Page:Vol 3 History of Mexico by H H Bancroft.djvu/374

354 of sixteen years, at the age of sixty-two.

The thirty-ninth viceroy, Pedro de Castro y Figueroa Salazar, duque de la Conquista y marqués de Gracia Real, took charge of the government of New Spain August 17, 1740. He had taken passage in a Dutch ship in order to elude the English war vessels which were then cruising in the North Sea, but being pursued near Portobello was obliged to make his escape in a small swift craft which had served as escort. His baggage and papers were left behind, but he was nevertheless acknowledged as viceroy without credentials. During his brief reign of a single year, he gave indications of being a good ruler, though he found the country in a less favorable condition than his predecessors. The French had retired from the extreme northern provinces of New Spain, but the English, under Oglethorpe, bombarded San Agustin, in Florida; while Admiral Vernon who had captured Portobello and destroyed the castle of San Lorenzo at the mouth of the Chagre, threatened Ulúa and Vera Cruz.

The duke ordered that the razed batteries of Guadalupe and San Miguel should be reconstructed, and an adequate force raised for the protection of the gulf coast. Soon afterward he repaired to Vera Cruz for the purpose of adopting measures for defence, but a short time after his arrival at that port he was stricken