Mexico, Aztec, Spanish and Republican/Volume 1/Book 2/Chapter 16
CHAPTER XVI.
1794—1808.
The Marques de Branciforte,
LIII. Viceroy of New Spain.
1794—1798.
The Marques Branciforte, who reached Mexico on the 11th of July, 1794, contrasts unfavorably, in history, with his illustrious predecessor Revilla-Gigedo. Partaking of the avaricious qualities of this personage's father, he seems to have possessed but few of his virtues, and probably accepted the viceroyalty of New Spain with no purpose but that of plunder.
Scarcely had he begun to reign, when his rapacity was signally exhibited. It is said that his first essay in extortion, was the sale of the sub-delegation of Villa-Alta to a certain Don Francisco Ruiz de Conejares, for the sum of forty thousand dollars, and the bestowal of the office of apoderado on the Count de Contramina, the offices of whose subordinates were bought and sold in the political market like ordinary merchandise.
At this epoch the warlike hostility to France was excessive, and orders had been received to exercise the strictest vigilance over the subjects of that nation who resided in Mexico. Their number, however, was small, for Spanish America was almost as closely sealed as China against the entrance of strangers. Nevertheless Branciforte encouraged a most disgraceful persecution against these unfortunate persons, by arresting them on the slightest pretexts, throwing them into prison, and seizing their possessions. He found, in his assessor general, Don Pedro Jacinto Valenzuela, and in his criminal prosecutor, Francisco Xavier de Borbon, fitting instruments to carry out his inexorable determinations. Upon one occasion he even demanded of the Sala de Audiencia that certain Frenchmen, after execution, should have their tongues impaled upon iron spikes at the city gates, because they had spoken slightingly of the virtue of the queen Maria Louisa! Fortunately, however, for the wretched culprits, the Sala was composed of virtuous magistrates who refused to sanction the cruel demand, and the victims were alone despoiled of their valuable property. These acts, it may well be supposed, covered the name of Branciforte with infamy even in Mexico.
In 1796, on the 7th of October, war was declared by Spain against England, in consequence of which the viceroy immediately distributed the colonial army, consisting of not less than eight thousand men, in Orizaba, Cordova, Jalapa, and Perote; and, in the beginning of the following year, he left the capital to command the forces from his headquarters near the eastern coast. This circumstance enabled him to leave, with an air of triumph, a city in which he was profoundly hated. The people manifested their contempt of so despicable an extortioner and flatterer of royalty, not only by words, but by caricatures. When the sovereign sent him the order of the golden fleece, they depicted Branciforte with a collar of the noble order, but in lieu of the lamb, which terminates the insignia, they placed the figure of a cat! At his departure, the civil and financial government of the capital was entrusted to the regency of the audiencia, while its military affairs were conducted by the Brigadier Davalos. In Orizaba the conduct of Branciforte was that of an absolute monarch. All his troops were placed under the best discipline, but none of them were permitted to descend to Vera Cruz; yet, scarcely had he been established in this new military command, when it was known that Don Miguel Jose de Azanza was named as his viceroyal successor. Nevertheless Branciforte continued in control, with the same domineering demeanor, as in the first days of his government, relying for justification and defence in Spain upon the support of his relative, the Prince of Peace. In Orizaba he was surrounded by flatterers and his court was a scene of disgraceful orgies; yet the day of his fall was at hand. The ship Monarch anchored at Vera Cruz, on the 17th of May, 1798, and, on the 31st of the same month, Azanza, the new viceroy who reached America in her, received the viceroyal baton from Branciforte. This supercilious peculator departed from New Spain with five millions of dollars, a large portion of which was his private property, in the vessel that had brought his successor, and arrived at Ferol, after a narrow escape from the English in the waters of Cadiz. But he returned to Spain loaded with wealth and curses, for never had the Mexicans complained so bitterly against any Spaniard who was commissioned to rule them. The respectable and wealthy inhabitants of the colony were loudest in their denunciations of an "Italian adventurer," who enriched himself at the expense of their unfortunate country, nor was his conduct less hateful because he had been the immediate successor of so just and upright a viceroy as Revilla-Gigedo.
