rations for the stroke were made in the city of Mexico, as the viceroy intended to retire to Chapultepec. At a late hour of the night, after previously informing the members of the inquisition, and ordering them to be ready for action, the members of the audiencia were summoned to his house and shown the royal cédulas, which they obeyed, recognizing Palafox as viceroy. Subsequently the city council, municipal and royal officials, and a number of prominent citizens, who had been assembled, were likewise acquainted with the king's will, and all declared their willingness to obey.
During the same night, by order of Palafox, the maestre de campo, Antonio Urrutia de Vergara,[1] with thirty resolute men took possession of and guarded the entrances to the viceregal palace, allowing all who so desired to leave it, but none to enter. This done, word was sent to the new viceroy, together with the information, that everything within the palace was quiet and that there was not the least suspicion. Others had secured the prison, the mint, the house where the royal seal was kept, and several public buildings.
Confident as was the bishop that his conduct could not fail to meet with the approval of the people, he still deemed it but prudent to have an eye to his own safety. At five o'clock the next morning everything was ready, and the oidor Andrés de Pardo de Lagos,[2] accompanied by two alcaldes, the fiscal, and a secretary, proceeded to the palace to notify to the duke his downfall.[3]
Escalona was asleep when Lagos and his companions entered, and awoke to find the party on bended knee, as they apprised him of the king's latest resolution. The secretary handed him the cédula, but he
- ↑ He is sometimes only called Vergara, in other instances Urrutía.
- ↑ In some places he is called Lugi or Lugo.
- ↑ Cavo, Tres Siglos, ii. 14-15, expresses his astonishment that they could enter the palace without encountering opposition. He forgets evidently that the guard, although only subject to the immediate orders of the viceroy, would not fail to obey those of the maestre de campo, the second commander, who, as has been shown, sided with the bishop.
