Page:Vol 4 History of Mexico by H H Bancroft.djvu/64

48 were burned in the plaza. A rumor having spread that two commissioners by this vessel were secreted in the house of Ciriaco Ceballos, the comandante of the port, a mob broke into and plundered it. The host was taken to the house to allay the tumult, but the crowd was only dispersed by a heavy fall of rain. Iturrigaray heard of it on the 13th of August, the day on which the oath of allegiance to Fernando was taken, and it ought to have been a warning.

On the 30th two commissioners from the junta of Seville arrived at Mexico demanding recognition of its sovereignty over New Spain. They were Juan Gabriel Jabat, a naval commander, and bitter enemy of Iturrigaray, and Colonel Tomás de Jáuregui, a brother of the viceroy's wife. They were instructed to arrest the viceroy in case he refused compliance. A junta was convened on the following day, at which Iturrigaray expressed his dissatisfaction at the tone and want of courtesy of the despatch. The debate which ensued was warm and lengthy, and tended in no way to procure harmony. Oidor Aguirre