Mexico, Aztec, Spanish and Republican/Volume 1/Book 2/Chapter 4
CHAPTER IV.
1568—1589.
Don Martin Enriquez de Almanza.
IV. Viceroy of New Spain.
1568—1580.
The salutary lesson received by the Audiencia in the events which occurred in the metropolis during late years, induced its members to conduct themselves with less arrogance during the short time they held supreme power after the departure of the Visitadores. In October of 1568, a new viceroy, Don Martin Enriquez de Almanza, arrived at Vera Cruz, whence he reached the capital on the 5th of the following November after having routed the English whom he found in possession of the Isle of Sacrificios.
Don Martin immediately perceived, upon assuming the reins of government, that it was necessary to calm the public mind in the metropolis which, from recent occurrences, now began to regard all men in authority with jealousy and distrust. He let the people understand, therefore, from the first, that he did not design to countenance any proceedings similar to those which had lately almost disorganized and revolutionized the colony. An occasion soon presented itself in which his prudence and discretion were required to adjust a serious dispute concerning the Franciscan monks and in which the people sympathized with the brotherhood and their supposed rights. Any act of rigor or harshness would have kindled the flame of sedition, but the mild diplomacy of the viceroy sufficed to calm the litigants and to restore perfect peace to the capital. A religious dispute, in such a community as Mexico then was, seemed, indeed, an affair of no small moment, especially when it arose in so tempestuous a period of the nation and was the first occasion to try the temper and talents of a new viceroy.
But the attention of Don Martin was soon to be drawn from the capital towards the frontiers of his government, where he found that the troublesome bands of wandering Chichimecas, had been busy in their old work of robbery and spoliation, whilst the Audiencia was engaged in its intrigues and corruption in the city of Mexico. The impunity with which these martial vagabonds had been allowed to proceed, increased their daring, and the evils they inflicted on the country were becoming continually greater. Not satisfied with having despatched the chief alcalde of the hostile region with the militia to punish the rebels, he joined the forces of that officer, and succeeded after great slaughter in compelling the Indians to quit the soil they had hitherto ravaged. It should be recorded, in justice to the viceroy, that he ordered the Indian children who fell into the hands of his soldiery, to be spared, and, at the end of the campaign, brought them all to the metropolis, where he distributed them among rich families so that they might receive a christian education. In order to save the region from further devastation he established therein a colony, to which he gave the name of San Felipe, perhaps in honor of his king, as he bestowed upon it the title of "city."
Such was the condition of things when Pedro Moya de Contreras arrived in Mexico as Inquisitor, having been sent by Philip to establish the dread tribunal of the faith in that capital. The Spanish king feared that the doctrines of the reformation which were then rife in Europe might find friends among his transatlantic subjects, and he mercifully resolved to give them, as a guardian of their consciences, this sad and dreadful present. In 1572, Doctor Pedro Sanchez, a Jesuit, with various brethren of the same order, came to the city of Mexico, and founded a college in certain edifices which were ceded to them for that purpose by Alonso Villaseca. The brethren of the holy office, or inquisition, meanwhile organized their body, for future operations, and settled under the wings of the church of Santo Domingo.
It was at this period, also, that Don Martin established the alcabala; and, although the merchants opposed the measure, which was entirely new to them, and alleged that it was a mortal blow to their business, they were unable to force the viceroy to retract his measure. His determination was founded on the fact that trade had now become established on a firm and robust basis, and that it could well bear without injury an impost of this character.
In the years 1574 and 1575 there were serious discussions between the temporal and spiritual powers of Mexico, growing out of a royal order that no prelate should be admitted in the country unless he bore a suitable license from the Council of the Indies. In 1576, Mexico was again visited by a frightful pestilence, which spread rapidly, and carried off large numbers of victims. The whole of New Spain was ravaged by it, and neither care, nor medical science, seems to have had the least effect either in curing or in alleviating the sufferers. The symptoms of this malady were a violent pain in the head which was succeeded by a burning fever, under which the patient sank. None survived the seventh day, and it is reported that near two millions perished under the dreadful scourge. The malady abated at the close of the rainy season, and disappeared entirely at the beginning of 1577.
