Page:Mexico, Aztec, Spanish and Republican, Vol 1.djvu/203



1621—1624.



the removal of the Marques of Guadalcazar, and until the 21st of September, 1621, the Audiencia again ruled in Mexico, without any interruption however, upon this occasion, of the public peace. The six months of the interregnum might, indeed, have been altogether forgotten, in the history of the country, had not the Audiencia been obliged to announce the reception of a royal cedula from Philip IV., communicating the news of his father's death, and commanding a national mourning for his memory. In September, the new viceroy arrived in the capital, and immediately caused the royal order to be carried into effect and allegiance to be sworn solemnly to Philip IV. as king and lord of Old and New Spain.

The Marques de Gelves was selected by the sovereign for the reputation he bore in Spain as a lover of justice and order,—qualities which would ensure his utility in a country whose quietness, during several of the last viceroyal reigns, had indicated either a very good or a very bad government, which it was impossible for the king to examine personally. Accordingly Gelves