Viceroy of New Spain

“ The kingdom of New Spain proper was a region under the audience of Mexico, which corresponded closely to the modern states of Yucatan, Campeche, Tabasco, Vera Cruz, Hidalgo, Guanajuato, Michoacan, Colima, Mexico, Morelos, Tlascala, Puebla, Guerrero, Oajaca, and Chiapas. The viceroyalty of New Spain, dating from 1535, when the first viceroy, Mendoza, entered in possession, was much more comprehensive, as it embraced all the Spanish possessions in Central and North America, from the S. boundary of Costa Rica, as well as the West Indies and the Spanish East Indies. ”

“ Accordingly the new viceroy immediately strengthened the military arm of the colony, and extended the government of provinces and the custody of his strongholds and fastnesses to Spaniards upon whose fidelity he could implicitly rely. Without these precautions, he, perhaps, justly feared that notwithstanding the loyalty manifested in New Spain upon the accession of Philip, the insubordination of certain parts of the Spanish monarchy, at home, might serve as a bad example to the American colonists, and, finally, result in a civil war that would drench the land with blood. ”

“ The resignation was promptly accepted, and in January, 1803, he delivered the baton of office into the hands of his successor. Although he was not a capable ruler, the government of New Spain had never been intrusted to purer hands, and his departure was regretted by many who had learned to respect in him the good qualities which had drawn forth the ridicule of the vulgar.
Never was an able viceroy more sorely needed at the head of affairs than at the opening of the nineteenth century. ”

“ Of the Spanish-American vice-kingdoms, New Spain—or Mexico more properly called—was the last to raise the standard of independence; and perhaps had the wise measures of her viceroy, Iturrigaray, been endorsed by the court of Madrid, the revolution might have been still further delayed, if not altogether prevented.
Don José Iturrigaray, then vice-king of New Spain, on the eve of the insurrection had deemed it wise policy to grant large political concessions to the Creoles, or native white population of the country, and confer upon them certain rights of citizenship hitherto withheld from them. ”

“ Between, there is nothing but a level plain, its monotony scarcely relieved by rows of maguey with stiff, bristling leaves. We will hasten over the uninteresting plain, and come to the emotional foreground.
There were in all sixty-four viceroys, beginning with Don Antonio de Mendoza, 1535, and ending with Juan O'Donojú in 1822. For nearly three centuries they ruled New Spain, and ruled it pretty well, according to their lights and those from whom they received their authority. ”

“ Of all the Viceroyalties in the world, that of Peru was undoubtedly the proudest during the earlier Spanish colonial period, for the holder of the high office governed not merely a country, but the greater half of a vast Continent. Seeing that the colonial policy of Spain invariably tended to pit one of her subordinate Powers against another in order to avoid the acquirement of too much authority on the part of any special person, it was only natural that the authority of the Viceroy, although great, was not supreme even in his own dominion. ”

“ Colonial governments are of necessity adaptations of familiar domestic institutions to new functions. The government of Spain in the sixteenth century was not that of a modern centralized monarchy but rather of a group of kingdoms only partially welded together by the possession of the same sovereign, the same language, and the same religion. The King of Spain was also the ruler of other kingdoms outside of the peninsula. ”

“ When municipal independence likewise perished in the defeat of the Comunidades, the only power left standing in Spain was that of the throne, which thus became absolute and all-pervading. The new absolutism was embodied in the self-effacing declaration of the Córtes of Valladolid, in 1523, to Charles V, that the laws and customs were subject to the king, who could make and revoke them at his pleasure, for he was the living law. ”

“ NO modern European nation has endured such vicissitudes of good and evil fortune as the Spanish. From the virtual anarchy of the Castilian kingdoms under Juan II and Enrique IV, the resolute wills of Ferdinand and Isabella evoked order and, by the union with Aragon, the conquest of Granada, Naples and Navarre and the acquisition of the New World, they left Spain in a most commanding position. ”

“ He is in fact a viceroy appointed by the crown of Spain, and accountable only to the reigning sovereign for his administration of the colony. His rule is absolute. He has the power of life and death in his hands. He can by his arbitrary will send into exile any person who resides in the island whom he considers inimical to the interests of the home government. ”

“ Men seemed possessed by fiends, and the Spanish idea of a federal republic took the form of every petty town its own absolute sovereign. There was serious danger more than once of such insignificant governments embroiling themselves with foreign powers. Part of the fleet revolted, and is still in revolt. Part of the army endeavored to do so more than once. They cannot but despise wild theorists of the Castelar type, who would heal a bleeding nation with windy speeches. The future looks dark for Spain; and its only hope now lies in Don Carlos gaining the throne as speedily as he may. ”

“ They were not national; they were caused by the ambitions of rulers and noblemen, and fought out by the inhabitants of Navarra and the Basque Provinces who upheld their fueros, by paid soldiery, and by aldeanos whose houses and families were threatened.
New Spain was born a few years ago, but so far she has given no proof of vitality. As it is, she is cumbered by traditions and harassed by memories. She must fight a sharp battle with existing evil institutions handed down to her as a questionable legacy from the past. ”

“ General Francisco Franco and his army defeated the forces which wanted a republic, and also those who wanted to set up Communism. He is now the head of the Spanish government. Because he is considered a dictator, there are many Spanish people who disagree with the way he runs the government and are hoping to change it. In 1947 a new constitution was written in which General Franco agreed that Spain would one day have a king again, but the person who becomes king must be at least twenty-five years old. The old king is dead and there is nobody for the job right now. ”

