He started for Mexico on the 18th of May, 1779. Juarros, Guat., i. 271-2; Escamilla, Not. Curiosas de Guat., 50-1; Disposiciones Varias, i. 58-63; Cédulario, iii. 61.
2. Gomez, Diario, 70.
3. Bustamante, the editor of Cavo, Tres Siglos, iii. 31-2, assures us that the policy of the Spanish court in aiding the colonists was intended to avert a dangerous British invasion of New Spain from the North American colonies—a false step in his opinion, which eventually proved injurious not only to the allied powers, the French and Spaniards, but also to the people of New Spain, whose emancipation it retarded 50 years, though not preventing it. The king however, in his manifesto of July 8th to his vassals of America, states as his reasons for the war, among others, the hostile acts of the British authorities in Darien and Honduras. On the first day of the same month ordinances additional to the general regulations to govern the royal navy and letters of marque on the subject of prizes, had been issued. All trade and intercourse with the British had been forbidden in June. Reales Ordenes, iv. 57-84, 192-6, 199-225.
4. Mayorga had been apprised in Puebla of the measures the audiencia had decreed to supply with money Yucatan, New Orleans, Habana, Manila, and other points, which derived their support from Mexico, and might expect an attack by the enemy at any moment. He sent, in various amounts, about $600,000 to Louisiana for the campaign against the English in Florida. Bustamante, Suplem., in Cavo, Tres Siglos, iii. 30-7.
5. Melchor de Peramás was the secretary by royal appointment of the viceroyalty. In January 1780 he was retired with the honors of an oidor. His successor in the office was Pedro Antonio Cosio. Gomez, Diario, 78; Papeles Franciscanos, MS., ii. 1st ser. 313, 315; Disposiciones Varias, i. 33.
6. Mayorga, Carta, in Soc. Mex. Geog., Boletin, 2da ép., i 242.
7. The calls of the war on him were large, but with the assistance of the real consulado he was enabled timely to meet them. Panes, Vir., in Monum. Dom. Esp., MS., 125; Rivera, Hist. Jalapa, i. 147.
8. Bustamante, Suplem., in Cavo, Tres Siglos, iii. 42; Alaman, Disert., iii. app. 71.
9. Mayorga announced it in a letter to the minister of state. It was believed that Saavedra came to spy the viceroy's acts. Bustamante, Suplem., in Cavo, Tres Siglos, iii. 42.
10. From that time the people of Jalisco began to show a spirit of independence from the central authority, which in later years became more developed, and caused untold evils. Id.
11. Lerdo de Tejada, Apuntes Hist., no. 5, 308.
12. Of this he complained to the king, pleading also that the trouble had come upon him soon after he had lost heavily by the Guatemala earthquake of 1775. Alaman, Disert., iii. app. 72. After his death 20,000 pesos were paid his widow, Maria Josefa Valcárcel, out of the royal treasury. Id.; Mayer's Mex. Aztec, i. 252-3; Zamacois, Hist. Mej., v. 636.
13. Gomez, Diario, 173; Panes, Vir., in Monum. Dom. Esp., MS., 125.
14. Ordenes de la Corona, MS., iii. 57; Gomez, Diario, 184, 186-7.
15. Galvez, Solemnes Exequios, title-page. At foot of his portrait, which is probably copied from the original formerly existing in the viceregal palace, he is named Galvez y Gallardo. Rivera, Gob. Mex.v., i. 449.
16. Cédularios, i. 153; Disposiciones Varias, iii. 97.
17. Hist. Cent. Am., ii., this series.
18. Panes, Vir, in Monum. Dom. Esp., MS., 53.
19. Galvez, Solemnes Exequias, 1-31; Bustamante, Suplemento, in Cavo, Tres Siglos, iii. 52-3; Rivera, Hist. Jalapa, i. 147.
20. On the 19th of November of the same year the mail brought out his commission as 'virey en propiedad.' Gomez, Diario, 160, 171.
21. The act of receiving the command at San Cristóbal was approved in the royal order of Aug. 8, 1783, which prescribed that in future such act should take place there. The precedence that the city council claimed was disallowed, and the king ordered March 14, 1785, that there should never be a second public entry, to save the city, the consulado, and the people in general the onerous expenses it entailed. The audiencia declared its obedience June 25, 1785. Ordenes de la Corona, MS., iii. 42, 54. Panes, Vir., in Monum. Dom. Esp., MS. 126.
