Page:Vol 4 History of Mexico by H H Bancroft.djvu/51

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PRINCE OF PEACE.
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fleets at Trafalgar by Lord Nelson on the 21st of October, 1805,[1] and the attack on Buenos Aires by the English. It is thought that an attempt will presently be made on New Spain. Iturrigaray's friends begin to fall off. Several officers of high rank and merit withdraw from the encampment at Jalapa, among others Count Alcaraz, of the Spanish dragoons, Manuel García Alonso, Manuel García Queritana, and Lejarza, all commanders of high standing. He who becomes the most determined enemy, however, is the ex-corregidor of Querétaro, Miguel Dominguez. [2]

Meanwhile the star of Godoy, the scourge of Spain, is still in the ascendant. He puts on the titles of royalty, and holds communion with Napoleon, if indeed he does not conspire to sell Spain. At one time, all the strongholds of the peninsula being occupied by French, Godoy advises the king to take his family to Mexico. The court is at Aranjuez, and the intended flight becoming known, the populace rise and cry vengeance on Godoy. The tumult is only allayed by the abdication of Cárlos in favor of the prince of Asturias, who assumes the crown as Fernando VII. on the 19th of March, 1808. Godoy escapes popular fury by secreting himself, [3] but his house and those of his satellites are stripped, and everything in them is

  1. A subscription for the relief of the widows and orphans of those who fell in the engagement was raised in Mexico. The amount contributed up to Sept. 30, 1807, was 31,235 pesos. Gaz. Mex., xiii. xiv. xv., passim, and xvi. 641.
  2. Dominguez was afterward reinstalled in his office by order of the king, dated September 11, 1807. Bustamante, in Cavo, Tres Siglos, iii. 223. When Iturrigaray's residencia was taken he was condemned to indemnify Dominguez for loss of salary, and pay him daños y perjuicios. This was not done till 1824, when on Iturrigaray's death his heirs, after contesting the case in the courts, were compelled to pay 12,000 pesos to Dominguez. Alaman. Hist. Mej., i. 265-7.
  3. Fué confundido por la debil voz de un anciano Ministro. Ved aqui el traydor; el pueblo pide su cabeza: dijo Caballero á Carlos IV. señalando a Godoy; y este cobarde como si oyera el estampido de un trueno, calla, teme, huye, y temblando se oculta del Cielo y de la tierra. Asi permanece dos dias atormentado de la sed, del hambre, por las imprecaciones de los hombres, y los remordimientos de su consciencia.' Hernandez y Dávalos, Col. Doc., v. 841.