In the two succeeding years, Don Martin commanded that the usual annual tribute should not be collected from the Indians. This measure was designed to alleviate the lot of these suffering subjects of the king and to testify the paternal regard which he cherished for a race that served him and his subjects so beneficially in the mines. It was in the mineral districts that the Indians were in reality the greatest sufferers and laborers in New Spain. Their toil was incessant. Their task masters gave them no respite in the bowels of the earth, for they wrought as if they designed to scrape every vein and artery of the colony's soil. Silver and labor were calculated with exactness, and no limit to the Indian's industry was prescribed save that which was imposed by his capacity for work and his power of endurance. The viceroy, seeking to alleviate this, introduced a milder system, as far as he was able, among the leading miners of the colony. He insisted upon permitting the Indians regular repose, and he forbade their entire confinement within the mines, but commanded that they should be allowed time to breathe the fresh air on the surface of the earth, and suffered to attend to their own domestic labors, or to toil on public works for a competent recompense.
The government of Don Martin had thus far been unusually calm, but his last moments in Mexico were to be disturbed by a quarrel with a Franciscan monk, named Rivera, who had called at the palace to see the viceroy on a matter of business for his convent, and had been forced to wait a considerable time without being finally honored with an audience. The petulant friar regarded this as a slight upon the brotherhood, and, shortly afterwards, whilst preaching in the cathedral, declared, with a sneering and offensive purpose against the viceroy, that "in the palace all became equal, and that no difference was made between ecclesiastics and secular folks!"
The viceroy could not permit so flagrant a breach of decorum and so dangerous a taunt in a popular appeal, to rest unrebuked. He therefore demanded the punishment of the pulpit critic, and the Audiencia ordered Rivera to depart forthwith for Spain. But the haughty monk in order to avoid the disgrace of expulsion, united the whole body of his fraternity in the quarrel, and singing the psalm "In exitu Israel de Ægipto," they departed from the city by the road leading to Vera Cruz. The viceroy seems to have been moved by this act of the brotherhood, and immediately wrote to Rivera in soothing terms requesting him to return to Mexico where justice should be done him. The Franciscan returned, but soon after received a royal order to depart for Spain.
In 1580, the abundant rain caused again an inundation of the capital, and Don Martin Enriquez was about to engage in the construction of the celebrated canal of Huehuetoca, when he was removed to the viceroyalty of Peru.
Don Lorenzo Xuares, Conde de la Coruña,
V. Viceroy of Mexico.
1580—1583.
Don Lorenzo Xuares, Conde de la Coruña, was appointed by the king, successor of Almanza, and made his triumphal entry into the city of Mexico on the evening of the 4th of October, 1580. The gay and affable character of this personage at once attracted the people and the colonial court; and in consequence of the rapidly increasing population, wealth, and luxury of New Spain, as well as from the unreserved demeanor of the viceroy, it was supposed that a golden age had arrived in the history of Mexico, which would forever signalize the administration of Xuares.
Perhaps the viceroy was too lenient and amiable for the task that had been imposed on him in America. The epoch of speculation and adventure had not yet passed by, and of course, the corruption which ever follows in their train required still to be closely watched and quickly checked. To this duty Xuares not immediately address himself, and the result was that the oidores, the alcaldes, and all who administered justice, at once put themselves up to auction and sold their services, their favors, or their decisions to the highest bidder. Disorder reigned in every department, in the year following the arrival of Xuares; and even the royal revenues, which hitherto had generally remained sacred, were squandered or secreted by the persons to whose care and fidelity their collection was intrusted. The limitations which we have already seen were placed upon a viceroy's power in the time of Velasco, now tied the hands of Xuares. He could not dismiss or even suspend the defrauders of the revenue or the public wretches who prostituted their official power for gold. Nor was he, probably, unwilling to be deprived of a dangerous right which would have placed him in direct hostility to the army of speculators and jobbers. And yet it was necessary for the preservation of the colony that these evils should be quickly abated. In this political strait, concealing his intentions from the viceroyal court, he applied to Philip to send a Visitador with ample powers to readjust the disorganized realm.
The commerce of New Spain had augmented astonishingly within a few years. Vera Cruz and Acapulco had become splendid emporiums of wealth and trade. The east and the west poured their people into Mexico through these cities; and, in the capital, some of the most distinguished merchants of Europe, Asia, and Africa met every year, midway between Spain and China, to transact business and exchange opinions upon the growing facilities of an extended commerce. Peru and Mexico furnished the precious metals which were always so greedily demanded by the east. In 1581, Philip II., in view of this state of things in his colony, issued a royal order for the establishment in Mexico for a Tribunal de Consulado,[1] though, it was not, in fact, actually put in effective operation until the year 1593, under the administration of Velasco the Second. In the midsummer of 1582, the viceroy expired, probably of mingled anxiety and old age; and it was well for Mexico that he passed so rapidly from a stage in whose delicate drama, his years and his abilities altogether unfitted him to play so conspicuous a part.
