This change of system did not fail to meet with opposition, and occasional disagreements arose between the acordada and the superior junta;[1] but these were overcome by the persistence of the viceroys. The junta could not at first keep pace with the number of cases which required its cognizance. When Azanza commenced his administration in 1798, there were fifteen hundred prisoners awaiting trial, and his compassion induced him to add temporarily two additional counsellors to the junta in order that the decisions might be rendered with more despatch.[2] The measures which were successively adopted from this time reduced the terror-inspiring acordada to a mere shadow of its former power.
The prison in which offenders were confined by this tribunal was built close to the court-room of the acordada. In 1776 it was destroyed by an earthquake, but was rebuilt on an enlarged scale. By order of the cortes of Cádiz this building was demolished in 1812, and the frowning walls and loathsome dungeons of the acordada passed from the sight though not from the memory of the people of Mexico.[3]
On the conclusion of Montañez' first term as viceroy he had returned to his diocese of Michoacan, where for two years and a half he remained in the active discharge of his duties. In 1698 the archbishopric of Mexico became vacant by the death of Francisco de Aguiar y Seixas[4] on the 14th of August,
- ↑ During Azanza's administration from 1798 to 1800 the juez de la acordada claimed that he could try cases with only one asesor present. The viceroy compelled the judge to conform strictly to the terms of the royal cédula, 'pronunciando siempre sus sentencias despues de haber oido la relacion del proceso que debia hacer el Escribano y el dictamen de los dos Asesores y Defensor de la Casa.' Id., 30-31.
- ↑ Id., 23-32.
- ↑ According to the official report of Columna, in Alaman, Hist. Méj., i. app. 3, during the period from 1703 to 1809, 62,900 persons were imprisoned by the tribunal.
- ↑ Francisco de Aguiar was born in Betanzos, Galicia. He successively occupied the episcopal chairs of Guadalajara and Michoacan; he was appointed archbishop of Mexico in 1681, Rivera having declined to accept the honor. Aguiar was the principal founder of the college at Niñas de Belen; built the
