viceroy to serve as a guide for his conduct toward the Portuguese, but they were kept secret, and neither the audiencia nor the visitador learned their contents. The distinctions bestowed on the Portuguese were remembered; how one had been made castellan of San Juan de Ulúa; how another, even after the arrival of the news, had been placed in charge of a portion of the troops, and received the rank of maestro de campo; while a third was appointed comisario general.[1] It was also asserted that, on the very day when the intelligence was received, Escalona, instead of expressing sorrow, dressed himself in gala costume and invited his friends to a banquet.
One circumstance, however, although a trivial one, was brought forward as clearly proving the duke's disloyalty. It was alleged that, when offered the choice of two horses, one belonging to Pedro de Gastilla, and the other to Cristóbal de Portugal, he exclaimed, after trying them: "The Portuguese is the better."[2] This remark did not escape the strained ears of his enemies; and trifling as it was, it was afterward so construed as to form one of the heaviest charges against him.[3] The loss of one of the mailships, despatched in the beginning of the year, also caused great excitement, and without regard to inconsistency of dates was by some persons interpreted as a premeditated step of the viceroy to aid his rebel cousin in Portugal.
The feeling of the Spaniards against the Portu-
- ↑ It seems that the first instructions from Spain did not order the dismissal of Portuguese officials, who were considered trustworthy, but only enjoined strict vigilance. The duke retained them in office as there were no sufficient reasons for their removal.
- ↑ 'Mejor es el de Portugal.' Vetancort, Trat. Mex., 14; Cavo, Tres Siglos, ii. 15; Bustamante in Palafox, El Vm. Señor, 79. The two last authorities say the horses had been given to the duke. Palafox, Respuesta, in Palafox, El Ven. Señor, 57, gives to the horses the names of Castilla and Portugal, and changes the viceroy's exclamation to 'Dejo á Castilla por Portugal.'
- ↑ Correspondence with Portuguese noblemen, observations approving the duke of Braganza's treachery, and even the project of a Portuguese invasion were also on the list of accusations against Escalona, but proofs were never furnished, and it is not at all improbable that the bishop had a good deal to do with the circulation of such rumors, if not with their creation.
