delivered to the authorities. The fallen Prince of Peace is afterward placed under arrest by Fernando and his ill-gotten property confiscated.
The downfall of Godoy was hailed in New Spain with universal satisfaction. Spaniards and Creoles were equally demonstrative in their loyalty to the king, confident that any change in the government which excluded the influence of Godoy must be for the better. On the arrival of the news of the abdication of Cárlos and the decrees of Fernando, [1] Iturrigaray was attending the cock-fights at San Agustin de las Cuevas, now Tlalpan, where the festivities of pentecost were being celebrated. He commanded the decrees to be read, and then went on with the games. Doña Inés was disgusted over the abdication, and the regidor Azcárate displayed his contempt by flinging aside the journal containing the news. [2]
The festivities at Tlalpan continued for three days, and not until they were concluded did the viceroy give orders for a public demonstration in honor of Fernando VII. This manifest indifference, which did not fail to create much bad feeling, was in truth owing to the fall of Godoy, his protector, and some began to suspect treasonable designs.
On the 23d of June the departure of the royal family to Bayonne and the abdication of Fernando were known in Mexico. [3] Then my lord Iturrigaray wore a pleasant countenance, and he was over-
- ↑ The abdication of Cárlos IV. and accession of Fernando VII. were published on the 9th of June, 1808, by an extra issue of the Gaz. de Mex. q. v.
- ↑ Cancelada, who was present during the occurrences at San Agustin de las Cuevas, says, in Iturrigaray, Conducta, 14: 'La vireina, oida la abdicacion y suerte del ex-príncipe de la Paz, dixo: Nos han puesto la ceniza en la frente; y el regidor Azcárate al llegar con la lectura á los decretos del Señor Don Fernando VII. tiró la gazeta con desprecio en ademan de quererla pisar.' Negrete maintains that there is no proof of these assertions, although both Bustamante and Alaman accept them as true. They emanated, he says, from the statements of Cancelada, a bitter enemy of the viceroy, and should not be received as historical. Mex. Siglo XIX., i. 78.
- ↑ The intelligence was brought by the ship Corza, which anchored in the harbor of Vera Cruz on the 21st of June. Gaz. de Mex., 1808, 424; Cancelada, Conducta, 15-16. Negrete commits an error in stating that this was the occasion when Iturrigaray received the news of Fernando's accession to the throne while diverting himself in the cockpit. Mex. Siglo XIX., i. 69.