The character of Branciforte was keen and hypocritical. He tried, at times, but vainly, to conceal his avarice, while his pretended love for the "Virgin of Guadalupe" and for the royal family, was incessantly reiterated in familiar conversation. Every Saturday during his government, and on the twelfth of every month, he made pious pilgrimages to the sanctuary of the Mexican protectress. He placed a large image of the virgin on the balcony of the palace, and ordered a salute to be fired at daybreak in honor of the saint on the twelfth of every December. With these cheap ceremonials, however, he satisfied his hypocritical piety and absorbing avarice, but he never bestowed a farthing upon the collegiate church of the Virgin. Whenever he spoke in his court of the sovereign of Spain it was with an humble mien, a reverential voice, and all the external manifestations of subserviency for the royal personages who conferred such unmerited honors upon him. Such is the picture which has been left by Mexican annalists of one of their worst rulers.
Don Miguel Jose de Azanza,
LIV. Viceroy of New Spain.—1798—1800.
Azanza, who, as we have related, assumed the viceroyalty in May, 1798, was exceedingly well received in Mexico. His worthy character was already known to the people, and almost any new viceroy would have been hailed as a deliverer from the odious administration of Branciforte. Azanza was urbane towards all classes, and his discreet conversation, at once, secured the respect and confidence of the colonists. Besides this, the early measure of his administration were exceedingly wise. He dissolved the various military encampments, established and maintained at enormous cost, by his predecessor in the neighborhood of the eastern coasts. This heavy charge on the treasury was distasteful to the people, while so large an assemblage of colonila troops necessarily withdrew multitudes from agricultural and commercial pursuits, and greatly interfered with the business of New Spain. Anxious, however, to protect the important post of Vera Cruz, the viceroy formed a less numerous encampment in its neighborhood; but the greater portion of its officers and men perished in that unhealthy climate.
The war with England was not altogether disadvantageous to Mexico, for although the royal order of the 18th of November 1797, was repeated on the 20th of April, 1799, by which a commerce in neutral vessels had been permitted with the colony's ports, yet, as the seas were filled with enemy's cruisers, the Spanish trade in national vessels was narrowed chiefly to exports from the mother country. This course of commerce resulted in retaining the specie of Mexico within her territory, for the precious metals had hitherto been the principal article of export to Spain in return for merchandise despatched from Cadiz. The internal trade of Mexico was, accordingly, fostered and beneficially sustained by the continuance of its large annual metallic products within the viceroyalty until peace permitted their safe transmission abroad. The beneficial retention of silver and gold in the country was not only manifested in the activity of domestic trade, but in the improvement of its towns and cities, and in the encouragement of manufactures of silk, cotton and wool. In Oaxaca, Guadalaxara, Valladolid, Puebla, Cuautitlan, San Juan Teotihuacan, Zempoala, Metepec, Ixtlahuaca, Tulancingo, the number of looms increased rapidly between 1796 and 1800. In Oaxaca thirty were added; in San Juan Teotihuacan thirty-three; in Queretaro, three thousand four hundred persons were employed; while, in the town of Cadereita, there existed more than two hundred looms, giving employment to more than five hundred individuals.
In attending wisely and justly to the civil administration of New Spain, and in fostering the internal trade and industry, Azanza bestirred himself whilst the war continued. There were but few actions between the combatants, but as the contest between the nations sealed the ports in a great degree, Mexico was made chiefly dependent on herself for the first time since her national existence. The politics and intrigues of the old world thus acquainted the colony with her resources and taught her the value of independence.