22. Velazquez de Leon, La Estirpe Vespasiana, 1-27.
23. The news reached Mexico a few days after Galvez assumed his duties. The crown on the 22d of October, 1783, ordered certain demonstrations of piety and rejoicing to celebrate that auspicious event, as well as the birth given to twins by the princesa de Asturias, heiress to the throne. Reales, Ordenes, MS., iv. 313-17. Before the celebration the twins had died. Leon y Gama, Carta, in Dicc. Univ. Hist. Geog., x. 785.
24. This is given on the authority of Andrés Muriel, who was constantly near the viceroy. Bustamante, Suplemento, in Cavo, Tres Siglos, iii. 50.
25. A fac-simile of his signature was affixed to public documents needing it, with a stamp by the secretary of the viceroyalty. Gomez, Diario, 193.
26. The viceroy's last will called for a humble funeral, but the audiencia disregarded the wish, official etiquette requiring it, and caused the viceregal and military honors to be paid. Rivera, Gob. Mex., i. 453. The body was escorted from the foot of the palace stairs by six colonels, the captain of the halberdiers, Conde de Santiago, and the master of the horse, Agustin Yañez. Three regiments, regular troops and militia, and the company of halberdiers—the last as the guard of honor of the audiencia—took part in the pageant. The mass at the church was celebrated by the precentor of the cathedral. The following gentlemen acted as mourners: the fiscal de real hacienda in the real audiencia, Ramon de Posada y Soto; the secretary of the viceroyalty, Francisco Fernandez de Córdoba; Fernando José Mangino; Colonel Juan Cambiaso of the Corona regiment; and José Chavez and Francisco Cabezon, executors conjointly with the above named Posada and Córdoba. Gomez, Diario, 196-7; Galvez, Solemnes Exequias, 2. On the 4th of March, 1785, there were solemn obsequies, with eulogy of the deceased, all the civic and ecclesiastical bodies being in attendance; the ceremonies were imposing. Next day the archbishop officiated at the mass, and a sermon was preached. Gomez, Diario, 203; Galvez, Elogio Fúnebre, 1-42.
27. Ordenes de la Corona, MS., iii. 56.
28. It is related, and I give the story for what it may be worth, deeming it well suited to the character of both men, that the king playfully twitted the minister with stubbornness, and was repaid in kind. 'Conde de Aranda, thou art more stubborn than an Aragonese mule.' 'Pardon me, please your Majesty, I know another still more stubborn than myself.' 'And who may he be?' asked the king. 'The sacred royal majesty of my liege lord, Cárlos III.,' was the reply. The king smiled and dismissed him with his usual afiability. Tejas, Ligeras Indic., 3.
29. 'Neutralizar la prepotencia y consiguientes influencias de la raza sajona, y con ellas del protestantismo en el Nuevo Mundo.' Martinez, V. J., Sinópsis hist. filosóf. polít., i. 20.
30. Aranda, Mem. Secreta, in Variedades de Jurisp., v. app. 39-43; Aranda, Mem., in El Indicador, iii. 158-05; Ramirez, Vida de Motolinia, in Icazbalceta. Col. de Doc., i. cxvii.-viii.
31. Gomez, Diario, 196. Herrera had been some time an oidor in the audiencia when he was made the regente of that in Guatemala, a newly created office which he held till September 1782, when he was promoted to regente of Mexico. He was afterward called to the council of the Indies. His wife was a daughter of the conde de Regla; and he was also at a later day created a marquis. Reales Cédulas, MS., ii. 159; Alaman, Disert., iii. app. 74. His colleagues were the oidores Antonio de Villaurrutia, Baltasar Ladron de Guevara, Joaquin Galdeano, Miguel Calixto de Acedo, José Antonio de Urizar, Ruperto V. de Luyando, Simon Antonio Mirafuentes, Eusebio Ventura Beleña. Juan José Martinez de Soria, escribano de cámara. Cedulario, MS., iii. 49.
32. The editor of the Gaceta de Mexico for 1786-7, in the dedication of it to the viceroy, calls him vizconde de Galveztown, as well as conde de Galvez.
33. For distinguished services he was, even after being called to the viceroyalty of New Spain, to retain his former offices of inspector-general of all troops m America, and captain-general of Louisiana and the Floridas, with their pay. Gaz. de Méx. (1784-5), i. 326; Id. (1786-7), ii. 251; Beleña, Recop., i. pref. 1-2. The news of his appointment as viceroy reached Mexico April 25, 1785. Gomez, Diario, 266.