Don Pedro Moya de Contreras,
Archbishop of Mexico, First Inquisitor and Visitador, and
VI. Viceroy of New Spain.
1583—1585.
Upon the death of Xuares, the Audiencia immediately assumed the direction of the state; but the members of this august tribunal were altogether ignorant of the demand made by the late viceroy for a Visitador, until Don Pedro de Contreras, placed in their hands the despatch from Philip, naming him for this important service.
The archbishop was a man well known in Mexico. Cold, austere, rigid in his demeanor and principles, he was the very man to be chosen for the dangerous duty of contending with a band of rich, proud and unscrupulous officials. His sacred character as arch-prelate of Mexico, was of no little use in such an exigency, for it gave him spiritual as well as temporal power over masses which might sometimes be swayed by their conscientious dread of the church, even when they could not be controlled by the arm of law. Besides this, he was the first Inquisitor of Mexico, and in the dreaded mysteries of the holy office, there was an overwhelming power before which the most daring offenders would not venture to rebel or intrigue.
It may be well imagined that the unexpected appearance of so formidable an ecclesiastic upon the state, armed with the sword as well as the cross, was well calculated to awe the profligate officials. The members of the Audiencia trembled when they read the royal order, for the archbishop knew them well, and had been long cognizant, not only of their own maladministration but of the irregularities they countenanced in others.
Don Pedro immediately undertook the discharge of his office, and in a few days, heard a great number of complaints against various individuals, but as he did not design proceeding with revengeful severity against even the most culpable, he resolved to report his proceedings to the king, and, in the meanwhile, to retain in office all persons who performed their duties faithfully whilst he put an end to the most flagrant abuses.
As soon as Philip II. heard, in 1584, of the death of Mendoza, he added the title and powers of viceroy to those already possessed by the archbishop, and, with his commission as royal representative, he sent him additional authority which had never been enjoyed by any of his predecessors. He was, thus, empowered to remove, at will, all persons from public employment, and even to expel ministers and oidores, as well as to visit with severe punishments all who deserved them. Under this ample discretion the viceroy removed some of the oidores, suspended others, hanged certain royal officers who had disgraced their trusts, and brought the tribunals of justice into perfect order. The king had proposed to bring the dispersed Indians into towns and villages so as to control them more effectually, but the viceroy, after consulting the priests who were best acquainted with that population, deemed it best to defer the execution of the royal order until he laid the objections to it before Philip.[2] In 1585, a seminary for the Indians was established, in which they were taught to read, write and comprehend the rudiments of the Catholic faith. This institution was under the charge of the Jesuits, whose zeal for education has been celebrated in the history of all countries into which this powerful and enlightened order of the priesthood has penetrated. A provincial council of American bishops, was, moreover, convened this year in Mexico under the auspices of Contreras.
Nor was the viceroy eager only to correct the civil and religious abuses of the country without attending to the fiscal advantages which he knew the king was always eager to secure from his colonies. In testimony of his zeal he despatched, at this period, a rich fleet for Spain. It bore three millions three hundred thousand ducats in coined silver, and one thousand one hundred marks in gold, together with a variety of other valuable products, all of which arrived safely in port.
The power of this vigorous ruler, as viceroy, continued, however, but for a single year. He was the scourge of officials in all classes, while the good men of the colony prayed heartily for the continuance of his authority; but it is probable that his rigor had excited against him the talents for intrigue which we have heretofore seen were sometimes so actively and successfully employed both in Mexico and Spain. In October of 1585, his successor arrived in the capital.
Don Alvaro Enrique de Zuñiga, Marques de Villa Manrique,
VII. Viceroy of Mexico.
1585 — 1589.
The arrival of the Marques de Villa Manrique was not designed to interfere with the functions of the archbishop and former viceroy Contreras, as Visitador. He was solicited to continue his plenary examination into the abuses of government in New Spain, and to clear the country of all malefactors before he retired once more to the cloisters. Accordingly, Don Pedro remained in Mexico some time discharging his duties, and it is probably owing to his presence that the first year of the new viceroy passed off in perfect peace. But in the succeeding year, in which the archbishop departed for Spain, his troubles began by a serious discussion with the Franciscans, Agustins and Dominicans, in which the monks at last appealed from the viceroy to the king. Before Contreras, the visitador, left Mexico he had managed to change all the judges composing the tribunals of the colony. The men he selected in their stead were all personally known to him or were appointed upon the recommendation of persons whose integrity and capacity for judgment were unquestionable.
