CHAPTER XV.
1785–1794.
BERNARDO DE GALVEZ VICEROY.—CHAPULTEPEC.—GALVEZ DIES—HIS DAUGHTER.—HARO VICEROY—CORRUPTION OF ALCALDES.—FLORES VICEROY—HIS SYSTEM OF RULING THE NORTHERN FRONTIER—MINING INTERESTS.—II. REVILLA-GIGEDO VICEROY—CHARLES IV.—REVILLA-GIGEDO'S COLONIAL IMPROVEMENTS—HIS ADVICE AS TO CALIFORNIA—ANECDOTES OF HIS POLICE REGULATIONS.—THE STREET OF REVILLA-GIGEDO.—ARREST OF FUGITIVE LOVERS—PUNISHES THE CULPRITS.
Don Bernardo de Galvez, Count de Galvez,
XLIX. Viceroy of New Spain.
1785–1786.
The Count Galvez, son of the last viceroy, Don Matias, took charge of the government on the 17th of June, 1785, but enjoyed as brief a reign as his respected father. Hardly had he attained power when a great scarcity of food was experienced among the people of New Spain in consequence of an extraordinarily unfavorable season. The excellent disposition of the new officer was shown in his incessant and liberal efforts to relieve the public distress in all parts of the country afflicted by misery. Meetings were held and committees appointed under his auspices, composed of the most distinguished Spanish and native subjects to aid in this beneficent labor; and over four hundred thousand dollars were given by the Archbishop of Mexico, and the bishops of Puebla and Michoacan, to encourage agriculture, as well as to relieve the most pressing wants of the people. In order to afford employment to the indigent, at the same time that he permanently improved and beautified the capital and the country generally, the viceroy either commenced or continued a number of important public works, among which were the national roads and the magnificent palace of Chapultepec, the favorite retreat of his father. This splendid architectural combination of fortress and palace, was a costly luxury to the Spanish government, for the documents of the period declare that, up to the month of January, 1787, one hundred and twenty-three thousand and seventy-seven dollars had been expended in its construction. Nor was the ministry well pleased with so lavish an outlay upon this royal domain. Placed on a solitary hill, at a short distance from the capital, and built evidently for the double purpose of defence and dwelling, it created a fear, in the minds of some sensitive persons, that its design might not be altogether so peaceful as was pretended. An ambitious viceroy, surrounded by troops whose attachment and firmness could be relied on, might easily convert the palace into a citadel; and it was noted that Galvez, had upon various occasions played the demagogue among the military men who surrounded him in the capital. All these fears were, however, idle. If the count, in reality, entertained any ambitious projects, or desired to put himself at the head of an American kingdom independent of Spain, these hopes were soon and sadly blighted by his early death. He expired on the 30th of November, 1786, in the archiepiscopal palace of Tacubaya.
His funeral ceremonies were conducted by the archbishop, and his honored remains interred in the church of San Fernando. At the period of the viceroy's decease his wife was pregnant; and it is stated, in the chronicles of the day,—and we mention it as a singular illustration of Spanish habits,—that the daughter, of which she was delivered in the following month of December, received the names of, Maria de Guadalupe Bernarda Isabel Felipa de Jesus Juana Nepomucena Felicitas, to which was joined at the period of the lady's confirmation, the additional one of Fernanda! The Ayuntamiento of Mexico, in order to show its appreciation of the viceroy's memory, offered to become god-father of the infant, and the ceremony of its baptism was performed with all the splendor of the Catholic church, in the presence of the court and of a portion of the army. The defunct viceroy had become popular with the masses, and the people strove to manifest their love for the dead by their affectionate courtesy to his orphan, daughter and desolate widow.
The Audiencia Real assumed the government of Mexico, inasmuch as the Spanish ministry had provided no successor in the event of the count's death. Its power continued until the following February, during which period no event of note occurred in New Spain, save the destruction by fire of valuable mining property at Bolaños, and a violent hurricane at Acapulco, accompanied by earthquakes, which swept the sea over the coast, and caused great losses to the farmers and herdsmen who dwelt on the neighboring lowlands.