34. Spaniards and Mexicans came to regard her highly, making much of her, and she greatly contributed to her husband's popularity. Gayarré's Hist. Louisiana, 165.
35. Of this he was good-naturedly reminded, after his exaltation, and some advice given him, in a pasquin that was found fastened on the wall of the palace the 9th of August:

    'Yo te conocí pepita
    Antes que fueras melon,
    Maneja bien el baston
    Y cuida la francesita.'

    Another quartette favorably compared him and his countess with the inspector of the troops and his wife who had come together with Galvez:

    'El virey, muy bueno,
    La vireina, mejor;
    El inspector el diablo,
    Y su muger; ————; peor!'

    The last two lines referred only to the ill-temper of the couple. Gomez, Diario, 206, 213-14.

36. In 1775 as a captain of infantry he took part in the landing and fight of the Spaniards with the Algerines on the Algiers beach, and was seriously wounded. This won him promotion to lieutenant-colonel, and to superintendent of the military school at Ávila. The next time we see him a colonel in command of a regiment in Louisiana, and soon after placed in temporary charge of the government, wherein displaying good judgment, he also had some successful brushes with the British; he was then made a brigadier. His military record in Louisiana seems to have been marked by brilliancy, I have no space to detail his deeds. Suffice it to say that he defeated the British in several actions, and took from them aided by the French, Mobile with a large quantity of arms and many prisoners. After that, with his own forces he laid siege to Pensacola, and captured it with all its forts, artillery and other arms, and a large number of prisoners whom he granted the honors of war; among them were the governor, captain-general, and the general commanding the English forces. At Pensacola, which he entered in a brig called the Galveztown, he was again wounded. The result of his campaigns was that he rid the Mexican gulf of the presence of the English. His services were rewarded without stint. It is true that his uncle, José de Galvez, was the king's minister for the Indies, but he had well deserved of his sovereign and country; promoted successively to mariscal de campo and lieutenant-general, a title of Castile was also given him with the privilege of adding on his coat of arms the motto 'yo solo,' for his prowess at Pensacola, and one of the fleurs de lis of Louisiana. It was also ordered that the bay of Pensacola should thereafter be named Santa María de Galvez. He was next granted knightly honors, and later appointed governor, captain-general of Cuba, and inspector of all Spanish troops in America. He was finally exalted to the position of viceroy, governor, president, and captain-general of New Spain. When the British fleet under Admiral Hood, conveying the royal duke of Lancaster, visited in April 1783 the port of Guarico, the duke, wishing to know the young hero, called at his head-quarters, and on the French general. Galvez being absent, the latter had to do the honors to the prince. But the former as a mark of respect sent to the duke, with a full pardon, the chief of the Natchez and his accomplices, who were under sentence of death for plotting in the interest of the English. The prince was much pleased at this, promising to report it to the British king. Gaz. de Méx. (1786-7), ii. pref.; Beleña, Recop,, pref. 3; Barea, Oracion fúnebre, 1-40; Vargas, Carta de pésame, in Festiv. Div., i. no. 11, 1-16. Whilst he was governor in Habana he extended a kind treatment to some Americans who had been brought there as prisoners, for which the secretary of the American congress wrote to the conde de Floridablanca to thank him in the name of congress for Galvez' generosity. Rivera, Gob. de Méx., i. 456.
37. He made what was called an 'entrada mista,' having on his way visited first Puebla, and Tlascala next. Panes, Vir., in Monum. Dom. Esp., MS., 54.
38. Both the viceroy and vicereine were loudly cheered. Rockets and flowers formed great features on the occasion. Gomez, Diario, 209-10; Gaz. de Mex., 1784-5, i. 326-7.
39. Bustamante, Suplem., in Cavo, Tres Siglos, iii. 58.
40. José Gomez, one of his guard of halberdiers, says in his Diario, 236, that it was the latter; 'sucedió la casualidad que en la estacion de la cárcel al suplicio,' are his own words.
41. Bustamante, Suplem., in Cavo, Tres Siglos, iii. 62-5. That author is very severe in his strictures, and lays on Galvez the responsibility for future crimes committed by two of those reprieved men which finally carried them to the gibbet.
42. This is the version given by Gomez, Diario, 217-18. On the 20th of August, 1780, the sergeants of the Corona regiment came to the palace to place on the viceroy's son's shoulder the epaulet of a second sergeant. Id., 246.