This remarkable man died soon after his arrival in Madrid, where he had been appointed president of the Council of the Indies. Like all reformers he went to his grave poor; but when the king learned his indigence he took upon himself the costs of sepulture, and laid his colonial representative and bishop to the tomb in a manner befitting one who had exercised so great and beneficial an influence in the temporary reform of the New World. The sole stain upon the memory of Contreras is perhaps the fact that he was an inquisitor.
In 1587, the viceroy Zuñiga despatched a large amount of treasure to Spain. Enormous sums were drained annually from the colonies for the royal metropolis; but, in this year the fleet from Vera Cruz sailed with eleven hundred and fifty-six marks of gold, in addition to an immense amount of coined silver and merchandise of great value. These sums passed safely to the hands of the court; but such was not the case with all the precious freights that left the American coasts, for, at this period, the shores of our continent, on both oceans, began to swarm with pirates. The subjects of various European nations, but especially the English, were most active in enterprises which, in those days, were probably regarded more as privateering than as the bandit expeditions they have since been considered not only in morals but in law. In the year before, Cavendish had taken in the Pacific, a Spanish ship, which was bound from Manilla to Acapulco, with a rich cargo of wares from China; and, in this year, it was known that Drake, another noted adventurer, after making himself celebrated by the capture of San Agustin, in Florida, had sailed for the Pacific ocean, whose rich coasts, as well as the oriental traders, formed a tempting booty for the bucanier.
As soon as the viceroy heard of this piratical sailor's approach to the western boundary of his colony, he commanded the troops in Guadalajara to embark at Acapulco, under the orders of Doctor Palacios, in all the vessels which were then in port, and to scour the shores of America until the British marauder was captured. But, upon the commander's arrival at Acapulco, he was informed that the freebooter had already abandoned the west coast after sacking several towns, and that he had not been seen or heard of any where for a long period. Drake, meanwhile, was in concealment among the distant and unfrequented coves of California, in such a situation, however, that he could easily intercept the galeon, which passed every year from the Philipines to Mexico, "laden with goods and metals of considerable value. In due time he pounced upon his unsuspecting prey; and, carrying her into a bay near the Cape of San Lucas, plundered her valuable cargo, and set fire to the deserted hull. The news of this mishap soon reached the ears of Palacios, who, of course, immediately set sail after the corsair. But Drake was already far on his way to a spot of safety in which he and his companions might enjoy the fruits of their piratical adventure.
This successful attack upon a vessel of so much importance to the colony,—for only one was annually permitted to cross the Pacific,—greatly troubled the people who depended upon its arrival for their yearly supply of oriental wares. But as soon as the general calm was gradually restored, an internal trouble arose which was well nigh proving of serious import to the viceroyalty. Zuñiga does not seem to have been contented with the jurisdiction which had hitherto been conceded to the viceroy, but, being anxious to extend his authority over certain towns and villages, under the control of the Audiencia of Guadalajara, he demanded of that body the surrender of their dominion. The Audiencia, however, was jealous of its rights, and would not yield to the viceroy who was equally pertinacious. The dispute ran high between the parties. Threats were used when diplomacy failed, and at length, the disputants reached, but did not pass, the verge of civil war, for, on both sides they seem to have ordered out troops, who, fortunately never actually engaged in combat.
This ill judged act of the viceroy was fatal to his power. Letters and petitions were forthwith despatched to Madrid requiring and begging the removal of a man whose rashness was near producing a civil war. This was a charge not to be disregarded by the king, and, accordingly, we find that a successor to Zuñiga was immediately named, and that the bishop of Tlascala was appointed visitador to examine the conduct of the deposed viceroy.
On the 17th of January, 1590, this prelate, who seems to have been originally inimical to Zuñiga, and who should therefore have disdained the office of his judge, ordered him to depart from Mexico. All the property of the late viceroy,—even the linen of his wife,—was sequestrated; the most harassing annoyances were constantly inflicted upon him; and, after six years, poor and worn down by unceasing trials, he returned to Spain, where the influence of his friends at court procured the restoration of his property.