The mining interests, too, were prospering, and improvements on the ancient Spanish system were sought to be introduced, through the instrumentality of eleven German miners whose services had been engaged by the home government in Dresden, through its envoy Don Luis Orcis. These personages presented themselves in New Spain with the pompous title of practical professors of mineralogy, but they were altogether unskilled in the actual working of mines, and unable to render those of Mexico more productive. The only benefit derived from this mineralogical mission was the establishment of a course of chemical lectures in the seminary of mines, under the direction of Lewis Leinder, who set up the first laboratory in Mexico.
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On the 23d of December, 1788, the minister of the Indies apprised the viceroy of the death of Charles III., which had occurred in the middle of that month. Funeral ceremonies were celebrated, with great pomp, in Mexico, in honor of the defunct monarch; and, on the 22d of February, 1789, the resignation of the viceroyalty by Flores,—who desired heartily to retire from public life—was graciously accepted by the Spanish court, and his successor named, in the person of the second Count Revilla-Gigedo.
The Count de Revilla-Gigedo—the second,
LII. Viceroy of New Spain.
1789–1794.
This distinguished nobleman, whose name figures so favorably in the annals of Mexico, reached Guadalupe on the 16th of October 1789, and on the following day entered the capital with all the pompous ceremonies usual in New Spain upon the advent of a new ruler. In the following month—the new sovereign Charles IV. was proclaimed; and the viceroy, at once set about the regulation of the municipal police of his capital which seems to have been somewhat relaxed since the days of his dreaded and avaricious father. Assassinations of the most scandalous and daring character, had recently warned the viceroy of the insecurity of life and property even in the midst of his guards. But Revilla-Gigedo possessed some of the sterner qualities that distinguished his parent, and never rested until the guilty parties were discovered and brought to prompt and signal justice. The capital soon exhibited a different aspect under his just and rigorous government. He did not trust alone to the reports of his agents in order to satisfy his mind in regard to the wants of Mexico; for he visited every quarter of the city personally, and often descended unexpectedly upon his officers when they least expected a visit from such a personage. The poor as well as the rich received his paternal notice. He enquired into their wants and studied their interests. One of his most beneficent schemes was the erection of a Monte Pio, for their relief, yet the sum he destined for this object was withheld by the court and used for the payment of royal debts. Agriculture, horticulture and botany were especially fostered by this enlightened nobleman. He carried out the project of his predecessor by founding the botanical garden, and liberally rewarded and encouraged the pupils of this establishment, for he deemed the rich vegetable resources of Mexico quite as worthy of national attention as the mines which had hitherto absorbed the public interest. Literature, too, did not escape his fostering care, as far as the jealous rules of the Inquisition and of royal policy permitted its liberal encouragement by a viceroy. He found the streets of the capital and its suburbs badly paved and kept, and he rigidly enforced all the police regulations which were necessary for their purity and safety. As he knew that one of the best means of developing and binding together the provinces of the empire, was the construction of substantial and secure roads,—he proposed that the highways to Vera Cruz, Acapulco, Meztitlan de la Sierra, and Toluca, should be reconstructed in the most enduring manner. But the Junta Superior de Hacienda opposed the measure, and the count was obliged to expend, from his own purse, the requisite sums for the most important repairs. He established weekly posts between the capitals of the Intendencies;—regulated and restricted the cutting of timber in the adjacent mountains;—established a professorship of anatomy in the Hospital de Naturales; destroyed the provincial militia system and formed regular corps out of the best veterans found in the ranks. Knowing the difficulty with which the poor or uninfluential reached the ear of their Mexican governors, he placed a locked case in one of the halls of his palace into which all persons were at liberty to throw their memorials designed for the viceroy's scrutiny. It was, in reality, a secret mode of espionage, but it brought to the count's knowledge many an important fact which he would never have learned through the ordinary channels of the court. Without this secret chest, whose key was never out of his possession, Revilla-Gigedo, with all his personal industry, might never have comprehended the actual condition of Mexico, or, have adopted the numerous measures for its improvement which distinguished his reign.
Besides this provident measure for the internal safety and progressive comfort of New Spain, the count directed his attention to the western coast of America, upon which, he believed, the future interests of Spain would materially rely. The settlement of the Californias had engaged the attention of many preceding viceroys, as we have already related, and their coasts had been explored and missionary settlements made wherever the indentures of the sea shore indicated the utility of such enterprises. But the count foresaw that the day would come when the commercial enterprises of European nations, and, especially of the English, would render this portion of the Mexican realm an invaluable acquisition. Accordingly he despatched an expedition to the Californias to secure the possessions of Spain in that quarter; and has left, for posterity, an invaluable summary or recopilacion of all the enterprises of discovery made by the Spaniards in that portion of the west coast of America. This document,—more useful to the antiquarian than the politician, now that the boundaries between the possessions of Mexico, England and the United States have been definitely settled by treaties,—may be found in the third volume of "Los Tres Siglos de Mejico," a work which was commenced by the Jesuit Father Cavo, and continued to the year 1821, by Don Carlos Maria Bustamante. Revilla-Gigedo recommended the Spanish court to avoid all useless parade or expense, but resolutely to prevent the approach of the English or of any other foreign power to their possessions in California, and to occupy, promptly, the port of Bodega, and even the shores of the Columbia river, if it was deemed necessary. He advised the minister, moreover, to fortify these two points; to garrison strongly San Francisco, Monterey, San Diego and Loreto; to change the department of San Blas to Acapulco; and to guard the fondos piadosos of the missions, as well as the salt works of Zapotillo, by which the treasury would be partly relieved of the ecclesiastical expenses of California, while the needful marine force was suitably supported. These safeguards were believed by the viceroy sufficient to confine the enterprising English to the regions in which they might traffic for peltries without being tempted into the dominions of Spain, at the same time that they served as safeguards against all illicit or contraband commerce. [48]
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We have, thus endeavored to describe rather than to narrate historically, the principal events that occurred in the reign of the second Count Revilla-Gigedo, all of which have characterized him as a just, liberal and far-seeing ruler. In the account of his father's reign, we have already noticed some of this viceroy's meritorious qualities; but we shall now break the ordinary tenor of these brief annals by inserting a few anecdotes which are still traditionally current in the country whose administration he so honestly conducted.
The Conde was accustomed to make nightly rounds in the city, in order to assure himself that its regulations for quiet and security were carried into effect. On one occasion, it is related, that in passing through a street which he had ordered to be paved, he suddenly stopped and despatched a messenger to the director of the work, requiring his instant presence. The usual phrase with which he wound up such commands was "lo espero aqui,"—"I await him here,"—which had the effect of producing an extraordinary degree of celerity in those who received the command. On this occasion the officer, who was enjoying his midnight repose, sprang from his bed on receiving the startling summons, and rushed, half dressed, to learn the purport of what he presumed to be an important business. He found the viceroy standing stiff and composed on the side walk. When the panting officer had paid his obeisance to his master:—"I regret to have disturbed you, Señor," said the latter, "in order to call your attention to the state of your pavement. You will observe that this flag stone is not perfectly even," touching with his toe one which rose about half an inch above the rest of the side walk, "I had the misfortune to strike my foot against it this evening, and I fear that some others may be as unlucky as myself, unless the fault be immediately remedied. You will attend to it, sir, and report to me to-morrow morning!" With these words he continued his round, leaving the officer in a state of stupefaction; but it is asserted that the pavements of Mexico for the rest of his excellency's government were unexceptionable.