43. Alaman seems to give credence to the charges. Disert., iii. app. 74-6. Others say that letters were written to Spain blaming Galvez for his democratic demeanor, and foretelling a revolution like that of the United States. Bustamante, Suplem., in Cavo, Tres Siglos, iii. 65; Rivera, Gob. Méx., i. 457, and others. Humboldt, speaking on the subject, is loath to give credence to the charge. Essai Polit., 293.
44. The person first invited to be godfather was Fernando Mangino, superintendent of the mint, who courteously gave way to the ayuntamiento; this was after the city council expressed the wish, the father being already dead. But more anon. El Indicador de la Fed. Mex., iii. 170, in an article either contributed to or copied from, and also appearing in Mora, Revol. Mex., iii. 289-90, would indicate that the infant in question was born in the viceroy's lifetime, when there is evidence beyond doubt that it was a posthumous child.
45. It is stated that he received severe rebukes from the crown that so preyed upon his mind, as to break down his health; that he became melancholy, and seriously ill, which much alarmed the people, and prayers were daily uttered in almost every household for their idolized ruler and friend. Bustamante, Suplem., in Cavo, Tres Siglos, iii. 65.
46. ’Para satisfaccion y consuelo de sus Vasallos de N. E.' Beleña, Recop., i. pref. 3-4.
47. This was at 11 o'clock in the morning; the viceroy wore his full dress uniform of a lieutenant-general, and received the eucharist standing. Gomez, Diario, 248.
48. It has been hinted that the court got rid of him by means of poison. Lacunza, Discursos Hist, 528. I find no evidence to sustain the charge. The manifestations of sorrow by the people it would be difficult to describe. Gaz. de Méx. (1786-7), ii. 251-2.
49. Later, in May 1787, it was taken to the San Fernando church, and placed near that of Matías de Galvez. Id., 252-5; Gomez, Diario, 272; Panes, Vir., in Monum. Dom. Esp., MS., 54.
50. This gentleman when an oidor of Mexico was made regente of the audiencia of Guadalajara, being the first to have that office, which he held till 1786, when he became the third regente of Mexico. Reales Cédulas, MS., ii. 159. His colleagues in the government were the same that the former regente had in 1785, excepting Luyano, and adding Cosme de Mier y Trespalacios and Juan Francisco de Anda. Beleña, Recop., i. pref. 4; Ordenes de la Corona, MS., iii. 57, v. 4.
51. The receipt of the first despatch was acknowledged on the 21st of February 1787, conveying the king's sorrow at the loss of so valuable a subject. Floridablanca on the 27th of the same month notified his colleague of the Indies department, of the king's high appreciation of the late count's distinguished services, and that provision in various ways had been decreed for his family. According to the marqués de Sonora's letter of February 28th to his niece, that provision was as follows: to the countess dowager, so long as she remained a widow, the yearly pension, sin ejemplar, of 50,000 reales de vellon ($2,500), free of media annata; to young Miguel de Galvez, heir to the title, the encomienda of Bolaños in the order of Calatrava; and to the other members of the family the following yearly pensions: to the posthumous child, $650 if a boy, or $300 if a girl; to Matilda de Galvez $300; and to the half-sister, Adelaida Detrehan, $200. Beleña, Recop., pref. 7-10.
52. This was the grandest performance of the kind hitherto witnessed in Mexico. The city presented the vicereine a pearl necklace of the value of §11,000, and the babe another worth $4,000. The archbishop and Mangino each gave a gold plate, spoon, knife, and fork. The vicereine returned the compliment by presenting her comadre the material for a dress worth $1,000; to the archbishop she gave a gold box garnished with emeralds and a pectoral of diamonds; to Mangino very rich and special material for two dresses; and to the corregidor, a cane with a gold head garnished with diamonds. March 7, 1787, was the first day that the vicereine showed herself in the streets with her guard of honor, since her husband's death. She attended church with her two sisters and children. The palace guard paid her military honors, the same as when her husband lived. Gomez, Diario, 252-3, 261. The two sisters above alluded to were Victoria and Mariana de Saint Maxent; both were married, the former to Juan Antonio de Riaño, and the latter to Manuel de Flon, afterward conde de la Cadena. Both husbands were killed in the war of independence. Alaman, Hist. Mej., i. 75.
53. She was accompanied as far as Vera Cruz by the new superintendent of the mint, Francisco Fernandez de Córdoba, and the secretary of the viceroyalty, Fernando de Córdoba. On the 9th of June she sailed from Vera Cruz on the ship El Astuto. Gomez, Diario, 270-1, 274, 276; Beleña, Recop., i. pref. 5.