however, only too glad to be removed from office. Shortly before his departure he married his cousin, the widow countess of Contramina; then removing to San Cristóbal, he delivered the government into the hands of his successor, and sailed for Spain. Nothing of the odium of his predecessor attached to this ruler, and the people of Mexico were unwilling to see him depart.
On his arrival at Madrid he received some honors at the hands of Cárlos IV., but remained away from court until, in 1808, he became minister under Ferdinand VII. Until that time Azanza seems always to have labored for the welfare of his country, but, like his predecessor, was afterward guilty of desertion, and took service under Joseph Bonaparte.[1]
The people of New Spain were again filled with forebodings of evil on the arrival of the new viceroy, for he was supposed to be another of the creatures of Godoy. The power of this misnamed prince of peace over the king, and his alleged paramour the queen, and his fatal influence on the destinies of Spain, had begun to cast a sombre shadow on the colonies. Félix Berenguer de Marquina took the customary oath in the capital[2] on the 30th of August 1800. He was not received in the city with the customary enthusiasm, the popular mind being strongly prejudiced against him. The audiencia, it seems, were even re-
- ↑ He died at Bordeaux on the 20th of June 1820, at the age of 80, poor, and bereft of all his offices and titles, but appreciated in civil life for his personal merits and virtues. See Disposiciones Varias, MS., i. 108, 140; Agreda, Represent., MS., passim; Spain, Manifiesto, 66-100; Cavo, Tres Siglos, iii. 201-5; Rivera, Gob., i. 502; Alaman, Disert., iii. app. 84-5. In Azanza, Instruccion sobre las provincias de Nueva España, MS. (Mex., April 29, 1800), are the instructions given by the viceroy to his successor. It also contains full information concerning the policy of Azanza's administration from 1798 to 1800, and a sketch of the general condition of New Spain for that period, with many details on mining, commerce, and military matters.
- ↑ Marquina, the fifty-fifth viceroy of New Spain, held the rank of rear-admiral in the royal navy. Of his earlier life very little is known. On his way to Mexico he was captured by the English near Cape Catoche and taken to Jamaica; he was allowed to proceed, however, to his destination with his Secretary Bonilla.
haber encontrado un libramiento contra su yemo D. Lorenzo Guardamino, y se le confirió á D. Felix Berenguer de Marquina.'
