Page:Vol 3 History of Mexico by H H Bancroft.djvu/552

This page has been proofread, but needs to be validated.

532

ADMINISTRATIVE AND JUDICIAL SYSTEMS.

Council, the other being Peru, embraced five of the twelve audiencias, namely, Santo Domingo, Mexico, Guatemala, Guadalajara, and Manila, besides the captain-generalcy of Florida, extending from the southern border of Costa Rica^[1] into the undefined north, till treaties of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries gave boundaries along Louisiana and beyond California. The viceroy of Mexico had however a merely nominal authority over any but the audiencia districts of Mexico and Guadalajara, which extended from Guatemala, Chiapas, and the bay of Honduras to the south line of the Florida department, and beyond California, a region forming New Spain proper.^[2] In 1786 this state embraced ten gubernatorial divisions which were now converted into twelve intendencias and three provincias, with two hundred and forty-two alcaldías mayores or partidos.^[3] Two military divisions also existed, those subject to the viceroy as captain-general, and those under the comandante general of the Provincias Internas.

Originally New Spain was under control of a governor, as we have seen, who held also the offices of chief justice and captain-general, with power to appoint lieutenants and other high officers, to grant repartimientos, to exile obnoxious persons, and to con-

↑ 'Cabo de Tiburón y rio de Congos, por donde confina con las Provincias de Tierra Firme.' Alcedo, ii. 78. Most of the early geographers apply the name of New Spain loosely even to Panamá. Descrip. Amer., 103-4. Thesaurus Geog., ii. 253; Sanson, L'Amér., 17; Luyts, Geog., 708; Apiano, Cosmog., 6-7, 75; Mendoza, Hist. China, 304; Ortellius, Teatrvm, 1-3. The church historian Gonzalez Dávila follows the council division in saying 'Arzobispo de Sto Domingo en Nueva España.' Teatro, ii. 101. Mancera in 1664 applies it as a captain-generalcy to a rather limited space. Doc. Inéd., xxi. 490-3; Medina, Chrón. S. Diego, 227. The subordination of the different audiencias to the viceroyalties of Peru and Mexico is explained in Recop. de Ind., i. 339, ii. 114-16 etc.; Laet, Novus Orbis, 220. During the temporary transfer of the Guatemala audiencia to Panamá. in 1563 a Ime from bay of Fonseca to Ulua River formed the south border, Gracias á Dios town belonging to New Spain. Reales Céd., in Pacheco and Cárdenas, Col. Doc., xvii. 532.
↑ As explained in Hist. Mex., ii. 279. The boundary question is discussed in Hist. Cent. Am., ii. 713-15 (note 39), this series.
↑ Alcedo, ii. 79, implies that the whole region from Costa Rica northward contained only 128 alcaldías mayores and corregimientos, but Villa-Señor, Teatro, i. 26, writing in 1746, 40 years earlier, mentions 149 alone in four out of the six sees of New Spain proper. The provinces underwent changes in number and limits.

[1] 'Cabo de Tiburón y rio de Congos, por donde confina con las Provincias de Tierra Firme.' Alcedo, ii. 78. Most of the early geographers apply the name of New Spain loosely even to Panamá. Descrip. Amer., 103-4. Thesaurus Geog., ii. 253; Sanson, L'Amér., 17; Luyts, Geog., 708; Apiano, Cosmog., 6-7, 75; Mendoza, Hist. China, 304; Ortellius, Teatrvm, 1-3. The church historian Gonzalez Dávila follows the council division in saying 'Arzobispo de Sto Domingo en Nueva España.' Teatro, ii. 101. Mancera in 1664 applies it as a captain-generalcy to a rather limited space. Doc. Inéd., xxi. 490-3; Medina, Chrón. S. Diego, 227. The subordination of the different audiencias to the viceroyalties of Peru and Mexico is explained in Recop. de Ind., i. 339, ii. 114-16 etc.; Laet, Novus Orbis, 220. During the temporary transfer of the Guatemala audiencia to Panamá. in 1563 a Ime from bay of Fonseca to Ulua River formed the south border, Gracias á Dios town belonging to New Spain. Reales Céd., in Pacheco and Cárdenas, Col. Doc., xvii. 532.

[2] As explained in Hist. Mex., ii. 279. The boundary question is discussed in Hist. Cent. Am., ii. 713-15 (note 39), this series.

[3] Alcedo, ii. 79, implies that the whole region from Costa Rica northward contained only 128 alcaldías mayores and corregimientos, but Villa-Señor, Teatro, i. 26, writing in 1746, 40 years earlier, mentions 149 alone in four out of the six sees of New Spain proper. The provinces underwent changes in number and limits.

[1]

[2]

[3]