Puebla[1] to Otumba, the scene of Cortés' brilliant victory, where the outgoing viceroy with the dignitaries from Mexico usually met him,[2] although a number of officials and citizens had hastened to tender homage long before this. Here took place the informal surrender of government and of the staff of captain-general amidst pomp and festivities; and thereupon the new ruler was escorted with great ceremony to the capital, occasionally under the pall, till strict orders forbade this encroachment on royal privileges. Bells rang, troops paraded, fireworks, bull-fights, and other entertainments followed, and for three days the viceroy dined in public with the representatives of different civil and military bodies. The cathedral formed the objective point of the entrance march, and here the archbishop received him and chanted the te deum.[3] Some time after the formal assumption of power, by swearing the oath of office, a second pompous entry took place into Mexico, for which costly preparations were made on all sides, by private citizens as well as by guilds and political bodies, the municipality alone expending as much as twenty-six thousand pesos. This extravagance being complained of, the king forbade a second entry, which had absorbed most of the ceremonies and festivities, and limited the drain on public funds for such occasions to eight thousand pesos.[4]
Many restrictive cédulas were directed against viceregal pomp and abuse, such as using family arms
- ↑ Occasionally Tlascala was omitted, and on one or two occasions Pánuco served as landing-place. Special receptions were tendered by the clergy at the principal church.
- ↑ Chapultepec or Guadalupe was also selected, but toward the end of the last century San Cristóbal came to be the meeting-place. Beleña, i. 360.
- ↑ A chaplain having first removed the silver spurs of the great man. Estalla, XX vi. 293-5.
- ↑ Ordenes de la Corona, MS., i. 9 et seq. Calle shows that the pall was allowed to certain viceroys. Mem. y Not, 57. In Peru the expenditure was extended to 12,000 pesos. For additional features connected wth the entry and assumption of government see Hist Mex., ii. 379, this series. Panes describes the ceremonies at towns on the way to Mexico. Vireyes, MS., 125-8. In Montemayor, Sumarios, 161, is given the form for taking the oath of office.