Azanza's administration was, for a while, disturbed by a threatened outbreak among the lower classes, whose chief conspirators assembled in an obscure house in the capital, and designed, at a suitable moment, rising in great numbers and murdering, without discrimination, all the wealthiest or most distinguished Spaniards. This treasonable project was discovered to the viceroy, who went in person, with a guard, to the quarters of the leaguers, and arrested them on the spot. They were speedily brought to trial; but the cause hung in the courts until after the departure of Azanza, when powerful and touching intercessions were made with his successor to save the lives of the culprits. The project of a pardon was maturely considered by the proper authorities, and it was resolved not to execute the guilty chiefs, inasmuch as it was believed that their appearance upon a scaffold would be the signal for a general revolt of the people against the dominion of the parent country. The sounds of the approaching storm were already heard in the distance, and justice yielded to policy.
Azanza, with all his excellent qualities as a Governor in America, did not give satisfaction to the court at home. There is no doubt of the value of his administration in Mexico, and it is, therefore, difficult to account for his loss of favor, except upon the ground of intrigue and corruption which were rife in Madrid. The reign of Charles IV. and the administration of the Prince of Peace, are celebrated in history as the least respectable in modern Spanish annals. Whilst the royal favorite controled the king's councils, favoritism and intrigue ruled the day. Among other legends of the time, it is asserted by Bustamante, in his continuation of Cavo's "Tres Siglos de Mejico," that the Mexican viceroyalty was almost put up at auction in Madrid, and offered for eighty thousand dollars to the secretary Bonilla. In consequence of this personage's inability to procure the requisite sum, it was conferred, through another bargain and sale, upon Don Felix Berenguer de Marquina, an obscure officer, who was unknown to the king either personally or as a meritorious servant of the crown and people.
The Mexican author to whom we have just referred, characterizes Azanza as the wisest, most politic and amiable viceroy, ever sent by Spain to rule over his beautiful country.[1]
Don Felix Berenguer de Marquina,
LV. Viceroy of New Spain.
1800—1802.
Marquina took charge of the viceroyalty on the 30th of April, 1800, after a sudden and mysterious arrival in New Spain, having passed through the enemy's squadron and been taken prisoner. It was inconceivable to the Mexicans why the vice-admiral of Jamaica deemed it proper to release a Spanish officer who came to America on a warlike mission; yet it is now known that in November, of 1800, the king ordered forty thousand dollars to be paid the viceroy to reimburse the extraordinary expenses of his voyage!
The government of this personage was not remarkable in the development of the colony. The war with England still continued, but it was of a mild character, and vessels constantly passed between the belligerants with flags of truce, through whose intervention the Mexicans were permitted to purchase in Jamaica, the paper, quicksilver, and European stuffs, which the British crusiers had captured from Spanish ships in the Gulf.
In 1801, an Indian named Mariano, of Tepic in Jalisco, son of the governor of the village of Tlascala in that department, attempted to excite a revolution among the people of his class, by means of an anonymous circular which proclaimed him king. Measures were immediately taken to suppress this outbreak, and numbers of the natives were apprehended and carried to Guadalajara. The fears of Marquina were greatly excited by this paltry rebellion, which he imagined, or feigned to believe, a wide spread conspiracy excited by the North Americans and designed tc overthrow the Spanish power. The viceroy, accordingly, detailed his services in exaggerated terms to the home government, and it is probably owing to the eulogium passed by him upon the conduct of Abascal, president of Guadalaxara, that this personage was made viceroy of Buenos Ayres, and afterwards honored with the government of Peru and created Marques de la Concordia.
A definitive treaty of peace was concluded between the principal European and American belligerants in 1802, and soon after, Marquina, who was offended by some slights received from the Spanish ministry, resigned an office for the performance of whose manifold duties and intricate labors he manifested no ability save that of a good disposition. He was probably better fitted to govern a village of fifty inhabitants than the vast and important empire of New Spain.
Don José Iturrigaray,
Lieutenant General of the Spanish Army,
LVI. Viceroy of New Spain.—1803—1808.
On the morning of the 4th of January, 1803, Don José Iturrigaray reached Guadalupe near Mexico, where he received the staff of office from his predecessor and was welcomed by the Audiencia, tribunals, and nobility of the capital.
