Page:Vol 3 History of Mexico by H H Bancroft.djvu/119

Rh special commission to take the residencias of the former viceroys, Cerralvo and Cadereita, and to investigate the commercial relations with Peru and the Philippine Islands.

The new viceroy was a man of fair speech, and for a time won for himself the sympathies of the people, who expected from him a change for the better in the condition of affairs. At this period commerce and mining industries were depressed, and the common necessaries of life could be purchased only at exorbitant rates. Moreover the church was in a demoralized condition, and the religious brotherhoods ever at strife; the highest ecclesiastical dignity in New Spain being represented only by a deputy.

The beginning of Escalona's rule showed some activity. He had been ordered by the king to make explorations on the coast of California, and soon after his accession a commission was issued for that purpose to the governor of Sinaloa. Certain Jesuits accompanied the expedition; but the only purpose which it served was to ascertain that the coast was rich in pearls, and, though cheerless and barren, inhabited by peaceful tribes. In the mean time the viceroy aided effectually in carrying out the orders which had been given him for the reformation of the doctrinas, the execution of which rested with the visitador-bishop Palafox, an able, energetic man, whose name became intimately linked with that of Escalona, and with the greatest ecclesiastical strife which occurred during the seventeenth century.

Juan de Palafox y Mendoza was born in Fitero, Navarre, on the 24th of June 1600, and was of noble descent, though a natural son. When ten years old he was legitimized by his father, Jaime de Palafox y Mendoza, marqués de Ariza. Having received an