[II-18] He consecrated in his cathedral, on the 12th of Sept., 1802, the treasurer of the diocese, the licentiate of theology, Ambrosio Llano, as bishop of Ciudad Real de Chiapas.
[II-19] He had been bishop of Santa Cruz de la Sierra, in Peru. At the time of his death he was 55 years old. The remains were interred in the cathedral. Juarros, Guat., i. 297; Diario Méx., xii., Jan. 26, 1810, 104.
[II-20] He was a native of Jaca, in Aragon; took the Dominican habit in Zaragoza, and completed there his education; joined the province of Santiago in Mexico at the age of 23; became a lecturer in Porta Cœli college, and a professor in the university of Mexico, by which he was made a doctor, and by his order a maestro. On the 9th of Nov., 1806, as bishop of Rosen in partibus infidelium, he was made bishop-coadjutor of Oajaca, and consecrated on the 2d of Aug., 1807. Juarros, Guat., ii., adv. p. xi.-xii.; Córtes, Diario, xviii. 395; Puerto, Convite, p. iii. 1.
[II-21] The payments were to begin no later than one year after the installation of the autonomic government. The allowance was to be increased when the condition of the two countries should become improved.
[II-22] Positive news of Iturbide's defection had not yet reached Guatemala. Mem. Rev. Cent. Am., 2.
[II-23] He is represented as a fickle man, one easily influenced, and likely to act under the impressions of the moment. Marure, Bosq. Hist. Cent. Am., i. 21; Salv., Diario Ofic., 1875, Apr. 1, 4. Events showed he was a man of no settled principles or character, who proved himself, first a traitor to his king and country, and next, for self-aggrandizement, betrayed the men that in an evil hour placed their trust in him.
[II-24] This plan is described in Hist. Mex., iv. 709-10, this series.
[II-25] The order was a dead letter, however. Gainza evidently issued it to cover his responsibility in Madrid; at any rate, no one was arrested, and the manifesto was soon after retired, public affairs being allowed to take their course. Mem. Rev. Cent. Am., 4; Marure, Bosq. Hist. Cent. Am., i. 21-2.
[II-26] Gainza on the 13th had exacted of all the superior military officers a renewal of their oath of fidelity to the king. Id., i. 23.
[II-27] The diputacion, on motion of Simeon Cañas, had acted at the instance of the ayuntamiento, whose síndico, Mariano de Aycinena, had called for an extra session to petition for immediate independence. Gainza, with the view of averting such a declaration, attended personally to preside over the meeting; but he finally submitted to the inevitable, and weakly assented to the convocation of the authorities, without first obtaining Urrutia's approbation. He thus ignored the real chief authority in the country. Mem. Rev. Cent. Am., 4-5; Ayon, Apuntes, 21.