Page:Mexico, Aztec, Spanish and Republican, Vol 1.djvu/293

Rh under this dread infliction, the domestic and foreign trade languished notwithstanding the extraordinary yield of the mines, which, in 1805, sent upwards of twenty millions into circulation. Of all the royal interferences with Mexican interests and capital, none seems to have been more vexatiously unpopular, than the decree for the consolidation of the capitals of obras pias, or, charitable and pious revenues, which was issued by the court; and Iturrigaray, as the executive officer employed in this consolidation, drew upon himself the general odium of all the best classes in the colony.

Charles IV. fell before the revolutionary storm in Europe, and signed his abdication on the 9th of August, 1808, in favor of his son Ferdinand VII. But the weak and irresolute monarch soon protested against this abdication, alleging that the act had been extorted from him by threats against his life; and, whilst the Supreme council of Spain was examining into the validity of Charles's renunciation, and Ferdinand was treating his father's protest with contempt, Napoleon, who had steadily advanced to supreme power after the success of the French revolution, took prompt advantage of the dissentions in the peninsula, and, making himself master of it, seated his brother Joseph on the Spanish throne. As soon as Joseph was firmly placed in power, Ferdinand congratulated him upon his elevation, and ordered all his Spanish and colonial subjects to recognize the upstart king. But the servility of Ferdinand to the ascending star of European power did not meet with obedience from the people of Mexico, who, resolving to continue loyal to their legitimate sovereign, forthwith proclaimed Ferdinand VII. throughout New Spain. The conduct of the colonists was secretly approved by the dissembling monarch, although he ratified a decree of the Council of the Indies, commanding the Mexicans to obey Joseph. The natives of the Peninsula, dwelling in New Spain, were nearly all opposed to the Bourbons and faithful to the French propagandists, whilst the Creoles, or American natives denounced the adherents of Joseph and burned the proclamation which declared him to be their king. The orders received at this period by Iturrigaray from Ferdinand, Joseph, and the Council of the Indies, were, of course, all in conflict with each other; and, in order to relieve himself from the political dilemma in which he was placed by these mixed commands, Iturrigaray determined to summon a Junta of Notable Persons, similar to that of Seville, which was to be composed of the viceroy, the archbishop of Mexico and representatives from the army, the nobility, the principal citizens and the ayuntamiento of