Page:Mexico, Aztec, Spanish and Republican, Vol 1.djvu/204

188 took the reins with a firm hand. He found many of the departments of government in a bad condition, and is said to have reformed certain abuses which were gradually undermining the political and social structure of the colony. In these duties the two first years of his viceroyalty passed away quietly; but Gelves though an excellent magistrate so far as the internal police of the country is concerned, was, nevertheless, a selfish and avaricious person, and seems to have resolved that his fortune should prosper by his government of New Spain.

The incidents which we are about to relate are stated on the authority of Father Gage, an English friar who visited Mexico in 1625; and whose pictures of the manners of the people correspond so well with our personal knowledge of them, at present, that we are scarcely at liberty to question his fidelity as a historian.

In the year 1624, Mexico was, for a time, in a state of great distraction, and well nigh revolted from the Spanish throne. The passion for acquiring fortune, which had manifested itself some what in other viceroys, seems in Gelves unbounded. He resolved to achieve his end by a bold stroke; and, in 1623, having determined to monopolize the staff of life among the Indians and Creoles, he despatched one of the wealthiest Mexicans, Don Pedro de Mexia, to buy up corn in all the provinces at the rate of fourteen reales, the sum fixed by law at which the corn was sold in times of famine. The farmers, who, of course, knew nothing of Mexia's plan readily disposed of their corn, with which the artful purveyor filled his store houses all over the country. After the remnant of the crop was brought to market and sold, men began