Mexico, Aztec, Spanish and Republican Part 22

Azanza's administration was, for a while, disturbed by a threatened outbreak among the lower cla.s.ses, whose chief conspirators a.s.sembled 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 controlled the king's councils, favoritism and intrigue ruled the day.

Among other legends of the time, it is a.s.serted 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.[50]

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 pa.s.sed 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 pa.s.sed 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 cla.s.s, 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 to 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 pa.s.sed 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 princ.i.p.al 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 JOSe ITURRIGARAY, LIEUTENANT GENERAL OF THE SPANISH ARMY, LVI.

VICEROY OF NEW SPAIN.--1803-1808.

On the morning of the 4th of January, 1803, Don Jose Iturrigaray reached Guadalupe near Mexico, where he received the staff of office from his predecessor and was welcomed by the Audiencia, tribunals, and n.o.bility of the capital.

The revolution in the British provinces of North America had been successful, and they had consolidated themselves into nationality under the t.i.tle 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 pa.s.sive 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. G.o.doy, 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 controlled 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 G.o.doy 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 Nacional_, 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 sh.o.r.es. 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 a.s.sert 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 b.l.o.o.d.y 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 cla.s.ses 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 n.o.bility, the princ.i.p.al 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 cla.s.ses 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 pa.s.sed 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 t.i.tles of the last viceroys who were empowered by Peninsular authorities to stay, if they could not entirely control, the progress of American liberty.

[Footnote 50: Cavo y Bustamante: Tres Siglos de Mejico, tomo 3^o, 190.]

BOOK III.

CONCLUSION OF THE VICEROYAL GOVERNMENT; HISTORY OF THE REVOLUTION AND WAR OF INDEPENDENCE; MEXICO UNDER THE EMPIRE OF ITURBIDE AND UNDER THE REPUBLIC; WAR WITH TEXAS AND THE UNITED STATES 1809-1850.

BOOK III.

CHAPTER I.

1809-1810.

LIANZA VICEROY.--AUDIENCIA.--VENEGAS VICEROY.--TRUE SOURCES OF THE REVOLUTION.--CREOLES LOYAL TO FERDINAND.--SPANIARDS IN FAVOR OF KING JOSEPH.--MEXICAN SUBSCRIPTIONS FOR SPAIN.--SECRET UNION IN MEXICO AGAINST SPANIARDS.--HIDALGO--ALLENDE--FIRST OUTBREAK.-- GUANAJUATO SACKED--LAS CRUCES.--MEXICO MENACED.--INDIAN BRAVERY AT ACULCO.--MARFIL--Ma.s.sACRE AT GUANAJUATO--CALLEJA.-- INSURGENTS DEFEATED--EXECUTION OF HIDALGO.

THE ARCHBISHOP FRANCISCO XAVIER DE LIANZA, LVIII. VICEROY OF NEW SPAIN. THE AUDIENCIA OF MEXICO, AND VENEGAS, LIX. VICEROY. 1809-1810.

The pictures presented in the introductory chapter to the viceroyal history and in the subsequent detailed narrative of that epoch, will suffice, we presume, to convince our readers that they need not penetrate deeply for the true causes of misery and misrule in Spanish America. The decadence of Spain as well as the present unhappiness of nearly all her ancient colonies may be fairly attributed to the same source of national ruin--bad, unnatural government. A distinguished statesman of our country has remarked that "the European alliance of emperors and kings a.s.sumed, as the foundation of human society, the doctrine of unalienable allegiance, whilst our doctrine was founded on the principle of unalienable right."[51] This mistaken European view, or rather a.s.sumption of royal prerogative and correlative human duties, was the baleful origin of colonial misrule. The house of Austria did not govern Spain as wisely as its predecessors. The Spain that Philip I. received and the Spain of those who followed him, present a sad contrast. As the conquest of America had not been conceived, although it was declared to be, in a beneficent spirit, the sovereigns continued the system of plunder with which it was begun.

