Page:Vol 3 History of Mexico by H H Bancroft.djvu/519

Rh however, only too glad to be removed from office. Shortly before his departure he married his cousin, the widow countess of Contramina; then removing to San Cristóbal, he delivered the government into the hands of his successor, and sailed for Spain. Nothing of the odium of his predecessor attached to this ruler, and the people of Mexico were unwilling to see him depart.

On his arrival at Madrid he received some honors at the hands of Cárlos IV., but remained away from court until, in 1808, he became minister under Ferdinand VII. Until that time Azanza seems always to have labored for the welfare of his country, but, like his predecessor, was afterward guilty of desertion, and took service under Joseph Bonaparte.

The people of New Spain were again filled with forebodings of evil on the arrival of the new viceroy, for he was supposed to be another of the creatures of Godoy. The power of this misnamed prince of peace over the king, and his alleged paramour the queen, and his fatal influence on the destinies of Spain, had begun to cast a sombre shadow on the colonies. Félix Berenguer de Marquina took the customary oath in the capital on the 30th of August 1800. He was not received in the city with the customary enthusiasm, the popular mind being strongly prejudiced against him. The audiencia, it seems, were even