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tends only to disarm the impartial observer of any suspicion.

The young viceroy was stricken by disease, and on the 9th of October 1786, a consultation of physicians took place at the palace. On the 13th the sacraments were publicly administered to him in the presence of the archbishop, curates of the parishes, religious orders, and courts. The dean of the cathedral chapter officiated." On the 31st the patient was removed to Tacubaya in a litter, hoping benefit from the change of air. On the 8th of November, feeling his end approaching, he executed his last will, his estate being estimated at a trifle over 40,000 pesos. Eight days later, the 16th, extreme unction was administered. He then addressed his family in most touching terms, such as drew tears from all present. On the morning of the 30th he expired, aged about 38 years, and his remains were transferred to the palace in the city.48

At the funeral, on the 4th of December, the highest honors were paid; the civil, military, and ecclesiastic authorities and the people contributing to the splendor of the rites, the cathedral chapter defraying the expenses. The body was deposited temporarily in the cathedral church.49

On the 30th of November, after the viceroy's demise, the audiencia, who had charge of affairs by Galvez' direction since the 16th, took formal possession of the government, no pliego de providencia having been found, and the regente Eusebio Sanchez Pareja

47 This was at 11 o'clock in the morning; the viceroy wore his full dress uniform of a lieutenant-general, and received the eucharist standing. Gomez, Diario, 248.

48 It has been hinted that the court got rid of him by means of poison. Lacunza, Discursos Hist., 528. I find no evidence to sustain the charge. The manifestations of sorrow by the people it would be difficult to describe. Gaz. de Méx. (1786–7), ii. 251–2.

49 Later, in May 1787, it was taken to the San Fernando church, and placed near that of Matías de Galvez. Id., 252-5; Gomez, Diario, 272; Panes, Vir., in Monum. Dom. Esp., MS., 54.

50 This gentleman when an oidor of Mexico was made regente of the audiencia of Guadalajara, being the first to have that office, which he held till 1786, when he became the third regente of Mexico. Reales Cédulas, MS., ii. 159. His colleagues in the government were the same that the former regente

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acting as captain-general. On the 1st of December the marqués de Sonora, ministro universal de Indias, was officially apprised of these occurrences, and of the fact that the commissions issued by the late viceroy had all been endorsed by the present ruler. The audiencia on the same day petitioned the king to extend to the widow and her children the utmost liberality consistent with the condition of the royal treasury. To the chief secretary of state, conde de Floridablanca, a despatch was addressed, to be forwarded post-haste from Coruña, with the object of preparing the marqués de Sonora to hear of his nephew's death.51

December 12th at 1:15 in the night, the vicereine gave birth to a girl, who was christened on the 19th and given the names of María de Guadalupe, Bernarda, Felipa de Jesus, Isabel, Juana Nepomucena, and Felícitas, to which was added afterward that of Fernanda, as a compliment to one of the sponsors. The sponsors were the 'nobilísima ciudad de México,' represented by the corregidor Colonel Francisco Crespo, a knight of Santiago, and Josefa Villanueva, wife of the senior oidor, José Angel de Aguirre. The godfather at the confirmation was Fernando José Mangino. Both baptism and confirmation were administered by the archbishop on the same day.52 On

had in 1785, excepting Luyano, and adding Cosme de Mier y Trespalacios and Juan Francisco de Anda. Beleña, Recop., i. pref. 4; Ordenes de la Corona, MS., iii. 57, v. 4.

51 The receipt of the first despatch was acknowledged on the 21st of February 1787, conveying the king's sorrow at the loss of so valuable a subject. Floridablanca on the 27th of the same month notified his colleague of the Indies department, of the king's high appreciation of the late count's distinguished services, and that provision in various ways had been decreed for his family. According to the marqués de Sonora's letter of February 28th to his niece, that provision was as follows: to the countess dowager, so long as she remained a widow, the yearly pension, sin ejemplar, of 50,000 reales de vellon ($2,500), free of media annata; to young Miguel de Galvez, heir to the title, the encomienda of Bolaños in the order of Calatrava; and to the other members of the family the following yearly pensions: to the posthumous child, $650 if a boy, or $300 if a girl; to Matilda de Galvez $300; and to the half-sister, Adelaida Detrehan, $200. Beleña, Recop., pref. 7-10. 52 This was the grandest performance of the kind hitherto witnessed in Mexico. The city presented the vicereine a pearl necklace of the value of $11,000, and the babe another worth $4,000. The archbishop and Mangino

the 6th of May 1787, came an order from the crown to pay the countess dowager 30,000 pesos for her passage to Spain. She left the city on the 25th with her four children.53 According to Gomez, Diario, 298, on the 10th of June, 1788, the residencia of the late viceroy was published with little formality, forty days being allowed within which to present charges to his

successor.

each gave a gold plate, spoon, knife, and fork. The vicereine returned the compliment by presenting her comadre the material for a dress worth $1,000; to the archbishop she gave a gold box garnished with emeralds and a pectoral of diamonds; to Mangino very rich and special material for two dresses; and to the corregidor, a cane with a gold head garnished with diamonds. March 7, 1787, was the first day that the vicereine showed herself in the streets with her guard of honor, since her husband's death. She attended church with her two sisters and children. The palace guard paid her military honors, the same as when her husband lived. Gomez, Diario, 252-3, 261. The two sisters above alluded to were Victoria and Mariana de Saint Maxent; both were married, the former to Juan Antonio de Riaño, and the latter to Manuel de Flon, afterward conde de la Cadena. Both husbands were killed in the war of independence. Alaman, Hist. Mej., i. 75.