Its results are known. The Americans were their subjects, bound to them by "unalienable allegiance;" va.s.sals, serfs creatures, whose human rights, in effect, were nothing when compared to the monarch's will. This doctrine at once converted the southern portions of our continent into a soulless machine, which the king had a right to use as he pleased, and especially, as he deemed most beneficial for his domestic realm. The consequence was, that, in concurrence with the Council of the Indies, he established, as we have seen, an entirely artificial system, which contradicted nature, and utterly thwarted both physical and intellectual development.

The Indians and creoles of Mexico and Peru, ignorant and stupid as they were believed to be by Spain, had, nevertheless, sense enough to understand and feel the wretchedness of their condition. They cherished in their hearts an intense hatred for their foreign masters.

There was no positive or merely natural enmity of races in this, but rather a suppressed desire to avenge their wrongs.

When the French seized Spain, the colonies in America were, for a period, forced to rely upon themselves for temporary government. They did not, at once, desire to adopt republican inst.i.tutions, but rather adhered to monarchy, provided they could free themselves from bad rulers and vicious laws. This especially was the case in Mexico. Her war against the mother country originated in a loyal desire to be completely independent of France. The news of the departure of Ferdinand VII. for Bayonne, and the alleged perfidy of Napoleon in that city, excited an enthusiasm among the Mexicans for the legitimate king, and created a mortal hatred against the conqueror of Europe. All cla.s.ses of original Mexican society seem to have been united in these sentiments. Subscriptions were freely opened and in a few months, seven millions were collected to aid their Peninsular friends who were fighting for religion, king, and nationality. The idea did not strike any Mexican that it was a proper time to free his native land entirely from colonial thraldom.[52] But after a short time, the people began to reflect. The _prestige_ of Spanish power, to which we have alluded heretofore, was destroyed. A French king sat upon the Spanish throne.

The wand of the enchanter, with which he had spell-bound America across the wide Atlantic, was broken forever. The treasured memory of oppression, conquest, bad government and misery, was suddenly refreshed, and it is not surprising to find that when the popular rising finally took place, it manifested its bitterness in an universal outcry against the Spaniards.

After the occurrences at Bayonne, emissaries from king Joseph Bonaparte spread themselves over the continent to prepare the people for the ratification and permanence of the French government. These political propagandists were charged, as we have stated with orders from Ferdinand VII. and the Council of the Indies, to transfer the allegiance of America to France.[53] It may be imagined that this would have gratified the ma.s.ses in America, who perhaps, had heard that the French were the unquestionable patrons of "liberty and equality." But, the exact reverse was the case among the creoles, whilst the _Spaniards_ in America, received the emissaries with welcome, and bowed down submissively to the orders they brought.

Blinded for centuries to all ideas of government save those of regal character, the Mexicans had no notion of rule or ruler except their traditionary Spanish king. They clung to him, therefore, with confidence, for they felt the necessity of some paramount authority, as political self control was, as yet, an utter impossibility.

A secret union among leading men was, therefore, formed in 1810, which contemplated a general rising throughout the provinces, but the plot was detected at the moment when it was ripe for development. This conspiracy was based upon a desire to _overthrow the Spaniards_. "They felt," says Mr. Ward, "that the question was not now one between themselves as subjects, but between themselves and their fellow subjects, the European Spaniards, as to which should possess the right of representing the absent king," as guardians and preservers of the rights of Ferdinand. The Europeans claimed this privilege exclusively, with customary insolence. "The Ayuntamiento of Mexico was told by the Audiencia that it possessed no authority except over the _leperos_"--or mob of the capital; and it was a favorite maxim of the oidor Battaller that "while a Manchego mule or a Castilian cobler remained in the Peninsula, he had a right to govern."[54]

