Page:Vol 4 History of Mexico by H H Bancroft.djvu/752

736 of Michoacan; the oidor José Isidro Yañez; and Manuel Velazquez de Leon, formerly secretary of the viceregal government. As this appointment of Iturbide as president of the regency would interfere with his similar position in the junta, the bishop of Puebla was elected president of the latter assembly. On the 4th of October the regency formed its cabinet, Manuel Herrera being appointed minister of foreign and internal affairs; Jose Dominguez Manzo, of justice and ecclesiastical matters; Antonio Medina, secretary of war and marine; and Rafael Perez Maldonado, minister of the treasury. To each minister a yearly salary of 8,000 pesos was assigned.

Hardly had the regency entered upon its functions when a vacancy occurred by the unexpected death of O'Donojú. Almost immediately on his arrival at the capital he had been attacked with pleurisy, and although the malady had at first taken a favorable turn and he was considered out of danger, a relapse set in, to which he rapidly succumbed. On the 7th of October the solemn rites of the viaticum were administered, and on the evening of the 8th he breathed his last. He was interred on the 10th in the chapel of Los Reyes in the cathedral, with all the honors and ceremonies observed at the sepulture of the viceroys. With the celebration of these funeral rites the last shadow of viceregal presence in New Spain passed away. The Mexican people retain the name of O'Donojú in grateful memory, and his act in signing the treaty of Córdoba is considered as a proof of an