“ The Constitution of 1876 was a reconciliation of monarchical principles and those of a democracy. The new king died before he had reached the age of thirty, and his son Alfonso XIII, born after his father's death, was represented by his mother till his majority. To María Cristina of Austria, Spain owes an unending debt of gratitude. Under her wise rule the country had some years of the peace she so needed; and even what is termed disaster, the recent loss of colonies, is a blessing in disguise. Spain to-day needs all her strength for herself. ”

“ With regard to Spain, it is worthy of note that the Spanish Government was in 1868 desirous of offering the throne to the Duke of Edinburgh. Both Queen Victoria and her ministers, however, were strongly opposed to the project, and their opposition was founded on good sense. The throne, they considered, was insecure. New dynasties took root with difficulty, more especially in Spain, where respect for foreigners was not a national characteristic, and it would be disagreeable for England to have an English prince, however detached from England, involved in a civil war, and possibly ejected. ”

“ Let your Majesty hold as the most important affair of your State to make yourself King of Spain. I mean, Sire, that you should not content yourself with being King of Portugal, of Aragon, of Valencia, Count of Barcelona, but that you should strive and consider with mature and secret counsel to reduce these realms of which Spain consists to the laws and form of Castile, without any distinction. If your Majesty succeeds in this, you will be the most powerful Prince in the world. ”

“ And yet Alfonso XII., who was overborne by what he considered the experience of the two leaders, had the welfare of his country at heart, for he said to Ernest Daudet: “I am Sovereign, and as long as I am King of Spain I will never allow a Ministry to be overthrown by an intrigue in the palace, as it has frequently happened hitherto. If the country wants a Liberal Government, it shall have it; but, before talking of liberty, Spain herself must have both liberty and stability. ”

“ Don Carlos Montufar, desirous of preserving tranquillity, and maintaining a good understanding with the Viceroy of Peru in particular, immediately forwarded to his Excellency Don Jose de Abascal his original commission; but the innovation was so great, and the decrease of Spanish authority so alarming to the Viceroy, that he returned the papers with an assurance, that he "should exert himself in the support of his own authority, and that of all the faithful subjects of the crown of Spain." ”

“ The reforms in the Americas, following the precedent of nearly three centuries, were undertaken more with a view to the production of revenues for Spain than for the contented development of the colonies themselves. Spain also ran counter to a new force in world history, which she herself was obliged by circumstances to assist in establishing itself. The spirit of world democracy was born with the American Revolution, and appeared in France soon afterward. This meant that the autocratic basis of Spanish greatness was presently to be destroyed. ”

“ If the Spaniards, when they first took possession of the newly discovered world, instead of destroying the inhabitants by thousands, had either had the urbanity or the policy to have conciliated them by kind treatment, and to have united them, gradually, to their own people, such an accession might have been made to the power of the king of Spain, as would have made him far the greatest monarch that ever yet ruled in the globe ”

“ But the king's grandson, young Prince Juan Carlos, is taking special studies so he will be ready to be king when he is old enough. And of course there are still people who would like to see Spain become a democratic republic, like the United States, and not have a king at all. ”

“ Amid the chaos which prevailed in Europe it was practically impossible to discover in whose hands the actual authority lay in Spain. The Spanish King, his rival Prince, Joseph Buonaparte, the Junta of Seville—all these reiterated their claims to the supreme authority. The storm of contradictions and disclaimers ended by proving clearly to the colonists what was actually the case. In Spain no single supreme authority existed. ”

“ There is not a man in the division who would not gladly have relinquished his claim to glory, acquired by the action of Barrosa, to have shared, with the Spaniards, the ultimate success that was within our grasp as it were.
The people of Spain, the brave and persevering people, are universally esteemed, respected, and admired by all who value liberty and independence; the hearts and hands of British soldiers will ever be with them; the cause of Spain is felt by all to be a common one. ”

“ Little as the Spaniards love the Queen Regent, to whom they cannot pardon her two cardinal offences of being a "foreigner" and of disliking the bull-fight, they have a certain affection for Alfonso XIII, "the only child born a king since Christ." Indeed, Spain seems to have been always sympathetic toward childhood in palaces. ”

“ Whatever the violence and cruelty with which the usurper of the throne of Spain oppresses that nation, it ought to be of great consolation to Your Majesty to know that your people retains its loyalty and love for its legitimate Sovereign, and Spain makes continual efforts to maintain the rights of Your Majesty and to re-establish those of the monarchy. ”

“ In old times it needed the touch of a foreign hand, the threat of foreign interference, to rouse the nation as one man. Commerce and industry and the national emulation between province and province are doing gradually what it once needed the avarice of a Napoleon to evoke.
The paper constitutions of Spain have been many, beginning with that of 1812, which the Liberals tried to force on Ferdinand VII., to that of 1845, which the Conservatives look upon as the ideal, or that of 1869, embodying all that the Revolution had gained from absolutism, including manhood suffrage. ”

“ The abdication at Bayonne of Carlos IV in favor of Napoleon, and the appointment of Joseph Bonaparte as king of Spain, with the consent of ninety-one Spanish nobles, roused the Peninsula into a spontaneous and determined revolt. War against the French invaders was already raging in every province when King Joseph was crowned at Madrid on July 24. Thus in the virtue of her people began the long struggle of Spain for independence as a nation,—a struggle which was destined not to end until England came to her aid, and the Duke of Wellington delivered her from the power of France. ”

“ About the same time the viceroy apprehended and deported to Spain about thirty-seven of those who had most eminently distinguished their loyalty in suppressing the late rebellion, chiefly because they solicited rewards for their services and remuneration for the great expences they had been at during the war, and refused to marry certain women who had been brought from Spain by the viceroy as wives to the colonists, many of whom were known to be common strumpets. ”