The revolution in the British provinces of North America had been successful, and they had consolidated themselves into nationality under the title of United States. France followed in the footsteps of liberty, and, overthrowing the rotten throne of the Bourbons, was the first European state to give an impulse to freedom in the old world. The whole western part of that continent was more or less agitated by the throes of the moral and political volcano whose fiery eruption was soon to cover Europe with destruction. In the midst of this epoch of convulsive change, Spain alone exhibited the aspect of passive insignificance, for the king, queen, and Prince of Peace, still conducted the government of that great nation, and their corrupt rule has become a proverb of imbecility and contempt. Godoy, the misnamed "Prince of Peace," was the virtual ruler of the nation. His administration was, at once, selfish, depraved and silly. The favorite of the king, and the alleged paramour of the queen, he controled both whenever it was necessary, while the colonies, as well as the parent state, naturally experienced all the evil consequences of his debauched government. Bad as had been the management of affairs in America during the reign of the long series of viceroys who commanded on our continent, it became even worse whilst Godoy swayed Charles IV. through the influence of his dissolute queen. Most of the serious and exciting annoyances which afterwards festered and broke out in the Mexican revolution, owe their origin to this epoch of Spanish misrule.
Iturrigaray was exceedingly well received in Mexico, where his reputation as an eminent servant of the crown preceded him. Shortly after his arrival he undertook a journey to the interior, in order to examine personally into the condition of the mining districts; and, after his return to the capital, he devoted himself to the ordinary routine of colonial administration until it became necessary, in consequence of the breaking out of the war, between Spain and England, to adopt measures for the protection of his viceroyalty. In consequence of this rupture Iturrigaray received orders from the court to put the country in a state of complete defence, and accordingly, he gathered, in haste the troops of Mexico, Puebla, Perote, Jalapa and Vera Cruz, and, descending several times to the latter place, personally inspected all the encampments and garrisons along the route. Besides this, he made a rapid military reconnoissance of the country along the coast and the chief highways to the interior. The road from Vera Cruz to Mexico was constructed in the best manner under his orders, and the celebrated bridge called El Puente del rey, now known as El Puente National, was finally completed.
These preparations were designed not only to guard New Spain from the invasions of the English, but also, from a dreaded attack by the people of the United States. This fear seems to have been fostered by the Marques de Casa Irujo who was Spanish envoy in Washington at this epoch, and informed the government that the menaced expedition against Mexico, would throw twenty thousand men upon her shores. Nor was the attention of Iturrigaray diverted from the enterprise which was projected by Don Francisco Miranda to secure the independence of Caraccas; and although the scheme failed, it appears to have aroused the whole of Spanish America to assert and maintain its rights.
It was during the government of this viceroy, that the celebrated Baron Humboldt, visited Mexico,—by permission of the patriotic minister D'Urquijo,—authorized, by the home government, to examine its dominions and their archives, and to receive from the colonial authorities all the information they possessed in regard to America. He was the first writer who developed the resources or described the condition of the Spanish portion of our continent, which, until that time, had been studiously veiled from the examination of all strangers who were likely to reveal their knowledge to the world.
In 1806, the news of the destruction of the combined fleets in the waters of Cadiz became known in Mexico, and the resident Spaniards, exhibiting a lively sympathy with the mother country in this sad affliction, collected upwards of thirty thousand dollars for the widows of their brave companions who had fallen in action. Meanwhile, the war in Europe was not only destroying the subjects of the desperate belligerants, but was rapidly consuming their national substance. In this state of things America was called upon to contribute for the maintenance of a bloody struggle in which she had no interest save that of loyal dependence. Taxes, duties, and exactions of all sorts were laid upon the Mexicans, and, under this dread infliction, the domestic and foreign trade languished notwithstanding the extraordinary yield of the mines, which, in 1805, sent upwards of twenty millions into circulation. Of all the royal interferences with Mexican interests and capital, none seems to have been more vexatiously unpopular, than the decree for the consolidation of the capitals of obras pias, or, charitable and pious revenues, which was issued by the court; and Iturrigaray, as the executive officer employed in this consolidation, drew upon himself the general odium of all the best classes in the colony.