53 She was accompanied as far as Vera Cruz by the new superintendent of the mint, Francisco Fernandez de Córdoba, and the secretary of the viceroyalty, Fernando de Córdoba. On the 9th of June she sailed from Vera Cruz on the ship El Astuto. Gomez, Diario, 270-1, 274, 276; Beleña, Recop., i. pref. 5.

CHAPTER XXII.

MILITARY SYSTEM.

1642-1808.

EARLY EFFORTS TO PROVIDE FORCES-ORGANIZATION BEGUN--DIFFICULTIES AND CHANGES IN POLICY-REGULAR TROOPS-URBAN COMPANIESPROVINCIAL REGIMENTS AND BATTALIONS-PRESIDIO COMPANIES-COAST GUARDS-EFFECTIVE FORCE FOR WAR-ARTILLERY AND OTHER SUPPLIES-PEROTE AS A DEPOSIT-SEA-COAST DEFENCES-FORTRESSES ON BOTH SEAS-NAVAL STATIONS-PAY DEPARTMENT-PAY OF OFFICERS AND MEN-PENSION SYSTEM-ANNUAL EXPENDITURE-RELIGIOUS DEPARTMENT-VICARIO GENERAL-TENIENTES VICARIOS GENERALES ARMY AND NAVY CHAPLAINS-FUERO MILITAR, AND ITS JUDICIARY SYSTEM.

THE danger of foreign invasion in time of war did not escape the attention of a military man like the Viceroy Cruíllas. He formally reported to the court on the defenceless condition of New Spain, all the regular force at the disposal of the government being one regiment, called La Corona,1 in Vera Cruz, some

The earliest organization of anything like a regular force, apart from that employed to keep hostile Indians in check, seems to have been in 1642, when a battalion with 12 companies of infantry of about 120 men each was formed, whose officers, all men in high positions, cheerfully paid the expense of organization and arms. Gonzalez Dávila, Teatro Ecles., i. 101; Guijo, Diario, in Doc. Hist. Mex., 1st ser. i. 20-1; Cavo, Tres Siglos, ii. 16, followed by several others. This was, it is presumed, the nucleus of the body of infantry which in 1741 was organized into a regiment whose ranks were filled mostly with marines of the escuadra de barlovento when it visited Vera Cruz. It was then named La Corona, and its chief object was to garrison that port. Previous to and after 1642, between 1635 and 1649, on several occasions à few companies were formed, destined to be short-lived, their support being too much for the treasury. Their last disbandment was in 1649, after serving seven months and ten days. Guijo, Diario, in Id., i. 1st ser. 20-21, 31-2; Rivera, Gob. Mex., i. 143. Again ten companies were organized in 1661. Guijo, Diario, in Id., i. 1st ser. 466-9. In 1685 was completed the organization of militia on the coasts of the Mexican Gulf, which did not prove of much service, as the buccaneers made sudden raids and as quickly escaped with their booty. Rivera, Hist. Jalapa,

HIST. MEX., VOL. III. 26

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dragoon companies, a few soldiers in Acapulco, a small body of artillerymen, and the two companies of the palace guard.

The militia troops consisted of urban companies, mostly made up of white men and mestizos. In the capital there were some companies of laboring men, and about thirteen or fourteen others composed of merchants and tradesmen. In Puebla, as in Mexico, was a regimiento del comercio, which had been created about 1693. These troops lacked a knowledge of the use of weapons, and to enable them to acquire it, the viceroy asked the crown for experienced officers and a supply of arms, urging likewise the construction in Perote of warehouses for the safe-keeping of military stores, so that the viceregal government might afford prompt aid to Vera Cruz and the Antilles. These suggestions were acted upon at court, and on the first of November, 1765, Lieutenant-general Juan de Villalba arrived at Vera Cruz, commissioned as commander and inspector of the forces, having with him several mariscales de campo,2 and a number of field and company officers, being the nucleus of an infantry regiment to be known as the América, and nearly two hundred non-commissioned officers and drummers for organizing provincial infantry and cavalry regiments.

i. 100. In 1692, at the time of the riots, were formed two companies of 50 men each, that had, contrary to royal orders, not been disbanded in 1694, which brought down a second and peremptory command to break them up. Reales Cédulas, MS., 75-6. In 1745 there were 14 companies of militia in the city of Mexico, of merchants and tradesmen, who served on occasions when the regulars had to march out. These regulars were two companies, one of infantry and one of cavalry, to guard the viceroy's palace, which still existed at the time of the marqués de Cruillas' rule. The infantry company had a captain-governor, a major, second engineer, lieutenant, second lieutenant, alférez, adjutant, eight sergeants, 12 corporals, two drummers, 188 privates, 10 artillerymen; the cavalry company had a captain, lieutenant, second lieutenant, alférez, two sergeants, four corporals, one bugler, and 96 privates. Their cost was 46,168 pesos a year. There was also in 1758 a company of 24 halberdiers under a captain, who formed the viceroy's guard of honor, the yearly expense of which was 5,161 pesos. Villa-Señor, Theatro Am., i. 37, 50. In that same year, 1758, there was also a battalion of negroes and mulattoes, with a white colonel. Certificacion de las Mercedes, MS., 53-5.

2 Cavo, Tres Siglos, ii. 184. Panes, Vir., in Monum. Dom. Esp., MS., 120, gives their arrival in 1762, naming four of them, Juan Fernando Palacios, Cristóbal de Zayas, Antonio Ricardos, and the marqués de Rubí.

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