In those times, a certain country curate, by name Miguel Hidalgo y Costilla, dwelt in the Indian village of Dolores, adjacent to the town of San Miguel el Grande, lying in the province of Guanajuanto. One of the conspirators being about to die, sent for his priest, and confessing the plot, revealed also the names of his accomplices. The curate Hidalgo was one of the chiefs of this revolutionary band, and the viceroy Venegas hoping to crush the league in its bud, despatched orders for his arrest and imprisonment, as soon as the confession of the dead conspirator was disclosed to him. Hidalgo's colleagues were also included in this order, but some of the secret friends of the insurgents learned what was occurring at court and apprised the patriot priest of his imminent danger. The news first reached Don Ignacio Allende, who commanded a small body of the king's troops in San Miguel, and who hastened with the disastrous tidings to his friend at Dolores. Concealment and flight were now equally unavailing. The troops of Allende were speedily won to the cause of their captain, while the Indians of Dolores rushed to defend their beloved pastor. As they marched from their village to San Miguel and thence to Zelaya, the natives, armed with clubs, slings, staves and missiles, thronged to their ranks from every mountain and valley. The wretched equipment of the insurgents shows their degraded condition as well as the pa.s.sionate fervor with which they blindly rushed upon the enemies of their race. Hidalgo put on his military coat over the ca.s.sock, and, perhaps unwisely, threw himself at the head of a revolution, which rallied at the cry of "_Death to the Gachupines_."[55]

The result of this onslaught was dreadful. Wherever the rebellious army pa.s.sed, Spaniards and uncomplying creoles they were indiscriminately slaughtered, and though many of the latter were originally combined with the conspirators and eagerly longed for the emanc.i.p.ation of their country, they were dismayed by the atrocities of the wild insurgents. As the rebel chief, armed with the sword and cross, pressed onward, immense numbers of Indians flocked to his banner, so that when he left Zelaya, a fierce and undisciplined mob of twenty thousand hailed him as undisputed commander. At the head of this predatory band he descended upon the n.o.ble city of Guanajuanto, in the heart of the wealthiest mining district of Mexico. The Spaniards and some of the creoles resolved upon a stout resistance, shut themselves up in the city and refused the humane terms offered by Hidalgo upon condition of surrender. This rash rejection led to an immediate attack and victory. When the city fell, it was too late for the insurgent priest to stay the savage fury of his troops. The Spaniards and their adherents were promiscuously slaughtered by the troops, and, for three days the sacking of the city continued, until wearied with conquest, the rebels, at length, stopped the plunder of the town. Immense treasures, h.o.a.rded in this place for many years, were the fruits of this atrocious victory which terrified the Mexican authorities and convinced them that the volcanic nature of the people had been fully roused, and that safety existed alone in uncompromising resistance.

The original rebellion was thus thrown from the hands of the creoles into those of the Indians. A war of _races_ was about to break out; and although there were not among the insurgents more than a thousand muskets, yet the mere numerical force of such an infuriate crowd, was sufficient to dismay the staunchest. The viceroy Venegas, and the church, therefore, speedily combined to hurl their weapons against the rebels. Whilst the former issued proclamations or decrees, and despatched troops under the command of Truxillo to check Hidalgo who was advancing on the capital, the latter declared all the rebels to be heretics, and excommunicated them in a body. Venegas ordered all the higher clergy "to represent from the pulpit, and circulate the idea privately, that the great object of the revolution was to destroy and subvert the holy Catholic religion, while he directed the subaltern ministers to sow discord in families by the confessional."[56] But the arms of the Spanish chiefs and the anathemas of the Roman church, were unequal to the task of resistance. Hidalgo was attacked by Truxillo at Las Cruces, about eight leagues from the capital, where the Indian army overwhelmed the Spanish general and drove him back to Mexico, with the loss of his artillery. In this action we find it difficult to apportion the ferocity, with justice, between the combatants, for Truxillo boasted in his despatch that he had defended the defile with the "obstinacy of Leonidas," and had even "fired upon the bearers of a flag of truce which Hidalgo sent him."[57]

The insurgents followed up their success at Las Cruces by pursuing the foe until they arrived at the _hacienda_ of Quaximalpa, within fifteen miles of the city of Mexico. But here a fatal distrust of his powers seems first to have seized the warrior priest. Venegas, it is said, contrived to introduce secret emmissaries into his camp, who impressed Hidalgo and his officers with the belief that the capital was abundantly prepared for defence, and that an a.s.sault upon the disciplined troops of Spain, by a disordered mult.i.tude without fire arms, would only terminate in the rout and destruction of all his forces. In fact, he seems to have been panic stricken, and to have felt unable to control the revolutionary tempest he had raised.

Accordingly, in an evil moment for his cause, he commenced a retreat, after having remained several days in sight of the beautiful city of Mexico, upon which he might easily have swept down from the mountain like an eagle to his prey.