Charles IV. fell before the revolutionary storm in Europe, and signed his abdication on the 9th of August, 1808, in favor of his son Ferdinand VII. But the weak and irresolute monarch soon protested against this abdication, alleging that the act had been extorted from him by threats against his life; and, whilst the Supreme council of Spain was examining into the validity of Charles's renunciation, and Ferdinand was treating his father's protest with contempt, Napoleon, who had steadily advanced to supreme power after the success of the French revolution, took prompt advantage of the dissentions in the peninsula, and, making himself master of it, seated his brother Joseph on the Spanish throne. As soon as Joseph was firmly placed in power, Ferdinand congratulated him upon his elevation, and ordered all his Spanish and colonial subjects to recognize the upstart king. But the servility of Ferdinand to the ascending star of European power did not meet with obedience from the people of Mexico, who, resolving to continue loyal to their legitimate sovereign, forthwith proclaimed Ferdinand VII. throughout New Spain. The conduct of the colonists was secretly approved by the dissembling monarch, although he ratified a decree of the Council of the Indies, commanding the Mexicans to obey Joseph. The natives of the Peninsula, dwelling in New Spain, were nearly all opposed to the Bourbons and faithful to the French propagandists, whilst the Creoles, or American natives denounced the adherents of Joseph and burned the proclamation which declared him to be their king. The orders received at this period by Iturrigaray from Ferdinand, Joseph, and the Council of the Indies, were, of course, all in conflict with each other; and, in order to relieve himself from the political dilemma in which he was placed by these mixed commands, Iturrigaray determined to summon a Junta of Notable Persons, similar to that of Seville, which was to be composed of the viceroy, the archbishop of Mexico and representatives from the army, the nobility, the principal citizens and the ayuntamiento of the capital. But inasmuch as this plan of concord leaned in favor of the people, by proposing to place the Creoles of America upon an equality with the natives of Spain, the old hatred or jealousy between the races was at once aroused. The Europeans, who composed the partisans of France, headed by Don Gabriel Yermo, a rich Spaniard and proprietor of some of the finest sugar estates in the valley of Cuernavaca, at once resolved to frustrate the viceroy's design. Arming themselves hastily, they proceeded, on the night of the 15th of September, 1808, to his palace, where they arrested Iturrigaray, and accusing him of heresy and treason, sent him as prisoner to Spain. This revolutionary act was openly countenanced by the Audiencia, the Oidores Aguirre and Bataller, and the body of Spanish traders. For three years, until released by an act of amnesty in 1811, Iturrigaray continued in close confinement; and, although he was not regarded favorably by all classes of Mexicans, this outrage against his person by the Spanish emigrants seems to have produced a partial reaction in his favor among the loyal natives.
The administration of Iturrigaray was not only defective, but corrupt in many executive acts, for offices were scandalously sold at his court,—a fact which was proved in the judicial inquiry subsequently made into his conduct. The Council of the Indies, in 1819, sentenced him to pay upwards of three hundred and eighty-four thousand dollars, in consequence of the maladministration that was charged and maintained against him.
Field Marshal Don Pedro Garibay,
LVII. Viceroy of New Spain.—1808.
This chief was more than eighty years of age when honored with the viceroyalty of New Spain. He had passed the greater portion of his life in Mexico, and rose from the humble grade of lieutenant of provincial militia to the highest post in the colony. He was familiar with the habits and feelings of the people; was generally esteemed for the moderation with which he conducted himself in office, and was altogether the most endurable viceroy who could have been imposed upon the Mexicans at that revolutionary period.
During the government of the preceding viceroy the troubles which began, as we have seen, in the old world, had extended to the new, and we shall therefore group the history of the war that resulted in Mexican independence, under the titles of the last viceroys who were empowered by Peninsular authorities to stay, if they could not entirely control, the progress of American liberty.
- ↑ Cavo y Bustamante: Tres Siglos de Mejico, tomo 3°, 190.