The Chaquetas Foiled

On June 21, 1808, the ship Corza anchored in the harbor of Vera Cruz with news of the abdication of Ferdinand VII in favor of Joseph Bonaparte and the departure of the Spanish royal family into imprisonment in France. Two days later, the news was known in Mexico.

News of the Bourbon dethronement arrived just as Mexico was preparing for the festivities accompanying the swearing of allegiance to King Ferdinand after his father's abdication, and the news that the new king had abdicated in favor of a creature of Napoleon was disturbing. When official reports confirming the news were received from Madrid on July 14, the Viceroy of New Spain, Jose de Iturrigay y Arostegui, convened the Royal Audiencia; the Audiencia resolved that the decrees of no government other than that of the Bourbon dynasty would be obeyed.

After the initial shock of the dethronement of the king had worn off, public opinion on the new state of affairs entered a stage of puzzlement and confusion. New Spain was without a king, and the manner in which this had been accomplished weakened respect for the institution of the monarchy. The few with republican sympathies saw in the convulsions that were certain to overtake Spain an opportunity for independence from their overlords in Madrid. The more discerning of these kept quiet; the despotic intrument of the Inquisition maintained its power, and the first few months after the abdication of Ferdinand saw an increase in arrests and trials for various "impieties".

In many ways, Jose de Iturrigaray remains a mysterious figure to history. Some historians ascribe to him liberal and republican views well in advance of his time, while others call him a petty and scheming bureaucrat whose only quarrel with despotism was that he was not at the apex of power in New Spain. A balanced view suggests that he was neither; it is most likely that he believed that the inhabitants of New Spain would be better off if they were governed benevolently by the local elites, himself included, instead of Spanish administrators and taxmen whose only concern was how full the royal coffers in Madrid were.

On July 19, the municipal government of Mexico presented a petition to Iturrigaray, insisting that as the government of New Spain had devolved upon the people because the throne of Spain had been usurped, the metropolis of Mexico would uphold the rights of the Bourbons. It concluded with a request for Iturrigaray to provisionally assume the government of New Spain upon his swearing an oath to neither submit to the rule of Joseph Bonaparte nor surrender to another power. He affirmed that he would protect the country to his dying breath, and that he was prepared to take the required oath.

Later that day, Iturrigaray presented the petition before the Royal Audiencia. They regarded the municipal government with contempt, composed as it was of creoles, and were rightly suspicious of the Viceroy's intentions. The Audiencia summarily rejected the petition out of hand as being "contrary to the law and the public welfare". Thus was Iturrigaray's first attempt at wresting complete control of the government of New Spain frustrated.
 
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